Sticking to Starting Hands

Does anyone religiously stick to the starting hands chart? I feel like if you play just those hands you are easy to read. Thoughts?

I think you need to adapt and sometimes veer awaygiven the table dynamics time of tourney etc you need to have some bluffs too and if you find yourself short you might need to shove with less than top hands

As a player who operates mainly by feel, I do not stick to a specific staring hand cart. I play a very wide starting hand range depending on position and stack size. Most important thing for me is how I’m running and connecting with flops.

psuedosuited said:

Does anyone religiously stick to the starting hands chart? I feel like if you play just those hands you are easy to read. Thoughts?

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I personally don't stick to a starting hand chart because I have learned that if I wait around too long, my stack starts to dwindle and before you know it you are below chip average. Obviously you cannnot be recklessly loose then you are just burning money away. Its about position and opportunity to rake in more chips to ultimately win the tournament.

Sticking to any starting hand charts is guaranteed to be -EV for you in the long run. It's better to learn to adapt now then having to rely on starting hand charts in the future when you decide to move up stakes.
Even if you don't decide to move up stakes, spotting a player who sticks to starting hand charts is kinda easy after 50-100 hands

Starting hands charts are helpful for learning how to play initially, but they pose little value if you are trying to get better. I like starting hands for learning because people try and play like professionals too often, but they don't know how to play a hand. It's definitely better to learn what the good hands are first. Once you start having an idea of how to play the game, the hand becomes less important, and, therefore, the starting hands chart loses importance as well.

Sticking to the staring hands chart does not work well in tournaments from my experience. It seems to work ok in cash games.

No, I don't use them.

If i was better i might use charts, but i just kinda just wing it and do what i feel like.

Sticking to starting hands is very important. Especially when the blinds get bigger. You cant play too many hands. You will bleed chips. Also it helps you prove that you can be disciplined. But there is two sides to this: when the blinds are small you can play a wider range and heads up! Good luck! ♠️

The starting hands chart is just a starting manual to the car. Than you have to figure out how to make that car purr. Same thing with cards. You have to style your game to the flow of poker traffic on your poker car. After a while you just cruise through the poker traffic. Sometimes you bet, raise, reraise, limp in. shove all in. value bet. Whatever, you get the jist of it. You're switching gears. Up down stop go. Trying to get a feel for the traffic. Until someone makes a crutial mistake and you make them pay for it, in car chips. I hope this was entertaining.

Learning skills vs Hand Charts

A great resource for all levels of skill advancement is the material that Jonathan Little shares.

You can find his stuff on youtube, twitch.tv and follow him on twitter. His "A little coffee" series is great. You can access a huge amount of training material for free.

Google -hand charts- and he speaks directly about there use and want he recommends.

Starting hand charts are made to make it seem like coach’s are giving you a cookie cutter for profit. The actual charts should be looked at as a starting point and should be adjusted when figuring out other people’s calling range. Use the calling and raising frequencies to assign what percentage of hands they continue with. Then as you see more hands you can adjust those ranges. Flopzilla is your best friend!!!!

starting hand

I never heard of that. where do I find a starting hand chart? Anyway I try to play every hand even if its 4, 9 off suit because there is always a chance to hit something good like a couple more 9s on the flop. The starting hand chart is good for high blinds though.

You have to stick to the chart until you're good enough to ignore it.

And that's when you realize what the chart even means in the first place and why there's so much good advice in it.

Phil Gordon's little black book or practically any good poker book should have a chart for ya

If you're using charts that adjust the hand ranges based on position then it doesn't hurt to stick to them. But you do need to consider adjusting when you either become the short or big stack as that can affect how wide or narrow your range should be.

I stay flexible. If the winds are favorable, why sit out.

duson said:

If you're using charts that adjust the hand ranges based on position then it doesn't hurt to stick to them. But you do need to consider adjusting when you either become the short or big stack as that can affect how wide or narrow your range should be.

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I second this. Early in a tournament I tend to only play the best hands period but from there it all depends on stack size and positioning IMO.

Charts are useful when learning to play but experience is the better teacher IMO.

psuedosuited said:

Does anyone religiously stick to the starting hands chart? I feel like if you play just those hands you are easy to read. Thoughts?

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You can stick to decent starting hands but broaden the range. Make yourself harder to read by switching up your betting patterns.

Jdjakubisin said:

You can stick to decent starting hands but broaden the range. Make yourself harder to read by switching up your betting patterns.

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Sometimes you have no choice but to narrow the range.
Main message:
1) starting hands are good info for a start (what's in the name)
2) when you have more info, you can deviate

psuedosuited said:

Does anyone religiously stick to the starting hands chart? I feel like if you play just those hands you are easy to read. Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Honestly when i'm new on the table i religiously stick to the starting hands chart, the thing is when you realize you're sold this "image" to the other players is time to change gears to make profit just by the image you constructed.

Making your opponent expect something out of your call or raise. You can use that to your advantage.

Also the strictest set of hands I typically only use near the end of a long tourney when the blinds are high and most people have 5-10BB left. There is much less room for chance.

The beginning, oh..

A beginner should emphasize a high card and utilize a basic starting hand table.

But well, a poker has how to use the various hole cards according to the situation of the place.

Please don't forget not to be impatient and to be studying those gradually.