Poker Hand Review

It’s always a good time for a poker hand review. Given a few minutes, almost anyone can learn the rank of hands for poker. With a bit of luck, this might be enough to win on a small scale.

However, the knowledge of a few simple rules and hand rankings won’t be enough to turn the odds in your favour. Players must know what to do with certain hands, and when to do it!

Poker Hand Review: Examples

The best way to get a handle on what to do with certain poker hands is to look at some examples. Books have been written on this subject so examples are very simple and basic due to space limitations. Keep in mind that poker has been described as a “people” game that just happens to use cards and chips to give it some structure. Bluffing is a big part of successful poker.

Example 1

Let’s assume we are playing Texas Hold’em. Each player gets two cards face down and will use five cards on the board/table to make the best possible five-card hand he or she can. Player A has an Ace and a King of different suits. Player B has a pair of 9s. Player A acts first and raises, putting in twice the amount of the big blind. Player B wants to play his pair, hoping to catch a third 9 or see a pair on the board, giving him two pair. He calls the raise.

If the next three cards (the flop) are: Ace, 9, 5 – of different suits, we have an interesting situation. Player A has a pair of Aces with a King “kicker.”

Kicker can be the card that determines the winner if two players have the same pair, for example. So Player A has an above average hand and may feel he is strong.

Player B now has three 9s – also called a “set.” Since three of a kind beats any pair, Player B should be the winner, right? He is ahead at this point but he doesn’t really know what the first player has. Player A also doesn’t know what Player B has. This is a seven-card game.

Some options for Player A: Bet strong again – Maybe the other players will think he has a pair of Aces in the hole and a set with the Ace on the board; Check – play the Aces slow and hope to learn something about the other player’s hands by how they bet.

Some options for Player B: If Player A puts in a big bet, re-raise with the idea that he doesn’t have three Aces; If Player A checks, bet at least the amount of the pot to get in the lead on the betting.

This is just the beginning!