Reading the Flop
When the flop hits the board, you should immediately be able to determine the strength of your hand.
let’s look at the A 
K example. As I said, that's a very good starting hand
Virtually Worthless Hand
Unfortunately when a flop such as 10 
9 8 falls, all of a sudden your hand is not looking good anymore. Any pocket pair; any 10;9;8 two Diamonds; Q,J;J7; or 7,6 now has you beaten.
Anyone with one Diamond, a Jack, or a 7 has a good draw to beat you.
Any hand has at weak draw to beat you. (They can pair either card and win as long as you don’t pair.)
Because A or K would make a flush for anyone holding a single Diamond, you only have four cards left in the deck that could be a possible winning hand.
Probably Big Winner
With a flop of A K 7 , you’re in pretty good shape; you probably have the best hand by far, and you will likely get action from other hands.
Here, even if you’re currently beaten by, for example, 7,7 you’ve still got outs of your own
(an Ace, a King, or two running Hearts of the complete your flush).
Part of the value of the hand comes from the potential draws other players might have.
They need a reason to put money in the pot. With this hand you will likely get action from a flush draw.
It’s a good flop for you and a potential moneymaker.
Probable Best Hand with Large Loss Potential
With A 
T T 
, you might have the best hand or you might have a hand in trouble.
This is an example of a hand that will win the small pots and lose the big ones.
An opponent either has a 10 or not.
With this flop there are not a lot of hands worse than A K that will give you much action;
however, hands better than yours will give you a lot of action.
This situation is potentially troublesome for you, but even when you’re beaten in this situation, you do have some outs. Playing with a pair on the boards can be tricky.
Probable Winner
With A 9 5 , you almost certainly have the best hand, but it is unlikely that you will make a lot of money from it.
You will, of course, get action from another Ace, but it’s unlikely an opponent will have a strong drawing hand.
A Strong Draw
With Q J 5 , you probably don’t have the best hand in terms of its current poker ranking, but probably do have the best hand in terms of potential to win a large pot.
This is a premium draw, any Heart or 10 will give you a winning hand, and any Ace or King will give you a possible winner.
You will get action from players who flopped a pair, a straight draw, or maybe even from someone drawing dead to a second-best flush.
Probable Best Hand with a Strong Draw
With A 10 5 , you not only have the probable best hand, but you’ve also got a good chance at improvement. It’s another example of a premium draw.
Weak Draw
With J 10 7 , you have some outs, but it’s a weak draw.
A Queen, as long as it’s not Q , will give you a winning hand, but that’s only three cards.
An Ace or King, as they aren’t Clubs, will give you a possible winner, but the possibility of those cards helping another player even more means you still can’t play the hand hard against many opponents.
The hands that are large money winners are those that can be played hard against a large group of opponents. Many bets combined with many callers lead to very large pots.
Steal Opportunity
A flop such as 9 5 2 is not likely to have made anyone much money. A bet will likely win the pot.
Even against very loose players, not many hands will fit this flop.
In addition, with you’re A K , even if you’re called by someone who paired you probably
still have six outs.
If the pot is small, even someone who flopped a nine may fold here if you’ve raised pre-flop,
fearing you hold a large overpair.
Pick the Right Table / Picking a Seat / Theories of Poker / Betting Theory: The Odds
A Theory of Starting Hand Value
A Theory of Flop Play: Counting Outs and Evaluating Draws
The Dynamics of Game Conditions / Table Image / Player Stereotypes
Women and Poker / Spread-Limit Games / Double Bet on the End Games / Kill Games
Short-handed Games / Tournaments / No-limit and Pot-Limit Poker
