Revised limit texas hold'em quiz.
Hi all,
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give me some feedback on the quiz. I've changed some of the questions, answers, etc... to make this quiz as 'foolproof' as possible. Basically, if I'm giving a quiz to beginners, I want the questions and answers to be as clear-cut as possible. No debate. No 'it depends'. Of course, this is impossible, but I think I'm closer now than I was before, and I was wondering if you agree. Thanks for your input so far, you made me realize where the really ambiguous material was, and if you have any comments/criticism/suggestions please feel free to reply. NL quiz to follow sometime this week.
Cheers,
all_aces
QUESTION ONE.
Let’s say it’s a $2/$4 game, and you are in MP with AhKc. The player to your immediate right just called pre-flop, and you raised. The button re-raised, and both you and the player to your right called. The flop came the Ad Qd 4c. The player to your right checked, you bet, and both players called. The turn comes the 9d. The player to your right checks, and you check because a flush is now possible. (Both players called your flop bet, which means that one of them could have been on a flush draw, that just got there). The button bets. The player to your right now raises, making it $8 to you. What should you do?
ANSWER:
Fold. It’s very likely that the player to your right has a flush, and there is no possible river card that could give you a better hand than a flush. Even if it could, it wouldn’t be worth your while to pay to see it. Since this is a multi-way pot (meaning there is more than one opponent playing against you in the hand) this is an easy fold. However, if it was heads-up between only you and an aggressive opponent, it might be worth calling him down. Check-raising or betting into a ‘scary’ board is a classic way to bluff. In a multi-way pot, though, people don’t often bluff into a board like this, because chances are good that someone has a hand that is better than one pair, and will call the bluff. If not a flush, then at least two pair, or three of a kind. You only have one pair, so you should fold when you are facing two or more opponents and this much betting action on this kind of board. Heads-up, however, an aggressive opponent could try to bluff you with a weaker hand than yours, and I’d probably call him down in that particular scenario.
QUESTION TWO.
You are in the BB with pocket eights. An early position player raises, and 3 players call. You call as well, because there are a number of people in the pot, and your big blind is already in, making it only $2 more to you. Five of you see a flop of: Ac 6d 8h. You act first, because the small blind folded preflop. What should you do: check or bet?
ANSWER:
You should bet, and hope that someone raises you, so you can re-raise. Whenever you make a really big hand like this you want to build the pot as much as possible, and flopping three of a kind on a non-threatening board like this one (no obvious straight or flush draws) definitely qualifies as a really big hand. While it’s true that you’d be losing to a player holding pocket aces, you can’t assume that someone has aces just because there was a pre-flop raise. All sorts of players will raise pre-flop with all sorts of hands, so you shouldn’t always be giving your opponents credit for big pocket pairs. You have flopped a monster, so don’t be shy. Bet and raise at every opportunity, and only slow down if there is a straight or a flush possibility by the river.
Another way to play this hand would be to go for a check-raise. The hand is powerful enough to set a bit of a trap with, so you could go for a check-raise on the flop, or just check and call the flop and wait until the turn—when the betting limits go up—to spring your check-raise trap. In addition to building the pot, you would add some deception to your table image: just because you check doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a weak hand.
QUESTION THREE.
It is folded to you preflop, and you have KdQc. You are in late position, to the immediate right of the button. What should you do?
ANSWER:
You should raise. Any playable hand—including suited connectors—should be raised if it is folded to you in late position. You will win the blinds if the remaining players fold, and if you are called or re-raised, you have a decent hand, and you have position on both of the blinds. If one of the blinds just calls your preflop raise, and checks the flop to you, a bet is usually enough to pick up the pot because of the strength you’ve already shown. Unless, of course, the blind hit the flop hard, and is planning to check-raise you. Also, if you are against the sort of opponent who is aggressive enough to attempt a bluff-checkraise against you on a rag flop, like 973, then you should check the flop behind him, and have a look at the turn. Against most opponents, though, betting any flop in this spot is usually correct. Never just call with playable cards from late position if it’s been folded to you pre-flop. You should raise, every time.
QUESTION FOUR.
You have pocket queens in middle position. Pre-flop, an early position player raises, and it is then folded to you. Should you re-raise, call, or fold?
ANSWER:
You should re-raise. A pair of queens is a great, but vulnerable, starting hand. By making it three bets before the flop, you are hoping to prevent players left to act with hands like KQ, Ax, etc… from calling. If any king or ace comes on the flop (and one of them often will), you will probably be losing to a pair of kings or aces, if a lot of players were to see the flop. You are re-raising to protect what is an excellent but vulnerable hand. Ideally, you want everyone to fold except the initial raiser, so you can play this hand heads-up. The fewer players there are seeing the flop, the smaller the chance that you’ll lose to somebody pairing up a card higher than a queen.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give me some feedback on the quiz. I've changed some of the questions, answers, etc... to make this quiz as 'foolproof' as possible. Basically, if I'm giving a quiz to beginners, I want the questions and answers to be as clear-cut as possible. No debate. No 'it depends'. Of course, this is impossible, but I think I'm closer now than I was before, and I was wondering if you agree. Thanks for your input so far, you made me realize where the really ambiguous material was, and if you have any comments/criticism/suggestions please feel free to reply. NL quiz to follow sometime this week.
