 |
| |
Starting Hands
- Perhaps the most important decision you face as a sit-and-go tournament player is that of starting hand selection. You're dealt your two cards pre-flop. Do you play them or just throw them away? If you play, you are committing chips to the pot. It's a big decision.
Thanks to the work and theories of a David Sklansky, starting hands can be banded in to seven different groups running from group 1 (strongest) to group 8 (weakest). It's important to remember that the strength or weakness of your starting hand changes after the flop. The strongest hand can become the weakest and vice-versa after more cards hit the table.
But - chosing the right starting hands to play and bet on is crucial. Here are the Sklansky hand groupings. Anything followed by a small s means "suited" - of the same suit. So A9s means an ace and a nine of the same suit.
Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, KQs, AK
Group 3: 99, KTs, QJs, ATs, AQ
Group 4: A8s, KQ, 88, QTs, A9s, AT, AJ, JTs
Group 5: 77, Q9s, KJ, QJ, JT, A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s, J9s, T9s, K9s, KT, QT
Group 6: 66, J8s, 98s, T8s, 55, J9, 43s, 75s, T9, 33, 98, 64s, 22, K8s, K7s, K6s, K5s, K4s, K3s, K2s, Q8s, 44, 87s, 97s
Group 7: 87, 53s, A9, Q9, 76s, 42s, 32s, 96s, 85s, J8, J7s, 65, 54, 74s, K9, T8, 76, 65s, 54s, 86s
For tournament play, the suggestion is in the early rounds only play Group 1 hands then loosen up your starting hand selection as players are knocked out and the blinds rise.
- Table positioning - where you are sat in relation to the dealer button - is another crucially important aspect of successful tournament play along with starting hand selection. Do not forget to read about Table positioning.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
