Three Horrible Hands

AT, AJ, and AQ. Suited or unsuited. Deathtraps, one and all.

They are the crack cocaine of tournament poker. An addiction that will kill you. The problem is, in particular when the blinds are getting large, and you have a medium or small stack - these are damn hard hands to get away from.

I've pretty much given up on trying to play AT or AJ. I'll put in a healthy raise in late position to take the blinds and antes, but I do not want to see a flop. Even if you hit. You may well be out-kicked. TJ Cloutier rightly calls AJ the biggest trap hand in hold-em.

There was a time where I was happy to play AJ and AT aggressively. But those times are over. As I look over my tournament results, it becomes abundantly clear that in the serious hands late in the tournament where I lost serious chips, that a big ace was regularly involved. As I also have an irrational (but likely profitable) love of continuation bets, the Big Ace has often spelt my doom.

So I want you all to know that I'm giving them both up. I'm going on the program. I'm not going to go cold turkey, of course - it's not that simple. You'll understand if I have a re-lapse every now and again. Limping when I shouldn't. Raising on super agressive tables out of position. Check-calling when I hit my Ace but I still know I'm beat. You'll understand that I'm human, but I'm doing the best I can. Addiction is a difficult beast to master.

AQ on the other hand. Well, I'm not sure I can ever give it up. If one hand in the game is my nemesis, AQ would be it. I'm pretty sure this particular that hand, more than any other, has spelt the end of my campaign in many a tournament.

But you know what, I think I may change the way I play it. Sometimes a lot slower, in particular out of position. I may even consider NOT raising with it every now and again. I know I know, in the land of NL hold 'em, the aggressive man is king. But I think it the case, in lower buy-in tournaments, when the range of hands that will call you are horrendous, no matter what your raise, that AQ becomes marginal - marginally profitable, and a deathtrap in multi-way pots when blinds are large and the trigger finger of one's opponents itchy and idiotic.

So, as I find my self consistenly getting in about the top 7 - 10% of the field in most of the tournaments I play - but rarely further, it seems to me I have to seriously re-assess the way I play some hands.

I think I could lose AT from my game and be all the better off for it (sure - I'll raise from it on the button, but I'd raise with anything from the button).

AJ can be my methodone. I'll use it only on a strictly controlled program.

AQ, well, AQ's a bitch; I've had it with this damn hand and I really wouldn't mind never seeing it again. AQ is probably the hardest of these three hands to play - fold or call? Raise or re-raise? Play slow or play fast? It could well be the hardest hand to play in all of hold 'em. I'm not in the habit of wanting hard decisions in tournaments. I can't read low-limit players online - who can? Who can understand their logic? Who can find method in their madness? I certianly cannot. And in this context, I prefer hands that play themselves. Small pocket pairs, small suited connectors, the big pocket pairs - these hands do all the work themselves. You're either way ahead or way behind - you either hit or you don't (and obviously the high pocket pairs can still be gold even when they do not hit).

But AQ? Even when you hit, you're just not far enough ahead to outswin the tide of donkeys at Party. They are waiting for you to play AQ. They are just falling over themselves to run you down. And they will. There's just too many. It's inevitable.