Varied wisdom has been espoused concerning evaluating what fights one should enter in many diverse fields of endeavor. If your evaluation is sound then the only time one should enter into harm's way is when you are an overwhelming favorite to prevail. Ah ... if only it was that easy.
All poker players, with the exception of the most beginning of beginners, know that the single most egregious error that is made in hold'em is playing too many hands. Today let's look at a hand that on the surface appears very playable, but maybe we are blinded by its good looks.
Let's imagine we are in the small blind in a limit hold'em game holding a suited king and queen. You immediately take a peek and think, "They sure look pretty" Before we continue, looking at your cards instead of your opponents' reactions to their cards is your first mistake!
That lesson aside, you begin to think about how you should play this pretty suited K-Q. As you are formulating this thought, the under-thegun player opens for a raise. Everyone else folds to you, hopefully alerting you to the fact that this may not be a fight you should enter. Sure you're already in for half a small bet but now it's two small bets and you still have the big blind behind you. As nice as that suited K-Q looks, let's examine some reasons why it should be tossed into the muck.
Ideally, you were looking for a larger multi-way pot with several callers so you could just complete the bet and see a flop with your suited high cards. Well, we can't always get what we want, and in this situation the hand will be played three-handed at most, and you might even be heads-up against the under-the-gun raiser.
Secondly, what kind of hands do players who raise under-the-gun typically hold? The answer is good hands! The kind of hands that in all likelihood will crush K-Qs or at the very least have it severely dominated. On top of these two significant negatives you will be out of position the entire hand and be forced to act first.
Man, it looked so good at first glance! Many things do ... including fool's gold.
Weaker players regularly allow themselves to be seduced into playing these types of hands because they focus more on their potential than their downsides. Sure K-Qs is a nice hand with plenty of potential for high pairs, straights and flushes and it's a hand that can often be played from any position. However, in this situation most of the positives have been eliminated. If, for example, four other players between the raiser and you called, then the pot odds would dictate taking a flyer and seeing the flop.
Our goal for today is to always evaluate the current context before deciding whether to fight or flee. We must always consider our opponent's position and the likely hands he would be playing, coupled with the price we are getting to enter the fray.
Don't allow yourself to be swayed by good looks alone. Remember, many a prospector went broke in the old west thinking the fool's gold he had found would bring him riches.
See you next "TIME"
