How to play marginal hands?

What do you do in a tournament when there are marginal cards hours in a row?

If you want to play them, at least play them in position. Stuff like KT/KJ are hands you could potentially 3bet fold as well.

Generally I don't get involved in these hands, so I just fold.

I do not enter a hand with marginal cards, only when I'm forced to play in BB

I think that there's nothing to do with these cards except fold.

I do not know how it is right to play such cards, but a great writer has said :

Honestly it has happened to me and I only have weak hands for a long time. But know that marginal hands can sometimes bring good luck.

it all depends on the aggressiveness of the players at the table, and also on the stage of the tournament, but I think that trying (sometimes) to play marginal hands is right!

Just play that kind of hands when I see that I have a good amount of bone chips that I am the leader with more chips on the table, then the game usually.

A lot of people playing my cards ITT

Playing non premium cards is fun when it can be done without too much early commitment.
It is also necessary to shake things up and not be obviously tight and predictable.

Marginal said:

A lot of people playing my cards ITT

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You're so vain, I bet you think this thread is about you, don't you.
Carly Simon.

I must lose often now that trying to play marginal hands with no skills! Although if master this action can be a good Bank to take!

It depends on what you consider "marginal" hands. If you are talking about K10os, KJos, QJos, Q10os, ect... I generally try to stay away from those kind of hands early. If you are talking about 67s, 89s, 56s, ect.. I generally try to stay away from those kind of hands early also. There is nothing worse than splashing around too much and losing some chips then winning less when you do get a strong hand.

As a tournament progresses, the blinds and the antes grow, people naturally tend to tighten up. Hands like 67s, 89s, 56s, can become very profitable for 3 reasons. 1st, people are tighter because a 3x raise is a larger portion of their stack and they are less willing to risk chips on these kind of hands. This allows you to raise these hands as well as call raises because it is much easier to put people on hands. 2nd, you can easily figure out where you are at and its much easier to draw. 3rd, with higher blinds and antes I am more likely to have the odds to get into hands with marginal cards.


Generally, I'm not playing marginal hands unless I'm pretty confident that I have live cards. I'm going to be especially looking at the pot odds, types of players at the table, and my position at the table.

Maybe it's best to keep folding. The right cards will land eventually. This is definitely where patience comes into play.

The important is play like when we are holding good hands, I will use the position and image at the table, if we have folded a lot in a row when we make bet our image will be strong, we can make some better hands fold to our action.

It really depends. You can give bluffing from late position a shot if you are getting bored, but be prepared to give it up, and make sure you are doing the exact same as if you have a good hand. You can always mix in some good suited connectors if deep to help pass time, and you might take down the occasional pot when betting a draw

Anyway there is a small probability that you will win with these cards, especially if it 's microlimits tournaments. Just wait for any good hand and then play accordingly. Having nuts in a hand will protect you from senseless doubts what to do with this hand or is it strong enough to continue playing. Just wait a bit for good ones. You never know when nuts will come. What if you went allin, lost, and the next hand would be like aces? Better to continue waiting..

I would take a line against the person I felt I had the biggest advantage against in position. This gives me two advantages and one disadvantage, my holding. If it was a multiway pot I wouldn't play fit or fold I would just take my time and try to get a read on what the players had and assess if I could win the pot with a bluff, semi bluff or do I have to value bet.

the only way to play marginal hands is that I have a very large chip stack ... or that I am forced to do so by having less than 10 BB .... otherwise I will continue to fold that kind of hands ..!

Play in late position call if Yes you have not had a raise and fold to bet...

Fold, fold, fold. It is the hardest thing to learn and practice when you're beginning. You need to fold a lot.

I only play these cards when I notice an opponents tendicies or maybe if I have an opportunity to get a player isolated for cheap.

You can't play only premium hands, you will be very predictable and sooner or later you will be exploited by a good opponent. You must mix your openings , a good piece of advice is to start opening marginal hands in middle to late position. Find out some opening charts, there are many out there.

Good Luck!