Reading the Board
A critical skill for the beginning Texas Hold'em player is the ability to read the board. This means being able look at the community cards on the table and calculate the strongest possible hands.
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| Flop |
With this flop the highest possible hand (called "the nuts") is
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| Your Hole Cards |
The second, third and fourth highest hands would be
  |
| Your Hole Cards |
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| Your Hole Cards |
  |
| Your Hole Cards |
After that, two pair and then aces with large kickers. Suppose the board after the turn looks like this:
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| Flop | Turn |
Now the highest hand is a straight flush
  |
| Your Hole Cards |
and the second highest hand is four of a kind
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| Your Hole Cards |
On the river
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| Flop | Turn | River |
Now a higher straight flush is possible
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| Your Hole Cards |
Single Card Straight Flushes
Of course it is often not necessary to have the absolute nuts to win a hand. In the above example (depending on the betting) a hand that contained a single king of diamonds would give you the nut flush which could easily win this hand, and someone with pocket aces shouldn't hesitate to bet and raise (and re-raise!) with their hands on this board. The point is to know what hands are possible so you aren't trapped in a raising war thinking you have the nuts when you don't. The most common example of this is a board like the following:
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| Flop | Turn | River |
Someone holding a hand like
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| Hole Cards |
might raise indefinitely on every betting round only to find out that someone holding
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| Hole Cards |
has beaten them on the end with a straight flush. Especially when there are four of a suit on the board, consciously look for a single card straight flush possibility when you hold an Ace of that suit!
The Beaten Boat
Suppose the following flop is dealt...
  |
| Flop |
when you hold...
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| Your Hole Cards |
Chances are that right now you have the highest hand. If you bet on the flop and are raised or re-raised you are still probably safe for the moment as other people holding a jack or any overpair (correctly) raise you. However if the final board looks like this:
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| Flop | Turn | River |
There is a much greater chance that you are beaten by a higher full house. Although you should call a bet with your 44 you probably do not want to get into a raising war at this point (as many people at a low limit hold'em table will do).
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The above scenario is the reason that you must play a hand like this fast early in the hand, even if that means that sometimes you'll only make a very small pot. In the above example you'll definitely get big action from people holding a single jack (in fact they may even incorrectly try to slow play their hand). |
Tip |