Poker good hands bad hands Web-based poker games also set really low limits contrasted to live games in casinos feasibly due to the fact that the operating expense is generally lower on the world wide web. 'Starting hand selection' is simply choosing the good hands over the bad, and thus folding the bad hands when you get them. It is true that any hand can win in Texas Holdem (or poker in general for that matter), but the fact of the matter is that some hands will win more than others. So if we stick with the good hands, then we should see better.

Elite professional players are much better than amateurs. That much everyone knows. What many amateurs don’t know, however, is that elite players use almost a completely separate strategic vocabulary from amateurs. In other words, amateurs and elite pros think about the game in completely different ways — and obviously the amateurs’ way frequently doesn’t measure up.

Here are four bad things that amateurs say when they talk about hands that you’ll never hear from an elite pro.

1. “I put him on ace-king.”

Amateurs say this one constantly, and it’s almost always completely wrong.

Ace-king, specifically, isn’t the problem. You could substitute any other hand for ace-king, and it’s just as bad.

Amateurs tend to oversimplify the game, and this is one of the big ways they do it. When they are hand reading, they focus on just a single possible hand to the exclusion of all others. Then they make whatever play makes sense against that hand.

The problem with this is that it’s almost never possible to narrow someone down to just a single hand and be consistently correct.

Elite players would be more likely to say, “I put him on a weak range.” This statement acknowledges that an opponent can have a number of different possible hands.

2. “I folded/just called to try to cut down on my variance.”

I’ve been hearing this one now for 13 years, and it’s just as bad today as it was back then. Here’s the idea. So-and-so doesn’t like the natural ups and downs of no-limit hold’em. Actually, the ups are fine. It’s the downs that are the problem.

The player starts to think, “Well, I can’t lose what I don’t put in the pot.” Little by little, she begins to play more passively. Instead of reraising Q-Q before the flop, she just calls with it. Instead of calling with a bluff-catcher, she just folds. Instead of playing that draw, she folds it. Whenever there’s a choice that seems close to her, this player picks the choice that puts less money in the pot.

If you ask her what she’s doing, she’ll tell you that she’s trying to cut down on her variance. “Sure, I know I may be giving up a little value here and there, but I play so much better without all those swings.”

This doesn’t work. Winning poker requires high aggression and much risk-taking. You cannot systematically reduce the risk and still play a strong game. It can’t be done. If you are shading all of your marginal decisions toward calls and folds, all I have to do is bet every time you check, and I will eventually beat you.

Elite players don’t have an analogous saying to this one. They play a particularly high-variance style because that’s the best, most profitable way to play. If you intentionally try to reduce your variance, you must accept that you will never play well.

3. “I raised to try to take it down right now.”

Amateurs often invoke this one when they have a strong hand on a dynamic board. For instance, they might hold Q-Q on a J-9-6 two-tone flop. Someone bets, and they raise because they “want to take it down.”

The whole idea behind this is kind of ridiculous if you think about it. Good hands only have value at showdown. If you raise the flop and take it down, you might as well have had 7-2. In fact, the only difference between Q-Q and 7-2 is that you win more showdowns with Q-Q. So it makes absolutely no sense to try to avoid showdowns when you have good hands.

Now this doesn’t mean it’s wrong to raise Q-Q on that board. But raising it to “try to take it down” is weak amateur logic.

Elite players talk about raising ranges. An elite player would look at that J-9-6 two-tone flop and think of every possible hand they could hold. Then they would mentally divide those hands up into a folding range, a calling range, and a raising range. (And they might split the raising range in two, choosing to make small raises with some hands and big raises with others.)

Typically, they would have done this mental gymnastics during study away from the table, so that approximate ranges will pop into their heads automatically as they play.
So an elite player might raise Q-Q because it’s a hand that’s in his raising range in this situation. At that point, any intention behind the raise is almost irrelevant. And the pro certainly wouldn’t intend to get a fold.

4. “I’m gonna look that guy up with anything next time. I just know he’s stealing.”

Humans easily remember things that have happened recently, and they tend to overweight these events when they estimate the likelihood of future events. If the New Orleans Saints have just won three games in a row by big margins, the average person will tend to overrate the chance that the Saints will win the next game. Sure, the Saints might be pretty good — but they aren’t as good as they’ve looked on their best winning streak. A single stroke of bad luck could derail them in any game.

It’s the same way in poker. One hundred poker hands mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Seasoned online players talk about needing one thousand times that many hands to draw meaningful conclusions.

Yet amateur players draw wild conclusions all the time from just one hundred hands — or even fewer. He’s always bluffing. She plays only the nuts. He’s the tightest player I’ve ever seen. She makes bad calldowns.

Most of the time, you can’t legitimately draw these conclusions on just a single day’s worth of play. Yet amateurs do it all the time.

Elite players take a more measured viewpoint. Sure, they make reads on opponents and adjust their strategies. But these adjustments are layered on top of a base strategy that is strong and balanced.

For instance, an elite player is unlikely to look at a hand and decide before the flop that he’s going to “play it like aces” this time just to try to stand up to a bully. As I said before, elite players think in terms of ranges. If they think someone is bluffing too frequently, they will simply add more hands to their calling ranges and their bluff-raising ranges.

