By Devin Armstrong

updated 2:56 p.m. ET Sept. 14, 2005

It’s not easy to write a quiz about poker. The answer to poker questions is usually “it depends,” so the tough part in writing this was to choose questions that would leave the least amount of doubt as to which answer was “most correct.”

This quiz was written mostly for beginners, but some questions fall into the intermediate category, as well. Hopefully, even advanced players will get something out of it. Some of the decisions we make in limit Texas hold’em are automatic, but it’s important for players to occasionally re-focus their game by asking why they are automatic.

Question one:
Let’s say it’s a $2/$4 game, and you are in MP with AhKc. The player to your immediate right just called pre-flop, and you raised. The button re-raised, and you and the player to your right called. The flop came the Ad Qd 4c. The player to your right checked, you bet, and both players called. The turn comes the 9d. The player to your right checks, and you check because a flush is possible. (Both players called your flop bet, which means that one of them could have been on a flush draw, that just got there). The button bets. The player to your right raises, making it $8 to you. What should you do?

Answer:
Fold. The player to your right probably has a flush, and there is no possible river card that could give you a better hand than a flush. Even if it could, it usually wouldn’t be worth your while to pay to see it. Since you have two opponents, this is an easy fold. However, if it was heads-up between only you and an aggressive opponent, it might be worth calling him down.  Check-raising or betting into a ‘scary’ board is a classic way to bluff. In a multi-way pot, though, people don’t often bluff into a board like this, because chances are good someone has a hand better than one pair, and will call the bluff. If not a flush, then at least two pair, or three of a kind. You only have one pair, so you should fold when you are facing two (or more) opponents and this kind of betting action on this kind of board. Heads-up, however, an aggressive opponent could try to bluff you with a weaker hand than yours, and you should probably call him down in that particular scenario.     

Question two:
You have pocket queens in middle position. Pre-flop, an early position player raises, and it is then folded to you. Should you re-raise, call or fold?

Answer:
You should re-raise. A pair of queens is a great, but vulnerable, starting hand. By making it three bets before the flop, you are hoping to prevent players left to act with hands such as KQ, Ax, etc. … from calling. If any king or ace comes on the flop (and one of them often will), you probably would be losing to a pair of kings or aces if a lot of players were to see the flop.  You are re-raising to protect what is an excellent but vulnerable hand. Ideally, you want everyone to fold except the initial raiser, so you can play this hand heads-up. The fewer players there are seeing the flop, the smaller the chance that you’ll lose to somebody pairing up a card higher than a queen.

Question three:
It is folded to you preflop, and you have KdQc. You are in late position, to the immediate right of the button. What should you do?

Answer:
You should raise. Any playable hand — including suited connectors — should be raised if it is folded to you in late position. You will win the blinds if the remaining players fold, and if you are called or re-raised, you have a decent hand, and you have position on both of the blinds. If one of the blinds just calls your preflop raise, and checks the flop to you, a bet is usually enough to pick up the pot because of the strength you’ve already shown. Unless, of course, the blind hit the flop hard, and is planning to check-raise you. 

If you are against the sort of opponent who is aggressive enough to attempt a bluff-checkraise against you on a rag flop, like 973, then you should check the flop behind him, and have a look at the turn. Against most opponents, though, betting any flop in this spot is usually correct.  Never just call with playable cards from late position if it’s been folded to you pre-flop. You should raise, every time.

Question four:
You have black kings in MP. One EP player calls pre-flop, you raise, and only the BB and the EP player call your raise. Three of you see the flop: Ac9h7h. EP checks, you bet, the BB folds, and EP calls. The turn is the Qs. EP checks, and you bet again, to charge him for his flush draw if that’s what he has. He calls. The river is the 3c. EP checks. Should you check or bet?

Answer:
You should check as well, ending the betting. Since the flush draw didn’t materialize, you won’t get called by the EP player on the river if that was indeed what he had. So, the only hands he will (likely) call you with are hands that can beat you.  If you are in late position on the river, and you have the choice to check or bet, you should always think about that before you bet.  What hands could my opponent call with here that I can beat? If the answer is: ‘there are a lot of them’, then you should bet. If, however, the answer is: ‘only unlikely ones’, you should check behind. Would he call you all the way to the river with a flopped pair of nines? Probably not — at least, he shouldn’t. Would he call you all the way to the river with a flush draw? Yes, but the flush draw didn’t get there, so he wouldn’t give you any more of his money if you bet the river. Would he call you all the way to the river with a pair of aces, but never raise? Very possibly, yes. Especially if he’s a tight player, and he believes you may have a better kicker than he does.

You save yourself a bet if you’re losing to a pair of aces, by checking behind (minimizing your losses). There aren’t many hands that are worse than yours that would actually call a bet on the river. Chances are, you’ve either been beaten by aces, or you’ve beaten a flush draw that wouldn’t call your last bet anyways. With all this in mind, you should check.

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