Online No-Limit Texas Hold'em Poker for Beginners - Part 4

Getting Started with a Good Hand

There are good hands, and there are bad hands. There are hands that play well with others, and hands that want to play alone. In almost all the Limit Hold'em books, the "experts" say to only start with the top hands. That being AA, KK, QQ, AKs, TT, AQs, AJs. If you only play these top hands, and play them correctly, you will take down more pots, and win more often.

Unfortunately, in an SNG game, or tournament hold 'em, the blinds go up every 15 minutes, or every 10 hands in SNG games. If you are waiting and waiting for those BEST hands, eventually, the blinds will dig into you. What you need to recognize, as a good player, is what a good hand looks like. Or, more importantly, how much it is worth.

There has been a ton of research done on starting hands. Sklansky and Malmuth put out hand rankings and how to play them in the 1980's. Since the advent of advanced computing, a college kid for his thesis redid the rankings and offers EXCELLENT explanations as to why and what to play.

There is enough information there to make your head swim. Here are the rankings of the hands that he came up with:

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As you can see, you have probably been playing the wrong hands. It's okay. You didn't know better.

Generally speaking, our first experience with poker is usually 5-card where everyone antes and has to play their cards. If they fold, they are out their ante.

This mentality you just can't take to Hold'em. The only folks forced to pay are sitting in the blinds. That means, if you have a hand that isn't on that chart, don't even bother playing it. Fold it down. The higher up you go in the groupings, the better the hand.

The chart shows the frequency of these top 84 hands showing up as your two down cards. According to the groupings, 22, 33 and the low and middle suited connectors aren't even playable. And herein lies the problem with these groupings as they relate to No-Limit Hold'em.

Most all information on Hold'em, as said before, has been published with Limit Hold'em in mind. These rankings hold true, of course, but in No-Limit, I don't think I'd exactly throw out 22, and 33.

I will be referring back to the groupings and the chart for the rest of this book. Print out the chart and keep it in front of you if you can't remember how strong, or how weak, your hand actually is.

Here are the starting hands charts, and groupings, in an easier to find format you can print out.

Limping-in Bad Hands

Playing your two down cards CORRECTLY is the most important part of Hold 'em, pre-flop. Just by looking at those 2 cards, you can get a pretty good idea of how good your chances are of winning that hand. No flop, no turn, no river.

All that the other cards do is change your chances, for better, or for worse. In this section, I am going to reveal the CORRECT way to play the top hands, and what hands you want to throw to the muck.

In the chart above, you see hands in "groups" that were originally set forth by S&M and restructured more recently for a college computer science thesis. These groups are important. It sure makes talking about the hands a lot easier. And so we begin.

Any dummy can tell you that AA is the best hand to play and 72os is the worst. But, what if 772 flops? How do you like your aces now? Granted, if another ace comes on the turn or the river, you beat old 72's full house. It could happen. The more important question you should ask yourself is, "Why did I let someone with 72 stay in the hand?"

In Hold'em, the players are allowed to raise pre-flop. Here is where the strategy starts. You see your two down cards, and know, generally, how strong they are. This is one determining factor in how you will play the hand.

The second is your POSITION at the table. It is a LOT easier to play from the button, or close to it in late position, because you will already know how everyone else has bet.

The third is the cost of the blinds. There are some definite guidelines for playing each hand, and I will discuss those here.

In an SNG game everyone starts with the same amount of chips. Generally, this is 800 or 1000. The blinds usually start at 10/15, and go up to 15/30 next after 10 hands or 15 minutes. These are the low blinds. When the blind is low, it encourages you to limp-in more.

I would say to limp-in with about everything, if you can, when the blind is at 15. You never know what you are going to catch, and if nobody ever raises behind you, you will spend a grand total of 150 chips to see 10 flops. Even if you never catch anything, you are still only down to 650 chips and can tighten it down from there. So the blind cost should be a major determination of how often you attempt to limp-in.

You must have discipline though, if you are going to limp-in during the 15 blinds. It is much easier to limp-in from the button or late position as you know if anyone ahead of you raised or not. From early position, you are just hoping. You must have discipline.

Even 72os is a decent limp-in with the right flop. But, a hand that is decent for a 15 bet may not be a good bet at all at 30. Just like a good bet at 30, may not be a good bet at 50. I have heard so many folks lament throwing away 10 4 only to have 10 10 4 flop. They get miffed and say they should have stayed in. Being the ass that I am, I always retort, "It was only 15 chips. Were those 15 chips going to break you?"

The one pet peeve I have is when I'm on the button, and am trying to limp-in. It gets around to me, and I put in my 15, only to have the SB or the BB raise to 30. Ugh. At this point, it is a mistake to raise to 30. You need the discipline to fold it down. Of course, you will think, it is only another 15, so why not.

Pros and Cons

There are pros and cons to doing this.

What if this happens 10 times? Now you are out 150 more chips and at 500 instead of 650, if nothing ever hit. Not really that big a deal, but you are playing for a "miracle" flop. Something along the lines of flush draw, 2 pair or 3 of a kind. The odds say, with your crappy hand, this is not going to happen.

Generally speaking, if you are trying to limp in cards that are at least connectors, or suited, then maybe you should put in the extra 15. If you are limping in something like K5 or A6, maybe also. But the 10 4 I mentioned previously, I wouldn't. You are hoping on just blind luck. If someone raised, even 15 chips, it means they have something they are positive about and are trying to either increase the pot, or weed people out.

Remember, as always, DON'T get sucked in. If you don't get 2 pair, a flush draw (with 2 suited cards or the ace) or trips, FOLD! Nothing is worse than when you go in with said 10 4, get a 4 8 9 flop, and nobody is betting. They all bet 15, so you do, because you have low pair and a pseudo-straight draw.

Turn comes with a Q. Now you have low pair and a gutshot straight draw. Another 15, and you call. River comes with an ace. Someone bets big, and it's time to fold.

"Playing" this hand cost you 45 chips, and you were never really in contention. It is easy to do this, and do it often. This is the reason why the best players only play good starting hands. They don't want to keep throwing a "little" money at small percentages. They like to load up and throw a LOT of money at high percentages.

In the previous example, if the J came on the river, odds are the worst you are going to do is split the pot. But, you could lose it also if the other guy came in with K T. That would give him 9 through K instead of your 8 through Q. This happens a lot, actually.

When people are in on rags, you will see folks bet up the "ignorant" side of a straight and be pissed when they lose. The ignorant side is the low side.

Lets say everyone is limped-in on a 15 bet. The flop comes 6 7 8. The guy in the big blind is excited all you "suckers" let him stay in the hand with his 45. He bets it up, and gets called. An ACE comes on the turn. Being that he still has the straight, he bets even bigger, figuring he'll get extra money from the folks looking for the ace. He gets plenty of callers. River comes with a J. SWEET, he thinks. Bet BIG. He gets called down and loses to ANYONE with a 10.

When you have the ignorant side of a straight, it can't get any better, it can only get worse. Either bet it big to try to force everyone else out, and hope for no callers, or just ride it in watching to see if a better straight becomes apparent.

Betting the ignorant side of an obvious straight is an easy way to lose.