And they aren’t going to start with 7-2, 10-3, or whatever hand is next to come down the pipe. They’ll add hands in from best to worst. If their next five hands are all stinkers, they’ll just wait for one that’s not.

Final Thoughts

Best Low Hand In Poker

If you are an amateur player who wants to improve, the first step is to root out the fuzzy thinking that’s in your game. If you find yourself thinking and saying the things I listed, it’s time to rework your game. ♠

Poker Good Hands

Ed’s brand new book, Reading Hands At No-Limit Hold’em, is available immediately for purchase at notedpokerauthority.com. Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.

In this lesson we’re going to take a look at three groups of Omaha/8 starting hands and assess what represent real powerhouse starting hands. We’ll also examine some good Omaha/8 starting hands along with hands that are playable but where some degree of caution should be exercised. Unfortunately, one cannot expect to be dealt a powerhouse hand on every deal.

Powerhouse Omaha/8 Starting Hands

This is my favourite starting hand in Omaha/8 since it gives top pair, two nut flush draws and a great draw to the nut low including counterfeit protection. Counterfeit protection means that if an ace, deuce or trey hits the board you still have the two best low cards to put with it. As an example, if the final board was K-2-5-Q-4, your deuce would have been counterfeited but you would still have the nut low (using one of your aces and the trey) as well as a straight. If three of the cards were either clubs or spades, you would have the nut flush for high with a wheel (five-high straight) for low. This would be a very good holding hoping to scoop the entire pot. If another player held the nut low as well but your high hand was the winner, you would win three quarters of the pot made up of the high half and half of the low half.

While this Omaha/8 hand offers no low possibility, since you must use two cards from your hand, it does offer two nut flushes, straight possibilities with two different high pairs which could make sets and then, if the board pairs, very good full houses. This is the type of hand where you hope that no one qualifies for low and you can scoop the pot with just a winning high hand. However, there’s a danger in flopping a set with your pair of aces, or with any pair that’s eight or lower. The danger is that you’ve already put one low card on the board, and you may be vying for only half the pot instead of all of it.

This is an excellent Omaha/8 starting hand because you have four low cards offering double counterfeit protection coupled with straight draws and the nut flush draw. Having the three and four suited does not add value as a four high flush with three of that suit on the board is really a liability and not an asset.

Good Omaha/8 Starting Hands

This hand provides no possibility of a low hand so you would definitely like to see all high cards on the flop including a ten. There are also two flush draws, one to the nut and the other to the second nut. This is the kind of hand that, if no or only one low card flops you need to raise and re-raise to make it very expensive for low hands to chase in order to qualify. The object here is to scoop a one way pot for high. In fact, if you’re in late position and a number of players have already entered the pot, you should raise. Most of your opponents will play low hands, and a large number of opponents points to a deck that is presumptively rich in high cards, which favor your hand. So go ahead and get more money in the pot. If the flop contains big cards, you are likely to scoop. If it contains all low cards, you can easily release your hand.

This Omaha/8 hand offers the opportunity of a nut flush, nut low and straight draws. With a pair you can also flop a set or even quads. Counterfeit protection is part of its upside as well. This is a good hand that is not quite a powerhouse.

While you usually want an ace in your hand this Omaha/8 hand represents very good counterfeit protection. Obviously, you would like to see an ace and two small cards hit the flop which would give you a nut low. The straight draws enhance the value of this starting hand. You’ll notice this isn’t double suited since getting a four or five high flush is really of no value. This hand’s value is in straights and lows with counterfeit protection.

Playable with Some Caution, Starting Hands

This is an example of a playable Omaha/8 hand where caution should be exercised. While there are two flush draws and a myriad of straight draws they are all somewhat problematic. In an action game like Omaha/8, where there is frequent raising, it can be very expensive to wind up with a second best hand for high or low. With a hand like this, if you make a low hand, it is unlikely to be the best low, and even a straight may not be the nut straight. Moreover, any flush you make may not be the best flush either.

This hand is a far cry from the two pair hand of A-A-K-K which was highlighted in the powerhouse section. While it looks good, including the straight possibilities and jack-high flush draw, caution is recommended anytime you’re not drawing to the nuts. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play them, but it does mean you should be a bit cautious when you do.

Here is another hand that on the surface looks pretty good with draws to both a king- and queen-high flush, straight draws, and two good low cards. While the winning hand can certainly be made with this start, the hand can also lead to trouble with a capital “T”. This hand exemplifies just how important an ace in your starting hand really is. You cannot make a nut flush or a nut straight or a nut low unless an ace comes on the board.

I’ve offered up three examples in each of the three categories to highlight what I believe represent the powerhouses, just good, as cautiously playable starting hands. Obviously this is not meant to be a complete listing but to give you a sense of the upsides and downsides of Omaha/8 starting hands. As with all forms of poker, your starting hand values need to be viewed in concert with your position, the texture of the game, your opponents’ playing styles, as well as your own style and the degree of risk you enjoy.

By Tom 'TIME' Leonard

Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.