Starting hands

I am kinda learning Holdem by reading some poker books. And, they list all the starting hands that you should play in various positions. But whati I am wondering is how much I should discount this because of the number of callers in most hands.

I play $1 to $3 tournaments on poker stars, and it is typical to see 6 to 8 callers in every hand. Wouldn't that make a difference in what cards to play?

Like, I love to play K9. But the books say to never play it.

Thanks,

Carthalion

Well the simplest solution to your problem is easy.

Your raises are probably just not big enough. Find out where the table's threshold is for raises. Then when you play your big hands make sure to raise enough to get rid of all but 1 or two opponents.

At lower stakes and online sometimes you will find that you have more callers for the type of "standard raise" a book might suggest. These books have typically been written for live play where more information can be gathered by means other than aggressive betting. Online, and at these low stakes, you may have to push harder to get the results you want.

Raising is not just to get more money in the pot. It is also to make sure less players are betting for that money as the hand progresses. You have to use them this way to play successfully. It's not a just a number you want to be thinking about, but a tactical result.

This, like most things in poker takes time to get a feel for, and it might cost you a little bit of money in the short run.

While you are walking this dangerous new route you might tighten up your starting range to NOT include hands like your favorite K9, at least when out of position.

Now.. there are strategies for playing different styles of poker pre flop, but I am guessing you are fairly new. Stick to a tight aggressive pre flop strategy for now.

Thanks cAPS

You are probably right. There is no for sure answer, but playing tight could never be a problem until I get a better feel. When I think about the games I didnt win, it was never when I played too smart. (LOL)

I should offer the caveat that I am 90% cash player. That means, properly bankrolled I have virtually unlimited chips (especially at the pissant limits I play haha) . Of course this is not so in a tourney.

And the tourney specialists here can verify... But in a tournament you HAVE to tighten up a little if you are gonna push harder. The only alternative is to play a passive-pre-flop agressive-post-flop "fit or fold" sort of strategy (small ball?) which can be devastating for beginners since post flop play is far more dangerous, complicated and expensive. It can even be rough on seasoned players.

Yeah I'd say raise more.

With 8 or 9 callers you can pretty much play any 2 cards, you are getting sufficient odds to play anything really.

Trouble is unless you hit the nuts on the flop, you are going to find it very difficult to know where you are in the hand because they could have virtually anything and will probably call or raise way too much.

So you need to control the table more, force people to fold preflop more, this means tightening up your post flop play and being far more agressive when you do play. Also try not to play cards unless you are in late position. When you raise big, the last thing you want is 4 callers so you need to be sure you can reduce the field to just one or two.

If you do this then you will get a very tight table image.. this wouldnt work against better players as they simply would avoid any pot you were in.. but you have to keep in mind these are not good players and this is the way to beat them.

Oh yeah and stop playing K9!!!!

Starting Hands

If you limp in with a good starting hand and everyone else limps then you are likely to get outflopped. In your one and three games you need to thin the field by raising (punish the limpers) when you have one of the top starting hands, AA KK QQ AK JJ 10 10 . i REALLY LIKE TO THIN THE FIELD IF i HAVE A SMALL PAIR. I like to raise with a small PAIR to represent a big hand and if big cards come I may be able to take the pot by betting (REMEMBER THIS IS A GAME OF BETTING, FIRST IN THE POT TAKES A LOT) If you must play K 9 try to be in late position in an unraised pot never play them first to act or in middle position because someone who acts after is likely to pick up a hand and you could be dominated. I have a bad habit late in tourneys of playing connectors or your hand out in the middle and most always run into trouble.
blaine213