Strong Poker Hands

This category represents cards which have excellent possibilities of improving into winners, and in fact are favorites or near-favorites, but can in no way be considered lock hands. The starting hand A K in hold 'em, for example, is a strong hand with excellent winning potential. If all players stay in for the flop, though, the A K is subject to all sorts of flops which could make it an underdog.

Strong Hand Strategy
With strong hands, play aggressively. These types of hands have a good head start, but if you don't raise and force some players out, you take the risk of allowing mediocre hands to draw out and beat you. The more players in the pot, the higher the average winning hand will be and the higher the chance that a strong hand will turn into second best.

Let's illustrate this with an example. Suppose five players all have a chance at winning, and given your starting cards, you have three of those chances. Each of the remaining players has one chance each. Together, of those seven winning chances, you hold only three of them. This makes you an underdog to win the pot even though individually, you have the best chances of any one player. But if you were able to force out two of those opponents, of the five total chances of winning, you would now have shifted the odds in your favor, having three of the five total chances (instead of seven).

This simple example is not that far from the truth. The more weak hands you allow in to see a card, the greater the chances are that one of those weaker hands will improve and become a better hand than yours. By playing weakly with a strong hand, you increase the competition and decrease the chances of your strong hand finishing on top.

With strong hands, play aggressively right from the start. Either force out the marginal and weak hands or build up a pot which you're favored to win. With a strong but non-lock hand, you never should allow marginal or weak hands to play cheaply. If opponents want to see the show, they'll have to buy the tickets-at the price of your bets and raises.
If your previously strong hand appears now to be second best to a better hand, downgrade its relative value. It is no longer strong. The strong hand, by definition, means you're leading the pack. When that hand weakens to a trailing strength, you need to reevaluate it according to the new situation.

It is important to adjust strategies according to the situation. Poker is not a game of rigid corrects and incorrects. You must be able to think on your feet, using your skills and instincts in the context of smart poker play. To sum up: when you've got a good hand, you need to protect it by weeding out the competition so your hand has the best chance of taking the pot.

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Trailing Poker Hands

One step above the weak hand scenario is the trailing hand. You do not figure to currently have the best hand, nor are you favored to win if the hand is played out. Of course, a good draw will change that designation rapidly, but at the moment, you don't figure to have a strong enough hand to be considered a favorite or near-favorite. You need to improve.

Trailing Hand Strategy
Relatively speaking, a trailing hand is an underdog. Under the right circumstances, though, it does have some redeeming value. If the trailing hand can get into a pot cheaply or even grab a free card—allow a player to proceed to the next round for free because all players have checked-then this type of hand is worth playing to the next card. When the cost is a stiff bet, however, trailing hands must be folded and thrown to the wind. The winning possibilities of borderline hands aren't strong enough to warrant heavy investments into a pot.

A pair of jacks (J J), for example, is a marginal starting hand at hold 'em. It holds some possibilities of becoming a strong hand with a favorable flop, but at the cost of weighty betting, or the threat of having to meet raises behind its position, this hand isn't worth a call. If an ace, king, or queen appears on the flop, the jacks begin to pale under the bright lights. A pair of jacks are heavy underdogs to the probable queens, kings, or aces of opponents. If they are played against a flop like this, they will, in the long run, take heavy losses.

Position also plays an important role in the play of a trailing hand. From the last position, you can play a trailing hand because there is no possibility of being raised. In early position, though, a call would be fraught with the danger of a possible raise after the position. This is not a situation you want with a trailing hand.
To sum up, trailing hands are worth a play when the price is right, but if the cost is at a premium, they're rarely worth betting on. Save your sweet dreams for the late night, after the poker game. And save your money as well.

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