Pokerwiner.com → Within poker principles
5.Playing sub-marginal hands:
It’s true that in holdem, the better you get, the more hands you can play up to a point. (And that point may come sooner in holdem than in some other forms of poker ). But many good players carry this too far, especially against average or better opposition. They begin to raise out of position with hands like:
Or to call in late position with hands like:
Out of the big blind, they may raise several limpers with a hand like:
For great players all these plays may be correct against terribly weak opponents, but are likely to shade into the zone of negative expectation for anyone less expert, or against better opposition. Some players are especially prone to start playing such inadequate hands when they’ve had a winning streak. If the streak happens to continue as they add weaker poker hands to their repertoire, they can get into a losing habit that costs them a lot of money before they identify the problem. Many better players fail to understand what is really implied by the idea that as your skill level increases you can play more hands. First, you cannot do as much of this if the opposition is at all tough. Second, you are almost sure to cost yourself money if you try to play these additional hands from early positions.
They are mostly just some possibilities to consider for later positions, under favorable conditions. I have occasionally seen otherwise good players try to open for a raise with something like
With four or five people still to act behind them. In typical middle limit games this is suicide. (* Sometimes you will see an expert make a play like this. In this case it may be correct if he has noticed that a couple of the players who act after him are already passing out of turn ). Third, good players usually think they are better than they actually are. In fact, they usually are not expert enough to be adding additional hands. When they do, they tend to get into trouble with them.
When the true expert plays these hands, a major part of his superior play with them involves his correct folds after the flop, when others would play on. Put differently, he manages to stay out of trouble. (Note: At the time I am writing this essay, I occasionally have in my regular game a fellow who is a prime example of a player with this problem. His overall playing poker skills are a little better than average. But he apparently believes he can successfully play many hands that are, in fact, clearly unprofitable. In his case this appears to stem from an arrogant, inflated self-image. I suppose he thinks, “I can outplay everyone so totally after the flop that I can play these hands that other good, but not great, players would never dream of playing.” As just one example, I recently saw him open for a raise with four or five players still to act behind him.
Unless he develops some insight into what he’s doing, I predict a short and costly poker career for this player.)
Playing Too Many Hands-I / Playing Too Many Hands-II
Bad Plays Good Players make / Self-Weighting Cold Calls
Do You Pass the Ace-Queen Test /
Conjecture on the Limits of Tell Detectability
Quick Indicators / Afterthought