.jpg "4 Hands No Decent Poker Player Will Ever Play")
This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
One of the most common beginner poker mistakes is playing too many hands. This includes hands that may look playable at a glance, but actually have glaring weaknesses that will often get you in trouble post flop.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at four no-limit hold’em starting hands that you should probably ditch from your range altogether.
We’ll also discuss if there are any situations in which these hands may be playable, and how to play them.
Let’s get right into it.
1. Nine-Four Suited (9♥️4♥️)
Nine-Four suited is the quintessential suited junk hand. It has very poor playability post flop, and there’s no good reason to play it under almost any circumstances.
A lot of amateur poker players make the mistake of playing just about any suited hand just because it’s suited. The hope is to catch a flush post flop and potentially take down a huge pot.
But there are multiple problems with this approach.
First of all, the chances of making a flush in no-limit hold’em are very slim.
If you have a suited hand, the chance of flopping a flush is only about 1%.
You have a better chance of flopping a flush draw (about 11%) but this is still far from likely.
And even then, you need to rely on hitting your outs on future streets, which won’t happen most of the time.
The chance of a flush draw completing from flop to river is 35%.
(An out is a card you need to complete your draw. The more outs you have, the stronger your draw.)
By the way, you can quickly calculate the percentage chance of your draw completing by using the so-called rule of fours.
Rule of fours: simply multiply the number of outs you have by 4 to get a rough percentage chance of your draw completing from flop to river.
The rule of fours gets slightly less accurate the more outs you have, but it works well in most in-game situations.
If you have a flush draw with a suited hand, you have 9 outs, so by using the rule of fours (9 * 4 = 36%), you would get quite close to your actual hand equity.
If you want to know the chance of your draw completing on the next street (flop to turn or turn to river), you simply multiply the number of outs by 2 instead of 4.
However, it’s worth noting that even if you manage to complete your flush, it doesn’t automatically guarantee that you’re going to win the hand.
This brings us to the second problem with playing suited junk: you aren’t drawing to the nuts, i.e. the strongest possible combination on a certain board.
With a hand like 94s, there are a number of stronger flushes that potentially have you beat.
This means you need to take the reverse implied odds into account when you hit a flush with a weak hand like 94s.
Implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially earn on future streets if your draw completes.
Reverse implied odds refer to the amount of money you can lose if your draw completes, but your opponent ends up having a stronger hand than you.
Aside from the potential to make a flush (and a weak one at best) 94s and similar hands have virtually no playability post flop.
They have no other way of connecting with the flop in a meaningful way. They can’t make a straight, and if they make a pair, it will be a weak pair at best.
Bottom line: a hand like 94s has very limited ways to connect with the flop, and even if it does, it can spell even more trouble for you due to the reverse implied odds.
That’s why it’s best to ditch this hand, along with similar suited junk altogether.
Check out Nathan's recent video on 9 things decent poker players never do for more info on the topic.
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2. Ace-Seven Offsuit (A♦️7♠️)
A lot of beginner poker players make the mistake of playing just about any Ace that’s dealt to them for the prospect of catching a top pair post flop.
But this is often a mistake because playing weak Aces like Ace-Seven offsuit can often get you in trouble due to a weak kicker.
A kicker is a card in your hand that doesn’t help you make a certain hand combination, but can often determine the winner if both players have the same hand combination.
A kicker will often determine the winner of the hand, because the most common hand combination you’ll make in no-limit hold’em is a single pair.
If both players have a top pair, for example, the player with the stronger kicker wins.
When you play a weak Ace, your hand will often be dominated by stronger Ax hands.
Even if you manage to hit a top pair with a hand like Ace-Seven, you often won’t be able to win a huge pot with it.
One pair hands are vulnerable to getting outdrawn, so it’s often difficult to get multiple streets of value with them.
For example, let’s say you hold A♥7♣ and the board is:
A♦T♦9♠6♦Q♣
How comfortable would you be with putting a large chunk of your stack in the middle?
There are multiple potential straights and flushes on the board, and a number of 2 pair hands that potentially have you beat.
The point is, if you play mediocre to bad hands, you will often find yourself in a lot of awkward, marginal spots post flop where you don’t know what to do.
It’s best to avoid those spots altogether and save your mental energy for more profitable spots.
There’s another problem with playing weak Aces like A7o.
Aside from the prospect of catching a top pair, there’s really no other ways you can connect with the flop in a reasonable way.
You can’t make any straights or flushes, so your hand has very poor overall playability post flop.
Suited Aces, on the other hand, are a different story.
Suited Aces are great speculative hands with insane nuts potential.
