10's in early

I'm looking for some advice playing pocket 10's in early position. Any help would be most appreciated. I mostly play SnG but when I play live it's usually only cash because I usually go with friends and end up playing other games. Advice for both situations would be most appreciated.

Of course specific situations would dictate exactly how to play them, but a general strategy would be to play them inversely to the amount of aggression the table has been playing at.

Play them like pocket jacks, except don't go ape shit on a Jxx flop.

That nugget of wisdom will cost $5.

As always it depends on your read on the other players but in general I would raise with pocket 10's even from early position. The amount I raise depends on the other players type of play but anything from 2.5 to 4 BB's

I always raise with jacks no matter the table I'm at. Tens is another matter, you're gonna be OOP postflop, so I don't think I'd be too crazy about them, but if the table has been passive setmining is an option. Really it depends on the size of your stack.

This might sound little passive but early on in a sng I would play it passive and just limp and fold to a reraise. I'm not sure about in a cash game but I would probably 2.5 to 3x bb preflop and put a cbet on a safeish flop if called.

I'm sure someone will say that I'm a total idiot and a donk by only limping but we all love donks

Alright... SnG play of pocket tens, I have had some good and not so good experiences with pocket tens and jacks.

From early position you should be betting with accordance to the blinds, if its early in the SnG you should be betting a good amount, 5-6 times the big blind (Everyone has a huge M at this point, so your bet has to be large as well to stop too many players from coming in.), as the SnG progresses and blinds get bigger and avg. M gets smaller, your bet sizing can decrease.

If one player calls your bet: If they're just calling a huge bet and not raising you I would put them on two face cards, QJ+, or any PP set mining. if the flop comes a face card, cbet about 2/3s, if they call/raise here you can be pretty certain they've hit, actually had a higher pocket pair than you/have a set. Fold unless you have a good read on them as a calling station.

If two or more players call: Again, everyone has a huge M, two people may come in playing for example AQo and KJs, if ANY facecard comes on the flop you can be almost certain you're beat, I would just be playing here looking for a set on the flop, if someone makes a weak bet into the pot I might call looking to hit a set on the turn to win the pot (ex: call 60 to win 600), otherwise I would fold.

If you have more specific situations I might be able to help more, pocket tens can be a really tricky hand. It would also help alot to know what kind of statkes you're playing at in the SnG, .30 cent SnGs have players that will shove all in to a big bet relative to the blinds from EP pocket tens, when they're only holding two facecards. That doesnt necessarily mean you should call, but its different than at higher levels of SnGs where you're probably gonna be facing shoves when people only play back at you like that with something like JJ+.

There's always someone who calls everybet and bets everytime you check. If you get tens your just going to get run over because an overcard is going to come very often and if your cbetting the flop with no info on your opponents (the opponent is an idiot) and like i said there always seems to be 1 idiot at a sng. Either i'm missing something and if you think i am can you explain to me what i'm missing? If you do cbet the flop and have to fold on a later street your going to lose about 350 chips which is more then a 5th off your stack. Early on your meant to preserve (wrong spelling i think) your stack and wait for a true monster to come.

Appericate any people giving me advice. Bad or good

Pocket tens can be a good hand or a bad hand. Say you end up giving 350 up from an original stack of 1500 early in an SnG. That leaves you with 1150, not a really good looking stack. But if you calculate your M with say 25/50 blinds:

1150/75 = 15.33, this is about a medium M, its enough to play with and is better than losing your entire stack imo because you shoved preflop against AK and he hit a K on the flop or something.

Poker is a gambling game, you have to take chances, I feel this is a good way to play tens because you go away feeling like you have a pretty good lock on what your opponent had. Is there a cheaper way to play pocket tens? Yes, you can just limp and setmine, but from early position limping is really weak when you're almost guaranteed to get raised, also if someone other than you is raising the pot you lose credibility for a good hand to cbet the flop when an overcard comes up.

I like to just limp early and call a standard raise in both situations. If it gets 3 bet then I'll bail. seems like the safest way to play them OOP to me.

