JUDGING THE BEST HAND IN POKER

Best Poker Room For Loose Players: PARTY POKER

There is an old saying in poker that has a lot of merit: "Get all your chips in when you have the best poker hand." It is a stoical way to deal with injustice in poker, because there is nothing more that can be done other than to bet your hand when you are sure you have the best of it. The river might change matters and allow your opponent to suck out on you but that's poker, and you know that in the long run good play will be rewarded.

What I would like to discuss here is altogether more subtle, namely how can you be sure that you do have the best hand? With this problem comes the glaring and very common weakness of over betting a hand. The notion of what is the best poker hand can be a relative one. You might have the best hand on the flop in Omaha Hi Lo or Texas Holdem but have very few redraws, whereas your opponent has so many redraws that his hand is actually the favorite to win the hand. An example or two should clarify this issue.

Example 1: You hold Big Slick, Ah Kh, and you're up against a solitary opponent in Hold'em. The flop comes 5s 6s Ad. You are jubilant because you somehow believe that top-pair is a rock solid hand, when the reality is that no hand is over bet more in this form of poker then top-pair with a good kicker. You throw in a large bet only to be re-raised. Your opponent is holding 7s 8s. Who has the best hand? At this moment, if Texas Hold'em required only three community cards then you would be the winner. Unfortunately for a lot of people who play this game and love to exclaim that "they were winning pre-fop/on the flop/on the turn" the game requires all 5 community cards before a winner is announced.

With that in mind the best hand is actually the 7s 8s because it will win this specific pot approximately 60% of the time. The issue is one of redraws. The suited connectors have a lot of room to improve and if they do improve they instantly defeat the AK. Any spade wins the pot immediately. As does any 4 or any 9. That's a massive 15 outs (9 for the flush and 6 for the straight because the 4s and the 9s have already been counted as outs for the flush draw).

Example 2: You hold 9h 5s Th As in a game of Omaha poker facing five opponents and the flop comes 6d 7d 8c. There are still a lot of players in the pot to overcome but you do have the nuts right now. You also have no redraws, and it is imperative that you don't fall in love with your hand. This straight is the best possible hand that you can make. The problem in a game like Omaha is that a lot of players like to see the flop and many of those still in the hand will have plenty of redraws.

I guarantee you that if there are 6 players in an Omaha pot (particularly an online Omaha pot) and the flop comes two of a suit at least one of those six players will have a flush draw. There will be players with diamond draws, players holding TJ who could make a bigger straight if a 9 comes, and players who have flopped sets. And all of these players will feel entitled to stay in the pot regardless of the pressure you bring. Too often in poker one gets angry because players stayed in hands when they knew you were ahead at the time. Good players sometimes stay in for precisely those reasons. They know that if they do hit their hand they will get paid off by the front runner, because front runners hate to give up on their hands. Even when the board pairs on the turn, bringing another 7, and the river brings a diamond you will see that same pathetic soul at your Omaha table clutching on to his 9T. See, he wants to show everyone that he flopped the nuts. Only, no one cares!

Poker is decided by the last card not by your hole cards or anything in-between unless you are able to bet everyone else out of the hand. And you must be aware that there are times when it is impossible to bet opponents out of a hand when they have a legitimate chance of making the nuts when it counts - at the end of the hand. The only way to learn this is from bitter experience, and many poker players never learn. They think it is a grave injustice when they led and were caught, even if the numbers dictated that they were underdogs.

It's a lot like horse racing where the horse on the lead sets out at a frightening pace and builds up a big lead. I'm sure that horse is also personally appalled when he gets passed near the finish line but those shrewd handicappers in the crowd who moonlight as online poker players could see it happening as the field rounded the final turn. See, that lead horse had no redraws. Simple as that. Marc Weinberg is the Senior Editor at Online Poker Insider, and you can read his daily articles about playing online poker there.