No-limit Texas holdem poker can be quite a roller coaster ride. With buy-in ranging from the thousands to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, fortunes can be won and lost in a very short amount of time. The swings can be too much for all but the steeliest of competitors. One pitfall that any no-limit holdem player must be able to navigate is the so called trouble hands.



What Are Trouble Hands?









Trouble hands are hands that, if they hit the flop, are likely to look strong enough that you may want to commit a lot of poker chips to them, but can in many cases be completely dominated by another player’s hand. Great examples of trouble hands are hands like AQ or AT. These are hands, which, if an ace flops, it will be very difficult to get away from, so that if someone is holding AK or flops two pair with a smaller ace, you can lose quite a few chips. In a no-limit holdem game, where large amounts can be bet on every street, getting involved with a trouble hand can be disastrous.

Make trouble hand play an integrated part of your poker strategy and you’ll do much better.



What Can You Do about Trouble Hands?



Option no. 1: don’t get involved



Some no-limit holdem poker players say not to play them at all. Certainly hands like KT or A9 can be thrown away, especially if there is a pre-flop raise, but a hand like AQ is a premium hand that can be profitable, so you will probably find yourself playing this hand most of the time.



Option no. 2: play in position



If you must play hands like an ace or king with weak to medium kickers, try to only play them from late position. This way, you can see whether other players appear to have hit the flop and play your trouble hand accordingly.

You also have a better chance of minimizing your losses if your trouble hand really is trouble in a particular hand. Having to lead out on every street and then facing a huge bet by your opponent on the river is the worst situation you can be in with a trouble hand.



Option no. 3: no limping



If you’re going to enter a pot with a trouble hand, you should usually raise before the flop. This will define your hand and hopefully knock out other holdings that can flop a well disguised hand that beats you.

It will also discourage you from playing too many trouble hands, as you will have to commit more poker chips pre-flop, forcing you to consider whether or not you really want to play the hand.



Option no. 4: control the pot



If you’ve only flopped one pair, even if it is top pair, with your trouble hand, try to keep the pot small, with moderate size bets. The bigger the pot gets, the more committed you will feel to large bets down the road.

You can fine tune your poker strategy on an online poker site such as Bodog Poker.

By: Graham Bond

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Graham is the owner of www.thepokerbuzz.com
His web site is dedicated to providing the information every poker player needs from poker site reviews to poker tips and poker strategy articles.