Rush Poker Postflop Strategy
Playing a solid
postflop game is extremely important in Rush
Poker. You can have all the preflop skill in the
world, but if you bleed chips on the flop, turn,
and river you’re in trouble. Postflop Rush Poker
strategy is a matter of keeping it simple and
focused. No running huge bluffs, no making
soul-reads, and no hero calls. Pay attention to
the cards, and rewards will follow.
Here
are some tips keeping your postflop Rush game in
top shape.
Postflop Rush Poker Tip #1: Reading the
Board
When
deciding how to act postflop, you need to
consider the texture of the board. Board texture
refers roughly to how “connected” the community
cards are. Generally, any given board can be
identified as either “wet” or “dry”.
A wet
board is one that connects with a lot of preflop
hands; it is often coordinated in suit and rank.
Some examples of wet boards are:
- 7h-8h-Tc
- Ac-Kd-Td
- Jc-Qc-4c
Wet boards can be
either great or terrible for you, depending on
what you hold. Of course, if your cards connect
with a wet board, you’re in luck. You’ll most
likely have tons of equity in the hand and can
play aggressively without worrying. On the other
hand if your opponent hits a wet board, you’re
in trouble, especially if you’ve hit something
like top pair.
The key to dealing with
wet boards (that you haven’t hit) is selective
aggression. Remember, if your opponent hasn’t
hit the board, he probably thinks it’s scary
too. Thus you’ll want to continuation bet a wet
flop for information. If your opponent folds,
great; if he calls, slow down your action, and
try to divorce yourself from the hand. There’s
no sense in losing money in a bad spot. Giving
up on the hand is often a good idea, especially
if you haven’t hit the wet board in a (very)
meaningful way.
Dry
boards can be easier to play, but still require
cautious consideration. A board that’s dry is
made up of unconnected cards. Some examples of
dry boards are:
- 5h-9d-Kc
- 2c-3d-Jh
- 2s-6s-Qd
If you’re the preflop
aggressor and find yourself facing a dry flop,
it’s a good idea to throw out a continuation
bet. Chances are excellent that an opponent who
has called your preflop raise did not connect
with the dry board. Very often, you will take
down a nice pot just by showing strength.
A good
indicator of an opponent’s weakness on the flop,
especially facing a dry board, is a continuation
bet sized 2/3rds of the pot. These bets are
generally “feeler” bets (like the ones I
advocated you make above) and raising them will
often prompt fold.
Remember though, it’s not a good idea to go
making heroic moves in Rush Poker; you don’t
want to be raising continuation bets all the
time. If you get a strong feeling that an
opponent is full of it, however, raising a c-bet
might be the right move.
Postflop Rush Poker Tip #2:
Drawing with Outs and Odds
Since
you have such little information about your
opponents in Rush Poker, you’ll want to focus on
making mathematically correct decisions whenever
you can. Thus counting outs is a good skill to
learn. Learning to measure your pot odds—just an
extension of counting outs—is also quite
important.
Counting outs is simple. Just figure out which
cards will “make” your hand, and count them. For
example:
You:
9h-Th
Board: 8c-Jc-2h
Here, you’re drawing to
an open-ended straight. You need a 7 or a Q to
fall in order to make the hand. There are four
7’s and four Q’s left in the deck as far as you
know. Thus, you have 8 outs. Next, calculate the
odds of making your straight by comparing your
outs with the total number of cards left in the
deck:
(52
cards in the deck) – (5 cards seen) = 47 unseen
cards left
So,
the odds of hitting your straight are 47:8,
which simplifies to 5.88:1.
Odds =
(Unseen cards) : (Outs)
47:8 = (47) : (8) = 5.88:1
In
deciding whether or not to draw, your next step
is to calculate the odds the pot is giving you.
This sounds scary, but is in fact very simple.
Just observe the ratio of the bet you need to
call with the size of the pot.
Pot Odds = (Pot size) :
(Bet amount)
Sticking with our example hand, let’s further
the analysis. Say your opponent bets $2 into a
$10 pot. This increases the pot size to $12. You
need to call a $2 bet to draw to your straight.
What are your pot odds?
Pot
Odds = (Pot size) : (Bet amount)
Pot Odds = $12 : $2
Pot Odds = 6:1.
Easy,
no? Your opponent’s bet gives you 6:1 odds on a
call. Now, compare your pot odds with your
actual chance of winning:
Pot
Odds: 6:1
Real Odds: 5.88:1 (47
cards in the deck : 8 outs)
As you
can see, your real odds are better than the pot
odds you’re being offered. Thus a call here is
profitable, and you should draw to your
straight. The above formulas can be used with
any cards and in any poker game. Don’t let them
intimidate you; they’re very easy to use, with
some practice.
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