Welcome to Broadway

This month as part of my series to delve into the strategies that are inherent in no limit cash games, I will be taking a look at Broadway hands. Broadway cards are any two cards that consist of the highest possible straight…A-K-Q-J-10. So A-10 would be a Broadway hand and so would Q-J, K-Q, Q-10 etc. 

One of the first things that must be pointed out with these types of hands is the massive difference in strength of a hand at the top end like A-K to a hand like J-10 for instance. While all of these hands come under the same title, in no way can they be lumped together as being of roughly the same strength.

In fact the reason why I have chosen to discuss a hand like A-K in the same article as much weaker hands like Q-10 is for the simple reason that so many players simply over value picture cards and especially when they are together. There is a world of difference between flopping top pair top kicker with a hand like A-K on an A-7-4 flop than there is to flopping top pair top kicker with A-10 on a 10-7-4 flop.

Trouble more often than not

In most cases, Broadway cards spell trouble for most players and that is trouble spelt out with a capital T. Texas Hold’em is a game where the side card or kicker assumes crucial importance and this is where many players hurt themselves when they get involved with Broadway hands. Firstly if you are in early position then which of these hands can you comfortably raise with in a full ring game?

Well for a start being suited adds a little something but not an awful lot unless you are playing in a passive game or a game where many players are limping. For the suited nature to really be of major use then you need to make a flush which in most pots will simply not be needed as you will be heads up or three way.

But being suited is definitely worth something and it would be wrong of me to suggest otherwise because it opens up all sorts of extra ways for a player to take a pot down without having the best hand so it is definitely worth something but never go over board with any hand just because it is suited….not even A-K.

So if I was in early position and it had been folded to me then I would certainly raise with A-K and A-Q as well but A-Q is a very dangerous hand to play because if you get re-raised then you could be dominated by a hand like A-K or K-K for instance. One hand that I absolutely loathe in a full ring game is A-J and I will pass this hand on most occasions although it is certainly strong enough to open raise in a six max game but that is for later on in the series. A-J is dangerous because of when you actually make something. A flop like A-10-8 looks good for you and it may well be but there are just so many scenarios where a player who has this type of hand can get into a world of hurt if they are not careful.

If there has already been a raise to my right then I am simply not going to get involved with very many hands at all that fall into the category of Broadway hands. Even if I figure the raiser to be raising on a wide range then my position in a full ring game is still pretty abysmal so even K-Q gets mucked here. A-J goes the same way and A-Q gets somewhat complicated and goes way beyond the length of this article with what I would do with that hand in that situation.

With A-K and facing a raise to my right whether I am in early or even middle position for that matter then I will re-raise and depending on my stack size, even move all in. If you call in this situation then you can get into trouble if there is a re-raise to your left. This is because your apparent weak call has opened the door for someone to try a pick up play and if you are up against a powerhouse then you are not going to be able to tell the difference.

Whereas if you had re-raised then anybody who came over the top of that bet is certainly indicating a very powerful hand indeed because they have raised a raiser and a re-raiser. This leaves A-K looking decidedly second best and it isn’t known as “walking back to Houston” by the old time professional players for nothing.

The advantage of straight forward play

Deception in poker is very important as anytime that your opponent knows the rough content of your hand then this is going to seriously hurt you. But whenever you are playing straight forward poker and your bets and raises are not deceptive in any way then this means that your opponents reactions to you can be respected more than if you had started the process off by being deceptive.

In the last scenario, by calling the raise you actually created the impression that your hand was a lot weaker than A-K so your opponents re-raise cannot be trusted. But if you ran into a big hand to your left, this is your own fault for not re-raising. At least that way, you find out where you stand in the hand.

But position in no limit play is absolutely crucial and you must respect the fact that all hands in hold’em play much better when they have position on their side. As we move onto middle position, it still remains the case that you really should not be getting involved with hands that can cripple you in no limit hold’em and especially in raised pots.

