The real challenge in Hold’em comes when you see the flop.

The flop is the defining point of the hand. Your hand after the flop can be put into two categories: you either have a ‘made’ hand (a pair, two-pair, trips), or a drawing hand (flush draw, straight draw, overcards).

You will have to decide how to play these hands based on your position and how many players are left in the hand.
If you were the pre-flop raiser in late position, then most of the time players still in the hand will check to you, and you will often make a bet regardless of whether you hit or not. This is known as a continuation bet.

When you flop a ‘made’ hand

Often though, you will still have the best hand post-flop and will be betting for value.

Imagine that you raise with A♦ K♦ from mid position, and the button and the blinds all call.

If the flop came K♥ 9♣ 3♣, you should almost always bet if it’s checked to you. If someone were to bet before you, you should probably still raise to make it expensive for players drawing to a straight or flush.

Most of the time in pots with two or three players, top pair, top kicker will take down the pot. Only think about folding your hand on the turn when the bet doubles if you bet and get raised or re-raised. This could well mean you are beaten and you have to fold, but you should rarely fold on the river if you have a good hand and it only costs you one big bet to win a pot ten or twelve times that size!

When you flop a drawing hand

Now let’s imagine you raise with the same hand – A♦ K♦ – pre-flop and get the same three callers, but the flop comes 4♦ 9♦ Q♥.

In this situation you have a drawing hand. You have nine ‘outs’ to make the nut flush, because there are still nine diamonds in the deck. You may also have six ‘outs’ to make top pair, should an Ace or King come on the turn or river. (We say ‘may’, because making top pair isn’t certain to win you the pot. An ‘out’ is a card that you think will give you the winning hand.)

Monsters

Lastly, there will be times when you flop a monster hand like a set (three of a kind), a flush or a straight. You should rarely, if ever, slow-play these hands. So bet, and raise wherever possible.

However, you might want to consider check-raising when you’re out of position with these very strong hands. This means checking when first to act, then raising when your opponent bets. Remember, there are plenty of bad players who do not understand the odds and correct play, and will happily hand over their money without thinking twice about why they keep losing. Now it’s your job to take it!