When do you...?

I've got a few questions that I think could save me a ton of money in the future....

Say you catch a flush on the turn.... How do you know if another person has a flush as well? How do you know they're not slow playing their A high flush? How much would you bet and when?

Say you catch the top pair on the board with a high kicker, no straight draws, no flushes. What do you look for to see if any other players have two pair? If you were the first to act, what would you bet?

Say a pair flops and you make the two pair on the flop. How much do you bet, when and what do you look for in order to tell if another has the set? What if they were slow playing you?

What should your bankroll be in order to move up to the next level? Say 100 NL'HE?

Thanks!

There's no way to tell. You are doomed to lose a lot of money in those situations.

Well, maybe not. But the best way to put someone on a hand is through thousands of hands of experience.

Sorry. But that is the best way.

It's easy. It just takes a good read and a little investment. Over time you'll recognize how a certain type of player will act with a draw or a made hand. If I make a flush with 2 sooted in my hand, I almost always run with it but I wouldn't push with it unless I had a great read on two pair or a straight. It's good for a raise or reraise but when faced with an allin, you've got to make the decision of weither to bite or not. As you move up in limits, you see few big raises being called and fewer hands going to showdown. Since the fish wise up a bit as the limits go up, you often ask yourself "What can they call me with if I reraise here?"

Example: I've got Qd Kd on the button in 6max 50NL. I raise it up and get one caller (solid for a 6max table).

Flop: Kc 10d 9d I've got an orgy of draws.
I bet the pot and it gets called. This is an immediate alarm becuase pot bets arn't called on draws at the 50NL tables (usually).

Turn: 3s Damn.
I pump out another bet of just less than the pot and it gets reraised. Damn.
Now the decision. "Did he flat call with a big hand onto a draw orgy board? Or did he already have one of the draws all tied up and was really only worrying about the flush draw. And since I placed a pot sized bet on the flop, I could really only have the flush draw with AdKd or KdQd which is worth the gamble at another juicy bet." So it was his flatcall on the flop and the raise on the turn that lead me to believe he had the straight and allowed me to let my hand go. Though I might have been able to call if I could get some implied value out of the hand, but I wasn't certain.
So I fold and am happy with my read.

You should be thinking about this during most of your hands. "What can he call me with?" (Preflop, on the flop, on the turn, on the river) "What does it look like I have? Am I playing a flush draw like top pair or like a flush draw?" "Why is he betting that much right now? Is he protecting, trying to get a free card or just bluffing at my weakness?"

It'll take some time to tune your mind, but you'll get better at letting go of top pair when you get suspicious and don't worry if your mind isn't going through this thought process on the 25 tables, it's mostly an experence in futility becuase they'll call with anything and chase everything. They also will pay off a lot of big hands. Just work on developing those senses.

So once you get your mind set, you'll find yourself paying off the nut flushes when you have a baby flush a lot less. Or two pair when you have top pair a lot less.

-'rilla

Also, what size should your bankroll be before you move up to 50, 100, 200 NL?

Unlike limit, NL isn't about proper bankroll and moving up. Limit has cut and dry solutions for most situations so the limit doesn't matter. But in the move up in NL, the fish count shoots way down. You should only move up once you feel very confident in your play and be willing to drop back down if you don't think you can't hack it.

-'rilla