With suited Aces, you are always drawing to the strongest possible flush. This means you don’t have to worry about the reverse implied odds like you would with other suited hands.
Unlike some other hands on the list, you can still play offsuit Aces in some situations.
If other factors are working in your favour, you can often get away with playing “mediocre” hands.
For example, you can use “rag Aces” when you are attempting to steal the blinds, especially when you are playing on the button.
When you are playing on the button, you can often get away with playing quite a wide range.
This is especially the case if you have some sort of a skill edge over the players in the blinds.
For example, if the players in the blinds are very nitty, you can try to steal their blinds with almost any two cards. Your hand strength (or lack thereof) is totally irrelevant.
A nit is a player that plays very tight ranges on average, and tends to play fairly straightforwardly, both preflop and post flop.
These players will also usually be reluctant to play out of the blinds due to the positional disadvantage.
You can exploit this by stealing with a wide range yourself.
In this situation, it’s perfectly fine to open-raise with a mediocre hand like A7o. That’s because your goal is simply to get your opponent to fold, instead of playing for a huge pot.
A7o is often good enough to steal the blinds with, because it has limited playability post flop in case your blind stealing attempt gets called.
It also has blocker power, so it reduces the number of strong combinations in your opponents range.
So if you are the preflop aggressor and you are playing in position, you can often get away with playing mediocre hands.
But if you are playing out of position and you are a preflop caller, you can’t afford to play mediocre hands like A7o.
In poker, your hole cards are only one of the many factors you should consider when making decisions.
Check out my ultimate preflop guide for a rundown of every important factor you should consider in your preflop play.
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3. King-Two Suited (K♣️2♣️)
King-Two suited may look playable at a glance, but it has a number of similar problems as other suited junk on this list.
First of all, as mentioned, playing the hand just for the prospect of catching a flush is not a good idea, since it’s really hard to make a flush in no-limit hold’em.
King-Two suited may look more playable because of the potential to make a pair of Kings, which will often make a top pair hand on the flop.
But there’s another problem with this hand, and that is a very weak kicker.
When you play a weak hand like K2s, you run the risk of your hand getting dominated.
A dominated hand is the one that’s unlikely to win against another hand due to the inferior kicker.
With K2s, your hand is dominated by every other Kx hand.
With that in mind, there may be some situations where you can play K2 and other suited Kings profitably, but these are more of an exception than the rule.
Unlike some other suited junk on this list, K2s does have some playability postflop.
Even though it’s unlikely to make a flush, K2s has some nuts potential.
(Nuts means the strongest possible combination on a certain board).
This means that you can sometimes use K2s as a bluffing hand preflop, more specifically as a light-3 bet.
A 3-bet preflop is a re-raise against another player’s open-raise.
If you 3-bet with the intention of getting your opponent to fold, this is called a light 3-bet (or a 3-bet bluff).
K2s can be a decent 3-bet bluffing candidate because it has blocker power.
A blocker is a card in your hand that reduces the number of strong hand combinations from your opponents range.
For example, if you hold a King in your hand, it’s less likely for your opponent to have strong hands like pocket Kings, Ace-King, King-Queen etc.
Example Hand #1
You are dealt K♦2♦ in the SB (small blind).
A tight and aggressive (TAG) player open-raises to 2.5x from the BU (button).
You: ???
You should light 3-bet to 10x.
This is a great spot for a light 3-bet (or a 3-bet bluff).
In this spot, the villain will be open-raising quite a wide range. Tight and aggressive players will usually play wider ranges from late positions, especially the button.
And most of the hands in that range won’t be able to stand the pressure of a 3-bet.
The villain will be trying to steal your blinds with a high frequency, but will usually give up if you play back at them.
Your hand is a decent light 3-betting candidate, due to the aforementioned blocker power.
Since you hold a King, it’s less likely for your opponent to hold a number of strong Kx combinations.
If you 3-bet here, you will be able to win the pot outright preflop.
Looking for spots to win the pot preflop is great for your expected value, because you don’t have to pay the rake if you take down the pot preflop.
You will also make yourself more difficult to play against, and your opponents will have to think twice before stealing your blinds.
Even if your 3-bet gets called, your hand has some playability post flop, and it even has a limited nuts potential.
In today’s games, it takes more than waiting around for a premium hand to be a profitable long term winner.
You also need to look for edges in less than ideal circumstances. This means knowing how to play out of position against skilled opponents who won’t just roll over.
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4. Queen-Eight Suited (Q♦️8♦️)
A hand like Queen-Eight suited may look pretty enough, but it also falls into the suited junk category.
