When you are faced with a call when you have a hand you are sure is not the best use this table to determine if you should call or fold.
Example – you have 98 and the board is 65K – Player A bets into you for $1 the pot is $7
To figure out whether to call or fold take his (bet + the pot) and take the (bet x the odds) if the (bet + the pot) is greater call if not fold
Lets do this example – you have 4 outs (four 7’s) the odds for four outs on the turn is $1 x 9 = $9 the pot is $1 + $7 = $8. The Pot is less than the odds so it would be correct to fold
Note
If you are drawing to a hand that could be beat even if you hit one of your outs consider folding.
Example hands
A2 board 2TJ bet is $1 pot is $8 >> Fold
98 board is TJK bet is $1 pot is $8 >> Fold
9h8h board is 6c7cAc bet is $1 pot is $8 >> Fold
In all hands you had odds to call but even if you hit you could still lose so it is correct to fold.
Could there be a raise behind you? You must also take that into consideration before you call
You have a mediocre hand
you will often be faced with a situation where you have an ok hand and don’t know how to play it example – AJ and the board is QJ2
How many players are still in the pot? If the answer is 3+ play the hand like a drawing hand unless no one shows stenght than play aggressively by betting raising or check raising (with the intention of raising people out not building the pot). The larger the pot the more aggresive you should play.
If there are only 1-2 people in the hand play very aggressive and very tight.
Don’t be afraid to raise – If player A bets you can raise to force out player C plus player A will probably check to you on the turn giving you options.
If at any point you’re raised play the hand like a drawing hand.
You have a good hand
a good hand example – KT and the board is K97
Play this hand very aggressive until someone shows strength then play the hand like a drawing hand.
Check raise – if you’re in early position and you’re sure someone in late position will bet, check than raise. This will force the players to call 2 bets, if they do its probably the incorrect call whereas if you bet out they would most likely be making a correct call.
You have a great hand
example – AQ and the board is AsQh6c
Don’t slow play! Bet out no matter how many opponents there are its probably correct to bet out unless you’re sure you can check raise.
If someone infront of you bets call if the pot is small (only a few opponents and there was no raise preflop) and raise if the pot is large (5+ players or the pot was raised preflop)
If someone raises your bet and you have position wait for the turn to raise him, this is because the bet doubles on the turn. (Exception – there are others in the pot raise on the flop to get these extra bets they might drop out on the turn most poor players call the flop with anything and fold to a turn bet)
If you don’t have position example – you bet Player A behind you raises, re raise him back he could be looking for a free card.
You have a monster
example QQ and the board is Qh8h8c
play this hand just like you would a great hand with a few exceptions:
If someone bets in front of you don’t raise forcing your opponents to fold unless the pot is huge.
If you have a very aggressive player to your immediate left check so when he bets you can trap the entire field into 2 bets. (If the pot is large it could also be a good idea to call the flop bet then raise the turn bet trapping atleast some of your opponents for a double sized bet).
