When playing limit Texas holdem you want to win the most money you can. That is a goal you can accomplish by making great decisions when you act after the flop. At the same time, having a hand that can take the pot does not mean you should play every pot. To efficiently take the pot you have to take your time and rise up against your opponents. In other words, you have to wait for the perfect chance to make a great hand.
Online players overvalue big hands. They believe that having an overpair is better than an overpair, or two high cards. When playing limit, the value of such hands is lessened because opponents tend to fear what the flop brings.
The flop gives you some insight on your starting hand. The lessons at the beginning rely on the statistics of the cards that can follow the flop, and how the hands may play out. Many hands are lost on the flop, but the tides of the game can turn on the turn or river. You can learn a lot about the other players and their cards simply by watching how they bet after the flop.
The turn can be a turning point as well. With the turn, you can determine whether you still hold the best hand, or whether you need to consider the river. If the board has a flush, or a straight, it is much harder to defeat if someone bets, even if you have second pair. If you have second pair, you will almost always be the underdog unless you have a strong hand.
So to keep your balance, you can’t be afraid to check or call in the face of heavy betting. You might be nervous about trusting your cards so close to the Remipoker. If you have a weak hand, weakness can be disguised in the fact that your table image is strong. For instance, if you have been doing battle with a particular rival, chances are that he will either try to keep you out of the pot, or get lucky and out-draw you.
It’s better to check and call a bet, especially if you want to test the water or get a feel for the other players.
When you have a drawing hand, you don’t always need to call to see the river. Making a minimum bet in the style you play your hand is a way to mask your hand strength, and venture into the unknown with some sort of grounded guess. If you called the flop and still weren’t a winner, there’s a good chance you’ll still be out-knew to the game, and luck isn’t going to be on your side.
New players are particularly bad at guessing. They have plenty of time to guess, but they don’t know when to stop. Often they’ll take a shot at the pot, and not know what they should do with a good hand. When they have a strong hand, and especially if they’ve been drinking, they’ll guess wrong, and when they guess wrong, they will often bet too much money on the hand to recover the loss. Sometimes the pot’s not large enough to cover their losses, and they’ll just keep betting.
The host doesn’t care who you are when they call, or raise, so long as they get a call on the flop. If you’re getting into the habit of playing your hands the same as everyone else, you’re going to eventually be forced into a conversation about hand strength. Whether or not they win or lose has nothing to do with them. It has everything to do with them, and whether or not they’re going to keep playing against you.
When two flushable hands meet, and there are two draws instead of one, it follows that someone has to win the pot. Normally, that would be true for an overpair, but it could also be true for an underdog if they’re drawing to something, even a gutshot. In any case, the pot has to be large enough to cover any of the losses, unless you’re playing blinds, which are always approximate.
Many people grenbing on the turn. You need to see a cheap flop to prove your point, too. Many players have a hard time throwing away a hand when they’ve already invested too many chips in the pot.
Just as you’re chasing your draws, you’re also trying to win the pot. You’re looking to get heads up with just one other player, so that you can play this hand a little differently. There are many hazards to this mindset, but you can minimize these by playing just enough of your cards, and playing it against the right player.
Millions of hands are handled like this in online No Limit Tournaments every day. Many of the players will lose their shirts, but it’s also hands that you can take potentially and never really see a flop.