1. Pocket Tens is a strong starting hand but, like Jacks, is vulnerable to overcards on the flop. However, the hand still deserves a pre- flop raise, especially if someone has already limped in, as you’re a favourite to win against most hands heads-up. In the example shown here, I raise to four times the big blind and only the small blind calls, giving me position on a near-perfect seven-high flop. The small blind then bets the pot – a classic sign of top pair, as you’ll find low stakes players very infrequently bet drawing hands or a made hand this fast. It’s likely you’re still ahead in this spot but you have to put in a pot-sized raise to protect your hand and charge the opposition the wrong price if they’re on a draw. If they’re fast-playing a hand that’s beating you expect a re-raise. In this case, sgb5000 folds as predicted.