The Free Card
You raise pre-flop with Ad Kc and get two callers. The flop is Qh Js 10h. You just flopped a Broadway Straight (AKQJ10). What do you do now? Well if the Q or the 10 were not both hearts, then you might just want to slowplay this monster and see if you can win a bigger pot but if you check and the others players check then they could well be drawing to a heart flush for free! You would have given them a free card. What you want to do is charge them for that draw, in fact, you might want to charge them so much (assuming this is a no limit game) that it will not make sense odds-wise to call you looking for that third heart to hit the board.
So the rule is: Don’t give an opponent a chance to beat you for free. Bet and make them pay if they want to play for the draw that will top your winning hand.
There is a slightly more sophisticated play that you might want to add to your arsenal and that is betting on the flop to get a free card on the turn. Let’s say you are the one with the two hearts in your hand and someone bets that QJ10 flop, now usually they are not sitting on AK for the big straight; they are betting an AQ or perhaps two pair. So what do you do? Well if you are seated behind them, you raise. If they reraise then beware they might have the straight but if they just call your raise, you can be fairly sure they have top pair or perhaps two pair. Now the turn card comes and if it does not hit you, they may check fearing another raise from you and you have just bought yourself a free card. Why do this? Well in a limit game, say $5/$10 Hold’em, that raise on the flop was $5 but the bet on the river was $10. So by putting fear into your opponent, you bought a free card at the higher betting level.
Sometimes you don’t want to give a free card and other times you want to buy yourself one, if not free then at a deep discount.
-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #45
