Hubenak's
Hold'em Chart
A.
Hubenak, a new contributor, has compiled
mountains of data to compose what has to be the
most extensive starting hand Hold'em chart available...anywhere.
So read his notes, download
and print your very own copy, and slay the
tables!
Hubenak's
Hold'em Chart (PDF)
I
originally made this chart to help quantify my
thoughts on how I approach starting hands in Texas
Hold'em and to provide a guide for my wife who
was beginning to play the game. These recommendations
are loosely based on the writings of Sklansky,
Miller, Malmuth and other great authors who know
alot more about how to play hold'em than I do,
but I thought this style of presentation might
be able to better convey several ideas at once.
Some squares have choices like "R/C"
which is Raise Or Call.. Often the correct play
will be "It Depends" or it may be something
else entirely based on the game situation.. But
I think the squares will give a basic idea on
the correct options and whichever choice is made
will probably be pretty close to correct, with
the emphasis being on Folding or Raising as opposed
to yucky Calling. The main idea here is to illustrate
how successful hold’em players have tight
pre-flop hand selection criteria, and they seldom
cold call raises (calling 2 or more bets/raises)
when entering the pot.
The
Hold'em Chart
has three main sections 1) Early/Middle Position
2) Late Position and Small Blind and 3) Big Blind.
I broke the hand groups into these sections to
illustrate the different ways of playing the hands.
Early/Middle position is characterized by tight
selective choices with very few cold calls. Late
Position and Small Blind are where players have
more choices on the types of hands to play and
how to vary them. I grouped these together because
I think most people are too loose in the Small
Blind and they should play the same as if they
were on the Button (this is especially true in
the 3/6 and 5/10 structures where the small blind
< 50% of the big blind). The Big Blind acts
last pre-flop and has its own unique considerations
on how to play certain hands.
The
Starting Hands are in the following groups - Pocket
Pairs, Suited Aces, Unsuited Aces, Suited Kings,
Unsuited Kings, Suited Queens, Unsuited Queens/Jacks,
and Small Suited Hands. Hopefully the chart is
easy to read and information can be quickly looked
up.
For
each type of position I've further broken down
play to the different actions that have taken
place before it’s the players turn to act.
The Early and Middle position player will often
either be first to act or there will have been
no raise (NR) before them, or someone may have
already raised (R), or else someone raised and
someone else reraised (RR). By entering the pot
with only the top rated hands, especially if there
has been a raise or reraise, it will keep players
from getting into trouble with 2nd best type hands
which are often expensive to lose. Early/middle
players need to be careful with questionable hands
because they face the prospect of raises behind
them which will make calling/chasing an expensive
losing proposition. Sometimes the Early/Middle
player can "borrow" the recommendations
from the Late/Small section if they know the characteristics
of the game (ie Loose Passive) but this is probably
best left for more experienced players.
Late
Position and Small Blind players have a different
set of preceding actions to help guide their play.
Its here that alot more hands become playable
depending on game situations. 0-1C (0 to 1 Caller
so far in the pot) is a characteristic of a Tight
Passive game. This often allows a late player
to be more aggressive with starting hands and
to raise trying to steal the blinds. 2+C (2 or
more Callers so far in the pot) is a Loose Passive
game where nobody has raised yet. These types
of games give higher implied odds thus making
it profitable to chase with lower pairs, suited
connectors, and suited Aces. R0-2C (someone Raised
0 to 2 Callers) is a Tight Aggressive game which
are the toughest to beat. Someone has raised and
few people are calling. Often only the best hands
are worth playing aggressively here. R3+C (someone
Raised but 3 or more Callers are also in the pot)
is a Loose Aggressive type game with several maniacs
or calling stations staying in the pot even though
its been raised. These are often the best games
to be in, with higher implied odds and more "Cold
Calling" hands.
The
Big Blind reverts to Early/Middle guidelines in
the NR, R and RR categories. If there has been
a raise in front of the Big Blind then with only
1 more bet to call more hands become playable,
but its still often best to throw alot of hands
away. Different situations apply if its blind
stealing/defense tactics but those aren't covered
here.
The
Action squares are color-coded. First and foremost
are the black FOLD squares. The #1 mistake most
beginners make is calling too many hands pre-flop.
Its often MUCH better to FOLD most hands. Save
your money and stay out of questionable pots.
Learn to Love the Fold! Folding is your Friend.
The best hold'em players only enter 15-25% of
the pots (not counting the blinds). Fold the other
75-85% of the starting hands and you'll be way
ahead of most players when it comes to the quality
of starting hands you're fighting with. Spend
that folding time doing something constructive
like studying your opponents. Moving on... White
squares are definitely playable, often with a
raise (highly recommended - don't be shy). The
green Calling and blue Cold-Calling squares illustrate
what types of situations you may consider calling
with. Again, I don't like calling unless I'm getting
good odds to draw, and I almost never cold call
a bet.. I'd much rather Raise or Fold.. but for
those action junkies who wana stay in lots of
pots to see what might happen next, here are some
areas where calling might be correct. When I see
someone bet, someone else raise, then several
people cold call, I KNOW its a good game filled
with fish food. Finally some squares are labeled
"C/F/R" for Call or Fold or Raise. This
should really be FOLD or maybe Raise but almost
never Call... the idea here is that these situations
will allow a creative player to vary their play
with the intent of sometimes trying to steal the
blinds, sometimes just limping and trapping..
but usually it’s best to just fold and stay
out of the pot.
I
welcome all feedback and questions thanks for
reading this.
Allen
Hubenak
hub@houston.rr.com
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