"I don't know why I lose every day," the woman in my game moaned to me. "I play good hands," she added. She was right on both accounts. She did play good starting hands and she didn't have a clue why she lost every day.
Hand-selection strategies are overrated as being the answer to winning. No, you can't win in the long run by playing every hand against players who have a clue. Yes, having a guideline can be a positive thing for average to good players, but great players base their hand selection on how a hand will play in a particular situation, not on rote strategy. Once you understand the rules of hand selection – why certain hands have more value in certain situations and why other hands have less value – you can begin to deviate from the standards. And as is the case with other things in life, a key part of this concept is knowing the implications and consequences of stepping beyond the rules.
To move beyond the well-established and generally correct standards of position-based hand selection, you must have a strong "feel" for your opponents, which requires excellent hand-reading skills, focus, and strategy knowledge. That is why most top performers in poker play more hands than "conventional wisdom" dictates. They "outread" and "outplay" their opponents, creating positive-edge situations that players with a lower level of knowledge can't conceive of or perform. Those plays increase the great players' hourly expectation and long-term results in a big way.
The $30-$60 hold'em game I was in was playing on the tight side. A local pro, a good but not great player, limped from up front. Everyone else folded around to me on the button. I glanced down to see A-9 offsuit. This is a pretty mediocre hand, and particularly dangerous when a good player has limped in from up front, indicating that he has a reasonable hand himself. That reasonable hand is very likely to contain an ace and a better kicker than a 9.
But a weakness of this particular good player who opened the pot was a tendency to be a little overaggressive. With A-J and better holdings from up front, he always raised. That fact that he limped indicated to me that he did not hold a strong ace. He might be playing a suited ace with a small kicker, but that holding would give me a big overlay to his hand. His most likely holdings were two big cards without an ace, or a small wired pair. If he held two big cards, he would have to hit to win, and if he held a wired pair, he would be in fair shape, although the hand is difficult to play when you're out of position unless you happen to flop a set. He would have a tough time calling with an underpair if two big cards hit the flop.
My thoughts gravitated toward making a play on this pot. I analyzed the two players in the blinds. Part of the problem with making plays with loose starting hands against a given opponent(s) is that even if the play is correct against the given opponent(s), someone to play after you might pick you off with a hand that puts your holding in trouble. Neither of the blinds was a particularly good player or the type who got tricky. Neither would be likely to outplay me. I decided the play was right, and raised.
The big blind called me, as did the pro. The flop came A-8-4 with two diamonds. Both of my opponents checked to me and I fired three chips forward. They both folded. I scooped the pot, and it didn't take me too long to stack it.
I know this is not the most interesting poker story. I won $140, which is not exactly the biggest pot I have ever won in $30-$60 hold'em. But, hey, 140 bucks is 140 bucks. Yes, I could have lost the hand, and I know the expectation of the play was significantly less than $140. But, since most pots in middle- and high-limit poker are small, playing them effectively is significant to becoming a winning poker player. There's an old poker maxim that states that it's better to win a small pot than lose a big one. In fact, winning lots of small pots is part of the key to a successful poker career. Having the ability to create positive plays in small-pot situations adds up substantially over the course of time. Also, a player who picks up the small pots tends to keep himself afloat through dead runs of cards, so he is not stuck $3,000 when he catches his $2,000 rush.
Also, this hand demonstrates how you can use hand-reading skills and your knowledge of players' tendencies to vary your hand-selection strategy to get the best of a situation.
Waiting for good hands to play is of great value in low-limit poker games against beginning players who lack the awareness and understanding to avoid giving action to those players waiting for "nut" hands. However, when you step up and start playing against players with more experience, "waiting for the nuts" loses much of its value. Good players will read you effectively and will make plays against you. If you are going to take on experienced poker players, you are going to have to create and make plays in order to get the best of them. If your entire focus is on hand selection, you will be like the woman at the beginning of this column, and will never know why you can't win even though you always play good starting hands.
Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for more than 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas – please see his ad on Page 123. If you would like to ask Roy poker-related questions, you may do so online at www.UnitedPokerForum.com.