Question five:
It’s a $2/$4 game, and you are in the BB with pocket eights. An early position player raises, and three players call. You call as well, because there are a number of people in the pot, and your big blind is already in, making it only $2 more to you. Five of you see a flop of: Ac 6d 8h.  You act first, because the small blind folded preflop. What should you do: Check or bet?

Answer:
You should bet, and hope that someone raises you, so you can re-raise. Whenever you make a really big hand like this you want to build the pot as much as possible, and flopping three of a kind on a non-threatening board like this one (no obvious straight or flush draws) definitely qualifies as a really big hand. Although it’s true you’d be losing to a player holding pocket aces, you can’t assume someone has aces just because there was a pre-flop raise. All sorts of players will raise pre-flop with all sorts of hands, so you shouldn’t always be giving your opponents credit for big pocket pairs. You have flopped a monster, so don’t be shy. Bet and raise at every opportunity, and only slow down if there is a straight or a flush possibility by the river.

Another way to play this hand would be to go for a check-raise. The hand is powerful enough to set a bit of a trap with, so you could go for a check-raise on the flop, or just check and call the flop and wait until the turn — when the betting limits go up — to spring your check-raise trap. In addition to building the pot, you would add some deception to your table image: just because you check doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a weak hand.

Question six:
You have AsQs in middle position. An early position player calls before you preflop, and you raise. One late position player calls the two bets, and the early position player calls your raise.  Both blinds fold. Three of you see the flop: Ts4cJh. The early position player bets. Should you call, raise or fold?

Answer:
You should call. I advise folding on the flop if all you have is overcards, but you have more than overcards here. You have a gutshot straight draw (any K gives you the straight) and you have a backdoor flush draw. (A backdoor flush draw is when you hold two suited hole cards, and one of your suits comes on the flop. You need both the turn and the river to come up as your suit to make your flush, which doesn’t happen often.)

If you only had one of these things going for you on the flop — overcards, a gutshot straight draw or a backdoor flush draw — then you should probably fold to even a single bet. However, there is strength in numbers, so while any single one of these weak draws would be a fairly easy fold on its own, the fact that there are three weak draws going for you makes it an easy call, instead. If the turn doesn’t come as a spade, an ace, a queen or a king, you should fold to a bet at that point. Furthermore, if the late position player raises the flop after you call, and the early position player re-raises — making it two more bets to you — you should get out of the hand. Your overcards probably wouldn’t be good enough even if you hit one of them, and it’s not worth two more bets to chase gutshot straight and backdoor flush draws.

Question seven:
You have AhJh in MP. The first player raises, the next player calls, you call, and the button calls. Four of you to the flop: 3hKh9h. The first player bets, and the second player raises.  Do you call or re-raise?

Answer:
You should call, hoping to keep as many players in the pot as possible. Save your raise for the turn when the betting limits go up, and only slow down if the board pairs, making a full house or quads possible. When you flop the best flush — also known as the nut flush — you want to play it in such a way as to maximize your winnings.

Question eight:
You have 7s8s in the small blind. A few players call, a late position player raises, and you call the raise, as do all three of the other players. Five of you see the flop: 2d 8h 6c. You are first to act, and you check, because of the preflop action. The next player bets, the next raises, the next folds, and then the late position player (who initially raised pre-flop) re-raises.  Do you call the three bets, cap it, or fold?

Answer:
You should fold.  You entered this pot with suited connectors, and you didn’t flop a good draw.  Sometimes suited connectors end up flopping top pair, so you can be swayed from your original plan of flopping a good draw because of your pair.  If, however, people are betting and raising and re-raising, it’s time to fold your top pair.  Any pocket pair of twos, sixes, eights, nines, tens, jacks, queens, kings, or aces is beating you, as well as anyone who played an eight with a better kicker, like A8s, or 89s. 

Even if your pair of eights happens to be the best hand on the flop—which in itself is pretty unlikely when you’re facing a bet, a raise, and a re-raise—there is a very good chance that overcards (cards higher than eight) will come on the turn and/or the river.  Since none of your opponents seem very likely to fold if you cap it preflop, chances are extremely good that at least one of them will hit one of their overcards on the turn or river, beating your lowly pair of eights.  Your hand is simply too weak to bother playing past the flop unless you have a strong draw to a flush or a straight, especially after the pot has been raised.  One weak pair is not good enough, and if it is, it won’t be for long under these circumstances.

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