Check with bad cards, poker strategy

When playing poker such as Texas Hold'em and your "Hole" cards aren't that good then it is probably a good idea to Fold and wait to see what the next hand has to offer, if however for example you posted the "Big Blind" and play comes round to you again with no raises you can get to call without having to add any more money to the pot and you then get to see the Flop which you never know could suddenly give you a semi-decent hand. Whenever you have cards that you don't think are really winning cards yet are given the chance to Check then do it, it is free to check and might mean you get to see an extra card!

For example say you are dealt which is a fairly weak hand. You have posted the big blind and everyone else either folds or calls. It then comes back to you and you have the option to Fold, check or bet. Now unless you are feeling very brave and want to bet to see who calls then good luck, if however you just check then you will get to see the Flop without it costing you anymore other than your "Big Blind" bet.

The flop now comes and it is so you now have 3 of a kind ("Trips"). With the cards that are down the best that anyone else is likely to have is 2 pairs which your hand would beat. See how play progresses and if you get to check for free again then you can do this to see another card, or you can bet or raise if that's what you want. Say the "Turn" card is then I would still be felling quite confident as there is still a very good chance of you winning the hand. So unless another player has the last 2 in the deck then the best anyone else is looking at getting is a Flush (providing another player 2 diamonds already and didn't fold earlier on). The River comes and it is which gives you a Full House and that would beat a Flush if anyone else managed to get one.

Obviously the above is just speculative and if someone had raised in the first round of betting then I would have folded as on the face of it the starting off-suit 2 & 6 are very weak cards. The example above is just one of many ways the cards could have come out as, but as you had the chance at the start to check even with bad starting cards it is worth doing!