Its a strategy thats not for the faint-hearted and one that usually makes us
shout at the screen when we see pro poker players raise on those nasty 9-2
hands. But Daniel Negreanu nicely lays out when its actually useful to play junk
hands - showcasing Gus Hansen’s trash hand specialty
The basic principle behind playing a trash hand isn’t that you
believe your hand has any value at all. It’s based on two things: You’re
representing a strong hand by bluffing and you’re hoping your opponent(s) don’t
have much of a hand.
Negreanu goes on to give a good Hold’em
example
Everyone has folded to you in last position, and you’re dealt the
worst hand in hold’em: 7-2 off-suit. Probably 98 percent of the time I’d suggest
folding this junk and waiting for a better situation. Unless, of course, you
know that the two players in the blinds are conservative types who operate very
predictably. In this case, you can raise with any two cards — now, this is
important — because you won’t be playing your hand, you’ll be playing
theirs.If you do raise, chances are the blinds will both fold. That
would be the most desired result, but even if they don’t, you aren’t necessarily
out of the hand.Suppose the big blind calls your raise and the flop
comes As 9c 4d. If the conservative player in the big blind doesn’t have the
ace, he’ll probably check to you. Despite the fact that you have nothing at all,
you should still bet on the flop. If your opponent calls the bet, or, worse,
raises, then you’ll abort mission. What will happen more often than not is that
he’ll fold if he doesn’t have the pair of aces.That’s not the only way
you can win the pot; you could hit the flop yourself. Sure, 7-2 is a really poor
hand, and difficult to hit, but you might just get lucky and flop a pair, two
pair or even three of a kind.
Its food for thought if you
have the stomach for it. Otherwise do as the playbooks say - and throw the trash
away
Article: A
lesson in poker recycling
0 Responses to “What to do with a trashy Poker Hand ?”