Well I'm not a SNG player, but I'll tell you that at a cash game you should not limp with 10's. If you're first to act with pocket 10's you should always open. Whats the point of limping and then having the BB see a flop for free and out-flopping you? Say something like 239 hits the flop. You think you're 10's are best, but you will be very upset when you go to showdown and the BB flips over 29.

yes but in 15 min time the blinds will be about 30/60 or 40/80 and your m will probably be around under 10 if you don't pick up a hand which is very likely. If you just limp and call a small raise to setmine and if you miss then ckfold with only losing 15th off your stack. If you flop an overpair you may want to get it all in you may not tread carfully

min raise, if someone comes over the top would still call and then depending on flop strong bet if all low cards, if a Ace comes continuation bet to represet big Ace

I have to agree with Salim....and damn, it's scary that we would play them exactly the same way in a SNG. I mean EXACTLY. Hope you're a really good player Salim, cause that stroked my ego just a bit!

Tom, it is very difficult w/ SNG'S. I don't mind the limp as I do employ it from time to time. And yes, there is usually some caller on the flop. If you have no info on the player (and I believe you usually have info on a player from their avatar name to how quickly they take to make decisions), I don't mind the checkraise on the 9xxr(r-rainbow) flop. Usually shows a lot of strength. It depends on their bet obv. If they bet small, I make big checkraise. If they call immediately...I'm DONE. If they think, they might float to hit on the turn. Overcard on the turn ..... I'm usually done. Unfortunately there is only so much you can do OOP (out of position). If you really don't trust yourself....FOLD. Sounds nitty (and I wouldn't do it), but if those chips you lose would be better suited in your stack when you play stack-a-donk w/ AA's, so be it.

Out of position sucks!!!!

Well we both final tabled in that FT CC Freeroll... three weeks ago? Not sure, you posted that HA with me in it... I went out in fifth ^_^ I think that makes me and you super wicked awesome lol.

LOL! I remember.

Salim, you are now my.....

SUPER WICKED AWESOME BROTHA FROM ANOTHA MOTHA!!!!

We should form a team, DonkBustas!!!

Got a Donk who's thinks he's hot?

DonkBustasssssss

We'll run him over and show him he's not!

Who ya gonna call?

DonkBustasssssss!

Is a continuation bet recommended with 2 overcards to represent AK, AQ, etc? What about one overcard? Assume a loose table in an online MTT. I sometimes limp with them and hope for a set and ditch if I don't hit early in a tourney. If the blinds are high enough or I have a big enough or small enough stack 10 10 becomes more of a no brainer allin shove. I appreciate the advice so far. Believe it or not there are times when I actually fold 10 10 or 99 in early position really late in the tournament. For some reason, I'd rather have AK or even the dreaded AJ. Sometimes it's the "right" play (in my mind) because I get to see the fireworks go off after my fold and some dbag hits their Sanfransico waiter (Q3). I usually play 5-20 sng range. I find usually with higher stakes its more predictable poker, but not always.

In 1/2 cash games in Atlantic city, I seem to have more luck with 7,2 off in the big blind than pocket 10s in early position LOL.

In headsup online, I love tens. Just love them

early stages of a SNG - raise then fold to a 3bet

middle/late stages - (assuming ur around >15BB) open shove and 3 bet shove.

SNG-- 10-10 early position I like a 2-2.5timesBB just to see where im at
maybe even limping in but in a sng depending the situations just mix it up some!

Heh, well I took salim's advice just now, had 10s in early. My stack 1,500 other stack 1,500 blinds 50, 100 (had not been getting any cards). I raise to 500. 1 allin behind me. I'm pot committed and call. He turns over JJ. I'm out of the tournament. It was a freeroll though. If I had limped I may have been able to get away from it.

Lol 50/100 isnt early in a SnG, it is in a tourney but its big enough to get paying players to respect raises, early is 25/50 or less. At 50/100 you should be raising 3x, at least in a regular tourney or sng. In a freeroll no one will respect any raise you throw at them anyways.

flat call and fold to a super huge raise behind you or on the flop, your looking to hit a set or fold dont play these like aces because they are not aces

I find people get excited about 10's, regardless of position.

What would you do with 99's? I pretty much play them the same way.

Pretty much.

When you play against donkeys who will 3bet with you with AJ or AT tens can be really big, cbet the flop even with one overcard chances are they missed and you can take it down. Not hard to escape from either, if they reraise you on the flop you can be sure you're beat.

How the hell did such a bad thread get so many replies?

call a small raise, but don't kill your chips. on the flop if there are bigger cards then tens it best to throw it. but if you hit a set go in for the kill