What to do with non-stop bad cards?

[Martinez]

I just wanna come back and touch back on this a little bit. I see everyone saying just sit and wait for good hands. We can not do this in poker. We have to attempt to steal pots with marginal/bad hands occasionally. Yet, also be prepared to fold if someone re-raise your bet pre-flop, or if they re-raise a cbet you put in. If they do call your cbet slow down, or hopefully the cbet was a semi-bluff. If you sit there and just wait for the best hand your stack will be gone from blinds and antes. Once again, DONT GET SLOPPY, just widen your range for stealing. Tight at start, looser later on. Don't even attempt stealing early on it is not worth it.

I accept what you are saying with marginal hands, but when you keep getting dealt cards such as 9-2, j-3, 8-3 ect ect, what's the point?. if one of your cards hits you have no idea where you stand.
I have sometimes only played as littlae as 2-3 hands an hour because of such runs with cards. Yes you can get blinded away, but sooner or later a decnt hand will come along which gives you enough of a chance to steal or win a decent amount of chips from the loose players.

 

[kURVAtILLIdIE]

i think have patience and just fold is best.when the mtt just running 45 minutes and 25-30% of your stack lost its still not the end of the world.enough time to wait for better hands still and hope you can double up once you put the chips in

 

[sanneenroy]

Have patience and shove in postion. If your stack is getting lower and lower you have to make a move now and then.

 

[thefwa]

Literally in this position right now, best hand has been 55, and AQ, both of which somebody shoved PF on, and I had to insta-fold. Just waiting it out..

 

[counts24]

Bad cards are easy, throw them out. If it's all you get you lose. Play good cards for all you can get when they come and be patient when they don't. It's really not that complicated unless you are in a tourny and running out of chips then you have to make the most out of your position...

 

[razshahan]

it happened to me also, getting cold cards and blinding out. its very difficult to keep patience at this times.....

 

[vinylspiros]

dont tilt and maintain cool untill your in the right spot with the right cards.

 

[JPoling]

The reason I say you can't just sit and wait, is the more we lose our stack the lesser our fold-equity becomes to other players. In MTT we have to take risks to run deep. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Once we are at 20BB we really gotta do something soon, at 10BB I'm probably shoving in position any suited connectors/middle pairs etc.

 

[Michael Paler]

You need good cards to win? Hogwash!

Hey guys i am playing the $11 - 12k$ GTD day 1(e) and i keep getting bad cards. The tournament has been running for 44 minutes and my best hand was pocket 6 so far. Then second best hand was K3. What should you do in these situations? Keep patience and blind ur stack down or change ur hand range? Starting stack was 5k and i already got outblinded to 3,488. Limped some and tried to steal the blinds with some, but they all re-raised and i had to give up already. Hard to play in these situations. Any tips are welcome for these situations.

Mat

This was hard for me, as I too got wrapped in the foremost poker myth of all time, which is "You gotta have good cards and connect to win"; This is total and complete hogwash.

Remember that poker is a game of people and postition. Live, this is most certainly true, but so is it online. No, you cannot see your opponent, but there is a live human on the other end (maybe using a computer to help him, but still a human involved).

Look at it this way: what is the difference between someone who actually holds AK and just flopped two pair and someone who holds 2-7 on that same AK board? NONE!!!. Lets say you got 2 pair, but there is 3 of the same suit on that board which you have none of. Now, how confident are you of your two pair now? Does the other guy have the flush, or is he just playing it like he does? If you bet and he shoves or re-raises you, what could he have? A bluff? Sure, or he could have the nuts. Well, guess what? You can do that as well!! Did he bet out big on the flop? Ask yourself why! Maybe he only has one pair and does not want to see the flush get there cheap. So if you call and that 3rd flush card hits and he checks, will he fold to a big bet after flatting him? If your paying attention, you should have a good idea as to if he will or not.

