If you play poker online regularly then you will be more than aware of the following common spots that seem to crop up each and every session you play. Knowing how to deal with these common problems is vital to progressing as a player and will make your time at the tables much less stressful.

A common scenario you will face is being check-raised on the river. A check-raise is generally a sign of great strength and this is particularly true when it happens on the river and especially so at the lower stakes games. You will often be getting great odds to call but doing so all of the time is a big leak. Saw you hold a hand such as Ac4c and get check-raised on the river of a board reading Ad4dQs6hJs then against most opponents your two-pair is beaten. You need to make an assessment of your hand strength in relation to the board and your opponents range of hands.

Many players struggle with what to do when they raise preflop with Ace-King. They tend to automatically continuation bet regardless of the flop texture, which potentially gets them in all sorts of trouble. On a flop such as 7-7-3 you should be inclined to check when checked to as you will only ever fold out worse hands and be called by hands that beat you. Also, good poker players know that you are unlikely to have hit this type of dry board hard and will check-raise bluff you enough to make continuation betting here very unprofitable. Likewise, checking behind will often mean you have six clean outs for the win and you may even be in good shape against a hand such as Ace-Queen of King-Queen that would not call a flop bet but would almost certainly call if you hit an ace or king on a later street.

Finally, scary turn cards are the bane of most players' lives! We have all been in a situation where we have raised preflop with King-Queen and received one caller. The flop comes down Qd7d6h and we make a standard continuation bet and are called. Now the turn brings the Ad, putting an overcard out there and completing a potential flush. What do we do? This is where notes on players become very handy indeed, does your opponent slow play flush draws or are they aggressive enough that they play them fast and raise with them? Does an Ace fit how he has played the hand so far? Remember that good players will use scare cards to put you under the maximum pressure so you need to be prepared to call and re-evaluate on the river where you will have a better idea if his betting action are consistent with a flush or an ace.