Power Hands
Power hands” are hands that have sufficient starting strength to be worth playing in almost any poker game condition.
There aren’t many of these hands. Basically, by power hand I mean a hand with which it is almost always worth opening the pot.
Just because they are worth opening with, does not mean you should always play them. In particular, with some of these hands you should often not call an early position opener.
You often need a stronger hand to call than you do to bet.
The reason for this is that when you’re opening the pot you only need to consider your chances of beating random hands.
Once another player has opened from an early position, his had is no longer random-it’s likely to be more selective about what hands they play from early position.
So I’ve divided the hands I consider power hands into two groups-I call them dominating power hands and dominated power hands.
You should generally open the pot with poker hands from either of these groups, but you should usually not call nearly position opener with the dominated power hands.
The power hands include any above-average par, 8s or larger, suited Aces, with a 9 or larger; suited Kings, with a 10 or larger; suited Queens, with a 10 or larger; suited Jacks, with a 10 or larger; and unsuited Aces, Queen, or larger.
* Means any pocket pair 9,9 or larger.
** Means an Ace with a suited Queen or better. Queen or King.
*** 5,3 suited is the lowest one-gapper that’s usually playable; 5,4 suited is the lowest connector that’s usually playable.
± Aces and Kinds have enough high card value that they are sometimes worth playing even with a suited 2 as a kicker. Queens don’t quite have that much high card value and need a kicker that has at least some decent change of making second pair.
±± A,10 is often considered a weak hand, but in loose conditions you’ll have many players weaker
Aces and the value of an Ace with a marginal kicker goes up. It ’s similar situation with K.J.
Pick the Right Table / Picking a Seat / Theories of Poker / Betting Theory: The Odds
A Theory of Starting Hand Value
A Theory of Flop Play: Counting Outs and Evaluating Draws
The Dynamics of Game Conditions / Table Image / Player Stereotypes
Women and Poker / Spread-Limit Games / Double Bet on the End Games / Kill Games
Short-handed Games / Tournaments / No-limit and Pot-Limit Poker
