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Dumping Your Second-Best Hand
Everyone knows that uncomfortable you get after being dealt a 16 in
Blackjack. Naturally, it's the worst hand you can have and the odds are that
you're going to lose your bet.
The Hold'em equivalent to a Blackjack16 is a 2-7, which is considered to be
the worst possible hand. However, with a 2-7, you shouldn’t lose anything
(because you'll fold pre-flop), or at worst, you’ll drop just your blind. In
fact, we think you shouldn't even mind getting a 2-7 because at least you
know its value. What’s far more frightening is to be dealt A-A, oddly
enough, because that's a hand that carries the major possibility of costing
you a lot of money. The paradox that a good hand is even more frightening
than a bad one is based upon perhaps the most important concept of poker:
relative hand value.
Everyone knows that to be successful at poker, you have to maximize your
wins and minimize your losses. Maximizing your wins is relatively easy.
Slowplaying and trapping help facilitate these wins, but in reality any fool
can more or less win a decent amount when he's in possession of a good hand.
The thing that generally separates a winning poker player from a losing one
though is HOW the two players lose their hands. A winning poker player knows
how to dump his second-best hand while a loser will go ahead and call it
down and lose at the showdown.
We believe that general psychological differences exist between a winning
player and a losing player. The losing player has a greater need to satisfy
his curiosity. In other words, he’s ‘just got to know’ what the other guy
had. Or, even more specifically, he has a desire to be a policeman and make
sure his opponent isn't bluffing and to make sure he didn't lose what he
could have won. This naturally causes a losing player to call when he
shouldn't. A winning poker player has overcome such a desire and forces
himself to simply play well and focus on his OWN game.
Now that we've brought to your attention the need for identifying your
second-best hand, the question is: “how do you play it?” The answer to this
depends on whether we’re talking about limit or no-limit poker.
Limit poker
In limit, calling with the second-best hand won't kill you right away.
You'll only detect your negative bank balance in the long run because you'll
sometimes still win in the short-term.
Ordinarily, the best method of limiting your second-best hand losses is
focusing on your pre-flop play. Don't go in with hands that don't have a
legitimate kicker (i.e., dump K-8 or A-7) because those are often dominated
hands (a ‘dominated hand’ generally refers to the situation when you and
your opponent have similar hands, but one will almost always beat the
other). Examples of dominated hands would be A-A vs. A-Q, or A-K vs. A-9.
The hand that's dominated has three outs or less (A-Q must catch two queens
without an ace hitting, or a straight, to win). So, correct and smart
pre-flop play can limit second-best hands because you call less with
dominated hands, because of the kicker.
Flop play is a bit different. Suppose the board is A-K-9 and you have K-Q.
You definitely have second-best hand potential-but how can you tell? Well,
frequently the best way is to bet or raise at flop and see what happens. If
you encounter a lot of resistance, you're probably finished. If there's a
large multi-way pot, folding is probably the best idea - someone is bound to
have the ace.
No-limit poker
At no-limit poker, it's a totally different story. In limit, you won't lose
too much for one second-best hand, but with no-limit, you can easily lose
your entire stack! That's why, at no limit, it's best to play the nut-like
hands more often. Put differently, pocket pairs go up in value because of
their ability to hit a set. Connecting cards increase in importance as well
because of their potential to hit straights. Ace-suited goes up in value too
because of the nut flush, but people are generally very aware of the flush
potential and will shut you out at the flop when you hit a flush draw.
Since these hands go up in value, what goes down? (“Everything that goes up,
must come down” right?) A-Q, A-J, K-Q, K-J, etc. go down. These hands are
the ones that can get crushed at no-limit poker. These hands will win small
pots with a top pair, but will lose large ones when someone else nails a set
or a straight.
The essential thing to no-limit poker is to not necessarily dump these
second-best hands pre-flop - sniff out what other people have on the flop.
Don't simply call bets with the second-best hand; you have to raise to find
out where you are. When someone bets at you, they're menacing your whole
stack (if the bet is a significant one). You’ve got to come back at them by
going after theirs! If the board is K-10-7 and you've got K-Q, you could be
in a lot of hot water. Someone betting at you could have 10-J or 10-10. It's
important to determine their relative strength by raising them at the flop.
Many people might say, "Well . . . couldn't they just bluff re-raise me?" Of
course, that’s a possibility, but that will cost them a lot of money when
you finally do get the nut hand. Simply call the re-raise and then take them
for the rest of their stack on the turn or river.
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