Cheers,
all_aces
QUESTION ONE.
Let’s say it’s a $2/$4 game, and you are in MP with AhKc. The player to your immediate right just called pre-flop, and you raised. The button re-raised, and both you and the player to your right called. The flop came the Ad Qd 4c. The player to your right checked, you bet, and both players called. The turn comes the 9d. The player to your right checks, and you check because a flush is now possible. (Both players called your flop bet, which means that one of them could have been on a flush draw, that just got there). The button bets. The player to your right now raises, making it $8 to you. What should you do?
ANSWER:
Fold. It’s very likely that the player to your right has a flush, and there is no possible river card that could give you a better hand than a flush. Even if it could, it wouldn’t be worth your while to pay to see it. Since this is a multi-way pot (meaning there is more than one opponent playing against you in the hand) this is an easy fold. However, if it was heads-up between only you and an aggressive opponent, it might be worth calling him down. Check-raising or betting into a ‘scary’ board is a classic way to bluff. In a multi-way pot, though, people don’t often bluff into a board like this, because chances are good that someone has a hand that is better than one pair, and will call the bluff. If not a flush, then at least two pair, or three of a kind. You only have one pair, so you should fold when you are facing two or more opponents and this much betting action on this kind of board. Heads-up, however, an aggressive opponent could try to bluff you with a weaker hand than yours, and I’d probably call him down in that particular scenario.
QUESTION TWO.
You are in the BB with pocket eights. An early position player raises, and 3 players call. You call as well, because there are a number of people in the pot, and your big blind is already in, making it only $2 more to you. Five of you see a flop of: Ac 6d 8h. You act first, because the small blind folded preflop. What should you do: check or bet?
ANSWER:
You should bet, and hope that someone raises you, so you can re-raise. Whenever you make a really big hand like this you want to build the pot as much as possible, and flopping three of a kind on a non-threatening board like this one (no obvious straight or flush draws) definitely qualifies as a really big hand. While it’s true that you’d be losing to a player holding pocket aces, you can’t assume that someone has aces just because there was a pre-flop raise. All sorts of players will raise pre-flop with all sorts of hands, so you shouldn’t always be giving your opponents credit for big pocket pairs. You have flopped a monster, so don’t be shy. Bet and raise at every opportunity, and only slow down if there is a straight or a flush possibility by the river.
Another way to play this hand would be to go for a check-raise. The hand is powerful enough to set a bit of a trap with, so you could go for a check-raise on the flop, or just check and call the flop and wait until the turn—when the betting limits go up—to spring your check-raise trap. In addition to building the pot, you would add some deception to your table image: just because you check doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a weak hand.
QUESTION THREE.
It is folded to you preflop, and you have KdQc. You are in late position, to the immediate right of the button. What should you do?
ANSWER:
You should raise. Any playable hand—including suited connectors—should be raised if it is folded to you in late position. You will win the blinds if the remaining players fold, and if you are called or re-raised, you have a decent hand, and you have position on both of the blinds. If one of the blinds just calls your preflop raise, and checks the flop to you, a bet is usually enough to pick up the pot because of the strength you’ve already shown. Unless, of course, the blind hit the flop hard, and is planning to check-raise you. Also, if you are against the sort of opponent who is aggressive enough to attempt a bluff-checkraise against you on a rag flop, like 973, then you should check the flop behind him, and have a look at the turn. Against most opponents, though, betting any flop in this spot is usually correct. Never just call with playable cards from late position if it’s been folded to you pre-flop. You should raise, every time.
QUESTION FOUR.
You have pocket queens in middle position. Pre-flop, an early position player raises, and it is then folded to you. Should you re-raise, call, or fold?
ANSWER:
You should re-raise. A pair of queens is a great, but vulnerable, starting hand. By making it three bets before the flop, you are hoping to prevent players left to act with hands like KQ, Ax, etc… from calling. If any king or ace comes on the flop (and one of them often will), you will probably be losing to a pair of kings or aces, if a lot of players were to see the flop. You are re-raising to protect what is an excellent but vulnerable hand. Ideally, you want everyone to fold except the initial raiser, so you can play this hand heads-up. The fewer players there are seeing the flop, the smaller the chance that you’ll lose to somebody pairing up a card higher than a queen.
