Tag Archives: flush
Cold Calling: A Hold'em Discussion
Definition of a cold call- Its one of the most ominous thing you can see in a hand of holdem. A player raises, another reraises, and then a third guy decides, “Eh, my hands so strong, I dont even want to reraise; Im just going to cold call this bet.” The cold call is usually symbolic of massive strength in a hand, especially from an experienced player. To put it in perspective, look at how the hand has to be viewed from that players perspective. Okay, a guy raised in early position to 3x, then another guy popped it to 10x. I have a hand that I want to see a flop with, but dont mind having the player who originally raised call or raise; Im just going to call this. What kind of hands fit those criteria? If its a tight, solid player, it may only be AA or KK. If its a thinking, looser player, it may include Ax suited, 33, and other random junk that retains the scariness of the cold call. Understand what the cold call means from player to player is important in how you proceed against the cold caller.
Playing against the cold caller- Lets look at a river example in no limit holdem, determining what kind of hands we need to play against the cold caller. The board on the river is 3s8hAh7d2h, putting the flush draw on board on the river. You hold A8o for top two pair, and have been betting the entire way, with two player calling your flop and turn bets. You elect to fire a river bet. Your first opponent raises you, and your second opponent, a solid, tight player calls a bet and a raise cold. What sort of hand do you need to call this bet, and what sort of hand do you need to raise this bet? First of all, your two pair is essentially worthless due to the cold caller; the raiser is trying to tell you he made his flush, and the cold caller sees this and says, “Hey, I dont care, my hand is STILL good enough to call with here.” I would be folding sets and the 45 straight here against a solid player without any other information, and would only be inclined to call with flushes above the 9. The only hand I would ever consider a three bet with is the pure nuts, Kxh, as its just far too likely that one of your opponents is holding that precise hand, given the board. Thats how much power the cold call wields; be wary when you see it.
Cold calling: Your usage- You also may use the cold call as a play in your arsenal, but it needs to be used with caution. Many times, you may think a hand that you should fold can become a cold calling hand if you think your original opponent is weak; dont make that mistake, because between the raiser and the cold caller, as a rule, someone will have some sort of hand that is represented on the board. If its three flush, Im not cold calling without a weak flush. 8910xx? 67 becomes a cold call, as well as 1010, while 89 becomes a fold. Use it to plant a firm ground on the amount youre willing to invest in the hand.
How To Play Poker Cards and Their Rankings.
In order to explain how to play Poker – I am going to start out explaining the cards and the Card Rankings then move on to the various types of Games and what the differences are between them. The aim of the game in Poker – is to beat your opponents hands by holding a better ranked hand than they do. The cards rank from Two to Ace (although bear in mind that the Ace is allowed as both a Low and a High Card)
Single Card – This is the worst hand available and is where there is no common ground between any of the cards in your possession – They are not all the same color, not all the same suit and do not have any pairs of the same Marked Number.
A Pair – This is when two of the cards are the same Face Value – with a Pair of 2’s being considerably worse than a pair of Ace’s.
Two Pair – when you have two sets of pairs available to you – although beating a Pair – this is still not a strong hand and unless you have High Cards (Jack through Ace) you should be wary about betting highly.
Three of a Kind – This is when three of the cards available to you are all linked by the same Marked Number. E.g. Three 6’s or Three 10’s.
A Straight – This is when the cards get better and the Term stands for five sequential cards e.g. 4,5,6,7,8 but not all belonging to one suit. The best available Straight is the 10,J,Q,K,A.
A Flush – This is when all the cards are different Marked Numbers but all belong to the same suit – e.g. They are all Diamonds or are all Spades e.t.c. This is generally considered a strong hand and betting heavily on this would be expected. Be aware that the Highest Card of the Flush is the most important card as a 2,3,7,9,Ace would beat a 7,9,10,Q,K!
A Full House – This is a very good hand and is defined as a Pair and a Three of a Kind combined. That means in the five cards used – there are 2 matching numbers and 3 other matching numbers. Again the Three Card medley out-values the Pair should two players have the same hands.
Four of a Kind – A rare delight – when you have drawn this you are expected to bet heavily. This means that four of your cards all belong to the same Marked Number e.g. Four 8’s or Four Queen’s. The fifth card is only important should two players have the same identical cards – an unlikely event with this hand.
A Straight Flush – This is very rare and should be used to full effect when betting. This term applies to a hand of 5 cards – all consecutive numbers and all with the same suit. For example – 3,4,5,6,7 of Hearts would be termed as this and any player lucky enough to get this should bet heavily with it.
The Royal Flush – I have titled this appropriately as it is the hardest hand to get in the Game and should anyone be lucky to draw this at odds of 1 in 649,740 – you should be looking to bring every player into the game and bet all the chips available to you. This means that you have got the 10,J,Q,K,A of the same suit.