Tips from a Poker Pro: How To Win With A Weak Hand

08:04
20 Oct

A game of poker is an excellent way to spend time with friends or on your own if you play at a casino with strangers or play poker online, and it’s a great way to flex your strategy muscles and have a little bit of fun. Poker is one of the few casino games that combine an element of luck and also strategy. You can't plan for or help which cards you're dealt; this is where luck comes in.

What you do with those cards, however, is where you need to strategize carefully to ensure you get the maximum value out of the hand you’ve been dealt. Sometimes the poker gods are smiling down on you, and you’re dealt the hand of a lifetime that wins you the game without even really trying. Sometimes though, the poker gods seem to be punishing you with one of the worst hands known to humankind! It’s all well and good to sail through a game with an excellent hand, but where the skill of a poker player is really tested is when your hand is as terrible as it could possibly be. You’ll need to employ all of your cunning, your best poker face, and all of the strategic skills you have at your disposal. Let’s find out how to win at poker even when you have an awful hand.

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Raise It Baby

The power of the raise simply cannot be understated. Even if your hand remains truly terrible after the flop, a well-planned raise can bring you a little bit closer to that pot. Let’s look at some examples.

Let’s say there is a 4- 8 dollar limit on your hold ‘em game, and the table has nine players. You're in the middle position and are dealt a hand of Jd-Qc. If you use a well-known hold ‘em algorithm, you figure out you’ve got 30 points in your hand. Since that's higher than a score of 24, which is the minimum criteria for any middle position, you’re in for the flop. An aggressive player has raised, and another has called. The flop comes along, and it’s not doing you any favors either: 6s-9d-2h (unless someone at the table is holding a sneaky pair of 2s, 9s or 6s). It's unlikely that either aggressive player has improved their hand, thankfully, though yours hasn't improved either. Rather than checking along, flex your confidence muscles and go for a reverse tell using the Esther Bluff. What is the Esther Bluff?

• A player makes their raise or reraise with all the false confidence in the world. They appear to KNOW that they have the best hand and act accordingly. The raise combined with the reverse tell (deliberate action designed to throw the other players off) will throw the other players for a loop.
  

Following your display of supreme confidence, both aggressive players at the table muck their hands completely, and you take the pot home as planned.

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Passive Plays

Let’s say there’s a fairly new player sitting at the table who plays tight-passive. Mr tight-passive is sitting two seats to the left of you. You can tell he is a bit of a newbie from the way he often glances at his chart showing a variety of starting hands for a variety of different positions.

The cards are dealt out, and the UTG player (under the gun) kicks off the betting. Your hand offers up pocket 7s, and you proceed to call the bet. Mr tight-passive continues to scan his chart, which sets many of the other players on edge. He calls. The flop comes along, and it’s less than ideal- 6s-9d-2h again, the same as the scenario above. Your UTG player checks their hand; you're pretty sure they're not a dark horse who might play a deceptive hand, so you think the flop missed them as well. You take the plunge and open the betting. Poor Mr passive-tight folds, and the UTG follows suit! You’ve taken home the pot once again.

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Wrap Up

Taking home the pot when you have a bad hand is where you need to apply all your skills, take your time, think about your plays and remember never to let your poker face slip! If you can keep your nerves in check and let your confidence come to the fore, you’ll be in with a chance of winning even if you have the worst hand at the table.