Poker News

Tom ‘Time’ Leonard

In this installment of Improving Performance, let’s examine a situation that occurs with frustrating frequency. Namely, missing the flop. Here is the scenario: you’ve just been dealt a fresh hand, which you haven’t looked at yet. Why haven’t you looked as yet?

Because you’re watching the other players until it is your turn to act. As an aside, if you’re wasting that precious time staring at your own hand, you would be better off trying to glean some valuable information by watching your opponents.

Back to the situation at hand. You’re delighted to see Big Slick, an Ace and a King. You bring it in for two bets and are called in four places. You miss the flop completely and it is checked to you. What do you do now, in addition to silently cursing the Poker Gods?

When presented with this situation, many players feel compelled to fire away based upon demonstrating pre-flop strength. They believe they either have the best hand and/or have six outs to make the best hand. Others groan internally, curse the Poker Gods and either check to see what happens or meekly muck their hand in the face of a bet. There is a lot more to consider before just systematically reacting like a tiger or a lamb.

This is an important situation in Hold’em as you will be left stranded after the flop more often than you will hit it. So, due to the frequency in which this occurs you should give careful consideration as to your next step so that you can feel confident that you’re making the best of an unfortunate situation.

Poker is a game of relative values and can not be played successfully by some formula such as basic strategy in Blackjack. It is a game of texture and feel and above all, knowing your opponent’s tendencies.

So… what criteria should guide our play? One critical element of this situation is how many opponents saw the flop. If you’re heads up, then you may well still be boss. However, if the flop was seen by five or six others, you are most likely toast and in deep trouble. Other factors that are critical in this situation, aside from the number of opponents you’re up against include: your position, your perceived table image, your knowledge of your opponents and the texture of the flop.

Remember, if the flop doesn’t hit you, it probably hit someone else in a multi-way pot. As an example, if the flop produces a 6-9-10 double suited (of which you hold none), even though you hold two over cards, this flop is very dangerous. Some chowder head who played 7-8 off suit from early position just hit the nuts! Aside from that possibility, there are a myriad of straight and flush draws to contend with. Let’s not forget the wily player who called your raise because he held 9-10 suited and now has two pair. All in all, you should be thinking of heading to the showers with this flop. However, if the flop is not at all coordinated you might be well advised to represent your “Big Pair” and fire away to thin the field.

Our goal for this installment is to never play “Formula Poker” and react the same way each time a similar situation presents itself. Faced with holding over cards like A-K or A-Q and missing the flop requires thought and analysis. Think about the critical elements outlined above before just automatically either hitting the gas pedal or the brake. Played correctly, a missed flop for Big Slick can still be profitable. Even if it’s just the amount of chips saved by bailing early. Those saved chips spend just as well as the earned ones! See you next “TIME”.

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