Favorite hand
My favorite hand is the hand in which I could maximize my profits in the game. I neither have love nor hate for hands and long as I can play them. There are exquisite situations where I limp 72 and I'm able to the flop. In the starting hands of a tournament or even in cash games it's very cheap to see the flop. For instance you pay 20 to see a pot which values 120 pre flop. It's a good deal thinking in the terms of gamble. You pay 20 to have the chance of winning five times your investiment. Good deal. But what about my hand? 72 works just fine as best starting hands. If I do not hit a seven or a two, I fold any raise.
But what I am saying depends strongly in the situation of the game. Mostly the correct action is to fold hands as 72o.
But if I was going to choose a group of hands to play seriously it would be all suited conectors without gaps. All pocket games, from deuces to aces. By the way pair of deuces is a very good game. For instance a pair of deuces is winning AK pre flop from a slight advantage. Anyway, I would play with the 25% of the best hands or even less in the beginning of a tournament. In cash games I would play only 10% of the best hands.
When a tournament is getting to his half time, I would amplify the range of hands until 35% of the best hands. In the final stages of the tournament I would be playing 55% of the best hands, which is a very large range of hands to play. Let's forget my digression and come back for what I was saying about what is my favorite hand...And why you should bet hands like pocket deuces.
The reason you will make a three of a kind of deuces is 1:8, which means, one in eight times your three of a kind will hit. It is possible to play and profit with any possible hand in the game, depending on how you play, your accuracy in reading the game and other players, the way your opponents play.
It doesn't really matter the hand you have in the game of poker, because we know the best hand doesn't win all the time. The point is to convince your opponent that you have a monster hand, by betting with
equity and
bluffing with hands you could never win the pot. By the way, you should look for an amazing play of Nacho Barbero in the final of Latin America Poker Tournament. In the final of the tournament, in a heads up condition, the hero raise pre flop 4 BB, I guess, with AQ off, and Nacho Barbero has 84 off and he simply...as a good villain he all in with 84 off suited and...see for yourself.
Pocket aces are dominating pre flop right? Right, in the post flop condition if the reason 1:8 does not hit an ace in the flop you might be in some position you should think a lot to make the right decision. Fold pocket aces? Never! I hear some players say. I believe this depend on the specific context of the table, and most important, the context of the board. Of course we shall never run with pocket aces but there are situations we should balance a series of factors to see clearly if pocket aces are the best hand in the game, and most important, if pocket aces is winning over other possible hands. When you have a strong pair I believe you should consider first: In which position am I? UTG? BB? Hijack? Cut Off? Button? How many players do I wanna play against? One? Two? Eight? I believe the less players you have it's easier to
bluff if you do not have the best hand, and even steal some chips if you really have a strong pre flop hand. Make profitable moves. Make your hand as much profitable as you can. Apply value to your moves, in order to achieve a monster pot with your hand.
We should remember the lesson of David Slansky in Theory of Poker, that the object of poker is to make profit. The object of poker, the sole purpose of this brilliant game, is not to obtain the best hands possible as AA, KK, QQ, etc, but know how to profit with premium hands, medium hands and trash hands still.
Depending on your knowledge of the theory of the game and your skills applying in the tables, you will see and experience that not always the best hands win the game. The best hand is the one you are allowed to play as the first agressor of the hand, raising pre flop, in late position. No matter what hand, it matters the way you gamble, because above all, poker is not only about hands, is about how and why to gamble. Viva Nacho Barbero! lol