Poker for Dummies (Mini Edition) (17 page)

Trips:
If you have A
8
and the flop is 8
8
7
, you’ve got trips. It’s not quite as good as it would be if the pair were in your hand, because anyone holding 8-7 will have flopped a full house. But that won’t happen very frequently, so go ahead and bet and raise as long as the board is not threatening.

Good flops

Two pair:
If you flop two pair but they are not the top two pair, you have a good hand but one that is still vulnerable. Stay with it, however, unless it appears obvious that you’re beaten.

Top pair:
A lot of Hold’em pots are won with one pair, and that one pair is usually the top pair on board. Your primary concern with top pair and an apparently safe board is determining whether your kicker is bigger than your opponent’s.

Overpair:
If the board is 8
7
2
, and you hold 10
10
, you have a pocket pair that is higher than the highest card on the board. In poker parlance, that’s called an
overpair.
It’s better than top pair, and it’s usually a hand to consider raising with.