But played heads up, this hand is not so bad, except against someone who won’t gamble.
There are many times when you make the flush and it’s good, or when you buy a jack and it is good. Your opponent easily could have something like
Even if the pots are multiway poker pot before the flop, they sometimes become heads up on the flop.
Concept No.12: Stick to those hands that can make the nuts.
You can’t profitably playa hand that does not have a draw to the nuts, unless you are heads up and the hand has many different possibilities.
There are some other exceptions. For example, you might call with middle or bottom trips if it looks like the right spot.
Even hands like top two pair or just a pair of aces sometimes win the whole pot. But when many players are in, which is frequently the case at the lower limits, you usually will need the nuts or close to it to rake in any chips.
Concept No.13: High hands lose value against low hands. Once you know that you are going to be up against a made low hands, a high hand loses most of its value.
For example, if the flop and you have a set of eights, your hand is not very good.
Even though you currently have the nuts for high, any card except three of the sevens or the case eight can beat you.
In addition, a low probably has already been made. Notice that a set of nines would be quite a bit better with an analogous flop like 9 
3 2 
. (But you don’t play a pair of nines in this game.)
Concept No.14: Back-door potential or a lot of outs may make your hand playable.
Drawing to hands that are not the nuts might be worth it if you have back-door potential or a lot of different outs. For example, suppose you hold and the flop comes giving you an ace-trey draw.
Notice that you are drawing only to a deuce for the nut low. But a king may win the whole pot for you, and another spade gives you the nut flush draw. If there is not a lot of action, this hand is worth taking a card off.
If you make an ace-trey low, you have to decide whether you should pay off a bet. That is, you must play well. If you are caught in a jam, throw away your hand.
But if it is a bet and a call, you definitely should also call. Remember, the pot easily can contain as many as a dozen bets, and both of your opponents may have high hands.
Concept No.15: On the flop, when you are going low, don’t “go to war” with very many hands.
The exceptions are when you can’t get counterfeited, you have an ace-high flush draw, or you have other back-door straight or nut flush potential. An example of the first condition is when you have a hand like
and the flop comes
Notice that being unable to get counterfeited is a much stronger reason for challenging your opponent than either of the other two conditions.
Concept No.16: You sometimes can “go to war” early with just top set.
You don’t mind going to war when you have top set, there is no low draw, and you are against a maniac type player who easily could have a smaller set. For example, suppose you hold two kings and the flop comes Against certain types of opponents, a raising war – even early in the hand – might be correct.
However, if three or more opponents are in the pot and you think you may be against a big wrap-around straight draw, it might be best to slow down and see how things develop. (There is more discussion of this topic later in the text.)
Introduction / General Concepts / More Specific Ideas / Afterthought
