Quote Originally Posted by JoeHaw
Yeah, yeah- I've read all the starting hand preflop strategys out there- I was just curious as to if the 6% preflop raise from the tables I play at made any difference.

Is there anyway to do some math about that type of thing? Trust me- I believe you guys, but ive just finished reading a few of ISF's big posts and I'd like to understand the game on a conceptual level rather than just listening to people who are better than me tell me what to fold UTG.
QJo, A5s and KTs are trap hands. If you raise them, or call a raise with them, then a large part of you opponent's range is going to consist of hands that dominate QJo etc. In a raised pot, if you have QJ, the flop is Q75 and you bet out from UTG, the hands most likely to give you action are AA, KK, AQ, KQ, QQ and you are in poor shape compared to those. You will lose chips to find out you are beaten. So with hands like QJo, you mostly either lose a big pot or win a small one.

OK this is micro stakes, so you can win a big pot on a QT5 flop from someone with Q9, KT or 66, but it takes skill to fold QJ to the nit with AQ, but crush the fish with 66.

QJ etc do better in position. If its folded to you on the BTN, then QJ is much more likely to be the best hand. There are just three hands left in the pot rather than 10 if you have QJ UTG. The idea in poker is to put money in the pot when you are ahead, so if you raise QJ, you are much more likely to be ahead if you are on the BTN than UTG.

If QJ hits a good flop then its quite likely someone else will have a hand they want to play. So if you are on the BTN and four people have limped, it can be profitable to limp and see a cheap flop. If the flop is KT9, then its probably big pot time. The more players in the pot the better, as the likelihood of someone having something good like K9 increases.

You are also more likely to make money on some less than dream flops. In this case, if the flop is Q75, its less likely that AQ, KQ or QQ are out there, because most people raise those hands. So it is easier to play your hand more aggressively.

You asked if the 6% pre flop raise makes a difference? I am not sure what you mean by that, but if you mean your opponents are raising 6% of their hands on average then if you limp UTG, about 50% of the time, you are either throwing away your hand or calling a raise with a hand like QJ, KTo which will only have about 33% equity against the best 6% of hands. The rest of the time you will be playing a multiway limped pot from UTG, which can seem like its the same as playing one from the BTN, but its not. Its easier to play a Q75 flop with QJ, when its been checked around to you, than when you are first to act.

Starting hand charts tend to pick hands that are easier to play post flop. If you have AK then you will hit TPTK a third of the time, and while that can be beaten, you dont have to worry whether the person betting into you has a better kicker or not.

It is relatively easy to play Ad5d if the flop is 3 diamonds. But that happens very rarely and if you play it UTG, you will mostly miss the flop entirely, have to play a flush draw correctly or have a tough decison on how to play an AT4 or K95 flop. Thats why playing these hands is not recommended for beginning players, especially out of position. I hope this explains some of the reasons why some hands are recommended and others aren't