This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
One of the most common mistakes a lot of amateur poker players make is playing too many hands.
This includes hands that may look pretty enough at a glance, but are in fact mediocre hands that can often get you in trouble post flop.
In this article, we’ll take a look at 4 starting poker hands good players will usually avoid playing.
We’ll also figure out if there are spots where you can play these hands, or are you better off ditching them altogether.
1. Jack-Four Suited (J♦️4♦️)
J4s and similar hands fall into the category of suited trash. A lot of amateur poker players will play just about any suited hands just because they hope to hit a flush post flop.
But suited trash is still trash, and playing it just for the prospect of catching a flush post flop is going to cost you a lot of money over the long run.
That’s because it’s actually very hard to make a flush in no-limit hold’em.
If you have a suited hand, the chance of flopping a flush is only 0.8%.
The chance of flopping a flush draw is much better, but it still won’t happen a large majority of the time.
The chance of flopping a flush draw with a suited hand is only 11%.
And even then, you need to hit your outs on the turn or river. An out is the card that you need to complete your draw.
In no-limit hold’em, most draws don’t complete, and flush draws are no exception.
The chance of completing your flush draw from flop to river is only 35%.
And even then you’re not guaranteed to win the hand, as you need to take the reverse implied odds into account.
Weak hands like J4s are not drawing to the nuts (i.e. the strongest possible combination on a certain board).
This means that even if you complete a flush, your opponent could beat you with any suited Ace, King, or Queen.
That’s a lot of potential combinations that can beat you, so the downside of playing hands like these doesn’t justify the upside.
Not to mention the fact that a completed flush is fairly obvious to spot, even to the recreational players (aka the "The Fish).
This means that you often won’t be able to get action from weaker hands even if you complete your flush.
This means that you often won’t be able to get action from weaker hands even if you complete your flush.
So your prospects with the flush aren’t great, to say the least. What will happen way more often, though, is that you will either miss the flop completely, or flop a mediocre hand that’s behind a lot of stronger combinations.
The most common combination you’re going to make in no-limit hold’em is a single pair.
If you hit a pair of Jacks on the flop, for example, you will find yourself in an awkward spot where you may or may not have the best hand.
If you don’t you’ll run the risk of committing more money to the pot with a potentially dominated hand.
If you have the best hand, you’ll run the risk of your hand getting outdrawn. One pair hands are vulnerable to getting outdrawn, so you often won’t be able to play for a huge pot.
A dominated hand is the one that’s unlikely to win against another hand.
For example, if you hold J4s, your hand is dominated against a bunch of other Jx hands like AJ, KJ and so on.
Since one pair hands are the most common combination in hold’em, a weak kicker can, and will often get you in trouble. This is especially the case if you happen to catch a top pair on the flop, for example.
In fact, overvaluing top pair hands is one of the most common amateur poker mistakes a lot of players make to this day.
Bottom line: J4s and other similar hands are junk despite being suited, and playing a hand just because it is suited is going to cost you a fortune over the long run.
This has to do with the simple fact that it’s statistically highly unlikely to make a flush. So you should play hands that have more going for them in terms of their playability, like suited Aces or suited connectors.
For a step-by-step guide on EXACTLY which hands to play in each table position, check out Crushing the Microstakes.
Also, check out Nathan's recent video on the 5 hands you should be playing more often.
2. Ace-Three Offsuit (A♠️3♥️)
One of the most common mistakes amateur poker players make is playing too many hands. This is apparent in their tendency to play just about any Ace just for the prospect of catching a top pair post flop.
But playing any Ace regardless of the circumstances is going to cost you a lot of money over the long run.
The obvious problem of playing rag Aces is a weak kicker.
By playing the hands with weak kickers, you’re running the risk of your hand being dominated by stronger hands.
Rag Aces are weak Aces with any kicker lower than a Ten.
So even if you hit a top pair on the flop, it can often get you into trouble if your opponent ends up having an even stronger Ace.
