Pokerwiner.com → Holdem poker lessons

When Others Have Called

The situation is a little different if players ahead of you have already voluntarily entered the pot.

Now you’re no longer against random hands, you’re against a few random hands and one or more hands that are probably fairly good hands.

Because of this it usually takes a much better hand to call when another player has entered the pot than it does when you are first to enter. This is true even though the other player entering the pot has made the pot slightly larger.

If four or five players have come into the pot, the pot is often large enough to gamble a little, to play hands that would not be strong enough to open the pot with but have the potential to develop into a very strong hand.

However, if only one or two players are in, you generally need a very strong hand to call.
Notice that it makes a large difference whether one or two players competing for a pot,

Holdem is very much a high card game and premium high cards are needed if you’re against a couple of other players with probable high cards.

When many players are competing for the pot, however, Holdem becomes more a game of draws. It becomes more important for your cards to work together as suited cards than as premium high cards.

Again, don’t memorize these tables, especially the last table. This table assumes that the opener is a typical to fairly tight player.

The idea is that you shouldn’t call except with hands that are at least one or two notches better than the worst hand that player would open with.

Against a very tight player, you should play tighter than the table suggests. Against a loose player,you should call with more hands than the table suggests.

Pay more attention to learning the habits of your opponents than to memorizing the tables.

Legend: Ax s. means an Ace and another lower card of the same suit.
Kx s. means a King and another lower card of the same suit.
Ax means an Ace and another card of a different suit from the Ace.
� Kx means a King and another lower card of a different suit from the king

Entering a Public Cardroom / The Play of the Game / The First Betting Round

The Flop / The Last Two Cards / Some Overrated Concepts