Problem Hands in Texas Hold'em

For some players just starting out in no limit hold'em, every hand can be considered a “problem hand.” But once you gain some experience and start to separate different starting hands and compare their performance tendencies, this category of “problem hands” starts to narrow down to a few situations that need to be played with caution.

Let’s take a look at what three big names in hold’em have to say, in particular, regarding these “problem hands.”

Doyle Brunson

Many years ago Doyle Brunson devoted a special section to “limit or problem hands” in his discussion of no limit Texas hold’em in the book Super/System: “These are hands that you can lose a lot of money with,” he explains, “so you should play them with caution.” The hands Brunson refers to include the following:

For these represented hands, Brunson generally does not recommend calling raises, although he does caveat this advice by saying that he would do so if certain conditions were present – for example, when playing in late position, when there has been a raise and a call in front of him (giving him good odds to participate in the pot), or when the cards are suited (often, given these situations he is in favor of playing these hands).

He then goes on to explain why the hands can be attractive to play, with straights and suited flushes being a big part of the attraction. But he advises his readers to be wary of these hands after the flop, concluding with a general warning that: “the important thing to remember about problem hands is that when you do hit a flop with them you don’t want to get too involved with it. You should just try to play the pot as cheaply as possible.”

Or not. Brunson has not liked playing AQ-, and this has been well reported over the years. In fact, the hand was once ironically named after him because he claimed to never play it.

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Dan Harrington

Writing many years later, Dan Harrington in his book Harrington on Cash Games added his own thoughts on “problem hands,” narrowing the list somewhat to focus on five in particular:

(Harrington takes out the ace hands and the minor connectors to discuss them separately.)

If you look at the hands, they are chosen with a focus on almost all hands that are Ace-less (A) and contain two Broadway cards (except {J-} {10}). These are all attractive to us because of their relatively high two-card ranking, but as Harrington explains, this is precisely why these hands tend to cause problems.

“Since the hands contain high cards,” he explains, “they look like the hands you want to play, and in many cases, they are the hands you want to play. In no-limit hold’em, however, they require an extra measure of caution because they are easily dominated by ace-high hands or even other hands in the group.”

By “dominated” Harrington refers to the situation of having the same card as an opponent who has a higher “kicker” or second card. If I am playing {K-}{10} and you hold {K-}{Q-}, I have a “dominated hand,” which can get me into real trouble if a king comes up among the community cards.

This is precisely the situation Harrington is talking about, echoing Brunson's advice to proceed cautiously after the flop with these hands. "When you play these hands, and you hit the flop with a high card, and then you get into action, you're not going to know exactly where you stand. You could have top pair, no obvious straights or flushes, and still have to leave the hand because of the implied danger of losing your entire stack.

Harrington adds further instruction; unless you hit something big (e.g. a straight, flush, trip or better, etc.), these (problematic) “are not hands to take to the river in a big pot” and as such they are also not good hands with which to call opponents’ raises.

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Daniel Negreanu

In his book Hold'em Wisdom for All Players, Daniel Negreanu delves even deeper into the category of “problem hands” to focus on one in particular – {K-}{Q-} – which he calls “a questionable hand in hold'em.”

“Novice players often overestimate the strength of {K-}{Q-} when they flop a pair,” Negreanu writes, again to the tricky post-flop situation in this spot, as both Brunson and Harrington point out when they point it out. As he explains, after a Q-high flop (for example), “most amateur players … are not sophisticated enough to know when to play the hand to take it to the river and when to let it go.”

Like Brunson and Harrington, Negreanu is not interested in calling opponents' raises with {K-}{Q-}, his main point being that players don't "fool themselves into thinking {K-}{Q-} is a premium hand."

Conclusion

To summarize the advice from these three writers regarding “problem hands,” proceeding with caution for the most part is obviously the common message among them. Understand that flopping top pair with hands like {K-} {Q-}, {K-} {J-}, {K-} {10}, {Q-} {J-} or {Q-} {10-} against a single opponent could very well be enough to win a pot, but in most cases, don’t be too eager to build a big pot, as you may find yourself dominated.

Meanwhile, against multiple opponents, flopping just a pair with these “trouble hands” is likely to be a good place to fold, especially when facing bets from others. However, there may be situations where you make straight or flush draws and can receive reasonable odds to proceed.

Still, don't let the "problem hands" get you into too much trouble, and know that smart pre-flop decisions with these cards can help you avoid greater difficulty once the community cards come along to complicate your life even further.

Translated and adapted from: Brunson, Harrington & Negreanu trouble hands in hold'em