Poker Hand Quizzes for Beginners

In order to find out if you have understood the basics, you should go through these hand quizzes. Before choosing a solution spontaneously, check the hand constellation and think it through. Cover the answer with a piece of paper first.
Later then we will explain the reasons why a specific action is recommendable.

You hold Jh Td pre-flop  and you sit left of the  Big Blind, so you have to act first (also: UTG – under the gun).
Fold, call or raise?
Answer:
You fold. See also starting hands list. In late position in an unraised pot it’s playable, but early the risk of a raise behind you is to high.


You hold Ad Qd UTG.
Fold, call or raise?
Answer:
Raise! This hand has high-card strength, is suited and one-gap. You have good chances to flop a top pair or a flushdraw or a gutshot or even a straight. You want to put money in the pot.



You have 9d 9c in middle position. The first player (UTG) has raised, everybody else has folded so far.
Fold, call or raise?
Answer:
Fold! 99 is a good hand, but a raise from UTG means a good hand (like top pair or AK suited). A hand like this will beat you most of the time unless you flop a third nine. If the UTG player had just called, you could have even raised. If more players had already joined the hand by calling, you could have called. But in a situation like this, you need a premium hand to call a raise from UTG.



You are on the button and hold AA. Three players before you have called and a fourth player has raised.

Fold, call or re-raise?
Answer:
Re-Raise to the max and cap the betting. This hand looses rarely and you definitely want to fill the pot.


You are on the button and you hold A9. Everybody has folded to you.
Fold, call or raise?
Answer:
Raise! This is a situation where the starting hands list can be put aside for a moment. You try to make the blinds fold and steal their bets. If they call or even re-raise, your hand is good enough to hold up against one or even two players. After the flop, re-evaluate. If the opponent checks, bet again and hope for the best

You have raised Ah Qc pre-flop from middle position. On your right, everybody has folded., the button has called your raise. Flop is Qs 9d 5c.
Check or bet?

Bet! You have top pair, top kicker and in this constellation, you loose only against AA, KK, QQ. Two pair is unlikely, because with Q9 or Q3 or 93 your opponent would not (or at least should not) have called your raise. If the button raises your bet, be careful, although presumably he has also hit the queen with a kicker that is probably worse than your ace.




You are in early position with 99 and you have called, as do 3 others behind you. The flop comes A K 6 rainbow. It’s your turn.
Check or bet?
Answer:
Check/fold (first check, and if someone bets, you fold). There are two overcards on the board that beat you. 99 is a good starting hand, but if you don’t make your set, you are likely to be beaten because one of your opponents will be holding an ace or a king. The chances to hit your 9 on the turn or river are too slim to justify a call.




You have the button with Jd Th. Three players before you have called, and you call too. The Small Blind folds, Big Blind checks.
The Flop comes Ts, 9h, 8c. The Big Blind bets, two others call. You are last to act.
Fold,call, or raise?
Let’s take a look: folding is out of the question. You have middle pair (you could be holding the best hand here), but also you have an open ended straight draw. The OESD gives you 8 outs, plus 2 outs for the tens, plus 3 outs for the jacks. That’s a total of 13 outs. The probability of drawing one of these cards on the turn or river is 55%.
Just calling would keep you in the game, but it is a weak play here. With 13 outs, you raise vor value. You will not get your opponents to fold, but you bring more money into the pot that you will win more than half of the time.
It is very important here that the board is “rainbow” (of different suits) so there is no danger of flush, there are no pairs on the board. The most dangerous fact is that there might be another player who is on a straight draw.



You are holding Ad 6d on the button, the flop comes Kd Td 5h. The Small Blind bets, a player in middle position raises.
Fold, call or raise?
Answer:
Raise! You have a nut flush draw (to the ace)  and the ace as overcard. Although it seems that the raiser has hit the king and has a good kicker, or maybe he even has KT for a two pair,  your flush draw gives you 8 outs and thus a 35% chance to complete your flush on the turn or river. You will see the river with this card in any case and you must raise to fill the pot. Watch out if the next card puts a pair on the board, because someone might hold a full house.


You are UTG with Jc Tc and you have called, three other players have called and the Button (which you know to be rather aggressive) raises. You call, and so do the other three players.
The flop is Jd 6d 2s. You are first to speak.
Check-call, check-raise or bet?
Answer:
Check-raise! The Button can have a wide range of hands. Against most of them you are in front, except AA, KK and QQ. But your pair of jacks is vulnerable to every overcard that may turn up. Here you want to eliminate the players between you and the button. So you check, expecting the other players to check to the button, who will bet. Then you raise, which confronts the three players between you and the button with calling two bets cold. You will be able to eliminate at least two of them this way, getting some overcards to fold. The button will call your raise. You have better chances to win the pot now.
If there are no overcards on the turn and river, and also no third diamond card, you bet out on the turn and river. If an overcard or diamond comes, play check/call.

You are in middle position and you hold Ad Td, 3 players have called. The flop comes As Qc Th. Everybody checks to you, you bet and two players call.
The turn card is Qh. The first and second player check, so you bet. Now the first player raises, the second folds.
Fold, call or reraise?
Answer:
In this situation ask yourself what the reason for the check/raise might be. Check/raise is a strong move indicating a good holding. I would guess that the raiser is holding three queens now. KJ and a straight is unlikely, because then the guy would not have played check/call after the flop.
I would not fold in this situation, but a re-raise would be foolish, so you call.
You can still improve with an ace on the river. Your opponent might also be bluffing.


You are the Big Blind, holding Ks 9s. 4 players have called, and so have you. The flop comes Js 9d 5c. You check,  the next player bets, the other three call. Since you have middle pair, one overcard and 3 cards to a flush, you call as well. The turn is Kd.
Check or bet?
You bet! You are very likely to have the best hand now, so you want to fill the pot. Of course, you might try to check-raise, but there is a risk that the others will check through. Someone might hold a flush or straight draw, and you do not want to give anyone a free card. You are also running the risk of loosing one turn bet from everybody if you check. If the players with the draws do not hit their card, you are not going to extract much money out of them on the river, so bet now.

You are on the button with Q J offsuit, the board is: A Q T 3 2. Only you and the cut-out are still in the hand.
Bet or check?
Answer:
Betting does not make sense here. If the opponent does not have an ace, he will fold when you bet. If he holds the ace, he will call or even raise. So you will only get called when you are behind, and there is no profit to be made by betting. Check and get a free showdown.



Take the same situation, but this time the cut-out bets. There are 10 $ in the pot, and the call would cost you 1 $.
Call, fold or raise?
Answer:
It does look as if you are beaten. Still, you should call. There are 10 $ in the pot, and if you catch a bluff in 15% of the cases, you are making a profit. Furthermore, folding at the river too often will invite your opponents to take shots at you.



You have raised UTG with Ad Kd before the flop. The flop came 9d 8d 3c.
You have bet, only one opponent has called. Turn is Th, you bet, the opponent calls again.
River comes 5s – your nice flush draw has not been completed.
Check or bet?
Bet! The river card has most likely not helped your opponent either. He may have been on a draw himself, is left with a low pair and may fold to your bet. You cold be holding the winning hand with high card ace. But if the other player raises, give it up. You are beaten.
Here, investing a single bet make sense, because the bluff does not have to win you the pot very often to be profitable.

 

If you have answered most of the questions correctly, then you are ready to hit the real-money tables.
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