Very confused about the heads up article in bronze section

01.10.2010, 03:01 0

I have some questions about the heads up article in the bronze section:

For the out of position no pre flop raiser section, it says

"You can bet again on the turn with a made hand or a draw.
... You can abandon the hand if it has no value. You play check/fold, that is, check and then fold to any bets.
If the opponent raises the flop:
... You raise again with a good made hand or a strong draw."

When it says made hand (in bold), does that mean any pair, or just top pair and overpair, because the basic strategy articles say that top pair and overpair are the only pairs that are worth playing, and in one example it classifies 88 as a trash hand when there are 2 overcards, but then every pair is a made hand also, so I'm not sure whether it means bet again with top pair/overpair, or with any pair.

Same sort of question with bet again on turn with draw (in bold), does this mean even betting with gutshots/overcards and the chance of hitting a set with pocket pairs, or does it mean only straight draws and up?

Then when it says if the opponent raises the flop, I reraise with a good made hand. Does this mean top pair and better, or does it mean two pair and better? And with the strong draw, is this straight draw and up, or is it only monster draws?

Basically I'm really confused in this article whether made hand means any pair, or overcard and up, and strong made hand means top pair and up or two pair and up. Same thing with whether draw means having gutshot/overcards and chance of hitting a set, or straight draw and up, and whether strong draw means straight draw and up, or monster draw.

Sorry that I wrote so much, but I really need to know the answer to this, because I am getting put into difficult situations whenever I am heads up against someone, because I don't know whether strong and made hand means a different thing against a single player and am really confused about it. I would really appreciate if someone could clear this up for me.

2 replies

Boomer2k10

Joined: 22.09.2010

Posts: 2,550

01.10.2010, 18:06 0

This is a pretty large question to answer really. If poker could be solved with just hard and fast rules then it would have been done a long time ago.

In this situation I would define made hand as "Hand stronger than bottom pair". You have to get value for your hand if you have a pair and often players are going to be aggressive at you with strong hands so you should certainly be betting middle pair again for value as there are all kinds of hands especailly bad players will peel the flop with.

You also have to look at board texture. It's a lot easier to have a peeling hand on a board like T84 than it is on a board like A93. On the latter they are more likely to have paired up than have a draw so the value of you have has to be stronger in order to continue firing for value.

As far as re-raising range goes, do not forget it's a small pot and your opponent has no real need to go mental over it with a bad hand. Strong made hand here should probably be top pair good kicker+ unless the opponent is a known bad aggressive player, or he's someone who will notice you're betting every flop oop, but I wouldn't worry about that from people who don't raise.

As for draw, it comes down to board texture again, if your opponent is more likely to have a pair then there's no point betting again, you're just charging yourself for your draw and your opponent won't fold. If your opponent may have some draws or hands he's likely to fold then we can bet again with a wide range becasue he'll often fold.

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_Anonymous_

02.10.2010, 00:46 0

Thanks man, this has cleared it up quite a bit, I'll feel more confident in heads up play now!

[Closed] Very confused about the heads up article in bronze section