at the community cards and figure out the best-possible hand. if you know which hands could exist, you know where yours stands. this helps you decide if you should bet, raise or fold when it’s your turn to act.
if you’re holding a-a before the flop, then you have the best-possible hand right now. no two hole cards are better than pocket aces, so you should bet or raise accordingly.
a-3-9 (rainbow – no matching suits).
if this is the case, then you have a set of aces. right now, you have the nuts (poker slang for the best hand). you know that nobody else’s hand beats yours right now, so you can 