Poker Basics - Way ahead, way behind

Today we have a tip for new players on how to play when we are either miles ahead of our opponent or completely crushed.

A way ahead, way behind situation in poker is when the strength of our hand is very polarised. We are either miles ahead of our opponent or they are miles ahead of us. 

When you flop a set on a dry board you should play it as if you have the nuts and be prepared to go broke with it. When you have bottom pair you have a bluff catcher at best, don't put too much money in with it. A way ahead, way behind situation usually comes on paired flops where your hand is way too good to fold but you would be worried if you got a lot of action. 

Way ahead, way behind situations sound like a nightmare to play but in reality they are one of the simplest scenarios in poker. That is because they are best played passively using bluff catching strategies. You get worse hands to bet and minimise your losses against better hands. 

Are we crushed or crushing?

As always, an example is the best way to illustrate this. 

Let's say you have A J and the flop is A 6 6.

There are no real draws on this flop, so you probably the best hand by a mile beating most one pair hands or worse. However, you could also be crushed by any combination of AA, AK, AQ or any 6.

In this spot your best option would be to check/call most streets. 

If you bet you make it easy for all the hands you beat to fold and the only hands that would continue are way ahead of you. However, if you check, you allow weaker hands to put money into the pot by bluffing. You also minimise the amount you lose when your opponent does have one of the hands that beat you. If you bet, they could reraise you, but when they bet you can close the action on each street by calling.  

We are not worried about a draw hitting either, so we don't mind giving our opponents a free card when we check. Wet flops are never way ahead, way behind candidates because you can always get worse hands to call on draw heavy boards. 

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