Dangerous Flops
Three-suited and two-suited flops give your opponents flush opportunities. A three-
connected flop or a flop with all high cards gives them straight opportunities. Even
two-connected cards that are high can give opponents straight opportunities. You
want to charge your opponents for drawing and try not to give a free card,
especially when the pot is large. Even when your opponents have flopped a straight
or flush, you still have a strong draw to a full house. With these types of flops, you
should usually bet out or raise every opportunity from all positions. Only try check-
raising when you are very confident that an opponent will bet.
There are a few exceptions to when you might not play your hand strongly with
these types of flops. For example, you can consider slowplaying in heads-up
situations when the pot is small, especially with a two-suited flop. With small pots,
you are not risking a large pot if you check and your opponent takes a free card.
There is also one scenario where you might slowplay with a very large pot. As
discussed in the
Deceptive Tactics, sometimes it is difficult to drive out
opponents on the flop even by raising. For example, some opponents with gut-shot
draws might call a raise on the flop for two small bets. They could even be correct
in calling if the pot is very large. In this case, you might wait to raise the turn to have
a better chance of driving out your opponents.
NEXT...Strong Flops
