The Bad End of Good Cards

Hands like a straight, flush or full house are rare. That's why they are high-ranking hands.

For a given flop, though, it can happen that more than one player makes similar big hands. Unfortunately if you don't pay attention, it's easy to get the "idiot" end of one of those hands.

Let's say you are in the blinds and play 76. The flop comes 89T. Great, you have just flopped a straight! But wait a minute... If anyone has QJ, they suddenly have a better straight than you do. You have the "idiot" end because it looks promising but is bound to fail.

It's not that unlikely that someone is playing QJ. After all, good players tend to play higher-ranking cards. Let's say you bet out your straight and just get called. Chances are decent that you have the best hand at the moment. Now the turn comes Q, for a board of:

89TQ

Hold the phone, now ANYONE holding a J has you beat. If another player starts to bet heavily, chances are pretty good you are beat.

Flushes made with low cards are vulneralbe in a similar way. Let's say you play medium suited connectors:

7h 8h

The flop comes down

3h 9h Qh

Great! You made your flush. If any other player holds two hearts, one of which has to be the Th, Kh, or Ah, you are beat. That's not too likely.

Now the turn comes

5h

Now it only takes one heart biggern than your 8h to beat you. Look out for this kind of situation where you have made your flush, only to lose it when another flush card comes. A great way to protect against someone drawing to a higher flush is to make a fairly large bet.

Finally, it can happen that your full house loses to a higher full house.

Let's say you hold

QQ

with a flop of

AAQ

Wow, you flopped Queens full of Aces, great hand!. There are exactly two hands that have you beat at this point, AA and AQ. AA makes 4 of a kind, while AQ makes Aces full of Queens (beating your Queens full of Aces). There is only a 1-in-110 chance that a given opponent has one of these two hands, but if he starts to raise and reraise you, seriously consider the possibility. It has happened to me, and it was expensive.