One movie that is often referenced is the movie Rounders. In this movie the main character gets a hand where he thinks he is trapping his opponent but he is actually getting dominated. In the movie he was holding an Ace 9. On the flop he had two pair and then on the turn he got another 9 to give him a full house. Well, he ended up losing all of his life savings on that hand to a better full house (Aces over 9’s). Afterwards he talks about not having any outs. Even though he had a great hand he didn’t leave himself with any outs. Going up against the hand he was against was unbeatable.

Of course, there is no way to know that the other guy had the hand he had and you would never fold a full house because you don’t have any outs. The point is however, that outs are very important. No matter how bad of a position you seem to be in you can always get out of it with an out. It may hardly ever happen; but at least you have something to back you up.

Sometimes having outs is actually better then having a made hand already. For example; if you have an open ended straight draw (8 outs) and a flush draw (11 outs) then you are going to be better off then a player with a hand that is already made. You could be up against a pair of aces, and you are going to have a better chance to win in that position. With 19 outs on the flop you would have roughly a 77% chance to catch one of your outs and win the hand. So which position would you rather be in?

That is the mistake that a lot of people make and don’t quite understand. They think that because they already have a pair that they are ahead. The fact is however, that they are making a big mistake. They will lose that hand 77% of the time that they are in that position. With only a 23% chance that their hand is going to hold up they are far from ahead. That is a race that they are only going to win 1 out of 4 times. A lot of the time having outs is more valuable then having pairs or even trips.

Winning big pots is more then just getting lucky. It is one thing to win a pot because you were in the right place at the right time. It is a whole other thing when you win a big pot because you put yourself in that position. You do not have to be in the right place at the right time to win big pots. You can put yourself in the position to win big pots every time you play a hand. That is what you need to do if you are going to win big pots consistently. Relying on the right place at the right time is for occasional players that like to gamble.

Put yourself in the Position to Win a Big Pot

The best and most common way to put yourself in the position to win a big pot is to raise before the flop. An even better way is to re-raise before the flop. The problem with this is that you could easily end up completely missing the flop and wasting that money you bet before the flop. On the other hand, you could hit the flop huge and end up getting paid off with one of those huge pots. That is how the winning one big pot an hour strategy works out. You might lose a couple bets on the way; but you will hit and if you put yourself in the right position; you will get paid off.

You have probably noticed this before already, but when someone raises before the flop it almost always leads to betting on the flop and the whole way afterwards. In fact, it often leads to people going all in. The best kinds of hands to raise before the flop are with premium hands of course, but also with suited connectors and low/middle pairs. The reason for that is because, when you do hit; you are going to get paid off huge by more then one person. You do not want to raise too much or make any big moves with those hands, but they are a great way to get paid and win a big pot.

The Double-up Pre-Flop Move

Another good way to win a big pot is to get all of your money in before the flop. If you have pocket kings or aces, that is exactly what you want. The chances of you doubling up are going to be very good. The hard part is getting someone to call. You just have to hope that someone has pocket Jacks or Queens and cannot let them go. Either that, or they are dumb and they do not think twice about calling with AK or AQ. You will run into a lot of those players.

Either way, it is all about putting money in the pot. Without putting money in the pot, you are not going to be able to win big pots. You have to be willing to lose if you are going to win.