To be able to win in poker games, you should know when to play your strong hands and when to hold back.

The general rule to follow is to maximize your winning and minimize your losses. Mastery of both is required, both in theory and in practice.

That is, you must know how to play each specific situation given the limited amount of information that you have.

Know when to pounce and take advantage of a winning edge.

Popular Wisdom Beckons

In a limit Texas Hold’em game, it is a universal belief that you should try to eliminate as many players as you can pre-flop if you have a starting pair of an Ace and a Queen.

The main reason for this strategy is that such a hole card combination has great value only in short-handed tables or, barring that, in tables where fewer people are competing for the pot.

There are those who have extended this belief to say that if you cannot reduce the number of players in the pre-flop round with your raise, then you should drop from the hand rather than sticking it out for the flop.

This makes sense, people say, since you cannot achieve your objective anyway. That is, the raise must reduce the number of players in the hand; if it can’t do that, you shouldn’t bother.

I Say

I say you should still raise pre-flop with an Ace-Queen combination even if (based on other hands) its’ unlikely that your opponents will fold their hand because of your move.

If you’re in a late position and there are still a lot of players in the round (say, only one or two have folded), I say there’s still merit in raising.

The point is, raising makes the hand more costly for people who are waiting for a hit at the flop. If your opponents are the type of people who usually stick around for the flop, then raise the price of their hedging by raising.

>Aside from raising the cost of staying in the game for people who are hoping to hit, you are also staying in the game and thereby giving your hand the chance to improve.

Remember that you have high cards to start with. You can get lucky and get a favorable board at the flop.

Some people would say that this is foolish Texas Hold’em strategy since you can still stay in the game, improve your hand and win with the same starting hand for a lesser cost.

This is true.

However, by not raising, you are making it too easy for your opponents to get a much needed card at a very cheap cost. It’s much better to give yourself the chance to win even as you give your opponents a harder time, don’t you think?