SECOND PAIR FROM THE BLINDS
Let’s look at that K 
6 
on the big blind again, but this time let’s think about a flop like Q 
6 2 
. You’ve flopped the second pair with a pretty good kicker.
Someone may have a Queen, but if they do, you still have five outs that will improve enough to win.
How should you game play this hand? Again, it depends on the kinds of hands that the other active players are likely to have, with which kinds of hands they’ll be likely to call or raise if you bet, and with what kind of hands they’ll bet if you check.
It turns out that you should probably play this hand very similarly to how you’d play the hand if you’d flopped top pair.
In the loosest games, you should bet and call if anyone raises. In the tighter or more typical games, you should check and call if someone bets but fold if there is a bet and a raise.
This is again contrary to popular wisdom. Popular wisdom suggests that you should check and fold this hand in the loosest games and bet in most game conditions.
The argument for betting is that it will cause overcards to your 6 (hands with cards between a 6 and a Queen) to fold, improving your chances of winning the pot.
This idea of poker betting to thin the field is very common, but it’s frequently emphasized more than its value. Most of the time you thin the field of hands that you would profit from if they called. You aren’t really accomplishing anything of value.
In this situation of the second pair with a flop that has no potential draws, you just aren’t going to get called by hands that you can beat.
A bet might well win the pot for you, but if it doesn’t win it for you right now, in a tight or typical game you are not going to be in good shape if anyone calls or raises.
The best thing to do in a tight or typical game is to check and call. By checking you are likely to induce players from late position, or because of the ragged flop even from early position, to limit at the pot with maybe something like a single Ace or King overcard.
Letting another player bet a single King overcard is the best possible result for you. You not only have the best hand, the long-shot card they are hoping for is a King, a card that still leaves your card best.
In a very loose game, however, you should go ahead and bet because, like when you flopped the top pair with a weak kicker, you’re more likely to get calls from players with hands like 5♦ 2♦.
These are calls you will profit from.
Again, be more aggressive in very loose games with marginal poker hands. The loose players play hand even more marginal than your hands, and you will be paid off.
In tight games, however, you’ll usually do best by checking and calling with marginal hands.
If you bet, you won’t get called by hands that figure to be worse than yours, and by checking you may induce a bluff from a hand that would not have called your bet.
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
