Poker Tournament Strategy – Starting Hands

In this post, I’ll examine starting hand decisions at Bodog. Obviously, deciding which starting hands to play, be it check or raise or which to discard, is one of the most important Texas Holdem poker decisions you’ll make. There are several factors involved in deciding which hands to play:

1) What Starting Hand’s (There are many articles out there but we will use Sklansky’s
recommendations from his classic book “Theory of Poker”)

2) Table position compared to where blinds are located

3) How many players at the table

4) Chip position of you and your opponents

David Sklansky proposed some starting hand groups to be used for Texas Holdem,
which turned out to be very popular and widely excepted as general guidelines. These
guidelines are great for starting poker players getting use to playing the game
or just wanting to learn some discipline. Here’s is what Theory of Poker
suggests:

Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ AKs

Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, KQs

Group 3: 99, AQo, ATs, KJs, QJs, JTs

Group 4: 88, AJo, KQo, KTs, QTs, J9s, T9s, 98s

Group 5: A9s, AXs, KJo, QJo, Q9s, JTo, T8s, 77, 97s, 87s, 76s, 65s

Group 6: ATo, KTo, K9s, QTo, J8s, 66, 55, 86s, 75s, 54s

Group 7: KXs, Q8s, J9o, T9o, T7s, 44, 33, 22, 98o, 64s, 53s, 43s

Group 8: A9o, K9o, Q9o, J8o, J7s, T8o, 96s, 87o, 85s, 76o, 74s, 65o, 54o, 42s,
32s

All other hands if not shown are considered unplayable.

Here is the basic way to use this chart.

The later your position at the table before the blinds (dealer is latest
position), the more starting hands you should try to play. If you’re the dealer
(called “on the button”) or directly to left of dealer (called “cut off” or “CO”),
with a full table, play groups 1 thru 6. If you’re in middle position (next
three positions to right of CO), play only groups 1 thru 4. In early position (First
three positions to LEFT of big blind), play only groups 1. In the small blind
play as if in early position due to the fact you have to play first every round,
the big blind you will have to play what you have.

If you are first in the pot, I would raise groups 1-4. If a player has called the blind in front of
you I would raise with group 1 and 2 and if there was a raise from a player
before you only play group 1 hands and re-raise with them. Remember this is
just guidelines and your feel for the table should always come first. If you think you can buy a pot from weaker
players at the table, it is always worth “loosening” up your requirements.

As the number of players drops to 6-7 players, I would start to tighten up overall
by playing fewer and more premium hands from the better positions (groups 1 -
2). Good time to cut down on chasing draws unless you have premium odds to do
so.

As the players dwindle to 4-5, open up a little again and play more hands
(groups 1 – 5), but remain cautious about chasing draws. At this stage, you’re
close to being in the money and you want to keep all the chips you have
accumulated so far and try to carefully add to that total. Play good hands in
good position, blind steal when occasion arises and be aware of were the small
stacks are so you do not get caught having to call an all in with a less than
great hand. If you are one of the small stacks at Bodog.net, don’t wait to blind down to where
you will get called when you go all in. Pick a hand a little earlier while you
still have some chips and try to get back in it.

When it gets down to 3, play will depend on your stack size. Tighten up a
bit here no matter what, playing groups 1-3 and try to be aggressive more often
with those hands. If you are chip leader, make it expensive to play when you
have position and avoid doubling someone up with less than premium hands. If you are in the middle as far as the chip
count, avoid battling big stack and try to pick on the small stack, avoiding all
in confrontations unless holding a group 1 hand, if possible. If smallest
stack, again you have to be a little less conservative and pick a hand and hope
for a double up. Don’t wait until a
double up will not help you.

Heads up involves a whole new type of tactic that goes beyond the scope of
this article. Generally, you want to be very aggressive and push hard with just
about any face card or ace. Keep the
pressure on and hope to get an edge and take it home.

In tournaments, such as those on FullTiltPoker.net, always keep track of your chips stack size relative to the
blinds as well as everyone else’s stacks. If you’re short stacked (low on
chips), then you may need to take a little more chances with medium hands and try
to extract chips when you hand hits. If you’re on the other end and one of the
big stacks, try to avoid unnecessary confrontation, but use your stack and
position to steal blinds occasionally – without risking too many chips in the
process. Remember you are a target and the smaller stacks want to use you to
double up through.

I hope this overview will help you improve your tournament play.