You should bet if you have the best hand.
This tip would be consistent with the tight-aggressive strategy you would have to follow in holdem poker.
Because you would be playing selectively, you would have a good hand when you would enter the pot. Consequently, your hand would be inclined to be better than those of your loose-playing rivals most of the time, even after the flop. Thus, you would have to play aggressively.
Bet When Checked To
Specifically, this would be true when the hand would be checked to you on the flop. It would be common for the flop not to have helped any poker player, and your bet could win you the pot right then. This would almost never be a bad thing, unless your hand would be so strong that nobody could catch up (for instance, you were to flop four of a kind).
What exactly would constitute a hand worth betting on the flop? One of the main factors would be the number of rivals in the hand, as this would have a major influence on how strong a hand would typically need to be to win the pot. Most of the later tips will cover this topic in more depth, but for now we will institute some general guidelines for which poker hands would be worth a bet most of the time.
Don’t Be a Rock
It would be inaccurate to bet only when you were to be ninety-nine percent certain you were holding the best hand. Some players will play holdem poker this way, and they would generally be referred to as rocks. You shouldn’t be one of them! If you were to play like a rock, you wouldn’t lose your money as fast as someone who would wildly ram and jam* every pot, but you would be just as surely lose.
As a general rule, when the action would have been checked to you (or if you were the first to act), it would be correct to bet anytime you were holding the top pair on the board, or an overpair. So, if the board were to show a three, a seven, and a queen, you would have to bet if your hand would contain a queen, or if you were to have a pair of aces, or a pair of kings. Also, you should bet any stronger poker hand such as a two pair or three of a kind.
Betting a Draw
Betting a draw would also be a good line of attack at times. When playing holdem poker, the more outs (cards that would turn your hand into the winner) you would have, the better it would be to bet. For instance, it would normally be a good idea to bet if you were holding a king of hearts and a jack of hearts and the flop was a four of hearts, a ten of hearts, and the queen of spades.
Here, you could win with any heart (flush card), a nine, or an ace. A king could win it for you as well. Added up, this draw would give you eighteen outs (nine flush cards, six aces and nines that weren’t hearts, plus three kings). With two cards left to come, you would complete your draw most of the time.
Playing a good draw aggressively would be correct for two reasons. First, you could persuade your poker rivals to fold, which would allow you to win the pot without having to make your hand. Second, if they were to call, you would have managed to build a larger pot with a good draw, which would enable you to win more if you would hit your hand.
Betting Middle Pair
Holding a hand like a middle pair on the board would be somewhat more complex to play correctly. Normally, your position would have a lot to do with how you would have to play this type of poker hand. Since you would be predisposed to entering most pots with high cards, a good percentage of the times you would flop a middle pair would occur when you would get a free or cheap look at the flop from one of the blind positions.
Being in the blinds would be a drawback to you, as you would have to act without much information about the strength of the poker hands behind you. Therefore it would normally be best to check middle pair from the blinds if several poker players were yet to act. Still, you should bet if only one or two rivals were to be in the pot with you, as you would probably be holding the best hand. You wouldn’t want to give your rivals a free chance to catch up when you would be in the lead.
In late position, you should bet your middle pair it would be checked to you. You could very well be holding the best hand here. If a number of poker players were to call, you could see the turn card and then re-examine your position in the hand. The same would go for almost any pair when it would be checked to you in late position.
For instance, you would have to bet if you were holding an ace and three, the board would be a king, a seven, and a three, and everyone would if they weren’t holding a king. If you were to check, you would essentially be giving up the pot, as someone would probably make a better pair by the river.
Nevertheless, you should think twice before betting an ace and a three if the board were showing a king, a queen, and a three, as it would be too likely that some poker rivals would call you here due to the existence of the big straight draw.