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Hold'em Strategy - Playing Average Cards Out Of Position
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Author: Marc Weinberg
Nothing is more dangerous to your chip stack than playing average hole cards out of position in no-limit hold'em, whether in a tournament or in a cash game. Average starting hands are the trickiest to play well because they can improve just enough to get you into real trouble.
The fundamental problem is that if they do improve on the flop you will remain out of position for the entire hand, and susceptible to a big loss. Let's first define what I mean by "average cards" and then show how they can cause problems:
KQ suited or unsuited, JQ suited, AT and all the Ax suited combinations below AT are all examples of tempting hands that remain distinctly average. They are far harder to play than rags (which you need position to consider playing, otherwise you simply throw them away) or premium hands. They are also harder to play than pairs. Pairs are great hands to speculate with in hold'em pre-flop. If you hit the set on the flop you could take down a monster pot, and if you don't it is usually easy to get away from the hand.
Let's say you hold KQ in the small blind and a very aggressive player on the button puts in a big raise pre-flop. You want to play because you feel that you're in the lead, but if you call here you expose yourself to a lot of problems down the line. If you just call and miss the flop it's not going to look good for you. You will check and he will almost certainly put in a substantial continuation bet.
It is better in this situation to take a definitive stand pre-flop, especially if you are in a tournament and faring poorly. That's the advice Howard Lederer gave in his latest strategy article on the topic, and I would agree that if you're short-stacked in a tournament you have to push all-in here. I would also say that every decent poker player would do this without being told to by Howard Lederer. It isn't exactly a revelation in terms of strategy.
I would go on to say that even in a cash game it would be a good idea to re-raise aggressively, and perhaps push all-in. Your KQ is still a live hand for the most part if he calls, and he really cannot call if he has an average hand of his own and was just trying to steal the blinds (which would be the case at least 50% of the time, in my opinion).
If you are in a tournament and running well you need to look at the big picture. Is it really worth challenging the guy in this spot just because you know he is very aggressive and probably looking to steal? He could be a maniac who is ready to take a shot and put all his chips in, or he could have a genuinely big hand. Both those scenarios could cripple you, and you don't need that right now. Fold in this situation if you have the chip stack and it's a tournament.
The wrong decision would be to call in almost every situation when you are out of position and have so-so cards. When you are running bad in poker it is often because you have started to play these hands passively. You don't have the confidence to play aggressively, and you also feel that the cards you're getting are "cold", so you don't want to fold AT because it's the best hand you've seen in a while. So you tajke the middle ground instead, play the hand by calling, throw off your chips and exacerbate that negative momentum.
If you're a novice player reading this column my advice to you is simply to get away from these hands whenever you can. They are so tough to play post-flop, and so risky to raise with pre-flop, that it is better to treat them conservatively and wait for starting hands that are easier to play, either because of the cards themselves or because of good position.
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