Introduction

Holdem For Beginners

Holdem Advanced Concepts

How Much Is A Hand Worth?

The actual question is what does hand value depend on? It depends on many things, only one of which is the hand itself. More than any other factor, it depends on how well you play as compared to other poker players at the table and on the particular kinds of mistakes the other players at the table tend to make.
It is likely that it is correct to play tight and also correct to play loose. There is no particular correct answer to the question being posed here.

All the other things being equal, it is right to play tight in a low-limit game. On the contrary, if the players are very loose calling stations, it might be right to play looser pre-flop and tighter after the flop.

If you can see the flop cheaply, it is correct to play lot of suited hands - but if the players are tight-passive after the flop, you won't get paid off much and it might not be correct to do that. You need to consider the following questions:

1. How cheaply can you see the flop?
2. What kind of price are you getting to see the flop (number of callers)?
3. How weak are they pre-flop? (For example, will a raise by you buy the button?)
4. How aggressive are they after the flop?
5. How loose are they after the flop?
6. How weak are they after the flop?

It is the answer to all those questions, put together, that help you select hands to play. Because you can see the flop cheaply doesn't mean that you should play 75 and because you are getting a good price doesn't mean you should play 44 and because they are aggressive after the flop doesn't mean you should play 75.

Top Pair Value

High card value is improved when both of your cards are big cards. The high-card value of KQ is greater than the value of K8. There are two reasons. First, from an odds perspective the KQ has more ways to flop the top pair. A Queen is likely to make the top pair than an 8. Second, from a domination perspective, the KQ will have a good kicker irrespective of which card pairs on the board. In the case of K8, you will only have a good kicker if the eight is paired on the board.

Hands Groups

In Hold'em, it is common for poker players to try to rank starting hands. Some hand groups have been discussed to help you in thinking about the important playing characteristic of the starting hands.

These hand groups are not intended to be a recommendation for when to play certain hands. The groups are intended as a guide for how to think about hands values. Hands should be played when the poker game conditions are favorable to give the hand value. Exactly what these conditions are tends to be diffult that it really isn't worth while to try to develop a partular rule-based hand selection system.

HAND GROUPS

Pairs

S 10s

S 9s

S 8s

S 7s

S 6s

S 5s

O SA

O
SK

O
SQ

O
SJ

Power Hands

9,9°

A
Q
°°

Dominating power hands

8,8

A
9

K
T

Q
T

J
T

Dominating power hands

A
K

Drawing Hands

Add these hands to the list of dominating power hands

6,6

A
8

K
9

Q
T

J
T

T
9

Speculative Hands

Add these hands to the list of drawing hands

4,4

A
7

K
7

Q
8

J
8

T
8

9
8

8
7

7
6

AT††

K
J

Gambling Hands

2,2

A
2

K
2

Q
5†

9
7

8
5

7
4

6
4

°°°

SA - Suited Aces; SK -Suited Kings; SQ -Suited Queens;
SJ - Suited Jacks; S10s - Suited Tens; S9s - Suited 9s;
S8s - Suited 8s; S7s - Suited 7s; S6s - Suited 6s; S5s - Suited 5s
OSA -Offsuit Aces; OSK - Offsuit Kings; OSQ - Offsuit Queens
OSJ - Offsuit Jacks

° Means any pocket pair 9, 9 or higher
°° Means an Ace with a suited Queen or better Queen or King
°°° 5, 3 suited is the lowest suited one-gap that's usually playable; 5, 4 suited is the lowest suited connectors that's usually playable

† Aces and Kings have enough high card value that they are sometimes worth playing even with a suited 2 as a kicker. Queens don't have that much high playing poker card value and need a kicker that has at least some decent change of making second pair.

†† A, T is often considered as weak hand but in loose conditions you will have many players playing weaker Aces and the value of Aces and the value of an Ace with a marginal kicker goes up. It is a similar situation with KJ.

Continue :Explanations of various hands

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