My thoughts about a few starting hands

a lot of people will limp/raise with the following hands, but i really really dislike them. i feel no resentment in throwing them away at all

1. Ace-Ten offsuit. If a 10 comes off, thats cool. But if an ace comes off, my ten kicker is too low that I might put myself into trouble. I sometimes limp in with this hand and almost never call a preflop raise with it

2. low/medium suited connectors. 23 45 78. if you get the high end of the straight with the medium hands, then all is well. but what about the lower end of the straights? with no flushes on the board and an aggressive re-raiser, laying this hand down to a higher straight hurts. and sometimes calling hurts even more. also, if you do end up snagging a flush, there are bigger flush possibilities out there. laying down pairs and 2p are easy, but laying down a monster to a bigger monster? that takes too much heart and experience, and i dont have either of those to be honest

3. low pocket pair. 22 33 44. hit a set? cool! hows it feel when your opponent hit his higher set?

4. QJ KJ QT KT. getting 1 pair leads me to getting out kicked. and with a face card or ten kicker, i can't lay this hand down most of the time

i understand the need to vary your starting hand range, which is why i do play these cards under some circumstances. a lot of people love these hands though, and i was hoping someone could shed a little light on what makes these hands so spectacular

1) ATo is a terrible hand to call a raise with vs most villains. Good hand to raise with in LP to isolate limpers/blind steal

2) low sc's suck, medium are better, but I still hate limping them unless i'm SB or there's 4 limpers.

3) Stop worrying about set over set. Happens on average of 1 in 8000 hands. You get it with 88 just like you do with 22

4) See: 1)

This advice pertains mostly to FR cash, but has some applications in early tourney and 6-max also.

all of these hands are OK as long as you can fold when you're beat

Originally Posted by AFchung

3. low pocket pair. 22 33 44. hit a set? cool! hows it feel when your opponent hit his higher set?

This is a huge leak. Set over set is a rare occurrence. Sets are the virtual nuts on most flops. Take a look at PT and see how much you're winning from sets, then consider how much value you're passing on when you never give yourself a chance to hit 23% of them.

Originally Posted by grnydrowave2

Originally Posted by AFchung

3. low pocket pair. 22 33 44. hit a set? cool! hows it feel when your opponent hit his higher set?

This is a huge leak. Set over set is a rare occurrence. Sets are the virtual nuts on most flops. Take a look at PT and see how much you're winning from sets, then consider how much value you're passing on when you never give yourself a chance to hit 23% of them.

what does PT mean?

Originally Posted by AFchung

Originally Posted by grnydrowave2

Originally Posted by AFchung

3. low pocket pair. 22 33 44. hit a set? cool! hows it feel when your opponent hit his higher set?

This is a huge leak. Set over set is a rare occurrence. Sets are the virtual nuts on most flops. Take a look at PT and see how much you're winning from sets, then consider how much value you're passing on when you never give yourself a chance to hit 23% of them.

what does PT mean?

Sorry, I sometimes don't notice how I use certain acronyms second-naturedly. PT is Poker Tracker, a sort of database program that compiles all your hand histories and analyzes them. In addition to many other things that can be done with the data, you can filter certain starting hands and see how profitable they are.

I suggest that you look it up and read more about it. Most online players use it, as it is a very valuable tool.

very nice avvy grnydro, lol i love hov