To look down and see two high cards in your grasp is usually a promising start to any hold'em hand. This we know. But when bad things happen to good cards and the flop fails to connect with either one of them, your beautiful beginning has turned into a thorny and potentially expensive situation. Your naked high cards aren't good enough for you to continue in the hand with any degree of confidence, and yet it can be oh-so-difficult to let go-especially if you raised before the flop-and oh-so-tempting to stay in, hoping to hit something on a later street.
The decision whether to continue, or give up the ghost now, depends on a multitude of variables. You need to take into account the texture of the flop, how many opponents are still involved, how much money is in the pot, your position, the playing style of your opponents, the action in front of you and the likely action behind you-and finally, are there any other draws with your overcards?
Is the flop ragged or coordinated? If you see straight or flush draws-draws that don't match up in any way with your overcards-then it's probably best to surrender now. If the flop contains non-matching big cards, for example, you hold A-K and the flop falls Q-10-6, then it's much more likely that one of your opponents already has at least a pair.
But if you're up against only one or two opponents, then the flop could easily have missed them too, in which case your high cards are probably in the lead. The more opponents you're facing, the more likely it becomes that at least one of them hit something. You also must consider that even if you hit something on the turn or river, you could still lose. Essentially you're drawing to make top pair, even with a premium kicker, top pair can have a tough time emerging victorious against a large field of opponents.
The situation becomes much more auspicious if you have other draws to go with your big cards, such as a gutshot straight or backdoor flush draw. In the above example, the Q-10-6 flop gives you an inside straight draw with your A-K. Assuming no flush draw is out there, a jack would give you the absolute nuts. So you have four more outs. But now there's another danger. If you do hit your ace or king for top pair, that same card may give one of your opponents a Broadway straight.
If you raised before the flop, your opponents will typically check it over to you on the flop. With nothing but overcards, do you bet or check along? As always, it depends. If there is any realistic chance that a bet can snag the pot for you right there-if you only have a small number of opponents and you believe they might fold-then by all means fire away. Or if you're in last position and you think a bet here can buy you a free card on the turn, that's another good reason to push out some chips.
Missing the flop with overcards is one of the most common predicaments in all of hold 'em. Knowing when to stay and when to quit can be a real conundrum. Toss those overcards into the muck too frequently and you'll miss out on some pots you could have won. But if you keep calling on the flop with nothing but overcards and a dream of hitting a pair on the river, you'll be committing the poker equivalent of taking cash out of your wallet and setting fire to it. Proceed with extreme caution.
Barbara Connors is a sucker for classic old movies, science fiction, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Her life's ambition is to figure out the unusual behavior patterns of that unique breed of humans who call themselves poker players. Contact her at fyreflye222@yahoo.com.
