Who is Who Lluis Homar

Your opponent’s raise tells you he has either trips, which must necessarily be smaller than your three aces, or a pat hand. If he has trips, you have the best hand and are the favorite to win the pot; if he has a pat hand, you have the second-best hand and are an underdog to win the pot.

According to draw poker distribution, your opponent will have three-of-a-kind about 65 percent of the time and a pat hand about 35 percent of the time. When he has a pat hand, you should obviously not rearise. Let thy stake be related to the depth of thy pocket and to what thou regards as the true chance of the horse; that which hath the greater chance deserved the greater stake.

However, on reading hands, this is a bad and potentially costly way of going about the business of decision-making. There is a better way, which is employed by most good players. They ask, “What are the various hands my opponent could have, and what are the chances he has each of them?” They determine the best play for each of the possible hands, and they usually choose the best play against their opponent’s most likely hand or hands.