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This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
You don’t have to be a poker genius to know how to play pocket Aces or pocket Kings. Some starting hands are so strong that they basically play themselves.
However, there are other, often overlooked starting hands that can potentially be wildly profitable if you play them the right way.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at 4 underrated poker hands all the pros love, despite being tricky to play at times.
1. Pocket Nines
Pocket Nines are not a premium pocket pair, so they don’t get as much love as stronger pocket pairs.
Pocket Nines can also be tricky to play at times, as they won’t flop an overpair as often as other stronger pocket pairs.
An overpair is a pocket pair that’s stronger than the strongest card on the board.
For example, on a flop like Q♦8♣4♥
Pocket Aces and pocket Kings are an overpair.
If you hold pocket Nines, the chance of flopping an overpair is only 20.7%.
For comparison, the chance of flopping an overpair with, say, pocket Jacks is 43%.
So your chance of smashing the flop with pocket Nines is not great. And this doesn’t even account for a full board.
If you manage to flop an overpair with pocket Nines, you still have to dodge the overcards on the next streets.
This is why pocket Nines are not a premium pocket pair. They simply don’t make the best hand as often as you'd hope for.
Still, I’d consider them an underrated hand. Pocket Nines can still be played profitably if you play them the right way.
Pocket Nines are still a favourite to win against unpaired hands, and since there’s way more unpaired hands than pocket pairs, you can still expect to have the best hand fairly often.
Pocket Nines are even a slight favourite to win against Ace-King suited, the strongest drawing hand in no-limit hold’em.
Against Ace-King suited, pocket Nines have 52% hand equity.
So how can you profitably play pocket Nines?
Well, this depends on the situation, namely the effective stack size and the type of opponents you are up against.
As a general rule, pocket Nines will prefer a smaller effective stack size.
The effective stack size is the smaller stack size of the players involved in the pot, because you can’t win more than what you commit to the pot.
As mentioned, pocket Nines are a favourite to win against unpaired hands, so you can expect to have a better hand preflop fairly often.
However, pocket Nines are vulnerable to getting outdrawn, since there’s a bunch of overcards you need to dodge post flop.
For these reasons, your best bet is to ship your money in the middle and hope your hand holds up if the effective stack size is small.
If the stack sizes are deeper, you shouldn’t play pocket Nines too aggressively, because you will likely only get action from hands that have you beat, namely stronger premium pocket pairs.
Therefore, pocket Nines can often be played profitably in tournament poker, because the effective stack sizes will be much shallower than in cash games.
For example, you can use middle pocket pairs like pocket Nines to aggressively attack small-to-medium sizes stacks in tournaments.
You can also shove all-in when you have a small stack yourself, because pocket Nines have a decent chunk of equity against all the unpaired hands.
For example, against a range of suited and unsuited Ax hands, pocket Nines are a favourite to win with 64% hand equity.
If you’re playing cash games where the stack sizes are deeper, on the other hand, you should play pocket Nines more carefully.
You should enter the pot with an open-raise with pocket Nines if you have the chance.
If another player open-raises before you, you have the option to either call or 3-bet.
Flat calling is a good option, but you can also throw out an occasional 3-bet as well, depending on the other factors, namely the effective stack size, the type of opponent you’re up against, your table position etc.
A 3-bet is a re-raise against another player’s open-raise.
If you’re flat calling, on the other hand, you’re essentially hoping to hit a set postflop.
Calling with a pocket pair preflop with the intention of hitting a set postflop is called set mining.
Set mining can be a very profitable strategy, especially if your opponent has a strong hand that’s willing to pay you off.
If you manage to hit a set with pocket Nines, you can be certain you have the best hand 99% of the time.
The chance of running into a set over set situation when you have pocket Nines is extremely thin.
Bottom line: Pocket Nines can be tricky to play, but they will still be a profitable hand over the long run if you play it the right way.
The way you play it will vary wildly based on a lot of different factors.
