Table 1 - Sklansky's Group 1 hands AA KK QQ JJ AKs
Ace/Ace and King/King are substantially more powerful than the Queen/Queen.
Table 2 - Sklansky's Group 2 hands TT AQs AJs KQs AK
The overall power of Ace/King is actually slightly greater than that of King/Queens, so I would reverse the order of these two hands within this Group
Out of the 10 hands in these two groups your decision to raise should not be treated equally based upon the following:
? Raising Ace/Ace, King/King, Queen/Queen, and Ace/King should
be aggressive before the flop because these cards can lose their
value in large multi-way pots.
? Raising Ace/King, Ace/Queen, Ace/Jack, and King/Queen should
be moderate because they do play well in multi-way pots.
? Raising Jack/Jack should only be done on a tight tables in order
to run out hands such as Ace/Nine. This type of hand can also
lose value in multi-way pots.
? Raising Ten/Ten is generally not recommended.
Always consider the fact that your starting hand strength also depends
on your table position, or how many people bet before and after you do.
As a general rule, you should stick to the conventional best starting
hand percentages when there are 8 to 10 players with 2 to 3 callers.
When the field is narrowed down to 5 players or less, you should play
your starting hands more aggressively. For example, the Ace/King
suited is often considered to be the second best starting hand with a full
table. If there are less than 5 players left, any Ace hole card with a
decent kicker can give you the same winning percentages as the
Ace/King suited would have. The concept is very simple, you are
playing the mathematical odds implied via the 52 cards in the deck
along with the probability that fewer players will equal less chances that
someone will draw an Ace. In short, the fewer number of players
holding cards at a table, the greater your chances of winning are.
If you are in a late position at a full table and have seen one player
wager a large bet, and there are one or two callers, most often you can
bet at the very least ONE of them is holding a strong starting hand with
high win percentages (such as an Ace with a high kicker, suited
sequence cards, or heavy pocket pairs, etc).
If, at any given point of the game, you have five or more players seeing
the flop, then a good starting hand can often times change to small
sequence cards such as a five/six or a small suited pairs. Reason?
When over half of the players at a table call a hand, the high cards such
as Aces, Kings, and Queens are usually tied up as hole cards thus not
showing up on the flop, turn or river. This is an excellent opportunity for
small pairs, lower straights, or any flush draw to win a big pot.
As a general rule, you should never bet the minimum when you have an
excellent starting hand unless you intend to "limp in" and get more
callers for the hand. There are times when limping in can win you some
big pots, but you shouldn't let slow playing become a dominant strategy.
It is good to bet at least 3 to 4 times the minimum in order to run out any
possible draw hands or players who rely on luck and chance to win a
big pot early in the tournament.
Once you have mastered the basic concept of good starting hands for every scenario, you will become a better all around Texas Holdem player!
Brough to you by,
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