Postflop Play in the Early Stages of Sitngos

See also

• Online Hold'em Strategy
• Classifying Players In Texas Hold'em

When you get to a flop the pot will either be heads-up or multiway, and either you will have the initiative from being the preflop raiser, someone rise will, or no-one will if it is a limped pot. You will also be in position or out of position (or perhaps somewhere in the middle in a multiway pot), which will be key in determining the extent to which you can control the hand.

Generally on the flop you should bet around 2/3 to 3/4 of the pot as a continuation bet when you are heads-up and have the initiative whether you make a hand or not, unless your opponent is very loose, the board is very draw heavy or you have flopped a monster and think trapping is the best play. When someone else has the initiative in a heads-up pot, you should generally check to them and then play accordingly. In multiway pots with the initiative, you should continuation bet far less with no hand, although betting dry flops like K-7-2 against two tight players is usually profitable.

On the turn and river you will need to reassess according to the cards that have come and how they affect your hand, the number of players remaining, the amount of chips left and your position. Thinking about the size of pot you wish to play is always key and for this reason position is crucial and you should think early in a hand about whether you are prepared to commit all your chips with it.

Your bet sizing (and that of other players) will also be crucial on these later streets as you will often be all-in if you bet both the turn and river. For this reason you should plan ahead when choosing amounts according to the number of big blinds you have left, although betting 2/3-3/4 of the pot is still a good general strategy. As a general rule, in limped pots you should not usually put all your money in unless you have two pair or better, and you should try to build or restrict the size of the pot accordingly.

As previously stated, very inexperienced players should not play many hands in the early stages of sitngos, particularly if they do not feel comfortable with postflop decisions. However, there are still several categories of hands for which the appropriate strategy is fairly clear and we will look at these now:

Monster hands.

These are extremely strong hands that are virtually guaranteed to win the pot like flopped sets, straights, flushes or full houses. How you should play them depends on how draw heavy the flop is, and the more scare cards there are that could come on the turn and river the more chips you should look to get into the pot on the flop. In the case of a flopped full house for example, you are virtually invulnerable and may want to slowplay, especially if there are draws on the flop that may allow your opponent to make a flush or straight on a later street, but with 6-6 on a 6-7-9 flop you should be betting and raising to get all-in as early as possible.

Top pair, good kicker or overpair to the board.

Here you will usually want to bet aggressively for value and to protect your hand, and get as much money in as possible against aggressive and loose opponents. Against tight ones, on very draw heavy boards (such as 7-8-9 or K-10-J) or in multiway pots you should proceed more cautiously and even consider folding to a lot of action from multiple opponents unless your hand also has drawing potential (such as 10-10 on a 7-8-9 flop, or A-K on a K-10-J flop, which are monster hands).

Strong draws.

With reasonably strong draws that have around 12 outs you should be wary of putting too much action in as you will rarely be belter than a coin-flip, and as we have seen coin-flips are usually -$EV in the early stages of sitngos. However, when you have a very strong draw with 15 or more outs such as A-Q on a J-10-5 board or 7-8 on a 5-6-J board you are likely to be a favourite against most hands and should be more inclined to put in a lot of action and even get all-in. Even if called by a very strong hand you will still have significant equity, plus you will sometimes win the pot uncontested and opponents will not be able to always put you on strong made hands in the future.

Weaker draws.

Draws with 8-12 outs are still playable in the early game but should be played cautiously and in small pots where you have good implied odds when you hit. For example, two way straight draws like 9-8 on an A-6-7 board or flush draws like 7-6 on an A-5-10 board are worth pursuing for small amounts in small (or multiway) pots where you are getting good odds on the flop, but not expensively on the turn or without good odds. Draws where some of your outs could be tainted (i.e. you could make them and still lose to a better hand) or you could already be drawing dead like 7-8 on a 5-6-K board or 8-9 on a K-10-K board should be folded or pursued with extreme caution, and very weak draws like gut-shots with four outs or less should not be pursued at all.

Combination draws.

When you have a pair and a draw you generally have a powerful hand, however as with other draws in sitngos you still need to be circumspect unless it is very strong. For example, 9-8 on an 9-5-6 board is an extremely strong combo draw that you would be happy to go all-in with on the flop, whereas 6-5 on a 4-5-8 board is far weaker, meaning that you could easily be dominated and should therefore play it slowly or even fold it to a strong bet.

Weak one-pair hands.

These hands are very situational and require you to "play poker" in determining the best course of action. For example, having raised in late position with A-J and been called by one blind to see a flop of K-J-4 is very different to being in the big blind in a limped pot with Q-3 and seeing a flop of Q-10-7 along with three other players. Generally speaking the best course of action in such spots is to try and show the hand down cheaply, and fold if it seems likely that a big pot is likely to ensue or many players remain in it.

No hand.

Having no hand on the flop is not that much of a disaster if you have the initiative in a heads-up pot, as you will still often win with a continuation bet. In other situations, however, you should just be prepared to give up and save your chips for a better situation since elaborate bluffs are overrated in poker in general and in sitngos in particular.