Hands like Ace-Three offsuit have an additional problem in so far that they have very poor playability if they miss the flop.
Ace-Three offsuit has very poor nuts potential, unlike suited Aces that have great nuts potential.
Suited Aces can make the nut flushes, which gives them far better playability post flop compared to their offsuit counterparts.
Small offsuit Aces have the theoretical chance to make straights, but this could also be problematic, because they often won’t make the nuts straight.
Example Hand #1
For example, you are dealt A♣3♦ and the board is:
K♠5♥4♦8♣2♥
You have a straight, but you don’t have the nuts. There are two possible straights that beat you, 63 (unlikely) or 76 (more likely).
So when you are playing mediocre hands like rag Aces, you need to take the reverse implied odds into account.
You will either miss the flop completely, or make a mediocre hand that can easily be dominated by stronger hands.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play rag Aces under any circumstances.
Rag Aces have some playability post flop, especially if you’re playing in position.
As such, they make for decent blind stealing candidates, especially when you’re playing on the button.
When you’re playing on the button, you can often get away with open-raising quite a wide range.
That’s because you will always have the positional advantage postflop when you’re playing on the button.
This means you have way more manoeuvrability and flexibility to get involved in more marginal spots and look for tiny edges.
Hands like Ace-Three offsuit make for decent blind stealing candidates because they block some strong combinations in your opponent’s range, namely pocket Aces and other strong Ax hands like Ace-King or Ace-Queen.
A blocker is a card in your hand that reduces the number of combinations in your opponent’s range. For example, if you hold an Ace in your hand, it’s less likely your opponent has Ax hands in their range.
This makes them less likely to defend their blinds and/or play back at you with a 3-bet.
A 3-bet preflop is a re-raise against another player’s open-raise.
For more information on blind stealing and other advanced poker strategies, check out Modern Small Stakes.
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3. Six-Four Suited (6♥️4♥️)
Six-Four suited is another hand that may look pretty enough at a first glance, but is often more trouble than it’s worth.
Suited connectors are great speculative hands that have the potential of making strong combinations post flop, namely straights and flushes. Suited gappers like 64s, on the other hand, have far less nut potential.
Gapper hands make straights less often than the connector hands. Another problem with small gappers like 64s is the fact that it often won’t make the strongest possible straight on a certain board.
For example, if you dealt 6♠4♠ and the board is:
J♣8♦7♥5♣A♦
You have a straight, but you don’t have the nut straight. Your opponent beats you with hands like T9 or 96.
Making a flush with a mediocre hand like 64s poses a similar problem. You run the risk of having only the second best hand, as there are a number of stronger flushes that potentially have you beat.
This means that you need to take the reverse implied odds into account. More often than not, this means just ditching the hand altogether.
Example Hand #2
You are dealt 6♥4♥ on the BU (button). Villain open-raises to 3x from the CO (cutoff).
You call.
Pot: 7.5 BB
Flop: 8♠7♣J♥
Villain bets 5 BB.
You: ???
You should fold.
This is an example of a weak draw a lot of amateur poker players love to chase.
You have an inside straight draw, as well as a backdoor flush draw.
A backdoor draw means you need both turn and river card to complete your hand combination.
These draws are unlikely to complete, and chasing them is going to cost you money over the long run.
Inside straight draws complete 17% of the time, while backdoor flush draws complete only 4.2% of the time.
These aren’t very good odds to begin with. Add the fact that you’re not drawing to the nuts, and your odds of winning the hand drop even lower.
Even if you complete your straight draw, your opponent could already have you beat with T9.
This means you might already be drawing dead.
Drawing dead means playing a hand that has no chance of winning, even if it improves.
The same can be said for the flush draw. Even if you hit both of your outs on the turn and river, your opponent could potentially have an even stronger flush.
One caveat: calling in this spot may work as a float.
Floating means calling your opponent’s bet in position with the intention of taking the pot away on later streets with a bluff.
