Playable hands early/middle Position

Johnith

so im just wondering what you guys think of playing either and Ace with a weak kicker so anywhere from A 2 - A-9 or a King with a weak kicker from early/ mid position. Obviously it will be wrong to call any decent reraise but im just wondering, is it a good strategy to try to limp in with these hands on occasion assuming the table still has 6-10 players left.

schabs

I've played this being the first raiser into the pot with a measly a7 suited or something, I consider it more of a steal if the blinds are big enough, if you get called, you most likely beat already.

actyper

6-10 players left so I assume its still relatively early, = fold

TheOtherMikeD

I'll fold all of these hands from EP and only play some suited aces from MP if it's really early in the SNG, but once a couple of people have been knocked out the blinds are usually high enough to make those hands difficult to play.

The best strategy is to play SUPER tight in the early stages though, which means not only folding weak aces but sometimes even folding hands like ATo in EP.

BBC Z

Only YOU can prevent forest fires by folding your ace rag in early position preflop.

Expect to lose to better aces constantly.

Pantsonfire

Johnith wrote: »

so im just wondering what you guys think of playing either and Ace with a weak kicker so anywhere from A 2 - A-9 or a King with a weak kicker from early/ mid position. Obviously it will be wrong to call any decent reraise but im just wondering, is it a good strategy to try to limp in with these hands on occasion assuming the table still has 6-10 players left.

Think of it this way. Grab a deck of cards and give yourself A2, even suited if you like. Then deal out some boards. See how often your 2 matters (i.e. is used to make your final hand).

After you realize how often the 2 is useless, when you're dealt A2 in your next game, picture yourself tossing your deuce into the muck and playing with one card, your ace. Having A3 is only slightly better, and so on.

Does that adjust your perspective on Arag?

m_dolens

personally, early in a sng i do not play weak aces, and i especially do not play weak kings. however, that being sad, i think in the right position, a weak ace can be playable. i don't mind playing them on occasion as long as i'm in position.

also good to note: A-2 to A-5 at least also offer more straight draw opportunities than A-6 to A-9, therefore i may even prefer them. however, as a warning, if you miss, you have to have the discipline to fold.

as far as weak kings go, K9 is probably the weakest king i will ever play (and by play i mean i voluntarily enter the pot).

Johnith

thanks for the tips guys! I already kind of assumed that weak kings and aces shouldnt be played in early position, but what about two decent cards such as J 10, Q J, K 10, so bassically a face card with a decent kicker? My assumption would be to try and limp these hands from Early and Mid position and if you run into a small raise just smooth call right and fold to a big reraise?

Pantsonfire

Johnith wrote: »

thanks for the tips guys! I already kind of assumed that weak kings and aces shouldnt be played in early position, but what about two decent cards such as J 10, Q J, K 10, so bassically a face card with a decent kicker? My assumption would be to try and limp these hands from Early and Mid position and if you run into a small raise just smooth call right and fold to a big reraise?

You need software like PokerTracker. With a database of your own hands, you can see how you are doing with them. Check how they do at certain blind levels and at different positions. Check how they do in raised pots, heads up, and on and on.

Your question is way too general and frankly we all play slightly different styles so you need to basically observe yourself and see how these hands are doing for you.

However, if you do want general advice, I would fold those hands for the most part except for certain times in mid to late position where I would raise first in the pot. In other words, tight aggressive players don't generally play these hands.

Most losing players end up as loose aggressive/passive because they play hands like that and then don't know what to do on the flop and turn and start calling bets to "see the next card". A losing pattern in NL holdem.

Johnith

yeah your definatly correct about getting some software. Ive always been pretty sketchy about going that way but it would improve my game in the long run, where do you go do download these programs?

JimmyHo

Pantsonfire wrote: »

Think of it this way. Grab a deck of cards and give yourself A2, even suited if you like. Then deal out some boards. See how often your 2 matters (i.e. is used to make your final hand).

Glad to see someone else picking up a deck of cards to work through some different scenerios. Another good example with a deck of cards is cracking aces. Deal out any two random cards and then 9 full sets of community cards (all five cards - don't need to worry about the burn card for this exercise). You will consistently find that AA loses to any two random cards at least once in these 9 trys (on average). I think AA is around 87% favourite against the worst two cards (72off) , so this makes sense. Its just working through it with a deck of cards that is interesting.