Online Poker Guide - Texas Holdem Strategies
Texas Holdem Strategies: Playing Difficult Hands in Poker Part II
Poker can throw up a vast amount of different situations which can put you in a difficult position for some of your chips or even your tournament lives. In part one of Difficult Hands and Positions we briefly touched on a situation which may cost you dearly. Today we’ll look at another situation which often crops up in poker, both online and in a live card room.
A friend of mine, who recently discovered the live game after several years playing online poker, recently spoke to me about a situation that occurred in his local card room. The hand in question occurred during a £50 freezeout, with 6 players left, on the bubble. My friend, who had a mid sized stack, found Ace-Queen suited (hearts) under the gun and made a x4 raise of the big blind. The action was folded to the button where, after a sigh and a pause, the gentleman there doubled my friend’s raise. The small blind folded and the big blind instantly moved his, chip leading, stack all-in.
There are a few parts to the equation of that hand. Alarm bells should be immediately ringing when the button player makes a minimum raise. The minimum raise is usually begging for a call and our friend should be asking himself “What is my Ace-Queen beating here?”. If the alarm bells weren’t loud enough following the minimum re-raise then they should be deafening following the all-in of the player in the big blind. It’s very unlikely that a chip leader will make such a play following an under the gun raise and a re-raise from the button.
Our friend made the call for all of his chips. His reasoning wasn’t entirely without fault; that the game was short handed, he thought that by calling he could isolate the chip leader into a heads-up showdown and that by winning this hand he would be catapulted into the chip lead. It was a risk he was willing to take and it cost him his poker tournament life and he left the casino £50 down. The hand played out like this:
- Our friend made the call and pushed his chips all-in.
- The player on the button instantly made the call too.
- Our friend has Ace-Queen (both hearts). The button has Ace-King (both clubs) and the big blind has King-King.
- None of the hands improved on a raggy looking board and the pocket Kings eliminated both players. Ace-King was good enough for 5th place and a cash position in the tournament.
By taking the risk our friend has found himself in a horrible position. He is hoping for a flush, a straight or improbable running Queens to stay in the tournament. None of those happen and he is eliminated in 6th place.
If our friend had resisted the rush of blood to his head he could’ve passed his Ace-Queen to the re-raise and re-re-raise. Instead he forgot to pay attention to his opponents and got caught up with his own semi-strong hand and the short handed nature of the tournament at that stage.
In Part 3 we’ll look at a difficult situation that can occur early in a tournament. Go back to Playing Difficult hards Part I or back to texas holdem strategy menu.
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Online Poker Guide: Playing Difficult Hands
Difficult hands are what break or make a poker player. The most important skill is to think outside of your cards and imagine all the possible combinations your opponents could beat you with. If you're new to poker then don't be afraid to drop out and fold - wait for a great hand and when your opponents are betting cautiously. Of course there are no guarantees, but by folding 10, Jack on suite and staying in the game you will survive to fight another day.
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