Trouble hands

Hey guys just wondering how you play certain hands. Things like 22-88 AJ A10 KJ in early position. Please let me know how you would play it early on in a sitngo and closer to the money with maybe 5-6 players left.

Are you talking about a 10 seater sng?If so in early postion im folding 22-55,with a mixture of limping and raising with 66-88,mostly limping and folding to a raise.A10 and KJ im folding early in a sng and i may even be folding AJ alot as well.Obviously when your down to 5 6 handed alot of these hands would be played very hard and fast,depending on stack sizes of you and you opponents.

Personally, at the start I like to limp with 22-88 and fold to a raise, in case you flop a set or better. Ace Ten I can limp, King Jack I fold, Ace Jack if suited I raise, if not I limp, but don't get attached to it. I tend to play quite loose though.
Towards the money, I like to raise with all these hands, 66 and above to try and steal some easy blinds and also may be the best hand with only 5/6 players left. however, you can still let alot of these go to a raise.
Hope this helps, it's just my opinion though.

Yea 10 person stts. Depending on VPIPs and PFR of my opponents I find myself folding a lot of these hands early on. Toward the money I definitely go for some more steal attempts and play them a lot harder. I think I'm a lot better short handed so the earlier rounds are more difficult for me. When I get AJ utg with 10-20 blinds im just not sure how to play it a lot of the time. Good to see I'm not the only one folding these hands though, I'd rather just stay out of trouble.

It is difficult when the blinds are tiny because most flops are being seen by 5 or 6 players at that stage,things get a lot simpler later on.

With those hands the best choice is to only limp a pocket 55-88 smaller just fold. AT, JK limp only if they are suited. Just be prepared to give away those chips cause someone will probably raise, and even if they dont, there are small chances that U will hit the pot.
The worst scenario is that U get hit by the flop, but U cant get paid out.

The answer is: It depends.

IMO, it mostly depends on position whether I play the listed hands at all. The AT and AJ might, for instance, be good for a standard raise from mid position, depending on the sort of players behind me. Any of these might be good for a raise on the button -- if nobody has come in to the pot.

They are not great hands, obviously, but could turn great on the flop. Small PPs have a lot of potential, but need a lot of help. I don't overplay any of them preflop early in a SNG. And none are really EP hands.

Numbah 0ne said:

Hey guys just wondering how you play certain hands. Things like 22-88 AJ A10 KJ in early position. Please let me know how you would play it early on in a sitngo and closer to the money with maybe 5-6 players left.

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Most of those hands I would not play. Even the small pockets I wouldn't bother to play in a SNG unless it was a tight table with little chance of me being raised. Cash games I always get the pockets in unless there is a ridiculous sized raise after me.

I love limping with the small pairs, if you hit that set, that is most of the time straight money, I find that raising with them is hard work cause there is always someone to call it, and then you do not hit the set.

Like Doops says, "It depends". What is the table like? What image are you trying to create/show? There's MANY an article/blog/podcast written on nothing but 'premium hands early until the ante', and then just as many 'try to accumulate as many chips early as you can.'

Pick a strategy as try it out. Find one that fits your personality and then modify it as the table seems. It depends.

Vollycat
(The above is from the Vollycat file of, 'No Duh Volly'. Sorry for poor content :S)

Early in SitnGos you should really be folding stuff like AT in early position, you can raise with them in late, but dont get too dedicated to them. Same thing with lower pocket pairs and suited connectors.

In my opinion the biggest trouble hands are low suited connectors and big pocket pairs like KK and AA, if they're misplayed preflop or even played perfectly sometimes pre and post flop, you can still lose with them.

Example: KK early position early in an SnG, raise, everyone except BB folds. The flop comes QT9, BB shoves and with an overpair and a gutshot you call. The BB turns over T9 suited for two pair and the turn and river do not help.

Did you really misplay the hand? No, but these kinds of things happen and have to be accepted. A pocket pair preflop is still just a pair.

Another example, you are dealt 4h5h preflop on the button, several limp behind you and you decide to also limp with small blinds and position. The blinds both come in and the flop comes AK3 with two hearts. Someone raises and you and one other comes along. 3 go to the turn, which is the 8 of hearts. You shove, the original raiser folds and the other person in the pot folds. He turns over Th9h and you are drawing dead.

Again this hand was not really misplayed, chasing a draw is not always correct with implied and pot odds, but more than doubling up with the flush can be too tempting. This is where BR management is important, so these unlikely but possible situations do not destroy your roll.

Fold or 3bet.... in any case limp, but you can know what type players in the game)))))

Early in an STT, in early position, I'm mostly dumping those hands preflop. The risk / reward just doesn't stack up.

When things get short handed it depends entire my position and stack size, my opponents' stack sizes and my reads on them.

I don't even think about touching these hands at the begginng of STT out of position. (Unless you notice that the WHOLE table is unusally tight) MOST of the time, I don't mess with them at all until I'm 6 handed, OR the big blind is 100+ But then again, I barely break even at STTs lol

AT SGT ai usualy fol those hands. Only play small pairs near the button, and ATs, AJs, AQs near the button, with 3 raise. I do not limp. They are dangerous hands and i have to get some informations. If i am in early position (first 5 positions) at the begining. When i remain with 4-5 players at the table i start to play AT, AJ,AQ with a pot raise.