My Current Style: Part 4

D-Hands

Now here comes the fun stuff that is here to test my post flop savvy and reading skills. All D-Hands have some things in common: I will not call a PF raise with them and the only way I will limp in PF is if I can get in half price from the SB, although I will try a blind steal with a few. All have some major draw-backs and thus weren’t a part of my old strategy, I now have enough hands under my belt that I have somewhat of a post flop game. But in most cases I expect to hit these hard on the flop or I’m done with them.

AJ, AT, KT, KJ,QJ, QT, JT

A lot of people love paint. Paint is made to be dominated. Often you would have better odds of winning the hand with mid-suited-cons or even 2 medium unsuited cards because at least both cards are usually live. These are the kinds of hands that pay me off. People hit a pr and are then willing to get in a kicker fight. I really don’t get it, but hey, it makes me money. I will not raise or call a raise PF, hell, I don’t even limp with these hands. I will occasionally try to steal the blinds in an unraised pot from the button or steal the BB from the SB with these hands, because they likely have junk that they will fold or if they call, I likely can steal on the flop even if I don’t pair-up. The other time I will enter the pot PF is from the SB where I get in for a discount. They do have straight potential after all, or likely will be TP if you hit the board, plus you could always spike 2pr or trips. But ultimately I play these very cautious post flop. Depending on how many players are in the hand with me dictates how I play it on the flop. I will most often be 1st to act so I’m out of position. If I hit a pr on the flop it is most likely TP or 2ndpr, so if it’s 1-3 players with me I will lead out a pot-sized bet, and if I get RR’d I drop. If I am called I usually C/C or C/F the remaining streets depending on how aggressive the betting gets. So position is huge factor on how I play these paint cards. So basically it is thrifty SB call, blind steal or fold. It’s that simple.

King anything suited – KTs, K9s, K8s, K7s, K6s, K5s, K4’s, K3s, K2s

There are some obvious drawbacks here with K-suited. With the A-suited hands you know you have the nut flush, but with K-high flushes you can stand to lose a few big pots. But most of the time 2nd nut is usually good. With the KTs and K9s I also have the straight possibility as a bonus. Also Kings-up is a monster when it hits, so overall I am willing to throw in the other half of the blind. But as with most of my hands I won’t fight too hard without a good certainty that I’m good or that there is a good indication that they will drop before I fold and wait for a better play to risk my stack. I refuse to get into a kicker fight with a pebble in my hand if the stakes get high.

Suited-Connectors – 65s, 54s, 43s, 32s

These are total junk hands, but they are so concealed when they hit that they can make you some good money. But they have some major drawbacks so I will only see them for half price from the SB. Here’s what makes these SC’s so much worse than their SC big brothers. They are almost always the bottom pr, the low end of a straight, and a vulnerable flush. If you hit your flush on the flop and make a pot-sized bet you are often called with 1-card flush draws and if that 4-flush hits on the turn or river you are usually forced to lay it down before the showdown along with all the money that you already invested. They are also real susceptible to being counterfeited on the turn and river even when you hit a strong hand like 2pr. So you really have a lot of stressful decisions to make when playing these cards. And sadly sometimes even when you hit your hand you are already nearly drawing dead. But it’s almost worth all the risk solely because of how bad it tilts some players when you reveal these cards at showdown and scoop the pot. I can see the chat box light up now expletives comments about my intelligence.

Suited –Gappers – KTs, K9s, QTs, Q9s, Q8s, J9s, J8s, J7s, T8s, T7s, T6s, 97s, 96s, 95s, 86s, 85s, 84s, 75s, 74s, 73s, 64s, 63s, 62s, 53s, 52s, 42s

And last but not least – uh actually they do rank least – we have the Suited-Gappers. These cards totally suck, but they do have both straight and flush possibilities, and they are so well concealed that you can snipe off some nice pots when you hit hard. With these holdings I hit hard or I saying bye. Sometimes hitting the flop I can push out 1 or 2 opponents that whiffed. I try not to spend much on the draws either.


Summary

I would say that most of my big pots come from A and B hands, but C and D Hands are well concealed and bring in good money when they occasionally hit really hard. My A-hands also win a lot of smallish pots where everyone drops to my PF raise or they fold the flop to my CB. Position isn’t a big aspect of this current strategy PF except for the frequent blind steal attempts. If I hit any part of the board with any hand that I’m in I will bet it against 1 or 2 opponents on the flop. I am quite aggressive against few opponents because they are just as likely to have missed or barely hit as myself. If I am in position against 1 or 2 players and get checked to, I bet pot. I take down many smallish pots this way also. Often because I am limping in pots from lots of positions PF I find myself on the flop with only the blinds and I’m in position. Likely they check to me and I take the hand with a pot-sized bet. Often the blinds are folding hands where they hit BP or 2ndpr but figure I paired the over-card to their pr, especially when an A or K comes on the flop and I bet from position, they figure I stayed PF with A or K rag which is an extremely common occurrence. So the big concepts of this strategy are: 1 - Play only hands where you know how strong you are when you hit. 2 - Play mostly hands that aren’t at a disadvantage due to bad kickers. 3 - Play lots of hands that you can get in with cheaply, but pack a powerful punch when they hit. 4 - Win lots of small pots due to blind steals and aggressive short-handed flop aggression.

My game has changed enormously from last year, with me adding more starting hands and being a little more aggressive on the flop when putting in a bet isn’t killing my stack but is surely scary to players that missed their holdings. I am still fairly weak with some hands and my aggression with them, so hopefully I can at some point move some more of those hands up in my rankings. My current style is a mere semblance of last year’s, so who knows what another year will hold for my game?