QQ – You will flop one or more overcards without another queen on the board 31.1% of the time. If there are a lot of players already in the pot, you’re not going to knock anyone out by raising. If six players have already called, then they have a total of twelve cards among them. It’s very likely that’s there’s an ace and a king among those twelve cards, so I generally do not raise in late position with pocket queens. I like to limp in for one bet. If an ace or a king comes on the flop and there’s a bet, I can easily throw the hand away.

I want to emphasize that you’re not really playing against just the one player who bet. You’re playing against those twelve cards the others are holding. If you’re not sure you understand what I mean, try this quick and easy exercise:

Pull two queens from a full deck of cards. Shuffle the rest of the cards well, and then look at the first twelve cards off the top of the deck. Is there an ace or a king in those cards? I just performed this exercise twenty times and there was an ace or a king nineteen out of those twenty times. I don’t know if twenty trials is a large enough sample to be statistically valid, but it’s good enough for me, particularly since this nineteen out of twenty seems to coincide with my actual experiences in years of play. Kings and aces among these cards suggest that at least one of those players who just called may have an overcard to your queen.

JJ – You will get an overcard and no jack 47% of the time. For that reason, I usually like to see the flop as cheaply as possible, because I know that I’ll often be throwing it away often after the flop. There are two exceptions. If I’m in late position and only the blinds are in, I will raise to steal the blinds. If everyone has called and it’s raised, I will reraise to build a pot, since I have great drawing odds.

1010 – The best advice I can give you is to play this hand even more carefully than you play pocket jacks. You will get an overcard and no 10 60% of the time. If there’s no overcard on the flop, one will come on the turn or river 57% of the time. You usually have to flop another 10 or be drawing to the high end of a straight to have a good hand after the flop with pocket 10s.

99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22 -1 put all of these pairs in the same category because each one has an incredibly high probability of flopping an overcard without flopping a set. The lower your pocket pair is, the more all caveats apply, and the luckier you have to get on the flop. If you stay in, see the flop as cheaply as you can.

There’s no law that says you have to play the hand anyway. I routinely fold pocket 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s if it’s raised pre-flop and I respect the raiser. You can raise to steal the blinds in late position with these hands, but your decision to do so should depend on your ability to play and read your opponent after the flop, if he calls.

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• Another Poker Strategy For Pre-flop Play Part2 (0)
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Not all of these hands are playable all the time from all positions. There are several factors that you have to consider when deciding whether to see the flop with your hand. I'm going to run down the list with some general advice about how to play each hand.

1. Pocket Pairs
AA – This is the best hand you can get before the flop. It's the hand that wins more often than any other hand, and it's the hand that wins the most money for you in the long run. Put another way, you could not do better than to have pocket aces every hand for the rest of your poker playing life. If you did, you wouldn't have to read the rest of this (or any other) poker book!

There are several ways to play pocket aces before the flop. Which strategy you choose depends on which goal you want to focus on. If you raise in early position, you will knock out most players, which will increase your chances of winning the hand. Since there will be only a few players in the hand, however, a raise in early position will also decrease the size of the final pot. If you are in late position, and a lot of players have already called, your raise will build a big pot, but the presence of so many players in the pot reduces your chances of winning the hand. It's a trade-off between small pot with a good chance of winning and a large pot with a reduced chance of winning the hand.

If you're in early position with pocket aces, you can also just call and hope that someone behind you will raise. Then you can backraise. You'll build a pot, and, if there are a few players between you and the raiser, you might knock someone out of the hand. This play builds the pot, possibly increases your chances of winning the hand, and gets some dead money in the pot. All of these benefits are very good for you.

KK – You can play pocket kings in almost the same way you play pocket aces, but you have to consider a few more things. Even though the odds are 19.5 to 1 against it, any other player who's raising could have pocket aces. There's also the dreaded ace overcard on the flop, which will come 22.5% of the time. For these reasons, if you're in late position with pocket kings, you might want to just limp in for one bet to see the flop. If you get an ace on the flop, it's easier to throw the hand away, since you have only one bet invested. Plus, if you flop another king or something else you really like, your strength will be very well disguised.

• Another Poker Strategy For Pre-flop Play Part2 (0)
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In the long run, if you're a good enough player, any profit you make will come from the mistakes your opponents make when they play against you. One typical mistake your opponents will make is to play too many hands. Poker theory says that the best way for you to take advantage of that error is also to play a few more hands than average. Don't play too many more hands, though, just a few more.

