Playing big cards in limit hold’em

Whether you are playing full ring Texas Hold’em games, short handed or heads up, one factor prevails above all others. This is that limit is a big card game. Big cards make big pairs and big pairs and aces win showdowns and showdowns win pots. Of course you have not always got the luxury of having big cards in hold’em and especially in short handed and heads up games. If you were to sit and wait for big cards in those types of games then you would be in severe danger of being run over.

Big cards like K-J and Q-10 for instance have far greater power in short handed games simply because you will be dominated less often. If a player raises from early or middle position in a full ring game then you would be unwise to three bet with a hand like Q-10. But this is not the case in a short handed contest.

Quite frequently the number of opponents will be less than five as players will be dropping out and sitting out all the time. Plus, two big cards offer you a two card hand where hitting either card will probably be enough for you to win the pot. There are several other advantages to big Broadway cards also.

Let us say that your opponent has open raised with a hand like 7-7 and you three bet with the Kh-Js. If the flop fell something like A-Q-4 then your single opponent is going to have a hard time continuing with the hand as your three bet pre-flop has likely connected with that flop. This is an advantage to big cards, not only are they strong enough to raise with but frequently you will be able to win pots when you represent the ace.

Although it has to be said that depending on who the raiser is then it may be better to dump the hand. I will vary wildly what I do with hands like Q-10 for instance based on who has raised before the flop. At the end of the day, that is still a potentially dominated hand and will be underneath hands like A-Q,K-Q,K-10 etc. Although it has already been pointed out that you will be dominated far less in short handed games than you will in full ring poker games.

But in general, I tend not to get involved with most Broadway hands in raised pots unless I am in the big blind. Although once again there are times when I will three bet from the small blind against a player who I feel is raising on a wide range of hands. Three betting from the small blind knocks out the big blind most of the time and creates dead money.

Once I have managed this then all I then need to think about is how to best play this pot from the flop onwards against my single opponent. Most of the time in short handed games, you will frequently be involved in heads up scenarios.

Actually this makes a complete mockery of players who avoid short handed and heads up play. At some stage during any session of poker that you play then you are going to be experiencing both short handed and heads up situations. This is inevitable and simply cannot be avoided. When it gets folded around to you and you are situated one to the right of the cut off in a nine handed game then technically this has been reduced to a five handed game for the rest of this hand.

There are of course slight differences as players in full ring games may not be adjusting for this and many players don’t. But big cards are what you need because big cards make decent pairs and this applies whether you are in a cash game or a poker tournament. But do not take suited cards to town all because it is short handed. You still need to be tight aggressive so there is no justification for playing a hand like 10h-4h or Ks-3s for instance all because it is suited.

To me and many other players, this may seem blatantly obvious. But I see many players justify playing these types of hands and most of the time it tends to be because they are chasing losses or tilting. But suited cards do have some value in short handed games as they allow you to make semi-bluffs and they do give you added outs in which to take pots down when all said and done.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Author – “Winning Cash Game Poker”

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