Floating the flop is an advanced play that can work if you have a specific read on your opponent. For example, they may bet the flop with a high frequency while being “turn honest.”
Floating the flop is an advanced play that can work if you have a specific read on your opponent. For example, they may bet the flop with a high frequency while being “turn honest.”
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4. Queen-Nine Suited (Q♣️9♣️)
A hand like Queen-Nine suited may look pretty enough at a glance, but like most hands on this list, it’s often more trouble than it’s worth.
One of the problems with this hand is the fact that it will often be dominated by stronger Qx hands. While it doesn’t have a terrible kicker by any means, it can still often get you in trouble.
That’s because most players simply won’t play weaker Queens like Q8 or Q7, for example.
So if you catch a top pair on the flop, for instance, you run the risk of your opponent having a stronger hand than you.
Even if that’s not the case, your hand is still vulnerable to getting outdrawn, as any Ace or King threatens to make your hand relatively weaker.
So in most situations, playing a mediocre hand like Q9s will get you into a lot of mediocre, awkward spots post flop where you often won’t be sure if your hand is ahead or not.
Hands like Q9s also don’t have as much of a nut potential like some other suited hands.
If you make a flush, for example, you run the risk of having only a second best hand, as any suited Ace or King has you beat.
Your prospects with making a straight are not much better, either.
A hand like Q9s is a two-gapper, meaning it will make straights far less often than connector hands.
You have a much better chance of making a straight with a hand like QJ or T9 than you do with a gapper hand. The bigger the gap between the cards, the less likely it is to make a straight.
You also run the risk of having only the second best straight.
For example, if you hold Q♦9♦ and the flop is:
K♠J♥T♣
You have a straight, but your opponent can still beat you if they have Ace-Queen.
This ties into the fact that your hand can be dominated by stronger Qx hands.
So when you’re playing a hand like Q9s, you always need to take the reverse implied odds into account.
Reverse implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially lose if your draw completes, but your opponent ends up having an even stronger hand.
Like some other hands on this list, all of this is not to say that you shouldn’t play this hand, period.
There are certainly spots where you can play it profitably, but it will depend on the context of the hand.
For example, similar to the rag Aces, you can play Q9s when you’re trying to steal the blinds. Q9s has some playability post flop, especially when you’re playing in position.
If you want to know how to get involved in more marginal spots to fully maximize your skill edge post flop, check out The Microstakes Playbook.
4 Poker Hands Good Players Will Never Play - Summary
You don’t need to use a bunch of advanced poker software to achieve success in this game. All you have to do is avoid some common poker mistakes, namely playing too many hands.
This includes knowing what hands to play and what hands to ditch.
Here are 4 starting poker hands you’re usually better off ditching altogether.
1. Jack-Four suited
This hand falls into the category of suited trash. Playing a hand just because it’s suited is a recipe to quickly burn through your money.
It’s very hard to make a flush in no-limit hold’em, so playing a suited hand just for the prospect of catching a flush is not going to be profitable over the long run.
2. Ace-Three offsuit
Rag Aces can often get you in trouble post flop due to the inferior kicker. When playing hands like these, you risk your hand being dominated by stronger hands.
Your hand should always dominate your opponent’s, instead of the other way around.
3. Six-Four suited
Hands like these may look like decent speculative hands, but they’ll usually be more trouble than they’re worth. Even though a hand like 64s can make strong combinations like straights and flushes, it often won’t be the nut combination on a certain board.
This means you need to take the reverse implied odds into account when playing a hand like this.
4. Queen-Nine suited
Another hand that looks pretty enough, but it’s a mediocre hand at best. Two-gapper hands like Q9s make straights far less often than connector hands.
Q9s can make a flush, but you’re running the risk of having only the second best hand, as your opponent can beat you with suited Aces or suited Kings.
Q9s also has a mediocre kicker that can often get you in trouble postflop.
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