Well it is a hand you have seen played over and over on TV shows like World Poker Tour (WPT). In this article I am going to show you how it is played and why it is played.

First off you lift your two hole cards off the table, looking down you see a hand that amazes you 7-2 offsuit! Glancing around the table you see that very few players have interest in their hands. You look toward your chip stack and reaching slowly but surely to your cards you toss them to the centre of the table. Mucking 7-2 offsuit is one of the most common ways to play it. Some poker experts would argue that it is the only way to play it.

There is however another way to play it, by raising or another words bluffing with it.

The advantage of using this hand to bluff is that it is a hand that you will not get stuck to.

Basically this means, that with this hand it is very easy to tell if you are ahead or behind after the flop.

7-2 offsuit is the worst possible starting hand in a 10 player game. By computer simulation where all 10 players show down at the river, 7-2 offsuit will only win 5.8% of the time.

Your objective behind playing 7-2 offsuit is to advertise that you are a loose gambling type of player. This will get other players to call you more often.

One of your tightest playing positions should be 'under the gun', this means you are first to act after the blinds. This is a good place to play this hand for a small raise.

You can use your position to show the strength of your hand, rather than your chips.

Obviously if you are re-raised with this hand, you are going to have to fold it.

You still have achieved something even by folding the hand, because you have encouraged players to re-raise small 'under the gun' raises that you make and next time you are going to raise exactly like that with AA hoping for that very same re-raise.

Chances are when you make your small 'under the gun' raise, you will not be re-raised simply through fear of the fact you might have AA.

If someone decides to play with you by calling the raise and you have no tells on that player, you must bet the flop regardless of what comes. If you flop a miracle hand like 2-2-7, I would still go ahead and bet, remember your opponent will not have put you on a 2-7!

Chances are you will flop nothing and of course that is all the more reason to bet, because it is your only chance to win with the hand.

Now if your opponent folds or raises, you want to lay the hand up so everyone at the table can see it. Bring attention to the hand, to those who are not really paying attention to the game, by saying something funny about the hand. Try something like "I didn't want to slow play it, or your hand might have caught up."

Remember no advertising works unless people see it.

Practice this hand in an inexpensive game or tournament on http://www.poker8.com . Before you invest any big money in a hand like this, you will want to get use to playing it and see how it fits with your playing style and table image.

About the Author

This article was written by Hamish Webb a professional poker player who endorses http://www.poker8.com a site that gives players 50 deposit bonus.