Comments
You have KcJc in LP. Everybody folds to you, so you raise. The small and big blinds call your raise, and the three of you see this flop: Ac9c6h. The small blind bets, and the big blind calls. What should you do?
ANSWER:
Raise. You have nothing but a flush draw, but you are in late position, meaning you are going to act last for the rest of the hand. You are raising your draw on the flop with the intention of checking the turn if a club doesn’t come. This is called raising for a free card. It’s not really ‘free’, but it is a good way to draw cheaply from late position.
Consider the two possibilities. Let’s say you just call the bet on the flop. The turn card is a heart, and you call the small blind’s bet again, hoping for a club on the river. The river is a diamond, and you fold to the his final bet, because you missed your flush. $2 preflop plus $2 on the flop plus $4 on the turn means that you spent $8 on this missed flush draw.
Let’s look at the other possibility: you raise the flop after the small blind’s bet and the big blind’s call, and they both call your raise. The turn card is a heart, and because of the strength you showed on the flop, they check to you, expecting you to bet with what they think is a strong pair, at least. But, since your club didn’t arrive, you check as well, and since you are the last to act, you will all see the river card for ‘free’. The river card is a diamond, and one of them bets, and you fold. $2 preflop plus $4 on the flop plus $0 on the turn means that you spent $6 on this missed flush draw, which is $2 less than if you’d just called the flop and the turn bets.
QUESTION SIX.
Again, you have KcJc in LP. Three players call before you, and you just call as well. The small blind calls, and the big blind checks, so six of you see the same flop: Ac9c6h. The first player checks, and the second player bets. The third player calls. What should you do?
ANSWER:
This time, you should just call the bet. This pot has a lot of players in it, so you would be better off just calling the flop, and not raising for a possible free card. Although raising for a free card with a good draw to the best hand works well in pots where there you have only one or two opponents, in a big multi-way pot, you want to keep as many players in as possible, because there will be more money in the pot (and more players to pay you off) if you hit your draw. If you raised the flop for a free turn card, some of the players would probably fold, but your good flush draw would want them to stick around. Losing players by raising for a free card and drawing cheaply doesn’t make sense when you can keep 5 players in by just calling, many of whom may pay you off if you hit your flush. Against one or two opponents, however, there wouldn’t be enough players in the hand in the first place to make it very profitable for you if you made your flush, so keeping them in the hand isn’t a factor. In that case you’d want to try and raise for a free card, so you could draw as cheaply as possible.
QUESTION SEVEN.
You have black kings in MP. One EP player calls pre-flop, you raise, and only the BB and the EP player call your raise. 3 of you see the flop: Ac9h7h. EP checks, you bet, the BB folds, and EP calls. The turn is the Qs. EP checks, and you bet again, to charge him for his flush draw if that’s what he has. He calls. The river is the 3c. EP checks. Should you check or bet?
ANSWER:
You should check as well, ending the betting. Since the flush draw didn’t materialize, you won’t get called by the EP player on the river if that’s what he had. So, the only hands he will (likely) call you with are hands that can beat you. If you are in late position on the river, and you have the choice to check or bet, you should always think about that before you bet. What hands could my opponent call with here that I can beat? If the answer is: there are a lot of them, then you should bet. If, however, the answer is: only unlikely ones, you should check behind. Would he call you all the way to the river with a flopped pair of nines? Probably not—at least, he shouldn’t. Would he call you all the way to the river with a flush draw? Yes, but the flush draw didn’t get there, so he wouldn’t give you any more of his money if you bet the river. Would he call you all the way to the river with a pair of aces, but never raise? Very possibly, yes. Especially if he’s a tight player, and he believes you may have a better kicker than he does.
You save yourself a bet if you’re losing to a pair of aces, by checking behind (minimizing your losses). There are very few hands worse than yours that would actually call a bet on the river. Chances are, you’ve either been beaten by aces, or you’ve beaten a flush draw that wouldn’t call your last bet anyways. With all this in mind, you should check.
QUESTION EIGHT.
You have 7s8s in the small blind. A few players call, a late position player raises, and you call the raise, as do all three of the other players. 5 of you see the flop: 2d 8h 6s. You are first to act, and you check, because of the preflop action. The next player bets, the next raises, the next folds, and then the late position player (who initially raised pre-flop) re-raises. Do you call the three bets, cap it, or fold?
ANSWER:
You should fold. You entered this pot with suited connectors, and you didn’t flop a good draw. Sometimes, suited connectors end up flopping top pair, so you can be swayed from your original plan of flopping a good draw because you flopped top pair. If, however, people are betting and raising and re-raising, it’s time to fold your top pair. Any pocket pair of twos, sixes, eights, nines, tens, jacks, queens, kings, or aces is beating you, as well as anyone who played an eight with a better kicker, like A8s, or 89s.
