Hold'em Tip

If your small pocket pair fails to improve on the flop, do not call additional bets to see the turn and/or river. One of the worst plays in Hold'em is to call a turn or river bet with and under pair. For example if you are holding 66 the only hand you can reasonably expect to win with is trips. Your chance of flopping a set is 7.5:1 against. If you do not flop a set, the chance of making the set on the turn and the river is only 11:1 against. On the turn or the river the chances are 22:1 against. Chasing these odds becomes a hole in your game that will allow your bankroll to leak slowly away. Many players use the excuse that the pot odds justify the call but this is seldom the case. In fact, it is almost impossible for pot odds to justify this call and implied odds are even more restrictive. After the flop, if he player in front of you bets and every player had called pre-flop you would have 11:1 pot odds. If every player called pre-flop, the player acting immediately after you bet, and all players called, the pot odds would only be 19:1. Unless you are in California or Austria , you will never find games with that much action. Save yourself some money. Muck small pairs if they don't improve on the flop. Approximate value of this tip in $1/2 game with 5 players seeing flop $0.37 for each time you fold in this situation or .01 cents per hand played.