'Poker's tough.' I've heard that line - and said it myself - more times than I can count.
- Live Poker 131 Threads. He uses PIO to help back up his intuitions of how he wants to approach these scenarios. Preflop Aggression and Tough Pools.
- Online poker is played considerably faster when compared to live poker, and those who prefer online poker will find live poker extremely slow and too tedious to tolerate. In live poker, you will be dealt between 25 and 35 hands every hour, whereas with online poker you will see over 60 hands every hour at any given table.
- The sorrow it casts is always tough to handle. Losing loved ones, having to live life without them is the most awful kind of change one could experience in life. The grief and loss model has five stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining and acceptance but it doesn't necessarily occur in the same way for everyone.
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Tough Poker Scenarios Poker
If you're just starting out in poker, talking through poker hands with players more experienced than you is essential to improving your game. There's no better training for the beginner or average poker player then to see what other poker players would do in certain hand scenarios. Rule 1 of Poker: Keep Learning From Your Mistakes.
The truth of it is never more obvious than while watching beginners lose pots with the top five trouble hands.
Some hands are just simply harder for rookies to play than others.
The following poker hands are trouble for beginners and pros alike.
The big difference is that professionals are able to fold these hands much quicker, without investing much into the pot.
5 Major Trouble Hands for Poker Beginners
5) Ace-Jack
To everyone who is still in the learning-to-intermediate stages of poker, I have some solid advice for you: Ace-jack is not a premium hand.
In fact, it's not really even a good hand. I know it looks spiffy when you peel back your two off the felt (or see it in a million psychedelic colors), but you're going to have to trust me.
Unless you're heads-up you have to treat A-J the same as A-T rather than playing it as if it's A-K.
4) King-Ten
Above all other potential candidates, king-ten has been awarded the title of 'sucker's hand.' If you're holding this hand, there are significantly more boards that will give you the second nuts or a bad beat than boards that will win you the pot.
If you don't flop broadway, you're in a rough spot. Flopping top pair of kings will almost certainly pit you against a king with a higher kicker. Flopping a pair of tens is rarely the top pair, and if it's not, you have straights to look out for.
Flopping two pair again puts you at risk against a straight, and you're going to run into more two pair-versus-sets scenarios with this hand, because people are playing all the pocket tens and pocket kings they're dealt.
3) King-Jack
Like king-ten, but a little less dangerous. The reduced risk, comparatively speaking, gives this hand the appearance of being more powerful than it really is.
Again, if you flop two pair, you're going to have to watch out for sets, and you still have to worry about kicker problems on one pair.
This hand is better left in the muck than overplayed.
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2) Pocket Jacks
The second-most-overplayed hand in poker. Pocket jacks is a top five hand and is a powerhouse compared to almost any random hand you can be dealt.
But if you raise it pre-flop, the only hands that ever call you are far ahead, or a coin flip (excluding the odd lower pair).
Played properly, this can be a very profitable hand. Overplayed (as amateurs tend to do), it will cost you a large percentage of your roll. No matter how strong your hand is before the flop, after the flop (unless you hit your set) you only have one pair.
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1) Ace-Queen
Ace-queen is the biggest trouble hand for beginners and amateurs alike. I don't have enough fingers to count the amount of times I've given away my money on a big click with big chick.
I won't rehash my advice on how to play A-Q again here. Instead, I recommend you head over to the ace-queen series and give it a read. It just might save you some serious coin.
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If You Think You're Best, You Probably Are
These five hands obviously don't cover every sticky situation a beginner is liable to encounter at the felt. I'm not saying you shouldn't play these hands, but play them with due diligence.
For a beginner the one rule you should never forget is 'If you think you're beat in a hand, you probably are.'
Related Beginner Poker Strategy Articles
- 4 instructional tournament hands in our Online Poker Tournament Tricks (2020 edition with Jesper Hougaard)
The Upswing Poker Lab is a poker training course taught by Doug Polk, Ryan Fee, and other top poker pros. The Lab is updated regularly with in-depth learning modules, theory videos, and a wealth of information to make you a better poker player.
