Post-flop strategy

The flop is an essential stage in the poker game being able to influence the hand’s strength and modify the pre-flop situation of a game. After the flop is dealt a player with the best hand can end up having the worst and in the same time the weakest hand can become the strongest.

The first recommendation is that after the flop is dealt to correctly evaluate your hand. This time is not just about you, it’s about the other players too. After you see the flop you must start evaluating how strong your hand is adding the three new community cards, and analyze what cards can hold other players. If you have a trash hand is advisable to fold at any bet because the risk of losing is very high especially in no limit holdem.

A good advice for beginners is not to rely on the turn or river cards to save their hand. If after the flop the player doesn’t have a pair or a higher combination is better to fold at any bet because other players probably already have better hand. Hands that wait for the turn or river cards have fewer chances to win in the end. For example if you have A K and the flop is J 9 8 you might think its ok to go on with your cards because are high. It’s a bad choice because any pair or higher combination beats you and the chances to be served on turn or river to win the hand are very low. So if any player makes a bet you should fold. This hand is a good example for a good hand turned to trash by the flop.

If after the flop you have top pair with good kicker you should raise to eliminate drawing hands because your hand can easily became worst. If you have a pair but is not the top one you should fold at any bet. If you have two pair it’s safe to call or raise but if you have the pair in your hand lower than the table you should watch out for higher pair or three of a kind so fold if someone raises. If you flop three of a kind (trips), four of a kind or complete hands (straight, flush or full house) you must play it according to the table and players so you can call, raise or even check to attract more players and build up the pot.

Depending on the game’s situation you may consider to continue with a weak hand and call to see the turn and river. For example you can do that in the low limit games where the risk is very low and you can afford to lose the hand. This is why in low limit games the game is loose and you see lots of players calling with poor hands.

Another situation when you might go all the way with a poor hand is when you’re bluffing, but in order to succeed  you need to play it very good starting with the pre-flop and pay attention to the cards. Try to bluff only when you are in late position and if other players seem to have weak hands and don’t have the courage to call you.