I'm not saying you should play every hand or every weak hand you get in or out of postition nor am i saying to bluff off all your chips, but you have to watch the table, figure out who is weak and can be bluffed, who will not fold no matter what, etc; If you only show up with big cards after an UTG raise you will get eaten alive on boards with no paint - so therefore you can shred opponents who do this very same thing. You play only your cards online or live and you'll never win without getting very lucky. You must shift gears and try things or you'll never get ahead in poker, especially Texas Hold'em.

As I write this I'm in an MTT. In the small blind I look down and see K2 off. One limper and the BB left. I shove. They fold. Why would I risk my whole stack for the blinds and one limp? Becasue I have been watching and know Krag is actually not bad against a random hand (the BB, who would have to commit 3/4 of his stack to call me, that is fold equity) and I know the button is limping to see a cheap flop as he is playing way to many hands and I just put him to a decision for his game life. I do not do this often, hardly ever. But the opportunity presented itself. Had the guy UTG limped in as well, I would have folded becasue I know he does this with strong hands hoping for a raise or shove by someone like me thinking he is weak. But I'm on to him.

Think like this and you'll have an easier time building a stack.

 

[TomLeach]

I think its Brunson who said he could do pretty well just playing the players and his position, he makes a great point, most hands dont go to showdown, which is the only time you need cards...

 

[Lekoo]

I have 3 suggestions:
1. Wait for good cards
2. Wait for good cards
3. Wait for good cards

No really, you should keep your range and wait for your chance because you can never know what will be the next starting hands

 

[TomLeach]

I have 3 suggestions:
1. Wait for good cards
2. Wait for good cards
3. Wait for good cards

No really, you should keep your range and wait for your chance because you can never know what will be the next starting hands

If youre a really tight conservative player maybe, but if you were at my table id be stealing your blinds and bullying you.

 

[JPoling]

If youre a really tight conservative player maybe, but if you were at my table id be stealing your blinds and bullying you.

+1

 

[PokerFunKid]

The reason I say you can't just sit and wait, is the more we lose our stack the lesser our fold-equity becomes to other players. In MTT we have to take risks to run deep. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Once we are at 20BB we really gotta do something soon, at 10BB I'm probably shoving in position any suited connectors/middle pairs etc.

Yeah thats exactly what i tought. When you keep folding and have a VPIP of 3% everyone will insta fold if you pull your first raise since 1 hour. (In extreme terms)

 

[RiverShove]

<15BB easy Nash Pushes


http://www.holdemresources.net/h/web-calculators/nashicm.html

 

[Everybodylovesdeuces]

A lot of tournaments I've won the best cards I've had were either AQ or TT once or twice. Everyone is right saying that you need to play position, the players, the situation. I play mostly live so it may matter less than online where you are more likely to get called down, but there's still a way to make it work.

If many tournaments go by and you're still feeling frustrated, try taking a small break and learning a new game. It will give you the reset you need while still fulfilling the need to play poker.

 

[Michael Paler]

I think its Brunson who said he could do pretty well just playing the players and his position, he makes a great point, most hands dont go to showdown, which is the only time you need cards...

You got it! He and the others who came up with him sure wouldn't depend on cards alone! He speaks at length about often showing up with the worst hand in cash games. He didn't worry about losing a big pot becasue of all the little ones he would steal that paid for it. His MTT strat was only a little milder, until the final table.

 

[dantheman91]

This was hard for me, as I too got wrapped in the foremost poker myth of all time, which is "You gotta have good cards and connect to win"; This is total and complete hogwash.

Remember that poker is a game of people and postition. Live, this is most certainly true, but so is it online. No, you cannot see your opponent, but there is a live human on the other end (maybe using a computer to help him, but still a human involved).

