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Answer: Fold

The king looks live indicating that he may have a pair of kings. In addition, your board looks a bit scary with a possible straight making it unlikely that your opponent would still be betting without a pair of kings or better. The worst he can have is QJKT. But your hand is extremely weak since all your kickers are dead; note the two ten's, the queen and the nine that are out. You will, therefore, have a very hard time improving your hand and you will very likely have to improve in order to have a chance at winning. Get out!!

In reality, you shouldn't have been here this far. When you are playing the pocket sixes, you are hoping to catch the six, a nine, the ace or the very least a live card that will help you develop a 9-high straight. Instead, you caught a queen, one of which is already out. If your opponent is betting kings, you're a big underdog and it turns out that he does have kings.

Answer: Check and fold. You've got absolutely nothing

While you had a very nice starting hand, with none of your cards out and only one club out, this hand is now worthless and has little chance of winning a showdown if your opponent calls your fifth street bet (indicating that he's got something). Note that your opponent caught both of the cards that would have helped you (a big club for a flush draw and a pair of tens). You don't know whether these cards have helped him, but your board looks even more shitty. While it was okay to bet on fourth street hoping to win right there or improve, now is the time to leave.

Answer: Fold. Even though you were the bring-in and there has been no raise, your hand is too weak and too obvious. In addition you caught an extremely weak card on fourth street. It's a small pot and there's no reason for you to take any risk.

Answer: Call.

This is not a very good draw since a five and a ten are already out. However, you have two opponents, neither of which can possibly have a straight beat already. You know that if you hit the straight and your opponents don't improve, you win. There is enough money in the pot to justify this draw.

Keep in mind that seat number 2 may have trips or two pair. If he pairs the board on sixth, it could be a full house. If he's a bit creative he may have little more that a pair and a spade flush draw. It is also, of course, possible that he's got just jacks and he thinks that you don't have another pair (which is true). His sixth street card is a queen of heart that doesn't seem to help him in any way allowing you to continue with your straight draw.

Note that under normal circumstances you would need atleast trip eight's to be able to bet or call on the river. Two pair doesn't seem to be good here, especially after seat 6 catches a pair on board on sixth street.

Note: On the river, the three's would probably check and then call seat # 2's bet, and he would lose to a full house. It turns out that you would have lost even if you had made the straight.

That is why it is not recommended that you play the hand you started with in the first place unless you are in steal position. There is just too many ways you can lose with such a hand. You caught a perfect card on fourth street, improved a bit more on fifth street, all the while oblivious to the fact that the guy next to you is rolled-up jacks and a trip-8 on the river is not an out for you even if he doesn't improve.

Answer: Fold.

It was correct to call your opponent's bet on fifth street since there is a four out making it unlikely that your opponent has three four's and you also have an inside straight draw. However, now there is a problem; your opponent may have made a flush in which case you are drawing dead.

If he bets again, you must give him credit for at least two-pair and you should therefore fold. There's simply no point to continue pursuing the straight when you might already be beaten by a flush or even a full house (unlikely but possible). Even two pair or trips is a good enough hand to make this fold correct, but compounded with the flush/fullhouse threat, you should definitely fold.

Answer: Fold.

A careful analysis reveals that your opponent must have made either queens full of aces or aces full of queens. Think about it! Seat #6 raised on third street indicating a possible pair of queens or better. He bet out on fourth street after you caught a scary straight-flush card and now he checks on fifth street. Why would he check? He knows that you could have all sorts of calling hands; a pair of tens, a flush draw, etc... why would he give you a free card with just queens, three queens, aces and queens or queens up? These are all hands you would have folded to on fifth street for a bet.

The check on fifth street is pretty much a give-away. Furthermore, since it was checked on fifth street, the pot is now smaller and you should therefore tend to give your opponent the benfit of the doubt when you think you're beat but are not sure.

