Decent vs. Mediocre vs. Bad Hands

I started to write this wondering if one should ever play Q 9 offsuited?

In my situation it was tourney play. I wasn't in the blinds, but I only had a stack = 2 big blinds (assuming no level change, though it would've in a few minutes) and short relative the rest of the table. Went all in, a Q came out in the flop, but the 3 of us who were still in it after the river each had a Q in their hand. The Q A took the pot.

The more general question that came to mind, however, is where are the following cut-offs?

• Decent pre-flop hand to a mediocre (but playable) pf hand
• Mediocre pf hand to a bad (unplayable) pf hand

Are there big differences between these depending on which style (tourney vs. stakes games) you're playing in?

Small aside, don't let yourself get down to 2BBs unless it's utterly unavoidable. Push/fold mode should start from 8 or so (more if there's antes) - when you get to 2BBs the big blind has odds to call you with anything, and your raise won't be intimidating enough to make anyone with a decent hand fold.

As for the real question, it depends on the table, the game, and position. For example, mid-high suited connectors would be decent in a NL ring game, but are less impressive in Limit ring because of lower implied odds. I'd fold AJo in early position in the early stages of a tournament, but would raise with it on the button if folded to me.

Basically, AA-TT, AKs, AQs and perhaps AKo are the "golden" hands, and the 'worthiness' of everything else is dependent more on other factors. The saying "play the players, not the cards" is said a lot, well it's pretty stupid. "Play your cards according to the players you're facing" would be better, if less catchy.

Should you ever play Q9o? Sure, steal some blinds with it. Or push with it if you're desperately short stacked. It's garbage at a full table otherwise though.