But I see players all the time who limp along in pots with a hand like K-10 simply because there has been no raise. The flop comes 10-6-3 and they lose their entire stack needlessly because someone else with 3-3 had also limped in because it was cheap in the hope of making a big hand. But the difference between their hand and yours was in the ease in which they can get away from their hand. If the flop comes J-6-2, the player with the 3-3 still has a little bit of something but it is so weak that folding is not a problem at all.

Contrast this to that 10-6-3 flop and you can see the difference between that situation and the guy with the K-10 or worse still A-10 because now he is telling himself that “I have top pair top kicker” as though it is a through ticket.

If only life were that easy

What complicates the entire process in poker is the almost infinite number of situations that exist within the game. By this I mean the differences in player types, game types, players moods, stack sizes, game size etc. It is almost an impossibility to experience the same situation twice in poker.

The type of questions that people ask and the answers that they seek indicate their overall level of poker knowledge and sophistication. You simply cannot learn every single situation in poker in the way that you can with a game like blackjack for instance.

But even in middle position, you still cannot play too many hands and especially against raises to you right. But the key difference here is that if it has been folded around to you, hands like K-J, Q-10 etc become raising hands and it is possible that you can take the blinds from middle position as you cannot wait until the “steal seats” in order to raise as this is too obvious and good players will play back at you in most games.

Calling raises is still not advisable and I would simply not get involved with any hand except A-K against a raise in middle position and possibly lesser hands if I knew the raiser to be raising with a wide range. The problem is that middle position is still relatively early in a full ring game and you must remember the golden rule in no limit hold’em….POSITION!

It is possible that I could play more hands in certain types of games. For instance, if the game was really passive then I might limp a little bit more with hands like Q-J in the hope of making a straight and busting someone. Even then I would need my opponents to have deep enough stacks that I could win a big pot and also that there wouldn’t be a raise by anyone on my left. In most games this is not the case so you are better off simply saving your money.

When things start to liven up

Once you get into late position, namely in the cut off and on the button then things get somewhat livelier. Whenever you sit down at any poker table then noticing how the players to your immediate left and right play is very important. This is because the players to your right will be the ones who are attacking your blinds and the players to your left will be the players whose blinds you will be potentially attacking in the future.

As David Sklansky once famously pointed out in his excellent book The Theory of Poker, all poker hands start off as a battle for the antes or in this case blinds. If the people to your left are passive then you can attack them more. But if it had been folded around to me then I would usually raise with any Broadway hand that I had.

In really passive games then you could possibly speculate a bit more as well by limping along after other limpers with connecting Broadway cards and especially if they are suited. But you must be aware that you tend to build hands like top pair with these types of cards and that is precisely the type of hand that can bust you so great care must be exercised.

Do not become blinded by blind money!

One of the biggest errors that I see players make in no limit ring games is that they go overboard with defending their blinds. Some of them seem to think that it is almost a personal attack when their blinds get attacked and feel that they must make a stand with a very wide range of hands like they tend to do in limit play.

Of course the subject of “range” is very important here as you really need to know how often the players to your right are attacking your blinds. Software like Poker Tracker and Poker Office will tell you exactly but you can also do this manually just by taking notes and keeping records of certain players.

If I decide that an opponent is attacking my blinds with a wide range of holdings then I will decide to play back and I will re-raise and not call. If I have a hand like Q-10 for instance then I think that this is a re-raise or fold situation in no limit hold’em. If the guy to my right is a total rock who has not raised in thirty minutes of online play then I would muck most hands.

I would certainly play back with A-K and A-Q and probably A-J and K-Q as well because I feel that those hands could still be ahead of a late position raisers range of hands even though they may be a rock. But a loose raiser is something else and I will re-raise with a much wider range of holdings against this type of player. But even then I will not over do it because I simply do not want to get into an easily identifiable pattern of play that observant opponents could exploit. I hope that these strategies have proved of immense help to you in the way that you handle Broadway cards and I look forward to seeing you next month.