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Poker Trouble Spots: Way Ahead or Way Behind Part 1

• 30.06.2025 7:51 pm
• Helen
• 0 Comments

Knowing the moment you are either ahead or behind in a given hand is very important for the sake of realizing positive long-term results.

This concept is really not unfamiliar, however as far as the critical poker concepts are concerned, it is among the concepts less understood. A good number of players stick to playing the game bullheaded or "old school" style that usually involves betting out using hands of value. They usually do not give a thought to the options available or simply to the return eligible on that bet.

A previous article tackled why it's never advisable to bet any middle hand. That exercise in the previous article is a straightforward way to familiarize yourself with both the way ahead and way behind concepts. This article with two parts will get deeper into the theoretical and also practical implications.

Definition of the Hand: Way Ahead /Way Behind

Simply, a way ahead/behind hand is singularly any hand whereby your rival will maybe have a too weak a hand to call your bets, or too strong a hand that the chances of you winning are almost zero.

Whenever you make any bet when you are way ahead, the rival folds

Incase you make any bet while you are way behind, you simply lose cash.

Here is one straightforward example:

Antonius is at all times way ahead.

Your Hand:

The Flop:

You have simply middle set flopped on a board and with nil legitimate draws.

The hand of your rival can only fall either into the column of way ahead /behind.

Incase he happens to be holding pocket kings, you are way behind simply because you have drawn to one out.

Incase he holds literally anything else, the third nuts included, he is way behind.

The situation seems depressing, simply in that, in regard to betting, you are not safe if you do, likewise if you do not.

You almost lose money always against hands that are better, and almost never make cash against any worse hands.

Unfortunately, a significant number of these hands you happen to play in poker end up having you in primarily a variation of this situation.

The idea is just to play each hand having in mind pot control.

Pot Control

The key is controlling the pot

Controlling the pot's size to favor you is one crucial factor in determining your success as far as poker plying is concerned.

It is a simple theory: get the losses to a minimum then increase the winnings maximally.

If you have any hands on the scale's extreme ends, it's fairly easy putting into practice this theory.

If you possess the nuts, pump the pot; incase you possess rags, fold.

The moment you plunge into the middle hands world, which owing to your own playing style might simply make up majority of the hands you play, it becomes more difficult to put into action this theory.

Below is one example of a very common way ahead and way behind situation you will find yourself in.

Your Hand:

The Flop:

This situation simply has you holding a top pair that is weak. Any pair that happens to be lower than the one you have is simply way behind while an ace with a kicker that is higher or a hand that's better is way ahead.

What are you to do?

It is worth) Playing the Way Ahead and Way Behind hands

This concept in many cases brings about two questions for beginners:

1)     Should you play the middle hands?

The answer is a resounding yes, but we are not in any way talking about any validity of playing some hands for instance ace-six pre-flop.

A yes in this situation means the moment you find that you are on the flop and with the way ahead/behind hand, it is certainly worth playing.

The main reason for this is that your hand holds a significant value amount.

It is important to know exactly when to build this post.

The majority of the hands your rivals will in real sense have been dealt will simply fall in the category of "way behind" against you and your aces pair.

According to the pot control theory, you should be focused to working towards maximizing your profit as far as this situation is concerned.

Only a small number of the probable starting hands are going to have the hand you possess dominated here. Though this is true, it is not accurate totally the moment after getting to the flop. Most of all the preflop hands dealt, and that are beat by the ace-six you possess will simply be folded preflop.

2)     Ok; so, how is it possible to know if and also when to build the pot?

The true number in regard to probable hands heading straight to the flop simply depends on players and the playing styles employed at your table.

The idea here is to simply play these hands in a unique style that hopefully allows you to maximize all of your winnings, and succeed in limiting your losses without the complete knowledge of whatever your rival holds.

In this article's part two, we will tackle the best practices regarding way ahead/way behind playing.