This is a very tough fold and there is an alternative to this play. The alternative is to raise, hoping that he's only got queens or two-pair. However, you must be ready to fold if you are reraised. It is therefore not worth risking two bets on this hand since you cannot call a reraise. A reraise by your opponent confirms your suspicion that he's got a full house making you draw almost dead; your only out is a ten.

Note: It turns out that your opponent did have aces full in five cards and he checked thinking that his opponents are too weak and they won't call his bet. You don't improve on the river and even if you do, you lose.

Answer: Fold.

There are many good hands your opponent can have, some of which beat you already. The most likely hand is five's and three's, which you can beat -rather easilly- if you catch another pair. Remember, however, that a second pair is not guarenteed; you still have to get lucky to ctach that second pair, no matter how live your cards are. The pot is small; there's no point in chasing!

In addition, it is possible -though unlikely- that your opponent has a big pocket pair, trip three's or even a full house. You will have a pretty tough time beating any of these hands. It is also possible that your opponent has a straight or a flush draw; note that there are no clubs out. All these possiblities combined make it correct for you to fold your hand, although it's not a terrible decision to continue playing.

"combined possiblities" is a serious problem in poker. A player who can read his opponent has a significant advantage over someone who can not. Good reading can give you an opportunity to bluff, to semi-bluff, to continue with a weak hand and -most importnatly- to fold a strong hand. The fact that your opponent can have many hands on fifth street makes it very hard for you to raise as a semi-bluff. Even if you catch a second pair on the river, you can barely bet it if checked to you or call if there's a bet to you. You are really hoping that your opponent checks so that you can check behind him and win at the showdown.

Answer: Call.

This is a tough spot that you really don't want to be in. You know that your opponent has something good but you're trying to figure out what. It could be aces up, kings up, hidden trips, broadway or perhaps four clubs and a pair if your opponent is a bit creative. You can definitely tolerate two pair but you cannot tolerate broadway because that makes you draw dead.

Trips is a problem; you really don't want to be up against trips with a draw hand. But given that an ace and a king are already out, your opponent's cards aren't very live and he's thus not likely to fill up. You will therefore be drawing to seven outs (four deuces and three sevens) which is good enough to justify a call. What you're really concerned about is broadway, but that's a bit unlikely considering that your opponent only caught the ace on fifth street and that you have two tens (needed for a broadway). You should therefore call.

By calling, though, you have demonstrated that you are not afraid of broadway. If you make a straight on the river, your opponent must improve in order to beat you and that's unlikely. Therefore, you might want to consider a check/raise since it is almost certain that your opponent will bet after you check.

Answer: Fold.

Your hand is extremely weak. On fourth street, you had a trailing hand, but lots of potential with a live ace and king kicker. Suddenly, the tables have turned. You bought a dead queen while your opponents both bought the ace you were looking for. The only live cards remaining is the king and the six. That's simply not enough.

The AT could conceivably have eight's or tens while the AQ could have the case queen or perhaps a pocket pair (likely bigger than your sixes). You will need to improve and there just isn't enough ways for you to improve to justify continuing with this hand. Throw it out!

Note: As you can see, both of your opponents indeed had you beat, with seven's and eight's respectively. As we predicted, you wouldn't have improved your hand while seat four would have ended up with a full house. This example demonstrates the importance of live cards in this game.

Answer: Bet as a semi-bluff.

Checking here is a mistake because it's showing weakness and it may give your opponent a free card if he's got nothing. Clearly your opponent caught two trashy cards that don't seem to have helped him. Since he's alone against you -the bring in- it is quite conceivable that he bet the fourth street with no pair and he wasn't helped by the three.

You will certainly call his bet given that he may have nothing and that you have two live overcards; you should therefore do the betting yourself. You cannot risk giving your opponent a free card with just deuces. Since there's a reasonable chance he'll fold, possible even with a small pair, you should go ahead and do the betting yourself. If you are raised, it is okay to put him on just nines -or even nines and threes- and call, although it wouldn't be a bad idea to fold.

Note that your opponent has some dead fours in his hand while you have live cards. This is a factor you take into consideration when making your decision.