Poker Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
If the pot is opened and you follow the opener, you simply stay with the aces up. In a loose game you should refrain from raising as long as there are players behind you still to speak. Such hands profit most from position—you raise after nearly all players have spoken and have already decided to play or fold. Thus you increase the size of the pot if other players meet your raise, you give yourself a better chance of winning against fewer players, and the pot is about the same size as if all players stayed and you didn't raise.
Reraising depends on the betting limit, the size of the pot, and your appraisal of your chances to better your hand with the draw. Suppose you have opened with three kings, the player to your right has raised, and another player after him has reraised. This time you simply call (play). You don't want the original raiser to fold, since you expect to win the pot.