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2.7 Types of Poker Hands
Now you are familiar with the Starting Hands chart and how to use it, let’s take a more detailed look at the types of hands that are in the chart, and what we are looking for with each type of hand.
All of the hands in the starting hand chart fall into one of the four categories below.
Big Pocket Pairs
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT
It’s always a nice feeling to look at the cards you have been dealt and see a big pocket pair. These are powerful hands and hands that should be played aggressively, however you should also be aware that if these hands are played badly then there is an increased chance you may not win the pot.
Before the flop, there is a good chance you have the best hand especially with AA, or KK. The only way someone before the flop is ahead of you is if they have a higher pocket pair.
So we act aggressively before the flop so that we can limit the field. Ideally with a big pocket pair we want to be playing against a maximum of 2 opponents.
The reason for this is that big pocket pairs become a much weaker hand when played against multiple opponents, because of the increased chance that one of those opponents will hit cards that make their hand better than your pocket pair.
Too many beginners slow play these hands by just calling the big blind, allowing multiple opponents to see the flop. This will lead to a lot of bad beats with your pocket Ace’s getting beat by an 8-6 that was allowed to limp in and hit two pair on the flop!!!
By being aggressive and raising before the flop, not only are we protecting our premium hand by limiting the field, but we are also getting more money into the pot at a time when we have a very strong hand.
So what are we looking for on the Flop? Well obviously hitting a third card on the flop to make three of a kind would give us a monster hand but this will only happen about 1 in 8 times.
We are (in a lot of cases) already ahead before the flop with our big pocket pair, so all we are looking for from the flop are cards that are lower than our pocket pair and no scare cards that could help our opponents overtake us and take the lead. An ideal situation would be for cards lower than our pocket pair to come on the flop and our opponent to hit top pair, in which case he might think he is in the lead and be prepared to put a lot of money in the pot.
Example1: We hold K
K
and the flop comes down 2
A
9, all of a sudden anyone who is holding an Ace has taken the lead and because your opponents have already called a raise to play this hand the chances are high that they hold an Ace in their hand.
Example2: We hold A A and the flop comes down 7 8 9, this is a very worrying flop, as there are both Straights and Flushes on.
Although it may be a hard lay down in certain situations you will have to consider laying down a big pocket pair, if a big bet is made and you think there is a chance you could be beaten.
If you believe you are still in the lead after the flop then carry on betting aggressively, so that your opponents are forced to make a decision and pay to carry on, if they are on a draw and you let them have free or cheap cards on the turn or river, they could bust you.
If a scare card comes then you will have a decision to make. By all means make a bet to see how your opponent acts, but if they start raising you or calling very quickly then be prepared to fold your hand as they could have you beat.
High Cards
AK AQ AJ etc
The definition of high cards is any two unpaired cards which are both a 10 or higher.
These hands can again be strong hands, but would be behind before the flop to anyone holding a pocket pair. With these hands you need to hit cards to make it into the best hand.
On the flop we are looking to hit top pair, so if we are holding AQ, then you want the flop to come down with either an Ace or Queen as the top card on the flop.
What you don’t want is 2nd pair, so in the example above if the flop came down K Q 3 you would be very wary of someone holding a King.
We are also looking for powerful draws, A nice flop could give you Straight draws, and if you are holding suited high cards then you could also be in line for a powerful flush possibility.
Careful aggression is the way to bet these hands. We know why it is important to be aggressive, but we should also be wary of hands that could be beating us with these sorts of cards. In the example above even though we have hit top pair with a pair of Queens we could still be behind to someone holding pocket Kings or Aces.
CONTINUE TO NEXT SECTION - 2.7 continued