By Dan Baker
It can be tough to know when, and how, to play a suited connector in hold'em. If you neglect to consider important factors, such as stack sizes, and your opponent's tendencies, you will likely make a costly mistake with these hands.
You're about to read five tips that will help you understand the mistakes you need to avoid making with suited connectors, and how to maximize your winnings with them.
No. 1 — Avoid three-betting against stacks of 60 big blinds or shallower
Nsw poker machine revenue recognition. When the preflop raiser has fewer than 60 big blinds in their stack, you should be less inclined to three-bet suited connectors, particularly low ones like 6-5 suited or 7-6 suited.
When you're deep stacked, suited connectors work great as three-bet bluffs because of their great playability. Against short stacks, however, the stack-to-pot ratio gives you less room to maneuver post-flop and decreases your implied odds. This change makes them less effective and rarely profitable three-bet bluffs.
No. 2 — Avoid three-betting against calling stations
You can probably imagine why three-bet bluffing with a suited connector is less effective against a player who doesn't like to fold. When there's little chance your opponent will fold, you lose a major incentive to three-bet the hand. But there's also a much less obvious reason why three-betting suited connectors is a perilous mistake vs calling stations.
These loosey goosey players will call three-bets with way more hands that dominate you — hands other players would fold. We're talking hands like A-6 suited, K-7 suited, and J-8 suited, which dominate your 6-5 suited and 8-7 suited. This will result in the occasional nasty cooler when you both hit trips or a flush.
No. 3 — Rarely four-bet suited connectors
When thinking about which hands make the best four-bet bluffs, there are three things you need to consider:
- Blocker effect
- Postflop playability
- Implied odds
Of these three, by the most important is your hand's blocker effects. This is because the ranges involved in four-bet situations are very tight and being able to rule out a few strong hands from your opponent's range makes a significant difference.
Suited connectors actually possess negative blocking effects. They block hands from your opponents' three-bet/folding range, such as A-5 suited or A-6 suited, and don't block any strong hands that will continue. These hands do have both solid playability and decent implied odds, but even these are stunted with the low stack-to-pot ratios in four-bet pots.
No. 4 — Avoid overcalling (except from the big blind)
It might be tempting to overcall with suited connectors, but unless you're in the big blind, it is a losing play that should be avoided. I am going to show you why.
Let's take, for example, a six-max game in which every player is 100-big blinds effective. Suppose middle position opens to 2.5 big blinds, cutoff flats, and it's up to us on the button with 6 5.
Now, we are in-position with a very playable hand, which means we will likely over-realize our hand's equity, but we also have to account for the threat of a squeeze behind. One of the two players behind will three-bet approximately 10 percent of the time, in which case we will be forced to fold and forfeit our equity. The players behind will also call a high percentage of the time, which lowers our hand's equity.
These are impossible things to calculate precisely, but it's safe to say that these two sets of factors are at least close to cancelling each other out. This leaves us with a shortage of around three to five percent equity.
With all that said, over-calling can be reasonable as an exploitative adjustment if there is a weak player in the hand and you know the players behind are unlikely to squeeze.
No. 5 — Don't call three-bets against short-stacks
Suited connectors can profitably call three-bets with deep stacks pretty often, but they lose a lot of their value when the effective stack size drops to around 50 blinds.
This happens because their once-great implied odds are diminished. Consequently, you need to pay much more to see a flop compared to the potential win. Consider the difference: Poker tattoo sleeve.
Related Reading:
If You Think You're Best, You Probably Are
These five hands obviously don't cover every sticky situation a beginner is liable to encounter at the felt. I'm not saying you shouldn't play these hands, but play them with due diligence.
For a beginner the one rule you should never forget is 'If you think you're beat in a hand, you probably are.'
Related Beginner Poker Strategy Articles
- 4 instructional tournament hands in our Online Poker Tournament Tricks (2020 edition with Jesper Hougaard)
The Upswing Poker Lab is a poker training course taught by Doug Polk, Ryan Fee, and other top poker pros. The Lab is updated regularly with in-depth learning modules, theory videos, and a wealth of information to make you a better poker player.
By Dan Baker
It can be tough to know when, and how, to play a suited connector in hold'em. If you neglect to consider important factors, such as stack sizes, and your opponent's tendencies, you will likely make a costly mistake with these hands.
