What do you do if you keep getting junk?

[DoofusBazaar]

Yesterday I played a few turbo sit n gos and for a solid 2 hrs was just getting pure junk hands. Then ending up super short stacked just through not playing many hands.

What do you do when this happens, I guess it's just part of the game? Should I have started to play some less favourable hands?

 

[fundiver199]

I fold and usually end up busting without cashing. This is one of the reasons, why I am not a huge fan of very fast tournament structures like the 45-180 man SnG turbos on pokerstars. If you get a period of being card dead in those, you often end up with a 3-4BB stack being forced to call it off in the BB with a totally random hand against 2-3 opponents. In tournaments with a more reasonable structure you have a much better chance to make a come-back, once the card dead period is over.

 

[Sergei 9417]

Hello
Dead hands are a good indicator to take a break, it is much worse if you are losing with premium hands, it is more difficult to stop trying to win back your lost bankroll

 

[gryphon3005]

First, I light a candle and say a prayer to the poker gods. Then I stand up and walk around my chair three times. Finally I get my baseball cap and put it on backwards.
It works. Want to know why? Well, a few minutes later my dear wife walks by the door looks in at the candle and my hat and says something like I see you're losing again, time to quit and go do something completely different. And I do.

 

[rafcio20p]

Sometimes good cards don't come out, the worst is late in the tournament.
Usually I open a four pack of beer and wait for AA Joke, of course

 

[TUGIN777]

There aren't many opportunities to play the worst cards in poker, and in most hands you still have to throw 72o or 38o. However, there are situations when even the worst hand is good enough to continue the game.
So, if you take the position of BB, none of the players raised, then you just need to check to see the flop – you do not lose anything. Also, in rare cases, it will be advisable to deliver half of the blind while on the small blind. When calling with the 72o hand, you must be sure that the player on the big blind will not raise, and for this you need to have statistics on your opponent.
Why does such a call have the right to exist? The fact is that the bank already has 1.5 BB, and you need to deliver 0.5 BB. It turns out that the bank's chances are 3 to 1.Given that the chance of winning 72o against a random hand is 2 to 1, then the call will be positive.
When you have already invested your chips in the pot, i.e. you are sitting on MB or BB, and your opponents are very passive, drawing the worst hands will be advisable. But is it worth calling with the 72o hand from other positions? The bank's chances will help us answer this question again. Let's assume that there were 3-4 limpers in front of you and you are almost sure that there will be no raises after you. In this case, investing one big blind has a good chance of paying off if the flop strengthens your hand. Obviously, if there are no matches or if there is a match with a deuce, you should play a check-fold. Well, if you catch two pairs, you can count on a good profit.
72o and other junk hands can be played not only by calling, but also by raising. But to do this, you need to have complete information about the player against whom we are going to raise. The most successful situation for promotion is the button position, when all the previous players have been fouled, and there are very passive opponents on the big and small blind. If the SB and BB Fold to BTN Steal are too high in their statistics, you can safely raise with any garbage hand – it will bring you profit at a distance.
Another reasonable situation to enter the hand with a 72o is to play in a tournament against an opponent with a short stack. Such a draw will be more relevant in bounty tournaments, in which you will receive a cash prize for winning the stack of each opponent. Let's assume that you are on BB, and the owner of the short stack from the button goes all-in with 2.5 BB. Perhaps any hand is suitable for a call, because you will get prize money for winning this opponent. Well, if you lose, the loss of 1.5 BB for your stack will be almost invisible.
So, despite the fact that garbage hands, such as 72, 83, 82, etc.in most cases, you need to fold on the preflop, still in rare situations it will be more expedient to play them.

 

[redmast]

In such cases, when my stack is about 10bb, I try to throw an average card to allin if no one raised in front of me and only made a call on the big blind. And I try to pick up the small and big blinds.

 

[vittopio]

Yesterday I played a few turbo sit n gos and for a solid 2 hrs was just getting pure junk hands. Then ending up super short stacked just through not playing many hands.

What do you do when this happens, I guess it's just part of the game? Should I have started to play some less favourable hands?

When playing turbocharged tournaments ( especially the CIS), you should be ready to expand your range of hands!

 

[Gamer4455]

Hi DoofusBazaar. At one time or another we all have that happen. There is only 3 things you can do. You can either get away from the tables for short times. I mean go back and forth and see if it will change. You can try playing some of those hands when it don't cost much to call. Or you can dig in and fold fold fold until you catch a hand here and there. As for tournys, there is nothing to do but wait. GL to you

 

[Phoenix Wright]

Just keep folding

Everyone gets card dead occasionally; not much you can do about it, but it happens to everyone. bluffing unnecessarily will just dwindle your stack faster. By all means, bluff as usual if a good spot comes up - but I wouldn't bluff purely because you are card dead.

