Following on from yesterday’s rundown of common nicknames for poker hands, here is part two with a few more different ways to name the hand you hold.
Oedipus
Motown
Jeff Talley
Flat Tyre, No Thanks Barry, The BazzyG
30 Miles of Bad Road
Broderick Crawford, Over and Out, Roger That, The Good Buddy, Convoy
Doyle Brunson, Texas Dolly
Oldsmobile
Popeye’s, Phil Hellmuth
Dolly Parton, Hard Working Man
Joe Montana Banana
Pocket Snowmen, Two Fat Ladies, Dawg Balls, Racetracks
Sven
Saturn, Mullets, Sunset Strip, Walking Sticks
RPM
Beer Hand
The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, The Beast, Devil’s Area Code
Poker is a funny old game, none more so than some of the nicknames given to the hands that are made, or the hole cards dealt to each player. Below are just a few examples of some of the crazy names given to those obscure hands.
American Airlines, Pocket Rockets, Bullets.
Big Slick, Anna Kournikova, Walking Back to Houston, Santa Barbara
Machine Gun (AK-47)
Little Slick, Big Chick
Steel Wheel, Bike
Dead Man’s Hand
Hunting Season
Ashtray
The Four Horsemen
Alabama Night Riders, Three Wise Men
Cowboys, King Kong, Kangaroos
Royal Couple, Marriage
Kojak, King John, Knob Jockey, Knob Jockster, Tuscon Monster
Sawmill, Pair of Dogs, Unit, Fido, Canine
Commander Crab, King Crab
Ladies, Jailhouse Rock, Sigfried and Roy, 4 Tits, Flower Girls, Hilton Sisters
Maverick
Robert Varkonyi, Quint
The Computer Hand
San Francisco Bus Boy, Gay Waiter
Rock And Roll, Jackson Five, Motown
Jackass
Harry Potter, Jamiroquai
Thats it for today, more tomorrow!
Everyone knows that pocket aces are the best starting hand in a game of no limit texas holdem poker, but are you familiar with what the worst hands are?
Join me as we go on a trip to the land of Texas Fold’em.
1) 7-2
72 is the #1 worst hand of them all. This is based on the fact that you can not make a straight with both cards and if you hit a flush you will have a very low flush at that. Even if you pair one of these two hole cards you are at worst hitting bottom pair with below average kicker, or at best top pair with bottom kicker.
2) 8-2
This hand suffers from the same inadequacies at 72u, however you have an 8 instead of a 7. Which makes things slightly better. But not by much. The only time you will be in front pre-flop is if you are playing against someone having a pop with 72u.
3) 8-3 & 7-3
You are unable to make a straight with 8-3. With 7-3 you are looking for a miracle flop to be in with any chance of winning the pot.
4) 2-6
Even if you make your straight you will not be able to guarantee you have the best hand. Players with suited connectors like 67 will make sure you lose a lot of chips. If you find yourself playing this hand against 4 other players you will only ever win around 10% of the time.
5) 2-9, 3-9, & 4-9
The only positive quality about these hands is the 9. If you pair your 9 on the flop (unlikely), you will have a middling pair but with an awful kicker. The best way to lose a lot of chips is to play a second-best hand, and that is exactly what will happen if you play any of these card combinations.
6) T-2
The legendary Doyle Brunsen hand made famous by him winning two WSOP bracelets with this hand. But do not be fooled. T2 is NOT a good hand. Do not play this hand unless you have the skill and experience of the legend that is the Brunsen. Or unless you like to lose money.
7) 9-5
95 is also known as the “Dolly Parton”. Maybe because of the song, but mostly because it’s ugly trash. Don’t play hands that have special names, or are your “favourite” hands. You should be selecting your starting hands based on strong cards and your table position. Hand selection based on the name of your hole cards is very, very stupid.
8.) 4-7, 4-8, 5-8, 3-6…
Any two low unpaired unsuited cards will rarely win unless you catch that dream flop. But odds are never ever in your favour to see a flop in the hope that you might hit it. For every one time you do hit a full house on the flop with these kinds of cards, there will be 100 times where you miss. Fold these hands. Even if on the small blind, even if you are getting value. If you do connect with the flop in some way, chances are it will be a trouble hand and before you know it you won’t be able to get away and you will find yourself pot comitted.
9) Face card (K, Q, J) + low card, unsuited
This is one of the more common mistakes made by beginners to the game. Picture cards by themselves are not worth anything. Put them with another card of the same rank and you’ve got a playable hand. But hands like J4, Q2, K3 are all Texas Fold’em hands. Even if you do pair your paint, chances are you will be outkicked at the showdown.
