How Should You Play a High Card in Hold’em?
It is rare that a High Card wins a hand in
poker.
It 🎅 could be that the hand is checked down all the way to the showdown and a high
card wins the 🎅 pot due to no player having so much as a pair. It could be that you run a
bluff and 🎅 your High Card hand isn’t even seen by your opponents, who all fold. It could
also be that a preflop 🎅 shove with Ace-high is called, but no one manages to make a hand
and the Ace wins the pot (not 🎅 uncommon in the late stages of a tournament). But it’s
very rare that a High Card hand will win a 🎅 pot of any significance.
If you find
yourself at the river with a High Card you may try winning the pot 🎅 with a bluff, but it
will be the bluff that wins the hand, not the strength of the High Card.
There 🎅 may be
occasions, also, where you are able to confidently put your opponent on a particular
drawing hand which can 🎅 be beaten by an Ace-high or similar. If they miss their draws
and try a bluff anyway, you may be 🎅 able to win the pot with your High Card hand. But as
a rule you should not expect to win 🎅 a lot of chips with a hand like this – if it
doesn’t improve, and fast, you will probably want 🎅 to let it go and move on.