In Holdem poker games the world over whether it be limit or no limit, tournaments or cash games, live play or online, millions of players have major problems with certain types of hands. Although it has to be said that my good friend Jim has a problem with them all…..sorry Jimbo! It is true though that ALL hands have the potential to be trouble if they are played incorrectly!

Quite simply the bad poker hands play themselves, you simply fold them and no harm done. But as we begin to move up through the starting hands, the more a hand becomes playable the greater potential there is for trouble.

The differences in strategy between limit and no limit play and tournaments and cash games makes this quite difficult to answer. But being as the poker that’s played in the WPT events is No-Limit Texas Hold’em then I will keep it to that form of poker. Following is a list of what I consider to be six of the most misplayed and troublesome hands in the game but this list could easily be three times the size!

HAND 1 A – A

What’s that I can hear, oh it’s all those howls of derision as people are wondering just why I have selected the best pre-flop hand in Hold’em to be on this list. The trouble with the hand known as “American Airlines” is that people just simply fall in love with the hand when they receive it. It is 220-1 against being dealt aces so it presents a welcome site when a player looks at their hole cards to see two shiny aces staring back at them……most players would admit to a quickening of the pulse in this situation.

I on the other hand think “oh god, I really need to be careful here”. Players need to realise that aces are massively weakened when the flop comes if they do not receive any help. I have witnessed countless weak and intermediate players bust out with this hand. They bust out for two major reasons, firstly because their pre-flop play is predictable, for example they only raise with premium hands.

This means savvy opponents can call if the money is deep enough and they more or less know the content of your hand without you knowing theirs. The second reason is that many players simply do not know when they are beat early enough and cannot make a lay down at the correct time. This all boils down to players not being able to read the flop and assess the dangers of certain opponents connecting with that flop! With the help of poker software like Poker Office then trends can be seen far quicker.

Imagine for instance that a player raised to three times the big blind with the pocket rockets from early position and got three callers. The flop came JH-10H-8S, this is a highly dangerous flop for a pair of aces especially in early position. There is a potential made straight out there and many players call raises with hands like J-10 tricky players can even call with 10-8 hoping to outplay you later in the hand. This is not to mention the straight and flush draws that are also out there. So beware because even the pro’s can have trouble with the aces so show them some respect and don’t put them on a pedestal.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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