There’s no rule for post-flop play apart from the same rule that guides reasonable players: you should play to win. If you can win with the flop as it is, then by all means go on and play. But if your sense and poker smarts are telling you there’s no way you’ll win the hand with that flop, then you should listen to yourself and fold so you won’t lose it all.
Of course, you probably want examples regarding how to play post-flop. Different situations call for diverse actions. The same rule mentioned above will be applied differently depending on how the action at the poker table has played out so far.
Examples of Post-Flop Poker wagering Strategies
- A monster hand – If you flop a nut, be happy. Your main goal in this case is to increase the amount of money in the pot. You can play it slowly after the flop (you can either check or call but don’t raise). However, whether you have already raised pre-flop, you should just go on with the same tack; changing your strategy post-flop will be a clear sign to the others that you are holding the nut.
- An o.k. hand – If you have an okay hand, then you can bet your hand in several ways. Whether you have a medium pair and the flop has revealed medium cards, then chances are high that you are still in the game. You can go on as you have so far; for instance, if you played aggressively pre-flop than you should keep playing aggressively. However, if the board has top cards (such as Ace, King or Queen), and all you have is a mid-range pair (say two nines), you should fold before you’re over bound. It is most likely that your opponents flopped a top pair.
- A small pair – If you get a pocket pair of small cards (such as a pair of 3s or 4s), your move should be according to the number of players and to your chip amount. When you are in short stack, usually the best thing is to go all-in. That way you can get rid of players with a high card and sometimes from the blinds, your purpose in such a hand is to heads-up with one player only, probably holding A-K or A-Q giving you 54% of a chance to win the hand. But if you are the chip leader or second best, you might consider playing slowly and hope for trips at the flop. That way if you hit your card you can milk the others, and if not, should be easy to discard.
There’s one more thing you should keep in mind about post-flop: many times players make a bet or even raise when holding A-K, A-Q or A-J because they feel they have a strong hand, but if the flop opens small or medium cards you should loose the hand. Of course it’s easier to say than to do, but that is one way great players are measured.