If you wait for decent cards, you might have just enough of a stack left for a comeback - but you don't give yourself this small extra chance if you bluff off your stack

 

[GeckoAA]

For the most part, I just keep folding. If I happen to get half decent cards and have a chance to see a cheap flop, Ill give it a go. I definitely expand my range of cards played to some degree. 9/10 s can look pretty yummy at the right moment. It can really depend on how the others at the table are playing also.

 

[Risto234]

Yesterday I played a few turbo sit n gos and for a solid 2 hrs was just getting pure junk hands. Then ending up super short stacked just through not playing many hands.

What do you do when this happens, I guess it's just part of the game? Should I have started to play some less favourable hands?

Obviously it's never wrong to make adventage of "junk cards" - if people are too afraid for that then it's their problem lol

 

[liviuplayspoker]

I think not every hand is pure junk, i mean you could as short stack on BU with J7(s)+, or any Ace, or suited connector like 45s,56s,67s, and so on, you dont have to play only the Premium hands like AA,KK,QQ,AK,AQ, You have sometimes to bluff, and if you've an tight image, your bluff goes easier throuh.
But it can also be a short downswing. One day playing is nothing, yo have to play minimum 6 months, to see if youre a winning Player. It can be also a downswing or an result of bad playing!
GL on the tables!

 

[LFC_yllnwa]

Of course, this happens, but online it happens very often, much more often than usual.. I think it's impossible to change that, so it's worth changing your game plan or strategy sometimes. Do not be afraid of changes, but do not forget that playing wider or in a different way and making stupid bets with very bad cards are very different events.

I think you're talking about premium or very good cards, but there are still many medium-strength hands that can also be played successfully and increase your pot It is impossible to sit and wait for only the top hand for play, because you will be predictable for the opponents, or if you do not get them, you lose the chips, as you correctly say). When you only play good hands, you limit yourself to the breadth and scale of your choices

 

[darthjewel]

From my experience the period when you get the low rank cards lasts usually less than 20 min, so after half an hour I would stop and decide what to do next.
I have seen that sometimes when I play with stronger players my cards seem to be weaker than usual.
Regardless of the reason I would change the game type for a while to 'test my luck' elsewhere. If the unusual situation persists I would lower the stakes or move to freerolls.
Of course one can try to play weaker hands, but in my opinion it should be rather the part of the overall strategy , not just because I got a junk hand.

 

[woodeng]

If I get junk, I fold . . . As soon as I try to bluff an opponent has a huge pocket pair.

 

[zerosalex]

I fold or I play low stakes to wash the bad luck away. Even after folding a bunch you build respect with opponents just by folding. So fold and wait for a good hand to play in a good position and try to take as much chips as possible.

 

[ToNy70929]

I played at the Pokerstars jubilee tournament, I had trash for 6-7 hours. The Pokerstars program was completely not on my side. I was constantly quitting the game, restarting the game and hoping that the program would change the hand and good cards would start coming. And yet I waited, the reboot program worked, and when I was supposed to fly out before the prizes, premium AA cards came. Thanks to AA, I entered the prize area.

 

[tagece]

You need to be patient. I usually wait for playable hands in the first half of the SG. Then, when the blinds increase I try to play more aggressively with hands like A7, K9 and others, and raising even when miss the flop. Normally in these situations, you have a nit image on the table, what make easier to your bluffs work.

 

[B1BOMBER]

I guess that depends on what you consider junk. My favorite hand is 3 5. I know many players that have low cards as their favorite hand such as 7 9, 7 8, and even 1 player that loves 7 2. I guess it goes back to the old saying one mans trash is another mans treasure!

 

[Cooking]

First I try to keep waiting for better hands, if still don’t work, I try to play with position and try so steal blinds, but there are days that everything goes wrong. When I’m on one of those days, I just stop playing and wait for the next day.

 

[Igor Popadyk]

in such tournaments you need to play up the distance - only this will help smooth out the variance

 

[MAGICUZ]

If luck does not come to you, you yourself must go to luck.When my hand doesn't fit, then I play more or less average hands and catch my luck myself.In this game you need to be ready for everything

 

[Zirkzee]

You can try to steal blinds and make resteals to accumulate chips. However, even then you should have respectable hands because there is always the risk that an opponent will call. So that at least you are not completely lost. If you are in late position and nobody has raised in front of you, you can steal the blinds with suited connectors, picture cards and small pocket pairs or even better. If you raise in early positions, you need very good hands. Steal raises is also an option. If your opponent raises then you put him all in. Again, you mostly hope that your opponent folds. If your opponent raises in early position, you need AQ + or JJ + to justify an all-in. In the middle position there are also TT. If your opponent raised in late position, I would put him all in with 88+ and AJ +. In the small blind you can also make a resteal with KQ or 77+.

 

[micalupagoo]

You have to open your range, play position stronger and hope a few bluffs work (if you’re folding most hands they will assume you finally have something and hopefully fold)