WHAT HAPPENS IF...? I’m going to pose a few “what if...?” poker questions starting with one which will assist total newcomers and evolving to one or two which will take in players with a little more online time under their belts. What happens if you have Ace-Queen and your opponent in a heads up has King-Queen and the community cards are Queen-6-4-2-9? Obviously you have both paired the Queen but the decider is the “kicker” card (the highest hole card not paired) In this case the Ace. You win. Graduating slightly from this situation to you both having Ace-Queen then the result would be an exact tie and the correct result is that you split the pot equally (only a hole card can count as a “kicker” card). A more advanced situation develops in the following scenario: Let’s say you have a pocket pair of 10’s and your opponent has King-7. Face up centre table the community cards are: King-7-4-10-7. Your opponent’s pair of Kings overpowers your pair of 7’s but your triple 10’s have authority over your opponents’ triple 7’s. Both of you are holding a Full House but the “trips” take precedent over the “pairs” so your three 10’s hold sway and your Full House triumphs for the pot.
NOT BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS New players soon become familiar with the normal “blind” bets involved in Texas Hold’em. In almost all online games it is established that the small blind is half the value of the big blind and that these bets take place to ensure there is something in the pot to play for in case the hands don’t develop into anything very much. Once established for the table in question these blind bets don’t change in value.
TOURNAMENTS ARE DIFFERENT However, if as a new player, you decide to take a break from cash games and enter tournaments, the situation changes dramatically and you need to be prepared for it. In a tournament the blinds are raised at pre-determined intervals because the average chip stacks are increasing all the time as players are knocked out of the competition. On entering the culmination stage of a tournament it is frequently requested that an “ante” (an extra bet) is paid into the pot by all remaining players before any cards at all are dealt. This does not replace the small and big blind bets which still remain in place and rotate around the table in the usual manner. The cumulative result of the extra betting of course really pumps up the pot as the competition nears the showdown stage. Exciting stuff if you’re ready for it.
