Made Hand Mistakes in No Limit Hold ‘Em- Flushes

Chris Grove : October 19th, 2007

The most obvious leak for your average no limit poker player is paying off the best hand with a trap second best. However this series of articles discusses a more subtle, yet equally damaging, leak that occurs when YOU have the best hand and don’t maximize your win. Here we’ll take a look at common mistakes made with flushes in NL.

1) Checking a flush you make on the turn: I can’t tell you how often I see people check a turned flush. While I understand the desire to trap, this can be a disastrous move, especially if you are out of position and / or have a non-nut flush. Think about how many cards will either kill your hand or your action on the river: any remaining cards of your flush suit [8] and any card that pairs the board [12, assuming that neither you or the board are paired at this point]. That’s 20 cards, or just about 1/2 of those remaining in the deck, that you don’t want to see – and that you certainly don’t want to give for free. Obviously, not all these cards will result in you losing the hand, but any of them hitting means you are going to have to think a lot harder if your opponent pushes a huge river bet at you.

The key concept here is that flushes simply aren’t a very well disguised hand – if you call a bet on the flop drawing to the flush and make the turn, a check isn’t going to fool many people, but a bet just might. The obvious exception to this advice is if you BET your draw on the flop; then your check has some trap potential. But generally speaking, you might as well bet your hand here. You can’t afford to give a free card, you’re probably not going to fool anyone, and betting may just trick someone into paying you off.

2) Checking a flopped flush in late or last position: Flopping a flush is certainly rare, but if you play a lot of hands, you’ll see it often enough. Resist the temptation to check. Again, even if you flop the absolute nuts, there are still a ton of cards you don’t want to see on the turn, especially in a full ring. Remember, it’s not just about cards that may beat you – for example, the board pairing – it’s also a matter of cards that will kill your action. If you do flop the nuts and check, and the turn brings a 4th of the suit, good luck getting any payoff.

3) Checking a rivered flush in early position: if you’ve been calling all the way, you’re not fooling anyone. Enough said.

Should you always bet the flush? No. But checking it as a matter of habit is costing you money, guaranteed.