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Three Trouble Hands in Texas Hold em

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 by Phil

If you have been playing Texas Hold em for a little while, you should be pretty familiar with the more favorable starting hands that are likely to win you money. However, there are a number of hands out there that may well look good on first impression, but can prove to be quite deadly if you attempt to play a pot with them.

It is important to be are aware of these hands, and to make sure that you are on the lookout to fold these trouble hands in Texas Hold em at every opportunity.

Random suited cards.Every amateur player loves being dealt two cards of the same suit; you can make a flush and win… right? Unfortunately, the majority of the time you are not going to make a flush, and you are going to lose more money calling raises with raggy (but suited!) hands in an attempt to hit that magical flush. Of course high suited cards like AK and AQ are great, but I’m talking about the weak and troublesome ones like 47 and 39 (or anything along those lines).

The biggest problem with suited cards is that they give you a false sense of strength in the hand, even though the difference between two suited cards and those same cards off-suit is a mere 2 or 3% at the best of times. If you can develop the will power to let these terrible hands go, I can guarantee that you will be saving yourself a nice amount of money in the long run.

Rag Aces.Aces are great because if you manage to pair them on the flop, you are beating any other player that also has a pair. However, if you hold an Ace with a low kicker (any card between a 2 and a 9), you can wave goodbye to your chips if your opponent has you out-kicked. You have to remember that your hole cards need to work as a team, and you don’t want to send a sole Ace out into a battle without a strong card to back him up, because there is a good chance that your Ace will take a good hiding.

A monumental problem that amateur players face is that they find it very difficult to let go of top pair on the flop, even if they have a weak kicker. If you manage to hit top pair and you come up against resistance from an opponent, there is a good chance that you do not hold the best hand. Rag aces are suicidal hands to play because of the fact that you are either going to win a little or lose a lot, so they are best left alone.

Middle pocket pairs.Pocket pairs can look fantastic. If you manage to hit your set and make three of a kind, you stand a very good chance of cleaning out your opponent if they happen to hit something like top-pair. However, with a middle pocket pair, it is easy to feel as though you are tied to the hand even when you miss, just because it looked so good before the flop.

If you find that there are a number of overcards to your pocket pair on the flop, it is best to treat your middle pocket pair like it is a small pocket pair, and prepare for the fact that you may well be beaten. You are not going to do yourself any favors by valiantly trying to make you middle pocket pair hold up when there are big overcards on the flop, so let just be happy to let them go and save yourself some money.