At times you’ll be able to just shove all in preflop and hope for the best, and at other times it will be better to slow down and try to hit a set post flop.
Check out Nathan's recent video on the 6 hands that everybody plays wrong.
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2. Ace-Jack Suited
Ace-Jack suited is not a premium poker hand by any means, but it’s still a great broadway hand that will be profitable for you over the long run.
Ace-Jack suited has great playability post flop and a great nuts potential.
It can make both the nut straight AND the nut flush.
This means you don’t need to worry about the reverse implied odds when you manage to hit a monster hand post flop.
Reverse implied odds are the opposite of the implied odds.
They refer to the amount of money you can potentially lose on future streets if your draw completes, but your opponent ends up having an even stronger hand.
Ace-Jack suited is a gapper hand, so it won’t make a straight as often as connector hands like Ace-King or Jack-Ten.
Still, AJs is a great hand because it doesn’t rely solely on hitting monster combinations post flop in order to be played profitably.
In no-limit hold’em, it’s very rare to make a strong combination like a straight or a flush.
The chance of flopping a straight with a connector hand is only 1.3%, while the chance of flopping a flush with a suited hand is only 0.8%.
Ace-Jack and similar broadway hands, can be played profitably even without hitting monster combinations.
If you flop a pair of Jacks, you will often have a top pair, top kicker hand. If you flop a pair of Aces, you will have a top pair with a decent kicker.
Due to its great nuts potential and overall great playability post flop, you should play Ace-Jack aggressively, especially preflop.
This means open-raising, and even 3-betting with a high frequency.
Example Hand #1
You are dealt A♦J♦ in the SB (small blind).
A tight and aggressive (TAG) player open-raises to 2.5x from the CO (cutoff).
A loose and passive player calls from the BU (button).
You: ???
You should 3-bet to 12x.
This is a great spot for a squeeze play.
A squeeze is a 3-bet preflop when there has been an open-raise and one or more callers before you. If there has been only an open-raise without the caller(s) before you, your 3-bet would not be considered a squeeze.
It’s called a squeeze because a) you’re trying to “squeeze out” the dead money preflop and b) the player is “squeezed” between two other players, which puts them at an awkward position.
Check out my other article on other advanced poker strategies for more info on the squeeze play.
In this spot, you are attacking loose and weak ranges from both of your opponents. A tight and aggressive player is likely to have a loose range because they’re open-raising from the late position.
Tight and aggressive players tend to have looser ranges from the late positions, and tighter ranges in the early positions at the table.
A loose and passive player is also likely to have quite a loose range.
Both of these ranges will contain a number of hands that won’t stand the pressure of a 3-bet, meaning you will often be able to win the pot outright preflop.
If the TAG player folds and the recreational player calls, you will play a heads-up pot against the recreational player with the range advantage and the initiative.
Even if you get called by one or both players, your hand has great playability post flop.
By going with a bigger 3-bet size, you are creating smaller effective stack sizes, which will offset your positional disadvantage and make your post flop play easier.
If you connect with the flop, either by flopping a top pair or a strong draw, you can continue applying the pressure and ship the rest of your stack in the middle.
If not, you can simply check and hope to improve on later streets, or even see a cheap showdown.
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3. Jack-Nine Suited
Suited connectors are great speculative hands with a lot of playability post flop.
They can hit the flop in a variety of different ways, and they can make strong hand combinations like straights and flushes.
Suited gappers, on the other hand, often get overlooked, but they’re also decent speculative hands that can hit the flop in multiple ways.
The reason suited gappers get overlooked is because they won’t make a straight as often as connectors hands.
The bigger the gap between the cards, the less likely it is for them to make a straight.
Still, one-gappers can make a straight post flop in three different ways, so they’re far from unplayable.
Jack-Nine in particular will often connect with the board in some way, be it a one pair hand, or a monster draw.
Another advantage of hitting a straight draw or a straight with a hand like Jack-Nine is that it will often be well-concealed.
As a general rule, it's way easier to spot a completed flush draw than a completed straight draw.