I'm now going to show you another starting hand strategy. This new strategy is designed to be fairly conservative, safe, easy-to-understand, a little more fun to play, and, most importantly, a little more profitable than the other strategy you learned in the last chapter. Another advantage you'll have is that once you've learned this new strategy, you will then know two different starting hand strategies, so you'll have options when playing before the flop. You won't always play the same way with the same cards, so your opponents won't always be sure of what you have, which increases the likelihood that they'll make mistakes. Remember, your opponents' mistakes mean more profit for you.

The new way of choosing your starting hands that you're about to learn is pretty easy because it's based on understanding your play rather than memorizing certain groups of hands. Let's take a look at your second strategy for playing before the flop.

For the most part, you're going to consider playing with these three types of hands:
1. Pocket Pairs. You can now play virtually all pocket pairs. You can even see the flop with the small pairs under the right conditions, as I'll explain in a moment.

2. Suited Aces. Hands like A484 or even A424 qualify under this category.
3. Hands that add up to 20 or 21. An ace counts as 11, face cards count as 10, and all other cards are worth their face value. For example, AJ is 21 points, KQis 20 points, and A9 is 20 points. A48* is not a playable hand because it is not suited and does not add up to twenty.

There are forty-eight pocket pairs below a pair of 10s (pairs of 10 and above fall in the third category). There are twenty-eight hands that are suited aces that do not add up to 20 or 21, and there are 206 hands that add up to 20 or 21. This total constitutes 21.3% of all possible hands. That's twice as many hands as you were playing using the other system.

• Another Poker Strategy For Pre-flop Play Part4 (0)
• Another Poker Strategy For Pre-flop Play Part3 (0)
• Starting Poker Hands Part2 (0)

I hope you successfully accomplished the assignment in the last chapter. If you memorized the groups of starting hands, and you followed the advice about calling and raising, you should have had good results, considering your level of experience and understanding of the game. Even if you were not a big winner, you should have noticed a few things about the games you were in.

You might have noticed that you were playing fewer hands than most of the other players in the game. You might also have noticed that you threw away a lot of hands before the flop that would have been winners. Maybe you realized that when you were in a hand, your cards were probably higher than your opponents' hands, on average. When you all missed your hands, you probably won the pot with ace-high a few times. Finally, you might also have realized that the other players respected your play, and they didn't try to run over you too much.

There are twenty-six hands in Group 1, thirty-two hands in Group 2, twenty-eight hands in Group 3, and fifty-six hands in Group 4. This adds up to 142 total hands, which is 10.71% of all possible hands. That means that you were playing about one out of every eight hands, not counting the blinds. That's pretty tight play for your average low limit game. My main purpose in having you play this tight is to allow you to sit in the game and learn it without being exposed to large fluctuations in your bankroll.

The other purpose of having you play this tight is to show you how a high limit player or semi-pro would play before the flop. This style of play is called tight/ aggressive, and it usually works very well in any hold 'em game. It's not the most profitable style of play at all times in all games, but it is a great way to start when you're first learning the game.

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Assignment #4
Memorize Groups 1, 2, and 3 of my starting hands. This list is designed specifically to thwart higher limit players and good lower limit players who know how to take advantage of you if you're playing too loose for your position. Following this list will help ensure that you're in a good position for the hands you play so you'll have a decent chance to win them.
Assignment #5

1. Next time you play hold 'em in your regular game, always raise and reraise with Group 1 hands. When you have these hands, be the one to put in the last raise before the flop.
2. With Group 2 hands, always raise before the flop, if you are first after the big blind to enter the pot. If you are reraised, just call.

3. With Group 3 hands, always see the flop, unless you have to call three or four bets cold. If you call two bets cold and a player behind you reraises, go ahead and call to see the flop.

4. Play Group 4 hands if you can limp in for only one bet. Don't call two or more bets cold, but if you limp in for one bet and someone raises behind you, go ahead and call to see the flop.

5. Do not play any other hand unless you are in one of the blinds.
6. Make a list of Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 and jot down how I'm asking you to play the hands in those groups. You can take this list with you to the game and refer to it as you like.
7. Calculate how many hands there are in each of the first four groups and determine what percentage of all possible hands this represents.

8. Play as many times as you like using the above instructions. Once you understand and can manage at the table without referring to any notes, you can leave your list at home.
9. Don't forget to keep detailed records of your playing sessions, as you learned to do in Chapter 4.

