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When you've flopped top pair and someone draws out on you, you'll often bemoan your luck. But you have to realize that Limit Hold'em is a chasing game. Since you're a good player, you'll be drawn out on more than a bad player will be.
Fortunately, there are ways to defend your hand and make it as expensive as possible for opponents who call you all those chasers. There are also ways to maximize your winnings when you do have the best of it. While flopping top pair in No-Limit Hold'em isn't necessarily cause for celebration, it's often enough to take down the pot in a Limit Hold'em game.
Obviously, the more players involved in the hand, the less likely one pair will win. The trick is to win as much as you can when your top pair hand is the winner and to lose as little as possible when you're either out-kicked or just plain beaten. I know it seems pretty obvious, but many people seem to forget that simple concept.
When you flop top pair, you've got to evaluate your hand.
* Are you likely to get any action from a worse hand?
* How good is your kicker?
* Do you have to protect your hand?
* Is the board draw-heavy?
* What position are you in and what's the best way to proceed?
Let's say you're in early position and you flop top pair with a good kicker. You're quite sure you're in the lead. What is the best way to protect your hand?
First off, you'll have to determine where the likely bettor will be. Is he to your right or to your left? If he is to your left, is it likely you could bet and get him to raise out the rest of the field? Or… if he is to your right, you might want to check-raise to isolate him and eliminate the rest of the field.
Example 1
I'll try to evaluate the strength and vulnerability of my hand before I act.
* My hand: J-9 spades in the big blind
* Four other players decide to see the flop.
* The flop comes J – 2 – 2
* The raiser was a tight aggressive player in middle position.
I'm going to bet and see how the other players react. One by one they fold, until the pre-flop raiser decides to raise me. Everyone else gets out of the way and the action is back to me.
What do you do?
This is a very tough spot to be in. What could your opponent have? He could easily have an over-pair which would put you in really bad shape, but he could also have A-K and be semi-bluffing?
This is where it'll be really helpful to know a little bit about your opponent. Generally, I'm going to re-raise my opponent or fold. In this case, my opponent is tight and aggressive. Since nobody else has continued on with the hand, the pot doesn't figure to be very big and I'll probably play it more cautious and fold.
A lot of you might think that is too cautious and you could be correct, but my opponent is tight and aggressive. He'll probably fire a bullet on the turn and the river and without knowing where's he at, I'm in an unenviable spot.
This hand illustrates one of the reasons why I hate playing hands out of position. Let's suppose the raise comes from a loose aggressive player on the button. How might that change the way I play the hand?
In this case, I'm not convinced that my opponent has a big hand. He's loose and he's playing his button. I'll check, hoping and counting on the aggressive player on the button to bet. When he bets, I'll check-raise, getting rid of any lingering hands that might find a way to beat me.
I've now isolated the loose and aggressive player. If he three-bets me, I'll probably continue with the hand. I might even call him and fire again on the turn when a blank hits. I'm playing this hand to the river because of my opponent's image. If he has a big hand this time, I'll just have to pay him off.
Playing out of position can be tough, which is why I am always looking for excuses to play hands in position and not to play hands out of position. When you play out of position you are vulnerable to the semi-bluff. Your opponents will raise you on the flop in the hope of you folding or that they can get a free card on the turn. If you flop top pair, you'll want to defend against this. There is nothing worse than giving a free card to opponents that are chasing you down.
Example 2
You raise in middle position with A-Q and two players call you, including one on the button.
The flop: A♥ 7♥ 10♠. You bet and your opponent on the button raises. What could he have?
He could have flopped two pair, a set, top pair, or possibly a draw. The best two defenses against the semi-bluff are to fold or to raise. Calling is usually the worst option, but in this case I'll bet and if I get raised, I'll call. If a blank falls on the turn, I'll fire into him making sure he doesn't get the free card.
If he smooth calls me, it gives me the option of checking to him on the river and inducing a bluff. I'll only check to him if he's capable of bluffing. I don't want to miss that value bet on the river.
Playing top pair in position is a lot easier. You can manipulate the table into doing what you want. Depending on how the pre-flop action went and who my opponents are, I can play top pair many different ways. One thing I'm never doing is checking it around. If it gets checked to me, I'm going to bet.
Usually if someone bets into me, I'll raise, although I'll occasionally wait until the turn to put a raise in. Some players make the mistake of slow playing top pair in a multi-way pot. You've got to realize that while you might be a favourite against one player, you're probably not a favorite against the field, especially if the field is more than three players.
A strong play with top pair is to raise on the turn with a hand that you're not quite sure about. Because of the pot and your hand, you can't fold, but you're not 100% sure that you're winning.
Example 3
Your hand: Q-J on the button. You raise and three players call.
Flop: Q-9-3. The action is checked to you and you bet.
The aggressive big blind check raises and everyone else folds. He's been known to do this on a draw, so maybe he has J – 10, but of course he could have K-Q or A-Q and you'd be out-kicked. Because you're in position, you can smooth call and see how the hand develops.
The turn is a 5 and your opponent bets again. Now this is a spot where I'd fold or raise. If I think I'm beat, I'll release it. If I think I'm ahead, I'll raise. If I'm not sure, I'll raise. The reason I'm raising is simple. I've decided to call him down, but by raising on the turn, I have some upside. If I just call on the turn and call on the river, I'm risking two big bets.
If I raise on the turn, he'll probably check to me on the river and I can check behind if I don't improve. Either way, I'm risking two big bets. If do improve on the river by hitting my kicker and I make two pair, I can bet and win an extra big bet. In addition, if my instinct was correct and he was on a draw, I make him pay the maximum for it.
At the end of the day, Limit Hold'em is a game of kickers – you always want a good kicker to go along with your top pair. I'm a big fan of raise or fold. If you think you're in the lead, go ahead and raise. If you're behind, go ahead and fold unless of course the pot is laying you enough odds to chase.
Getting to know your opponents is imperative if you want to beat the game. If every time you flopped top pair, regardless of the kicker, you went to showdown, you'd find it very difficult to beat the game. You don't want take too much heat with top pair and no-kicker. Against some players, J-2 on a J-9-6 board will be the nuts, but against others K-Q on a Q-10-7 board will be garbage.
Watch your opponents and try to figure out what hands they play in each position. What hands will they call raises with? What hands will they raise with? This will help you determine if you're indeed in front when you flop top pair. Once you know where you stand in the hand it'll be much easier to determine the best course of action.
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