Even if your pair of eights happens to be the best hand on the flop, which in itself is pretty unlikely when you’re facing a bet and a raise, there is a very good chance that overcards (cards higher than eight) will come on the turn and/or the river. Since none of your opponents seem very likely to fold if you cap it preflop, chances are extremely good that at least one of them will hit one of their overcards on the turn or river, beating your lowly pair of eights. Your hand is simply too weak to bother playing past the flop unless you have a strong draw to a flush or a straight, especially after the pot has been raised. One weak pair is not good enough, and if it is, it won’t be for long under these circumstances.
You have AsQs in early position, and you raise pre-flop. One middle position player calls, as does one late postion player. Both blinds fold. Three of you see the flop: Ts4cJh. You check, the middle position player bets, and the late position player calls. Call, raise, or fold?
ANSWER:
You should call. I know I advise folding on the flop if all you have is overcards, but you have more than overcards here. You have a gutshot straight draw (any K gives you the straight) and you have what’s called a backdoor flush draw. A backdoor flush draw is when you hold two suited hole cards, and one of your suits comes on the flop. You need both the turn and the river to come up as your suit to make your flush, which doesn’t happen often.
If you only had one of these things going for you on the flop—overcards, or a gutshot straight draw, or a backdoor flush draw—then you should indeed fold to a bet. However, there is strength in numbers, so while any single one of these weak draws would be an easy fold on its own, the fact that there are three weak draws going for you makes it an easy call, instead. If the turn doesn’t come as a spade, an ace, a queen, or a king, you should fold to a bet at that point.
QUESTION TEN.
You have AhJh in MP. The first player raises, the next player calls, you call, and the button calls. 4 of you to the flop: 3hKh9h. The first player bets, and the second player raises. Do you call or re-raise?
ANSWER:
You should call, hoping to keep as many players in the pot as possible. Save your raise for the turn when the betting limit goes up, and only slow down if the board pairs, making a full house or quads possible. When you flop the best flush—also known as the nut flush—you want to play it in such a way as to maximize your winnings.
QUESTION ELEVEN.
You have TcJc on the button. Five players call preflop, and you just call as well. The small blind completes his bet, and the big blind checks. 8 of you to the flop of Ah 9c Qc. One player bets, another raises, and another re-raises. It’s your decision. Should you call, fold, or cap the betting?
ANSWER:
You should cap the betting. You have flopped an open-ended straight flush draw. Any club gives you a flush, and any 8 or K gives you a straight, which will probably be enough to win you the pot. Furthermore, if you’re lucky enough to get an 8 or K of clubs on the turn or river, you’ll have made a straight flush, which will 100% guarantee you the pot. Interestingly enough, you have a better chance of winning this pot by the end than someone with AK, who has already flopped top pair, best kicker. The more bets that go into the pot on the flop, the bigger the pot will be if you win it, which you will, more often than not. So, you should cap the flop, and hope that as many people call as possible. If you don’t make one of your draws on the turn card, however, you will want to slow down, because a player with AK now stands a much better chance of winning with only one card to come for your draw. But you should get your money in when you have the best of it, and on the flop, you do.
Note that you are not raising the flop specifically for a free turn card, as was the case in question five. Here, you are raising the flop for value, because your draw has so many outs that you’re essentially making money on every bet that goes into the pot. Also, because of all the interest that was shown in that flop before the betting got to you, it doesn’t look like many—if any—players are going to fold to your re-raise, so you don’t have to worry about losing them. Chances are good that you won’t get a free turn card —the flop was bet, raised and re-raised before it got to you. Clearly, there are other players in the hand who really like their chances, as well. If the turn card doesn’t help you, and it actually does get checked to you, it may not be a bad idea to take a free card, by checking as well, if you can get it.
Again, you have KcJc in LP. Three players call before you, and you just call as well. The small blind calls, and the big blind checks, so six of you see the same flop: Ac9c6h. The first player checks, and the second player bets. The third player calls. What should you do?
So if the SB checks, Bb bets, and the 1st calls, what happens to the other two? I assume you are in LP/button
Good catch! Thanks dude.
Regards,
all_aces
Arg. Must have been the ADD acting up.
I guess this means a 25% pay cut...
ScottyZ
Hmmm...
I once heard that the raw chemicals in a human body are worth about $0.11. But we should really take me in to the Antiques Roadshow first in case I have some kind of rare and valuable historical document hidden in some orifice that I am not aware of.
Wait a minute. Forget that plan entirely. I just checked the fine print and I'm not returnable. Seems like it's due to the same kind of reasoning that applies to not returning underwear. The product has simply been in too close proximity with someone's "special areas".
ScottyZ
Not touching that one...
Regards,
all_aces
Darn tootin'. NO MEANS NO.
ScottyZ