Last week, we looked at how to approach the middle with three decent cards and a few random low cards. This week, let’s take the other approach and look at how we should approach a hand with big cards. For this example, we have A-A-K-K-Q, which is a premium hand that isn’t all that common, but some of the principles will apply to hands with trips, big cards, and other strong hands.

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Usually, a starting hand with two pair is going to end up with the two pair on the bottom drawing at a full house. Starting with aces and kings, you can put the aces on the bottom, kings in the middle, and the lone queen up top and have achieved a very strong hand before another card is dealt.

Aces on the bottom are a decent hand that will win some amount of the time with no improvement. Kings in the middle will win often without improvement. The queen up top is enough to pressure your opponent and win that line a decent amount of the time as well, and we still have eight cards to draw at a big royalty up top and improve on our other hands.

If you happen to be playing fantasyland, where queens or better up top allows you to play your next hand face down, then this set is a no-brainer, but even with standard scoring, the strength of this hand makes it the way to go. The hand is strong from the start and builds well, as your bottom hand can easily transition into two pair or a full house and your middle hand is already very strong and leaves you the option to add on a second smaller pair while your bottom hand improves.

If you have trips in your starting hand and two big cards, say T-T-T-A-Q, I would still split the ace and queen, putting the trips on the bottom, ace in the middle, and queen up top. I’m big on getting a live card to the bottom to have an extra way to make a full house, but with big cards like these, the value of having them in the other lines outweighs the benefit of the added outs to make a full house.

I am then looking to get the next low card I draw that is live to the bottom so I am drawing at quads or a boat and also have big cards in my other lines. This also gives me a chance to see what cards are out so if I happen to draw a five, but see that there are two or three of them already out, I can choose to put that five in my middle line and wait for a more live card to place on the bottom.

If you happen to pull a queen early on, you have to make a decision based on your opponent’s hand and what cards are out. Usually, I would not pair the queen because my bottom hand is strong enough and likely enough to make a royalty that I don’t want to risk fouling.

If by the point in the hand I have pulled a king and put it in the middle and my ace and king are very live with enough draws left, then I may gamble and try to make a huge hand by pairing the queen up top. And, of course, if fantasyland is being played, it skews the value of making the pair up top, so I am more likely to go for it and risk fouling since I can factor in my expected value of being able to play the next hand face down.

With all of the variables in OFC, it is difficult to give any hard and fast rules, and this great complexity is what makes the game so interesting to so many people. One of the complaints I have heard from people about the game is that it is all about building your own hand. While in some ways this is true, there are areas on OFC where you can make plays based on your opponent’s style and tendencies and also make plays to impact how your opponent will play their hand.

Next week, we will cover some of those situations and continue to delve into OFC in general.

Court Harrington has worked on the business side of the poker industry in roles including tournament reporting for PocketFives, radio hosting for PokerRoad Radio, coaching for the WSOP Academy and privately, and a variety of behind-the-scenes responsibilities for poker media businesses. He also plays in cash games and tournaments. Harrington is currently doing consulting work and exploring business opportunities outside of the poker industry. You can contact him at Court@CourtHarrington.com.

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