Poker Hands & Position
Aces, Kings, Queens, and AK
Just because you look down and see AA pre-flop, doesn't make your hand the winner. You have to be extremely careful playing these big hands in a low-limit game. While these hands are some of the strongest hands in the game and often work wonders in no-limit Hold'em, playing them in low-limit Hold'em is often more difficult and frustrating. Let's say you make an early position raise looking down at KK. There are 5 players that call the raise and you hit a flop of 10dJsQs. Are you holding an over pair? Why yes, you are. Beware. This type of flop is deadly for KK in a low-limit Hold'em game.
Loose low-limit players will frequently call raises with hands like 10J, JQ, 10Q, without hesitating. You're looking down at an over pair and an open ended straight draw, but you're probably already behind in this hand with that many pre-flop players. Loose players enjoy calling pre-flop raises with any type of face card in their hand, so look out. At this point, even if you hit a K to make trips, it's quite possible another player is holding an Ace or even a 9 to make a straight. The bottom line is: when it comes down to playing these big hands at a low-limit table, play them carefully. Whatever you do, don't just bet and raise the entire table as much as possible simply because you're looking at AA.
Raising From Late Position
If you're in late position, the table limps around to you, and you look down to see AK, it's a given that you're probably going to raise the pot. However, what if 6 players limp before you and you look down in late position to see 6s7s, what action do you take? An interesting strategy here is to raise this pot.
In a low-limit Hold'em game, about 95% of the players who limp in pre-flop will also call a pre-flop raise from a player in later position than themselves. This means that in a $3/$6 limit Hold'em game, if 6 players limp in before you for $3, then you raise to $6 as the last to act, the pot will most likely be $42 plus the original blinds. All of a sudden you've created a massive pre-flop pot for a $3/$6 game with a mediocre hand. It can often be profitable in a low-limit Hold'em game to raise with hands that play well in multi-way pots from late position, fully aware that the majority of the table will see the flop with you. Let's say you're holding the 6s7s, all 6 other players call your raise, and the flop is Ks10h2c. Bingo? No, not really. You've completely missed this flop, but guess what? This will be the easiest fold you've ever made.
When playing hands like the 6s7s from late position with a raise and a large number of callers, you'll be surprised at how often you'll make a big hand. Lots of the loose callers will be playing hands like A3, A10, JQ, K10, and will often be sharing a large number of cards, giving you more opportunity to make a winner. Next time you find yourself in late position at a loose table with a good multi-way hand, try throwing in a raise and record your results. Just remember to not chase these hands when you don't hit them very well. It's merely cost you $6 to build a large $3/$6 pot, highly increasing your pot odds to make a big hand. You only have $6 invested so there is no use in chasing any 1 or 2 outer. You've simply built another player a large pot, which should all be coming back to you in the end either way.
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