You're about to read five tips that will help you understand the mistakes you need to avoid making with suited connectors, and how to maximize your winnings with them.
No. 1 — Avoid three-betting against stacks of 60 big blinds or shallower
Nsw poker machine revenue recognition. When the preflop raiser has fewer than 60 big blinds in their stack, you should be less inclined to three-bet suited connectors, particularly low ones like 6-5 suited or 7-6 suited.
When you're deep stacked, suited connectors work great as three-bet bluffs because of their great playability. Against short stacks, however, the stack-to-pot ratio gives you less room to maneuver post-flop and decreases your implied odds. This change makes them less effective and rarely profitable three-bet bluffs.
No. 2 — Avoid three-betting against calling stations
You can probably imagine why three-bet bluffing with a suited connector is less effective against a player who doesn't like to fold. When there's little chance your opponent will fold, you lose a major incentive to three-bet the hand. But there's also a much less obvious reason why three-betting suited connectors is a perilous mistake vs calling stations.
These loosey goosey players will call three-bets with way more hands that dominate you — hands other players would fold. We're talking hands like A-6 suited, K-7 suited, and J-8 suited, which dominate your 6-5 suited and 8-7 suited. This will result in the occasional nasty cooler when you both hit trips or a flush.
No. 3 — Rarely four-bet suited connectors
When thinking about which hands make the best four-bet bluffs, there are three things you need to consider:
- Blocker effect
- Postflop playability
- Implied odds
Of these three, by the most important is your hand's blocker effects. This is because the ranges involved in four-bet situations are very tight and being able to rule out a few strong hands from your opponent's range makes a significant difference.
Suited connectors actually possess negative blocking effects. They block hands from your opponents' three-bet/folding range, such as A-5 suited or A-6 suited, and don't block any strong hands that will continue. These hands do have both solid playability and decent implied odds, but even these are stunted with the low stack-to-pot ratios in four-bet pots.
No. 4 — Avoid overcalling (except from the big blind)
It might be tempting to overcall with suited connectors, but unless you're in the big blind, it is a losing play that should be avoided. I am going to show you why.
Let's take, for example, a six-max game in which every player is 100-big blinds effective. Suppose middle position opens to 2.5 big blinds, cutoff flats, and it's up to us on the button with 6 5.
Now, we are in-position with a very playable hand, which means we will likely over-realize our hand's equity, but we also have to account for the threat of a squeeze behind. One of the two players behind will three-bet approximately 10 percent of the time, in which case we will be forced to fold and forfeit our equity. The players behind will also call a high percentage of the time, which lowers our hand's equity.
These are impossible things to calculate precisely, but it's safe to say that these two sets of factors are at least close to cancelling each other out. This leaves us with a shortage of around three to five percent equity.
With all that said, over-calling can be reasonable as an exploitative adjustment if there is a weak player in the hand and you know the players behind are unlikely to squeeze.
No. 5 — Don't call three-bets against short-stacks
Suited connectors can profitably call three-bets with deep stacks pretty often, but they lose a lot of their value when the effective stack size drops to around 50 blinds.
This happens because their once-great implied odds are diminished. Consequently, you need to pay much more to see a flop compared to the potential win. Consider the difference: Poker tattoo sleeve.
Tough Poker Scenarios Game
- When you're 100 bb deep: You typically have to call 5–6.5 bb to potentially win 100 bb. That means you can win 16–20x your preflop investment.
- When you're 50 bb deep: You typically have to call 5–6.5 bb (still) to potentially win 50 bb. This means you can win just 7.5–10x your investment.
One final nail in the coffin for suited connectors at this stack depth is the reduced fold equity post-flop, which is a result of more hands becoming committed to the pot.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, playing suited connectors is not so difficult when you understand which scenarios to avoid and why. Often times, the difficult part is having the discipline to get out of the way — suited connectors look too pretty to fold.
Tough Poker Scenarios Against
Avoiding the five plays I've shared with you today is a good place to start. Just because suited connectors look great doesn't mean they'll always play great!
Tough Poker Scenarios Games
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