Hold’ em books usually give you pre-flop hand ranking charts. Hand strength is drilled into you right away, but it just doesn’t matter all that much.
First of all, pre-flop hand values are based on the situation. There are many spots where I’d much rather have 7-3 suited than A-Q offsuit. Second, so many things are more important than hand strength when evaluating a situation – like position, board texture, your opponent, stack size, tournament or game structure, history, and future implications of a play you make now. Learn the importance of these things and stop worrying so much about your two cards.
Relative hand strength is an important concept to learn. If your opponent is playing a hand like he has a set or a bluff, midpair has the same value as an overpair, yet some people will call with an overpair on the river and fold middle pair even when they each lose to a value bet and beat a bluff.
Playing Out of Position
If you can help it, play pots in position all the time. The leak of ignoring position is common in beginners and near-experts, and not so much in mid-level players.
Beginners look at their hand and decide if they should play it without worrying about what position they‘re in.
Experts think to themselves, “I can outplay this guy. Who cares if he has position on me?”
50/100 NL. 10k stacks.
Near-expert (NE) opens in the cut-off to 600 with 9-7 off-suit. Tight predictable button makes it 2100; NE calls, thinking, “He’s so easy to play against. I always know what he has.” So NE, you’re going to outplay him enough that you can spot him position and the best hand? There’s not much you can do with 1/5 of your stack in the middle pre-flop, out of position against a player with K-K, no matter how much better you are than he is.
Trying to win every pot
Just this week, a friend of mine who’s a pretty good low stakes player told me that I gave him the best advice he’s ever received about poker.
“Just because you have a hand that can’t win at showdown doesn’t mean you have to bet.”
I’ve played against players who have to bluff at every pot if it’s the only way they can win. The correct reason for bluffing isn’t that it’s the only way to win the pot; it’s that you expect your opponents to fold enough of the time that your bet will make you money on average. If you expect them to call a decent amount of the time, there’s no shame in giving up on a hand.
-Pseudo Showdown Value
Let’s say you raise 7s6s from the button and get a call.
Flop is 5s9dKh.
They check; you bet the pot; they call.
Turn is the 10s.
They check; you bet the pot; they call.
River is the 7d.
They check. You think, “This is a good card to bluff, but now I have a pair, so I can check it down and hope I win.”
In reality, there’s almost no chance a half decent opponent gets to the river with a hand that can’t beat your pair of sevens. A good scare card hit, and you wasted a good bluffing opportunity because you made a meaningless pair.
So, keep an eye on your game. Never stop questioning your moves, no matter how much success you enjoy. Sorry I said you were bad at poker.
Good luck at the tables, and away from them.
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© Phil Galfond. Originally published in Bluff Magazine (US edition)
Phil Galfond is one of the world's most successful poker players - you can use your PKR Points to subscribe to his hugely popular poker training site, Bluefire poker.