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6. You had been able to limp to the seventh street with a small two pair – a pair of fives and a pair of treys. a poker player with a pair of fours on the board had bet, and had three callers before the betting had got to you. Of the hands that had yet to act, the most threatening had been a three-flush; all of the other poker players had appeared weak. Would you have called or folded?

Ans : Folded. Often a good two pair could have won a pot, but the key word there was ‘good.’ Here, if you had been the last to act and there had been just the original bettor, you could have stayed in – he had been showing a pair smaller than your two pair. But with three callers, odds would be that someone had something better than fives over treys. A call wouldn’t have been worth it here, so you should have just folded.

7. You had had a powerful hand – aces full. a pair of your aces had been on the board, and you had started the betting. Would you have bet or just checked and hoped to try a check-raised?

Ans : Bet. It would have been okay to try to check-raise sometimes, but only if you had had a full house or other monster hand completely hidden. Checking with a pair of aces would have sent warning signs to other poker players that you had been trying to check-raise them, so you should have gone ahead and bet. You should have got a lot of callers anyway, since most people, having been in the hand this long, would have wanted to see it to the end.

8. You had had a two pair – a pair of kings and a pair of nines – and had been the last to act. There was a four-flush on the board, whose owner had been the second to act, and he had bet after being checked to.
There was one caller showing a pair of sixes, and the betting had been to you. You had been keeping track of the first poker player’s cards, and while you hadn’t had an exact count, you had believed you had seen many of his needed suits fall already. Would you have called or folded?

Ans : Called. This would have been a classic bluff attempt (mentioned in Question # 3) by the player who had tried t use four-to-a-flush to scare other poker players off and won himself a nice pot. With four of his suit on the board, odds would have been he very well might have had the flush. But if you had felt that many of his needed cards were dead (five or more) calling would have been the best move. If he had had the flush, it would not have been the end of the world – just four dollars. It would not have been worth playing with a good quality two pair.

9. You had been carefully watching a poker player who you had placed on a flush draw (he had three of his suit showing on the board) you had noticed a slight sigh as he had looked at his cards before he had quickly looked up. In your hand, you had held two pair – a pair of jacks and pair of nines. The poker player with the three-flush also had a pair on the board – a pair of fours – and his had happened to be the high hand showing. He had bet, and there were two callers by the time the action had got to you. You had felt confident that you had these other poker players beat – they had shown nothing threatening – and you had contemplated whether to have called or folded. What would have been the best move?

Ans : Called. This one would have been pretty obvious. Here, having carefully watched your opponents would have paid off. If you had felt you had the other poker players beat (that your opponent had been on a flush draw and hadn’t made a flush or trips), you should have gone ahead and called him. Tells were difficult and would have taken a long time to learn, but the seventh street would have been a good spot to start learning them.

10. You had had a full house – tens full of fours – that had been completely hidden. a poker player with a pair of Aces on the board had opened, and he had raised by a four-flush. You had known at least one of the other aces had been dead. You had been the third to act, and it had been two big bets to you – would you have re-raised?

Ans : Re-raised. You would have to take advantage of powerful hands when you had had them. You could have been going up against a full house bigger than yours, but the raise hadn’t come from he holder of the aces; it had come from the holder of the four-flush, who had been trying to force the aces to fold.

If it had been the other way around, and the player with the four-flush had bet and had been raised by the player with the pair of aces, a call would have been more justifiable.

Of course, a bad beat here was not out of the question – full houses had occasionally lost – but with a relatively big boat like tens full, you should have played it hard.

If the holder of the aces had re-raised, though, all you could have done was call.