Texas Hold'emr: Calling on the Flop, Turn and River

Generally, there are three points to call in Texas Hold'em - the flop, the turn and the river.

The flop essentially tells you the most about your game in Texas Hold'em and conversely, also tells the most about your opponents. It is also the topic of numerous poker tips. When the flop comes onto the table, the combination of that along with your whole cards means that your hand is essentially over seventy percent complete. The simple way of determining whether you should fold, call or raise is to check whether or not the flop actually helps your hole cards out.

This includes flops that give you a potential straight or flush, or when you end up with the best hand possible outright - rare, but it can happen. This is when you should be ready to walk into the round - other times, the flop simply ignores you and even seems like it hates you. If you end up with a high pair for your hole cards and the flop looks unappetizing for everyone concerned, then you may actually still have the winning hand. If it does not quite fit you or offers a plethora of ways to beat you then you should probably fold and save yourself the trouble of losing more than you should. Calling a raise when there's a potential straight or flush on the table that you can't use is generally a horrible idea.

The turn is another place to call or raise. Getting to the turn with two unsuited cards as your hole cards and nothing for you generally means you should run if someone decides to up the ante by betting in front of you. If you don't get a winner by the turn, then it essentially means you're doomed. The river does very little to improve a hand. A lot of players end up forcing the issue at that point, ignoring common sense and a good number of poker tips, leading to a quick and inevitable loss.

The river is the last place where your bets matter. At this point, you can either call, in which case you'll lose one bet more than you would have by simply folding. This is when a player should be careful in Texas Hold'em, where they need to strike the balance between being brave by following through with their fighting hand or being foolish by calling even though all they have is a high card that's actually on the flop.