Poker for Dummies (Mini Edition) (13 page)

Even if you don’t make a flush but you catch a Jack or an Ace instead, that may be enough to win the pot.

Beyond the flop

As a general rule, you shouldn’t continue beyond the flop without a strong pair and a decent side card (or
kicker
), or a straight or flush draw with at least two opponents to ensure that the pot is big enough to make it worthwhile.

Because of the communal cards, players frequently have the same hand, with the exception of their unpaired side card, or kicker. When that happens, it’s the rank of each player’s kicker that determines who wins the pot in question. That’s why most Hold’em players love to be dealt A-K (or “Big Slick,” as players call it). If the flop contains either an Ace or a King, the player holding Big Slick will have the top pair with the best possible kicker.

Game texture
— the relative aggressiveness or passivity exhibited by the players — is also important in determining whether to call that bet or raise. But you can only get a feeling for the game’s texture and how it should influence your play from live game experience. In the absence of that experience, err on the side of caution — it costs less.

Success at Hold’em demands that you be patient, pay close attention to position, and take comfort in the knowledge that good hands are run down less often than the best Seven-Card Stud hands.

Hold’em in Depth

Combinations of poker hands number literally in the millions; in Hold’em, however, there are only 169 different two-card starting combinations. That number, of course, assumes that a hand like K
Q
is the equivalent of K
Q
. If three diamonds were to appear on the flop, the K
Q
would be significantly more valuable than K
Q
. But the future can be neither predicted nor controlled, and these two hands have identical value before the flop.

Each one of these 169 unique starting combinations fits into one of only five categories:

Pairs

Connecting cards

Gapped cards

Suited connectors