Oh this wasn't supposed to be an exhaustive discussion on any topic - it's just some notes I jotted down as I was thinking about some basic hand combination things - stuff to help me translate percentages into hand combinations and vice versa. Like this:

4 combos is almost exactly 0.3%. 40 combos is almost exactly 3%.

A single pocket pair: 6 combos (0.45%)
All 13 pocket pairs: 78 combos (5.9%)
A single unpaired hand (any suit): 16 combos (1.2%)
A single unpaired hand (suited): 4 combos (0.3%)
A single unpaired hand (offsuit): 12 combos (0.9%)
All broadways (TT+, JT+, QT+, KT+, AT+): 30 combos pairs (2.3%), 160 combos others (12.1%), total 190 combos (14.3%).
All suited aces (A2s+): 48 combos (3.6%)
All suited kings (K2s+): 44 combos because AKs doesn’t count (3.3%)
All suited connectors (AK-2A): 48 combos (3.6%)
Medium suited connectors (T9-65): 20 combos (1.5%)
Medium suited one-gappers (T8-75): 16 combos (1.2%)

There have been some postings with some groups of hands that get included in a range in different orders to arrive at vpip and pfr percentages to help with hand ranges, but to be able to use it I need to immerse my mind in the banal business of counting hand combinations some more. I need to spend some time looking at HUD stats and thinking 27% - that's 9 times 3% which is 40 combos each - so that's 360 combos. That'll include all pocket pairs for sure - 290 to go. All broadways maybe - 130 to go. All suited aces and many suited connectors, one gappers and two gappers - maybe even the occasional offsuit connector or gapper.

I just got to thinking about a few things along the way, such as the effect of blockers on narrow ranges, the fact that your cards and the board are all blockers and such.

The main point in posting it is really just as an example of what you can do when you sit down to study the game. Reading a book is all well and good, but things don't stick properly until you ask your own questions and try to come up with the answers on your own. Some of it may initially go against common wisdom (like the fact that Axo is considered a trash hand) and the challenge then is to reconcile the finding with the common wisdom - something that forums are a good next step for. But it's important to come up with our own questions, basic though they are, and try to answer them. That's an important part of improving as players.

I don't think Axo is profitable to play from all positions and against all opponents, but I think if you DO decide to play it you should know what kind of opponents to play it against, what kind of flops to make moves on and when to fold it post-flop. The only way to figure that out is to study a lot, and until we feel confident we've done that and can apply the answer reliable to situations we encounter we should fold it.

The reason premium hands are premium is that they have so much raw equity and potential that we don't need to understand what it is derived from. But not understanding what it's derived from allows us to play them poorly - mainly by overplaying them. Even with premium's we're better off if we've studied and understand exactly where the hands perform well and where they don't perform so well.