BETTING OPTIONS
If you’re first to act, or the round has been checked to you, then you have two options-you can check or bet. If someone has already bet, then you can call, raise, or fold.
Before you decide on which action to take, you need to think ahead. What’s going to happen after you act?What are the other players going to do? Then what?
If you check, and another player then bets, will you fold? Call? Raise? Think ahead because your options are actually much broader than checking or betting.
Think about why you might want to take certain actions. The flop is the time to make an assessment of your hand.
Do you have the best hand? If so, you probably want to take action that maximizes your chances of winning the pot right now.
STRAIGHTFORWARD PLAY
Especially when you’re just beginning in the game, you will want to play your hand very straightforwardly.
Bet or raise when you don’t have the best, and fold or call based on whether you are getting sufficient pot odds to draw.
It’s very easy for a beginner to develop what’s called Fancy Play syndrome (FPS).
That means you slow play too much, check-raise too much, semi-bluff too much, and generally spend too much time trying to be deceptive. It doesn’t work.
THE FLOP
BETTING OPTIONS TO CONSIDER |
|
If no one has bet you can, |
|
First Round |
Second Round |
Check |
fold to a bet |
Check |
call a bet |
Check |
raise a bet |
First Round |
Second Round |
Bet |
fold to a raise |
Bet |
call a raise |
Bet |
reraise if raised |
If someone has bet, you can, |
|
First Round |
Second Round |
Fold |
|
Call |
fold to a raise |
Call |
call a raise |
Call |
reraise if raised |
Raise |
|
Listed below are the symptoms of Fancy Play Syndrome
• Slow play
Slow play means that you are playing a very short hand weakly. You’re checking and calling rather than betting and raising.
There are times to slow plays, but not many of them. You should consider slow play if you have an almost unbeatable hand like a straight flush, four of a kind, or the best possible full house.
You should consider it, but not always do it. With weaker hands you should seldom even consider it.
Entering a Public Cardroom / The Play of the Game / The First Betting Round
