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% of hands to play?

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  1. yimmy1 yimmy1 is offline

    Posts: 1
    Joined: Nov 09

    Nov 8th, 2009 (11/8/2009 3:13pm)

    What is a good % of hands to play when you are playing limit and no limit?
    Is tournament different? I am wondering about a tight aggressive player.
  2. domaducci154 domaducci154 is offline

    Redlands, CA
    United States

    Posts: 16
    Joined: Mar 09

    Nov 10th, 2009 (11/10/2009 3:06pm) in reply to yimmy1

    The answer to this question is very situational. There is a huge list of factors that should be considered. Some of the most important include: What type of player you are? Are you in a cash game or tournament? Is it 9 handed or six handed? Turbo? Double Stack? are your opponents loose or tight? A good player can instantly, efficiently and effectively switch gears going from somewere in the range of 20-30% of hands played down as low as 5-15% and vis versa. In my oppinion, choosing how many pots to play should ride largely on how much and well your oppenents are playing. A good player can utilize many different styles of play to match the one which best fits with the action around him.

    Dom
  3. silverscull silverscull is offline

    Virginia Beach, VA
    United States

    Posts: 163
    Joined: Sep 08

    Nov 11th, 2009 (11/11/2009 12:03pm) in reply to yimmy1

    Hi Yimmy: It's a good question and worth a thoughtful answer. Unlike blackjack, where you will always split aces or stand on a hard 16 against a dealers 6, Texas Hold'em does not have many hard and fast axioms. Even between Limit and NLH, the starting hand selection varies greatly. And tournament vs. cash games adds different wrinkles.

    I'll only address my thoughts on starting hand selection in a No Limit Hold'em tournament (or Sit&Go), where the blinds increase over time. Early in the tournament, where you typically have about 30 to 50 Big Blinds at the onset. You should really be selective about opening a pot unless you have very strong hole cards. I'd say open with hands like Pocket Aces through Tens and Ace-King.

    Of course, you'll get situations where you are in the big blind with 7-2 offsuit and three people will limp to you. So now you are playing 7-2 off. And then the flop comes down T72 with 3 diamonds. You bet and someone goes all-in. Now what? You'll also get situations where you are on the button with something like pocket fours or A2-suited and you'll have limpers in front of you. Again, you may want to call as the potential for a huge pot if you hit a set or flush justifies the relatively cheap call. But early on, OPEN pots [with a raise, of course] with premium pocket pairs and Big Slick.

    Now as long as you maintain your 30 big blind stack as the blinds increase, you are under no compulsion to play lesser hands. However, the blinds (add in antes as well) will eventually get so high that you won't have that margin no matter how hard the deck is hitting you on the noggin. When you get to 20 Big Blinds, you have to consider opening pots with hands of lesser strength, but you don't have to shove them all in with 93s yet. Add AQ, Ace-Jack and Ace-Ten Suited, Mid-pairs (99-77) and KQs. You hope to just steal the blinds and antes, or if you really get a break, dominate someone (i.e., AJs vs some short stacks KJ).

    As Blinds continue to get hyper-big, you may be ahead of several players, but be down to 10 Big Blinds. Now you should be not only raising -- but shoving all-in -- with hands like QJs, 55, and A7. When you are down to 5 BBs or less, you may be forced to commit with something paired, suited, or connected, even somethiong like J5s. You may get caught by someone with a better hand, and you won't be happy. But you just don't want to get to a position where you are so short on chips that even with AA, you get a multitude of callers just wanting to swat you like a fly.

    Hope that helps
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