10) Ace + low card, unsuited
Another common beginner mistake to avoid is playing a raggy ace. That is an ace with a low kicker. Ok, so its not too bad heads up, and if you flop two pair against someone with AK then you are laughing, but this will not happen often enough to make it profitable to play. If someone is raising pre-flop in front of you, then your best strategy is to fold. Even if you do hit your ace on the flop, chances are someone else has too and more often than not they are playing with a much stronger kicker.
If a player’s chips are stacked in a mess then this often means they are an aggressive player that plays fairly loose. Also, the opposite is true for a player that stacks chips in an organised fashion – this often means they are quite a tight player.
If your opponent reluctantly calls let’s say with a sigh or a shrug or with a shake of the head, then they will often be holding a strong hand.
If you see another player at the table look at their hole cards again after the flop, they are usually checking the suit on their cards for flush potential. This would indicate that their cards are not of the same suit, but they may have a flush draw on board.
Players with lots of small denominations of chips shows a player that has stolen a lot of blinds.
A player that bets £10 with ten £1 chips is less confident of their hand winning than a player that bets with one £10 chip. This is however a well known tell and more experienced players will deliberately bet this way to infer weakness. I know I do it!
Sometimes, a player will break a large chip down into smaller change before they really need to. This is often the signal of a tight poker player.
Never let a bluffer force you to walk into a better hand. Let’s say you are right that they are bluffing and your semi-strong hand is enough to beat them. however, if there is a third player involved in the pot, especially one who plays a little tighter, you might end up beating the bluffer’s hand only to have your hand outranked by the third tight player’s hand. It’s very easy to be second place at the showdown in this kind of situation and that kind of play is only going to lose you chips in the long run. The fewer players in the pot, the less opponents you have to beat.
Never try to bluff a bad player either. You will find that only the good players will lay down cards. A player who has just sat down at the table is a prime target for a bluff as most players do not like to get involved with too much action in their first hand. Better poker players who have gone down in chips but are now back level will be wary about putting in chips again unless they have a strong hand – you should try to bluff players in this situation more often.
Where possible, semi-bluff and leave yourself some outs. A semi-bluff is where you have a hand but it is not as strong as the hand you are representing. If at the flop you hold second pair and a gutshot straight draw then you are in a perfect position to attempt a bluff. Even with any kind of draw you can bet it out before you have made your hand. This also helps to disguise your hand when you do hit.
Over the last couple of weeks we have covered many different topics. You should now know how to calculate poker pot odds and how to play good hands from a good position. You are already streets ahead of many other poker players out there. However the key that strings all of these strategies together is to be aggressive with your poker.
Far too many players still limp into pots – they are not willing to raise the bet before seeing a flop. To win at poker you must be prepared to put your chips in when you have got a good chance of winning – you should be raising and re-raiseing when you are dealt good cards.
A raise serves several purposes. It might be enough to make you opponent(s) fold their hand(s) when they would otherwise have outdrawn you or outright beaten you. Raising also puts more money into the pot. If you are playing correctly with good hands from good position, you will win these bigger raised pots more often. Raising will also give you information about your opponent’s hand. For example if you put in a pre-flop raise and another player re-raises, you can be fairly confident they hold a very strong hand as they are prepared to raise even though another player at the table has shown strength.
You must remember that each time you fail to raise with good cards, you are allowing the big blind to see a flop for free. You should always raise premium hands, even aces in order to put more money in the pot and reduce the playing field. Even 72u beats AA sometimes if they see enough free flops.
If the table has folded to you and you are sat in late position, you should be raising in order to steal the blinds. This can be done with almost any hand. If you get re-raised you can (and should) get away from the hand, but most of the time you should be picking up the blinds from weaker players that do not defend them.
Now we have a grasp of poker pot odds, the next most important aspect of your game to consider is your position at the table. Your position changes with every hand and it is one of the most important factors in poker. With each hand, one player will be first to act (under the gun) and the other players follow in a clockwise direction.
The best place to be is last to act. From here you get the opportunity to observe what moves your opponents are making before you decide what you want to do yourself. This gives you valuable information about what kinds of hands your opponents could be holding. In texas hold em you get this information on every round of betting and it should be used to your advantage whenever possible.
Last to act or “late position” puts you in a much better position to calculate the odds for a hand when you are last to act and so you can play a much wider range of hands from late position than you can from under the gun.
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