Champion of Poker

This article is about extraction. Possibly because I was at the dentist this morning trying to get medication to rid myself of a nasty gum infection and avoiding a tooth extraction this article popped into my mind. The extraction I speak of is the much more pleasant experience of extracting chips from your opponents stack and earning you money. We spend so much time dealing with middle strength and weak flops that it is worth considering what to do when you hit those monster flops. These can be the largest pots you win when you play poker so let’s make sure we increase their size when possible.

Stack Sizes

Deep stack sizes means there is more of your opponents stack to win. It is worth noting, however, that the strength of your hand needs to be higher the more chips go into the pot as two pair or worse is unlikely to be best at showdown against most players. Ideally you want your last bet to set your opponent all-in and be around a pot sized bet, so the final value bet or bluff can be designed to put the maximum pressure on your opponent to make a mistake. Whether or not that mistake is a call or fold depends on the strength of your own hand and the board cards.

Bet Sizing and Actual Hand Strength

The actual strength of your hand depends on your opponents actual hole cards, but as you do not get to see them you must assume that this monster is indeed the best hand. Unless you have a royal flush, you can be outdrawn but with a monster you need to push the hands strongly and bet strongly. If you are timid at this point when holding a really strong hand it would be difficult for you to find a moment where you would be bold. You should bet the flop with either a pot sized or 60% of the pot sized bet most of the time. Checking to induce action gives your opponent the chance to outdraw you before they commit chips to the pot. This is a common error by amateur players as they do not want to scare their customers away but they actually give a free chance for the opponent to catch them in the hand.

Turn and River Play

The reason you should bet on the flop is that if you bet on the turn there has been a free card that could have beaten you and many opponents will fold on the turn realising their missed draws are now increasingly weakening as the pot grows. You are better off winning an uncontested pot on the turn without giving the free card. If the action goes to the turn at least you have the bets won from the calling of your flop bet. A hand won is a hand won even though it feels you deserve rewarding when you hit the flop hard and hold a monster hand like a flush, full house or better. Remember that out of position, holdem poker strategy tells your opponent to look to fold unless they too have hit a great hand.

We will re-visit this concept looking at specific stack sizes in the future, but for now you should take away from this article the importance of building the pot when you have a good hand. Opponents will often think you are bluffing in any case, as standard play often sees a new player check when they are strong and bet when they are weak. Always betting not only increases the size of the pots you win, but creates your deception when you do the same thing whether weak or strong. It is very hard to work out what to do against players who do the same thing with varying strength hands.

By Malcolm Clarke