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Ultimate-Bet Poker - Poker Beginner's Strategy
What's all this Noise About Texas Hold'em Starting Requirements?
by John Vorhaus
We all know that A-A is the best starting hand in Texas Hold'em, and 7-2 is the worst. (If you don't know why 7-2 is worse than 6-2 or 5-2, spend a moment now and think it through.) But between these extremes of riches and rags lies a vast gray area of poker hands that may or may not be played. Let's walk it down, because your decision whether or not to enter the hand is more important than anything, except that tragic decision you made last week to wear a brown belt with black shoes, what were you thinking?
On this page we'll talk about starting requirements in Texas Hold'em for pocket pairs. On other pages we'll talk about other things.
You'll play A-A for sure, right? And K-K, too. Q-Q? Why the hell not? J-J? Mais bien sûr! It's pocket paint, right? How often do you get that hand? Okay, then, if you're committed to your big pocket pairs, how about pocket tens? Pocket nines? At what point do you stop being committed? And at what point does your strategy shift? Because there's more to starting requirements than just general tightness or snugness (or even smugness). There's purpose. You want to know what your hand can do when you enter the pot. In Texas Hold'em, different hands do different things.
Some of this you know, and if you do know, forgive me for restating the obvious, but some of your fellow students may have been napping in the back of the class.
BIG POCKET PAIRS, A-A through J-J. You're probably going to play these hands no matter what, even though there are times when you should throw them away, especially pocket jacks, but I don't expect a saint's patience from you, so there you go. But here's the thing about your big pocket pairs in poker: they play best against few opponents. That's because their high card strength is their primary asset. If your pocket kings encounters a flop like 9-8-7, it's probably still the best hand, but the more foes it faces, the higher the chance that someone is sitting on a straight draw and getting the right odds to go for it. So if you have big pocket pairs, would you please do me one little favor and raise? Raise! Drive out the ribbon clerks. This is imperative.
Don't get cute and try to trap. You're not that cute, and the baby rabbit with his foot in the trap is most likely to be you.
MEDIUM POCKET PAIRS lose a lot of potential to win without help because they're so easily dominated by the flop. Your dogballs (8-8) look like happy warriors preflop, but when the flop comes A-K-T, you have to figure you're beat. What, then, to do with middle pairs? Fold before the flop? Oh, I wish you would, just for the discipline you'd demonstrate. Failing that, treat your medium pocket pairs as the drawing hands they are. They're really not going anywhere for you unless you hit a set on the flop, and that proposition, in Texas Hold'em, is 7.5-1 against. So try to sneak in late in an unraised pot with lots of callers, recognizing that your post-flop strategy is fit or fold: Either you'll get help from the flop or you'll get gone.
Yes, there are times when you'll raise with middle pairs in an attempt to isolate against the A-Ks and A-Js of this world. Just don't try to force the issue by overplaying your middle pairs in early or middle position. You're inviting too much loving attention from all the overcards (or, zounds, overpairs!) behind you.
LITTLE POCKET PAIRS are a great, chip-sucking vacuum. We look at them and our eyes go glassy. We do some rudimentary math and realize that we're better than even money against any unpaired hand. Against any single unpaired hand, yes, but not against even one more than one. (You want math? Oh, I got math. Against Ad-Kc and Qh-Jc , your frisky 4h-4c will lose 70% of the time! Sobering, ain't it, Bunky?) Little pairs, even more than medium pairs, then, demand large, soft fields and unraised pots. Don't even think about playing them in early position, because you won't know if you're going to get the soft field and unraised pot you need. Limp late into large fields or chuck 'em in the muck.
Sure, sure, sure, every now and then you'll flop a set - and confirmation bias will tell you that it happens much more often than not. But the bottom line is that little pairs are little poison, a disastrous leak in most people's play. If you're paying any attention at all to the notion of starting requirements, pay attention to this: Most players can't get away from any little pair. If you can, you'll be so far ahead of them they'll never catch up.
Recap:
- With BIG PAIRS, raise to isolate.
- With MEDIUM PAIRS, limp late into large fields.
- With SMALL PAIRS, look for an excuse to fold.
I'm the first to admit that these are guidelines not rules. I don't want you to get hamstrung by starting requirements any more than I want you to wear black shoes with a brown belt (please don't do that again). But starting requirements - or let's call them starting strategies - are there to keep you on the straight and narrow until you're savvy enough and experienced enough to know when exceptions can be made. Until then, do yourself a favor and err on the side of tightness. The hand you don't play is a hand you can't lose.
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| Ultimate-Bet Poker Beginner Strategy - Articles | |
|---|---|
| Part 1: Headlong into Hold'em | by John Vorhaus |
| Part 2: What's all this Noise About Texas Hold'em Starting Requirements? | by John Vorhaus |
| Poker Philosophy | by Russ Hamilton |
| The 30-bet Rule | by Annie Duke |