While it has a better playability than, say, Nine-Four suited, it is still best avoided.
That’s because you often run the risk of your hand being dominated.
As mentioned, you shouldn’t play suited hands just for the prospect of catching a flush post flop, because this simply won’t happen a vast majority of time.
And even if you do make a flush, your hand can be beaten by a number of suited Aces or suited Kings.
This means you need to take the reverse implied odds into account when playing a hand like Q8s.
Queen-Eight suited also has the theoretical chance of making a straight, but this also won’t happen as often to justify playing it.
The bigger the gap between your hole cards, the harder it is to make a straight.
Check out my other article on how to play straight draws for more info on the topic.
For example, suited connectors like QJs or 87s can make a straight four different ways, along with the potential to make a flush.
Queen-Eight suited, on the other hand, can only make a straight in a single way, so it has very limited nuts potential.
In practice, you won’t make straights and flushes nearly as often as weaker hand combinations like one pair hands.
This brings us to another problem with Q8s, and that is the mediocre kicker.
If you happen to hit a pair of Queens, you run the risk of your hand being dominated, because most players simply won’t play weaker Queens like Q7 or Q6, for example.
With all that said, a hand like Q8s is not totally unplayable as some other suited junk hands.
It can still connect with the flop in some meaningful way, and it even has a limited nuts potential.
What’s more, if you happen to hit a strong combination like a straight, your hand strength will be well-concealed, meaning you will have great implied odds.
The more obvious your hand strength, the worse your implied odds and vice versa.
However, you need to have other factors going in your favour if you want to profitably play this hand.
For example, if you are playing in position as a preflop aggressor.
Example Hand #2
You are dealt Q♣8♣ on the BU (button).
SB (small blind) is a nit. BB (big blind) is a recreational player.
You: ???
You should open-raise to 3x.
In this spot, open-raising a marginal hand like Q8 is perfectly fine.
Note that the expected value of your open-raise here has more to do with the type of players you are up against, rather than your hand strength (or lack thereof).
For example, if both players left to act are very nitty, you can profitably open-raise an insanely wide range.
Nits don’t defend their blinds nearly as often as they should, particularly at the lower stakes.
In fact, it’s not uncommon to find players who fold 8 or even 9 times out of 10 to blind stealing attempts.
If you’re using a hand tracking software like PokerTracker 4, you can check your opponent’s stats by using a heads-up display (or HUD for short).
Check out this article for the most useful HUD stats you should know.
Your second opponent is a recreational player that will play the exact opposite style of a nit.
Against recreational players, you don’t need to wait around for a monster hand to try and take their money.
Since you are playing in position, you are in a great spot to take advantage of the many post flop mistakes they are bound to make.
For example, recreational players are notorious for calling too often with mediocre hands.
If you manage to hit a top pair hand on the flop, you can often get action from a lot of weaker hands in your opponent’s range.
In other words, you can often make thin value bets against recreational players.
You are thin value betting when you expect your hand to be ahead of your opponent’s calling range, but not by a huge margin.
In other words, you expect your hand equity to be slightly bigger than 50%.
For more info on advanced poker strategies like thin value betting, check out Modern Small Stakes.
4 Hands No Decent Poker Player Will Ever Play - Summary
You don’t need to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to make decent money in this game.
All you need to do is keep things simple and avoid playing hands that will often be more trouble than they’re worth.
To sum up, here are 4 bad starting poker hands good poker players know to avoid.
1. Nine-Four suited
Nine-Four suited and similar hands are considered suited junk.
A lot of beginner poker players make the mistake of playing just about any suited hand for the prospect of catching a flush, but this doesn’t happen nearly as often enough to justify playing it.
Aside from the far-off chance of catching a mediocre flush, 94s has terrible playability post flop and should be avoided altogether.
2. Ace-Seven offsuit
Another common beginner poker mistake is playing just about any Ace, regardless of the kicker.
A mediocre kicker will often get you in trouble post flop, because you run the risk of your hand being dominated.
You always want your hand to dominate your opponent’s, instead of the other way around.
3. King-Two suited
The pattern should be familiar by now. K2s is a suited junk hand with a terrible kicker.
Even if you make a flush with it, you still run the risk of having only the second best hand, which is the worst hand to have in poker.
A weak kicker also means your hand will be dominated by every other Kx hand.
4. Queen-Eight suited
Q8s may look playable at a glance, but it suffers the same problems as other hands on the list, namely the mediocre kicker and the fact that you are not drawing to the nuts flush.
It can also make a straight one way, which makes it significantly weaker than suited connectors or suited one-gappers.
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