The Perfect Poker Hand
When I refer to the perfect poker hand, I am not describing a perfectly played hand. Nor am I describing a perfect outcome. I am using the word ‘perfect’ in much the same way it was used to describe the unique circumstances that blended to make the ‘Perfect Storm,’ which resulted in tragedy for a New England fishing vessel. With regard to no limit poker, I am describing a perfect set of circumstances in which two or more players feel that they have a sufficiently good hand to push all of their chips into the pot, resulting in disaster for one or more players and profit for another.
In order for two separate individuals to prudently evaluate the strength of their own hands and conclude they have the best of it, the hand must create a sense of strength for more than one player. For example, if player 1 has a pair of Kings before the flop, but player 2 has a pair of Aces, player one will prudently conclude that he has the best hand even though he doesn’t, and he is very likely to put all of his chips in the pot. On the other hand if player 1 has a pair of sixes, it’s not quite so prudent to put all of your chips into the pot before the flop when player 2 with the Aces moves all-in. Therefore it’s clear that player 2 has a better chance of doubling his chips when he faces Kings than when he faces sixes.
No limit hold-em for many is a quest to find the perfect hand, and get action from the poor, unfortunate soul who has a strong yet weaker hand. Before the flop it’s the hapless player with the Kings who moves in against the Aces. After the flop, it might be the hapless player with Aces against the pocket 8’s with an 8 on the board. On the river or turn it may be the King high flush against the Ace high flush, etc. etc.
If you are on the inferior side of the perfect hand, you are very likely to lose it all. If you make a habit of assuming your strong hand is no good, you will be bluffed out with regularity. Thus, it’s hard to make the big laydown under these circumstances. There are many factors that go into tournament success, but I believe avoiding getting trapped in the perfect hand is a key. With television’s impact on poker, we are seeing familiar faces getting to the finals on a regular basis. I believe that many of these stars are getting there, because they manage to avoid being on the underside of perfect hands, or they escape by drawing out. They are also able to create circumstances in which they can trap an opponent with the perfect hand.
The last time I made a final table was at the 2003 WSOP in pot limit hold-em. I had just been moved to Johnny Chan’s table. I had a few more chips that he did. I had the perfect hand against Johnny. I had pocket 8’s. He raised under the gun and I called. The flop came King high. He checked. It was the first time I had played against Chan. I was very suspicious of his check, so I checked along. The turn brought an 8, giving me a set. He bet and I moved in. He called without hesitation. Thus we had what I called a perfect hand. I knew he had a hand that he felt was strong enough to move all of his chips in. I feared that he might have slowed played a set of Kings, but he had Aces instead. Had he made a big bet on the flop, I would have folded. Had I taken the bait when he checked and bet out, he would have raised and I would have also had to fold. He was trying to trap me, but unfortunately for him I had the kind of hand that that I could only play if I hit a set. That’s why I like to play small pairs. I like to hit sets, because they can create the perfect hand if I am up against an overpair. On the other hand, had I played an A-K or a King-Queen, it would have been me in the trap. Thus, by slow playing his Aces on the flop, he allowed himself to become trapped in a perfect hand.
So, the key in tournaments is not to just make a big hand, but to also get someone trapped with an apparently strong but actually weaker hand. When I played the main event later that WSOP, I made some big hands on the first day, including a few sets, pocket Aces twice and Quad nines. Unfortunately, all of my big hands came against weak hands. I was unable to trap anyone, and finished the first day down $1100.
There are a few keys to avoid being the underdog in a perfect hand. Be careful with A-9 thru Queen. Many a player find themselves busted when the Ace hits the flop, only to find themselves up against a stronger kicker. Try to avoid committing too much of your stack out of position with medium to big pairs from pocket 8’s to pocket Jack’s. If someone has raised in front of you, you’re often better off just calling and playing after the flop. If you’re up against an A-K, your reraise will not normally drive an A-K out of the pot, so waiting for the flop allows you to see if an Ace or over card hits. It also allows you to trap other players when your set does hit. It’s still good to raise with these hands if you are the first to do so, or you’re in late position, but don’t decimate your stack on the all too common times when you find yourself up against a bigger hand. Lastly, I am seeing a whole lot of people now slow playing their big pairs, Aces, Kings and Queens. I know why. These players want to create some action and hope to find themselves on the upside of the perfect hand. But this is dangerous, because you often get way more action than you want. Then the predator becomes the prey, and you the player with the big pair suddenly find yourself trapped on the down side of the perfect hand.
It seems that I have had a lot of experience with perfect hands lately. The inspiration for this article came to me after an interesting hand on the Internet. I like to play the no-limit and Pot limit hold-em games. The buy-ins are only $25 or $50 and the blinds aren’t much more than a dollar. I found myself with a K-Q suited in diamonds in late position. There were about three limpers and the blinds. I raised it to $3. Not so much because I believe that K-Q is the nuts, but because I needed to define the strength of people’s hands and get the blinds out so that I don’t get trapped by a guy with Q-3o who flops two pair. Now there are about 4 players, including the small blind. The flop comes 8-3-2 with two diamonds. I like my hand, as I have two over’s that I have to believe are good based on the lack of preflop action, and the flush draw. It’s passed around to one of the limpers who bets $4 into a $14 pot. I feel like even if I’m beat I am still pretty strong, so I move all-in for my remaining $23. To my surprise, I am called by the small blind and the mid position limper. Contrary to tournament play, the cards are not yet turned over with everyone all-in. I catch the Ace of diamonds for the nut flush on the turn, but a second Ace shows up on the river. As I figure that this was a perfect hand, I figure I am beat. I was correct. The small blind had pocket threes and flopped a set. The mid position limper had pocket Kings. Thus on the flop we had three players with a piece of the flop, creating the perfect hand. The circumstances, which gave rise to this perfect hand, were the result of slowplaying a big pair. Again I understand the thinking behind limping in with pocket Kings, but once I raise and there’s a caller, that’s when you want to take the hand right there. If he makes his raise all-in, the pot has about ten dollars in it, I would expect that he would win it right there. But it was action the kings wanted, and it was action they got. He found himself beat in two places as a result. The guy with the pocket threes also benefited by his slow playing his set, but he nearly lost his whole stack. One of the advantages of no-limit is that it forces drawing hands to pay too high of a price for their draws to be cost effective. By checking and allowing the kings to make a meager bet, I was drawn in by the opportunity to bluff. I bet the flop, because I had two opportunities to win. One was if everyone folded, and two was if I hit my draw, which, as it turned out, was much weaker than I presumed. Had the set bet out substantially, I would have been hard pressed to call with a mere flush draw, because when I call as opposed to raising, I only win if I hit my draw. In any case, slow playing by the guy with the pocket Kings first and then by the guy with the set second created the perfect hand.
So I guess the point is, be careful slow playing your big hands, or you could easily find yourself on the underside of the perfect hand. Sometimes you’ll get away by drawing out, but these can become the costliest hands you’ll ever play.
Written by Dr. Mark Burtman
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