About the Author
Joanne Reid
Joanne Reid is a writer with eclectic interests (such as
gardening) and games.
After the first round of bidding, the dealer lays down three cards, known as the flop. These are available to all players to use along with their two hole cards. However, if you have played other forms of poker, it is important to adjust your thinking here. Whatever the flop is, it could very well suit anyone else's hand as well as your own. After all, three of a kind beats even two aces. You may have noticed in the pre-flop bidding that some people were bidding up a storm. They could have pairs and are counting on a third card to come up that will match their pair.
There are some statistics regarding the flop that are worth looking at. In any thousands deals, the statistical chances of a certain combination of cards is as follows:
3 of a kind - 2.4 deals out of a 1000
a pair - 176 deals out of a 1000
3 high cards - 29 deals out of a 1000
2 high cards - 290 deals out of a 1000
1 high card - 776 deals out of a 1000
While this is about the flop, much of your decision about this hand should be formed during the pre-flop. After all, the only difference between you and the rest of the players are your hole cards.
The pressure in Texas Hold 'Em is often in the stress of dumping your poor hands based on bad hole cards. Law of averages means that sooner or later, you will also get a good pair of hole cards and the wise player waits for hole cards worth bidding with rather than waste chips hoping for a good flop.
The fact is, often two pair or better will win. If after the flop, your pair is low and you can tell this by looking at the flop -- if there is a card there higher than the pair you have, then chances are very good someone else has the other part of that high pair. This is what I mean. You have a 9 and 10. The flop is Jack, 9, and 7. There is a good chance someone else has a jack, which will defeat your pair of 9s. Of course, the fewer players there are the better chance your 9s have of holding their own. If there are 7 players, fold. If there are 2 or 3, it might be worth hanging on.
Published by Joanne Reid on December 1, 2005 12:59 PM