For example, let’s say the board is:
T♦8♣2♥A♦7♣
If you hold Jack-Nine, your straight is relatively well-concealed.
The more concealed your hand strength, the better your implied odds.
Implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially earn on future streets if your draw completes.
This means that you usually have better implied odds with straight draws than with flush draws, because flush draws are a lot easier to spot.
Even a recreational player can spot a potential flush draw when they see a third heart on the turn, for example.
With that said, hands like Jack-Nine suited will usually have great implied odds, because your opponents often won’t be able to put you on your exact hand.
This makes Jack-Nine suited a great speculative hand with amazing upside.
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4. King-Nine Suited
Suited Kings don’t get as much love as suited Aces, but all the good poker players know how to play suited Kings profitably.
While small suited Kings could get you in trouble due to the weak kicker, a hand like K9s can be profitable if you play it the right way.
Suited Kings have decent playability post flop, with the ability to make strong flush combinations. In addition, King-Nine suited can also make a straight.
As mentioned, gapper hands will make straights far less often than connectors, but this extra chunk of equity adds to this hand’s playability.
King-Nine suited also makes for a good bluffing hand preflop.
Not only can it make strong combinations post flop, it also has blocker power.
A blocker is a card in your hand that reduces a number of strong combinations from your opponent's range.
For example, if you hold a King in your hand, it’s less likely for your opponent to have strong combinations like pocket Kings, Ace-King, King-Queen and so on.
For these reasons, you can often play King-Nine suited aggressively preflop.
Example Hand #2
You are dealt K♥9♥ in the BB (big blind).
A tight and aggressive (TAG) player open-raises to 2.5x from the CO (cutoff).
You: ???
You should 3-bet (re-raise) to 10x.
This is a great spot for a light 3-bet (aka a bluff 3-bet). When you are light 3-betting, you are doing so with the intention of getting your opponents to fold.
When you are light 3-betting, it’s best to do it with hands that have some sort of equity to fall back on in case you get called.
Since King-Nine suited has decent playability postflop, it makes for a good light 3-betting candidate. It also has blocker power, which makes it less likely for your opponent to play back at you.
In this spot, a tight and aggressive player open-raises from the cutoff. When a player open-raises from a late position, this is called a stealing attempt.
This means you can try to play back at them, and potentially win the pot outright preflop.
Your opponent’s range is quite loose here, as decent players will tend to play looser ranges from late positions (namely the cutoff and the button).
A number of hands in this range can’t stand the pressure of a 3-bet, and will be forced to fold.
In case your bluff gets called, however, not all is lost, as you can still try to take down the pot post flop.
If you flop some sort of a draw, you can continue applying the pressure with a standard continuation bet (or c-bet for short).
As a general rule, the stronger your draw, the more aggressively you should play it.
Check out my other article on how to play flush draws for more info on the topic.
4 Underrated Hands All Good Players Know to Play - Summary
To sum up, here are 4 under-appreciated, but potentially highly profitable starting poker hands all good players know to play.
1. Pocket Nines
Pocket Nines can be tricky to play, as they won’t hit an overpair on the flop as often as stronger premium pocket pairs.
Still, it’s a hand with decent showdown value, and if you’re lucky enough to hit a set, it can be extremely profitable to play.
2. Ace-Jack suited
Ace-Jack suited is a great hand due to its versatility. It can hit strong combinations like nuts flush and nuts straight, but it doesn’t rely solely on hitting monster combinations to be played profitably.
It can also flop a top pair, top kicker hand, or a top pair, decent kicker.
3. Jack-Nine suited
Suited gappers are weaker than suited connectors, but a hand like J9s can still be played profitably. It can hit a variety of different board textures, and it has great playability post flop.
4. King-Nine suited
Suited Kings don’t get as much love as suited Aces, but they still can make monster combinations post flop.
King-Nine suited also has blocker power, which makes it a decent 3-bet bluffing hand preflop.
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