Propane Goat
Grinder and paint make me the welder I ain't
Moderator
We've all been there: you're in the middle of a tourney or cash game and for a long stretch get nothing but hands like 52, 84, T3, with no pocket pairs and no good Aces or Kings. Your stack keeps getting eaten up by the blinds and you're forced to fold one hand after another.
We have several options to choose from in these situations, some are better than others.
Option number 1: If we are following the commonly given advice of "only play good hands," we just keep folding and hope for something better. The problem with this is that your stack keeps getting eaten up, and your VPIP keeps dropping.
If your opponents are paying attention, they will notice that you have been folding many hands for multiple rounds. When you finally raise with AA after folding 20 hands in a row you are essentially playing with your cards face up and everybody will know you finally have a premium hand.
Option number 2: Many players take a passive approach to the game where they limp in pre-flop with a lot of mediocre hands and hope to hit something big on the flop. I've noticed that once they've put chips in the pot, many players will go on to also call raises preflop with rags and will often even call all-ins.
One could argue that your cards don't matter if you're constantly limping in because you're going to get lucky sooner or later, but the amount you lose in pots where you don't hit will far outstrip what you win when you do.
Option number 3: Another option: represent good hands in the right situations when we actually don't have anything. This takes some thought and a lot of observation of your opponents, and can backfire if not done correctly.
Example: you notice that the two players to your left are folding every time someone raises unless they have a premium hand. You can use this to your advantage by stealing blinds on the button even though you have a trash hand, because you're either going to pick up the blinds when they fold or if they call you know you have to hit the flop hard or give up.
Another example would be a villain that on your right that constantly raises pre-flop but has a very high percentage of folding to 3-bets. You can often 3-bet with nothing and get them to fold a better but non-premium hand.
I was in this situation recently where it was getting late in a tournament and the player two seats to my right would always raise the button when I was in the BB. I had gotten lucky with premium hands for several consecutive rounds and 3-bet shoved each one, and they folded every time. This continued for a while and I was shoving anything I had in the BB every time they raised and they didn't adapt to it, they just kept folding.
Like that old quote says: "poker is not a game of cards played with people, it's a game of people played with cards." Simply put, the cards you actually hold are often less important than what you can make your opponents think you're holding.
Let's hear your strategies and pitfalls for dealing with being "card dead," what do you suggest to overcome this problem?
We have several options to choose from in these situations, some are better than others.
Option number 1: If we are following the commonly given advice of "only play good hands," we just keep folding and hope for something better. The problem with this is that your stack keeps getting eaten up, and your VPIP keeps dropping.
If your opponents are paying attention, they will notice that you have been folding many hands for multiple rounds. When you finally raise with AA after folding 20 hands in a row you are essentially playing with your cards face up and everybody will know you finally have a premium hand.
Option number 2: Many players take a passive approach to the game where they limp in pre-flop with a lot of mediocre hands and hope to hit something big on the flop. I've noticed that once they've put chips in the pot, many players will go on to also call raises preflop with rags and will often even call all-ins.
One could argue that your cards don't matter if you're constantly limping in because you're going to get lucky sooner or later, but the amount you lose in pots where you don't hit will far outstrip what you win when you do.
Option number 3: Another option: represent good hands in the right situations when we actually don't have anything. This takes some thought and a lot of observation of your opponents, and can backfire if not done correctly.
Example: you notice that the two players to your left are folding every time someone raises unless they have a premium hand. You can use this to your advantage by stealing blinds on the button even though you have a trash hand, because you're either going to pick up the blinds when they fold or if they call you know you have to hit the flop hard or give up.
Another example would be a villain that on your right that constantly raises pre-flop but has a very high percentage of folding to 3-bets. You can often 3-bet with nothing and get them to fold a better but non-premium hand.
I was in this situation recently where it was getting late in a tournament and the player two seats to my right would always raise the button when I was in the BB. I had gotten lucky with premium hands for several consecutive rounds and 3-bet shoved each one, and they folded every time. This continued for a while and I was shoving anything I had in the BB every time they raised and they didn't adapt to it, they just kept folding.
Like that old quote says: "poker is not a game of cards played with people, it's a game of people played with cards." Simply put, the cards you actually hold are often less important than what you can make your opponents think you're holding.
Let's hear your strategies and pitfalls for dealing with being "card dead," what do you suggest to overcome this problem?
