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  Luck is not a strategy. Luck is what happens when a strategy fails. Prayer is also a good thing to add into the mix when your tactics go haywire. The difference between a good player and a great player is that the good ones play well and hope for a little luck, and great poker players have a solid game that includes taking as much luck out of the equation as possible.



  As long as there has been the game of Texas Holdem, there have been raging debates over what to do before the flop when two Aces, Kings, or similarly high value cards show up in your hand. There are those who believe you bet aggressively before the flop in order to scare off any potential competition. Then there are those who want to suck the rest of the table into a betting war like a duck being vacuumed into the jet intake of a 747. Just remember, the more people you allow to hang around in a hand, the more opportunities there are for luck to kick you unceremoniously in the chips.



  Let's say you have a pair of Queens. Before the flop this is most likely the strongest hand at the table, so the player that holds these cards now has to manage their advantage.



  Position will help decide your best course of action. If you are in an early position, your best move it to place a bet worthy of the cards you have. It is unlikely that somebody at the table is holding a pair of Aces or Kings, and you don't want to get caught in a large multi-way pot where anything can happen.



  If you are in the middle, you will obviously call any bet that comes from a position before you. Raising may not be a bad idea to advertise the fact that you are currently holding the biggest stick at the table. If you are playing in a group where you know somebody in the late position is highly aggressive, and everyone before you has checked, you may want to consider a check-raise tactic. When the aggressor at the end predictably senses the weakness at the table and presses what they think is an advantage, you can stun them with a raise. This may not only get more money into the pot, but also persuade some of the people at the table to fold.



  If you are in a late position you have the advantage of being able to react to what other players are doing. If somebody has thrown in a bet, you will raise. This should reduce the number of people competing for the pot, leaving your Kings facing very little competition.



  Unless everyone backs out, luck will still be a factor, but by reducing the number of players competing for the pot, you have reduced the impact of a lucky flop, or a miracle card at the turn or river can have on your prospects. You would rather have the guy next to you slapping themselves in the forehead, and mumbling about how they should have held on to their cards, instead finding out the hard way that you have them beat until they hit a lucky card at the river and torpedoed your chances of victory.