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.
Whenever a player has his hole card paired with one of his two upcards and another player has an open pair showing of a lower rank than the first player's, it is worth a raise for two reasons: (a) to attempt to drive out the other players and possibly the holder of the pair; (b) the holder of the lower hand must intimate the value of his hand by either dropping or raising. But the main reason is to get the most money possible into the pot with the fewest players.
One of the most stupid plays at Stud is to play for a flush when holding only three cards of a flush. The chances of making it by drawing two cards depends on the number of cards of the same suit in the upcards. For example, with three cards of the same suit showing in the other players' upcards, the chances against making the flush are approximately 24 to 1.