Look at it this way: what is the difference between someone who actually holds AK and just flopped two pair and someone who holds 2-7 on that same AK board? NONE!!!. Lets say you got 2 pair, but there is 3 of the same suit on that board which you have none of. Now, how confident are you of your two pair now? Does the other guy have the flush, or is he just playing it like he does? If you bet and he shoves or re-raises you, what could he have? A bluff? Sure, or he could have the nuts. Well, guess what? You can do that as well!! Did he bet out big on the flop? Ask yourself why! Maybe he only has one pair and does not want to see the flush get there cheap. So if you call and that 3rd flush card hits and he checks, will he fold to a big bet after flatting him? If your paying attention, you should have a good idea as to if he will or not.

I'm not saying you should play every hand or every weak hand you get in or out of postition nor am i saying to bluff off all your chips, but you have to watch the table, figure out who is weak and can be bluffed, who will not fold no matter what, etc; If you only show up with big cards after an UTG raise you will get eaten alive on boards with no paint - so therefore you can shred opponents who do this very same thing. You play only your cards online or live and you'll never win without getting very lucky. You must shift gears and try things or you'll never get ahead in poker, especially Texas Hold'em.

As I write this I'm in an MTT. In the small blind I look down and see K2 off. One limper and the BB left. I shove. They fold. Why would I risk my whole stack for the blinds and one limp? Becasue I have been watching and know Krag is actually not bad against a random hand (the BB, who would have to commit 3/4 of his stack to call me, that is fold equity) and I know the button is limping to see a cheap flop as he is playing way to many hands and I just put him to a decision for his game life. I do not do this often, hardly ever. But the opportunity presented itself. Had the guy UTG limped in as well, I would have folded becasue I know he does this with strong hands hoping for a raise or shove by someone like me thinking he is weak. But I'm on to him.

Think like this and you'll have an easier time building a stack.

This is really helpful, thanks! It's just putting that work in so you have those reads..

 

[punctual]

"We can't give up hope! It says so right in the Junior Woodchuck guide!"

"We can't give up hope! It says so right in the Junior Woodchuck guide!"

 

[n3rv]

There are a few ways to look at this.

But personally I think you might as well play tight and save your chips while the blinds are low - don't even bother limping or thin calling in bad positions because it just implies weakness to your opponents and gives needless chips away. This overly tight table image will also then help make some of your opponents think you have a good hand later when you start protecting your stack and trying to steal chips in good positions as the blinds increase, regardless of what cards you have - just pay attention to the table dynamics.

Then, after you have ran a couple of people over and start to have an aggressive image, it will probably be around the time your variance changes for the better so the longer you can just hang in there, the more chance you have of getting premium hands that you can actually go to showdown with.

You'll actually have a better chance of winning than those who got their good variance out of the way at the start of the tourney!

 

[Poker Orifice]

Play some speculative hands in position or when you can get in multi-way pots for cheap, or when up vs. weak player(s)... but don't go spewing off chips because you're not getting dealt big hands.

 

[dino]

try to change your tactics and play differently as usual, but don't tilt and go all in with some rag

just to twist a bit and try it out

 

[TomLeach]

This is really helpful, thanks! It's just putting that work in so you have those reads..

The advice there is generally good, but SB vs BB and Button limper, why would you risk your whole stack and tournament life, when a pot size bet is probably good enough?

Unless youre pretty short stacked <10BB I dont see the value of shoving all in for what is only 4BB (plus any additional ante's).

 

[love that omaha]

Play them, they might win. Lol. Pick some spots to show aggression regardless of your cards, you will obviously have a tight image if your cards are truly as bad as you claim. Work on bet sizing your bluffs to match what you would bet with premium hands. Watch a movie or tv show online to help you be more patient. Turn your computer off and go outside for some fresh air and exercise.

 

[counts24]

Great advice...

I think its Brunson who said he could do pretty well just playing the players and his position, he makes a great point, most hands dont go to showdown, which is the only time you need cards...

If you get good cards you can still lose... I like to doule up once or twice an hour on pocket aces or kings and not play bad cards. Reality is position is the name of the game if you want to compete. I will toss Q-K off suit if I am first to act and I will play 4-6 suited on the button if no one raises evry time no matter the blind amount... This is the biggest problem for the average player.