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• Poker Position Part2 (0)
• Another Poker Strategy For Pre-flop Play Part4 (0)

Most poker writers have their own idea of what constitutes a group of good starting hands. In my first book, The Winner's Guide to Texas Hold 'Em Poker, I gave one list of starting hands. For our purposes here, we're going to use the list below, which I've created specifically for this book.

GROUP 1: AA, KK, QQ, AKs*, AQs
GROUP 2: JJ, 1010, AJs, KQs, AK
GROUP 3: AlOs, KJs, QJs, J 10s, AQ
GROUP 4: 99, 88, KlOs, QlOs, J9s, 109s, 98s, AJ, KQ

*"s" represents "suited"

The hands are arranged in these groups because each hand in a group has approximately the same value to you before the flop as the other hands listed in the group. That means that before the flop, all hands in a group can be played in about the same way. Of course, each hand will be played differently after the flop, so keep in mind that this guide applies before the flop only. Knowing this list and following the advice I will give you about how to play these hands will help keep you out of trouble while you're learning the other aspects of the game.

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There's another drawback to being in early position: it's a little harder to bluff and represent good hands when you have to play early. Consider this hand as an example: you have A4KV in early position and you raise, making it two bets to go. Everyone folds around to the button, who raises again, making it three bets. Everyone folds around to you and you decide to put in the last raise, hoping to give the impression that you could have A*AV or K>KV. It's just the two of you to see the flop. The flop is 4*7*44, which misses you completely. You feel that it could also have missed your sole opponent, so you bet on the flop to give him a chance to fold. Instead, he raises you!
This raise probably means one of two things:

1. He knows he has a better hand than yours and he wants to make you pay to beat him.
2. He wants to intimidate you so you'll check on the turn, when the bets double.
You just call and see the turn card. The turn is the 84, missing you again. You've decided, though, that the raise on the flop was meant to slow you down. Since you're a good player and you know that it's usually a good idea to do the opposite of what the other players want you to do, you go ahead and bet on the turn. Again, your sole opponent calls you. Calling a big bet on the turn after raising before the flop and on the flop usually means you have a big pocket pair, particularly when the board has only low cards, as is the case here.

The river card is the Q4». Because of the way your opponent has played his hand you have to guess he has AVA*, K*K>, or QVQ> You have to check. When you do, he bets, and you reluctantly have to fold. What do you think he had? I'll tell you. It was A*K4, the same hand you had! So why didn't you split the pot, since you had the same hand? It's because your opponent had position on you. This exact situation arises frequently in hold 'em, and because of the community card aspect of the game and the obvious benefits of being in late position, it's hard to win hands when playing from an early position.

Here's another common example. You have J484, and the flop is 9*7*54. A 10 or a 6 will make you a straight. You check and call. The turn is the Q4. Again, you check and call. The river is the 2*. You missed. This time you have to check, and when your sole opponent bets, you have to fold. What did he have? Would you be surprised if I told you he had the same hand you did? How about if I told you he had 4V34, a hand you could obviously have beaten? The point is it doesn't matter what cards he had. The important thing he had was position. These two examples illustrate why you usually should not play purely drawing hands from an early position.

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Position is a very important concept to consider when playing poker. It's especially important when playing flop games like hold 'em and Omaha because your betting position stays the same throughout all four betting rounds of the hand. If you're first to bet before the flop, then you'll be first to bet on the flop, on the turn, and on the river. You will always have to make your move without knowing what the players behind you will do, while the other players will always be able to decide how to play their hands in light of what you've already done.

Your position relative to the other players is so important that it's one factor you'll have to consider when deciding to play every hand that you're going to play for the rest of your poker-playing life. Here's a good rule: play extremely tight under the gun (in first position), tight in early position, and add a few more hands to your playable list only as your position improves. Your position improves as players ahead of you act on their hands. Your position also gets better from one betting round to the next as players behind you fold.

Usually, your main objective is to play your hand for one bet (to see the flop), hoping that no one left to act on his hand raises you, thereby making you have to fold or see the flop for two bets when your hand is worth only one bet. A raise behind you also opens up the possibility that someone who previously called ahead of you will now reraise.

When you call to see the flop, there are a few things you should consider. First, you should estimate whether you can see the flop for just one bet. You can never know for sure so don't be upset if you are occasionally raised. How many players are left to act behind you? The more there are, the more likely it is you could be raised. Exactly what is your hand? Is it good enough to play for two bets when you'd rather play it for one bet?

• Another Poker Strategy For Pre-flop Play (0)
• Starting Poker Hands Part2 (0)
• Starting Poker Hands (0)