Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Know what you want to hold and what you want to fold
Depending on the amount of people at your table or tournament, you must already have in your mind an idea of what starting hands you would play or consider playing depending on the action that takes place at the table. To start off, any pair 10 or higher I would probably raise or call a raise with no matter if I'm in early position (one of the first people to start the action, which is not favourable to you since you're acting with little information about the other players' hands) or if I'm at or near the dealer button (last to act, which after observing how the other players have played before you can help you make a better and more-informed decision). Ace-King to Ace-Jack I would play as well. Middle pairs (such as 9s, 8s or 7s) are a bit trickier. If you read your opponent to have an Ace with a high card, you might consider raising or just calling, and depending on the flop either bet out or fold if a bet comes to you. Lower pairs are pretty easy: if you are playing deuces to sixes, you can be cute and try to raise with them and hopefully take the pot right there, but if you're called you're going to fold if you don't make three of a kind on the flop (as T.J. Cloutier would say, "No set, no bet".). It's also not a bad play to fold a low pair, and actually might save you some chips in the long run.
If you're re-raised pre-flop you might have some difficult decisions to make. If you have Ace-Jack for instance, you might be already behind if someone re-raised you with Ace-Queen or Ace-King and you called. If your ace hits, you might be outkicked (your Jack is "outkicked" because their ace is accompanied by a Queen or King, which is higher than your Jack) and are going to lose a lot of chips. If your Jack hits, you might simply be donating money to a pot you're not going to collect if you were raised with pocket Queens, Kings or Aces. Trust your instincts and don't be afraid to throw away good starting hands if you think you're beat.
As the table busts out players, your starting requirements should decrease as good hands become harder and harder to come by. So if you are re-raised and are holding Ace-Jack with 3 people at the table, I would probably call or even re-raise the hand depending on my read and stack at the time. The blinds are probably very high at this point so you need to get your chips in there with good hands before you're blinded out of play.
You don't want to be too predictable with your play either, so you might want to change it up and play cards like suited connectors (two cards succeeding in rank and of the same suit) and hope for straight and flush possibilities. The nice thing about these cards is that if you play 8-9 suited, and you get lucky and the flop comes x-8-8, most players won't think you would have bet with an eight in your hand and you can get well paid off. Keep in mind it probably isn't a good idea to play such cards if you don't have many chips (short stacked), and remember most of the time your flop will miss a straight or flush so get ready to throw them away if someone bets into you.
So, the general rule is the more players, the higher your requirements are to enter a pot. If there are nine players at the table, throw away that Ace-7. If there are 4 people playing, enter a pot with your King-Nine suited. In the end, you need a combination of patience, creativity and luck to be successful.
If you're re-raised pre-flop you might have some difficult decisions to make. If you have Ace-Jack for instance, you might be already behind if someone re-raised you with Ace-Queen or Ace-King and you called. If your ace hits, you might be outkicked (your Jack is "outkicked" because their ace is accompanied by a Queen or King, which is higher than your Jack) and are going to lose a lot of chips. If your Jack hits, you might simply be donating money to a pot you're not going to collect if you were raised with pocket Queens, Kings or Aces. Trust your instincts and don't be afraid to throw away good starting hands if you think you're beat.
As the table busts out players, your starting requirements should decrease as good hands become harder and harder to come by. So if you are re-raised and are holding Ace-Jack with 3 people at the table, I would probably call or even re-raise the hand depending on my read and stack at the time. The blinds are probably very high at this point so you need to get your chips in there with good hands before you're blinded out of play.
You don't want to be too predictable with your play either, so you might want to change it up and play cards like suited connectors (two cards succeeding in rank and of the same suit) and hope for straight and flush possibilities. The nice thing about these cards is that if you play 8-9 suited, and you get lucky and the flop comes x-8-8, most players won't think you would have bet with an eight in your hand and you can get well paid off. Keep in mind it probably isn't a good idea to play such cards if you don't have many chips (short stacked), and remember most of the time your flop will miss a straight or flush so get ready to throw them away if someone bets into you.
So, the general rule is the more players, the higher your requirements are to enter a pot. If there are nine players at the table, throw away that Ace-7. If there are 4 people playing, enter a pot with your King-Nine suited. In the end, you need a combination of patience, creativity and luck to be successful.
# posted by SBP : 9:51 PM
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
