Playing Overcards from the Front
You are in early position, there have been no callers yet, and it is your action. You look at your hand, Ace…and…King. You decide to raise it 4x the big blind and get 2 callers behind you. The dealer puts out the flop, blank-blank-blank. What do you do next? Much is deliberated about this situation. This is also one of the most commonly misplayed situations. A great hand preflop, now turned into complete rubbish. But this doesn’t have to be. In this article I will give a quick explanation of how to play this and similar situations the correct way.
The most probable reason missing the flop with big overcards is misplayed so often, is that players have a tendency to define their playing style to their opponents. By this, I mean, their play becomes stale and obvious. Their opponents know that they only raise from early position with big cards and that they always continuation bet when they miss the flop after being the preflop raiser. So, if you decide to continuation bet here and lead out, your opponents know exactly where you are.
The first step you need to take is to mix up your play. Too many players get into the habit of always raising big cards from early position and always calling mediocre cards. This means sometimes raise your 5-6 suited or pocket 8-8 as well as just limp with your A-Q, A-K, and K-Q suited. Like I stated earlier, most players define their play by always continuation betting when the miss after being the preflop aggressor. The best ways to avoid this problem are as follows: Do the first step above and mix up what how you play your hands preflop. This way when the board comes low or straight cards your opponent knows that those are the type of cards you play. Next would be to mix up the frequency in which you bet or slowplay when hitting the board. If you always continuation bet when you miss and always slow play your sets, you have defined your playing style. As well, by sometimes checking with hands like A-K and A-Q , when you flop an Ace, you will keep those opponents in with A-J and A-10 all the way to the river.
I hope this article has helped you learn how mixing up your play will make playing those big cards from early position much more profitable.
-this is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #220
