Darkened Poker

A good hand range for a TAG in early position is about 20% in a 6-Max game.  The top 20% EV hands against 6 opponents are:

AA	0.707456		K10s	0.259716
KK	0.64395		A7s	0.25848
QQ	0.594566		KQ	0.239976
JJ	0.547406		A5s	0.236032
TT	0.496276		K9s	0.231862
99	0.4431		A6s	0.229542
88	0.376448		QJs	0.225438
Aks	0.358888		A9	0.220502
Aqs	0.343964		Q10s	0.21903
77	0.324566		KJ	0.21823
Ajs	0.320862		A4s	0.217778
A10s	0.318768		55	0.210848
AK	0.317822		A8	0.204896
AQ	0.29782		K10	0.202342
KQs	0.291052		A3s	0.19226
AJ	0.278578		A2s	0.19142
A9s	0.277054		K8s	0.189608
KJs	0.27639		A7	0.18732
A8s	0.269772		K7s	0.187034
66	0.26653		Q9s	0.184714
A10	0.265334		EV	0.29537

Although in theory this would be the best hands to start with in a 6 max game you would be out of position and this hand range has a couple of exploitable issues.

• A vast majority of these hands contain a Ace or King and people will start re-raising him on any flop that does not contain such cards.
• There are very few low cards in this range so on small flops people will bet him off his hand because it is unlikely to have hit him.

One needs to trade some of these higher 6 person EV hands for hands that hit the full range of flops harder so we can continue to c-bet which is very important in 6-max games.  I removing some of the Ace -Rag & King -Rag suited hands and replacing them with small pairs and suited connectors.

AA	0.707456		A10	0.265334
KK	0.64395		KQs	0.291052
QQ	0.594566		KJs	0.27639
JJ	0.547406		K10s	0.259716
TT	0.496276		K9s	0.231862
99	0.4431		KQ	0.239976
88	0.376448		KJ	0.21823
77	0.306347		QJs	0.225438
66	0.200129		Q10s	0.21903
55	0.128414		QJ	0.171036
44	0.070251		Q10	0.156116
33	0.02466		J10s	0.169886
22	-0.01642		J9s	0.150318
AKs	0.358888		T9s	0.106626
AQs	0.343964		98s	0.055718
AJs	0.320862		87s	0.008576
A10s	0.318768		76s	-0.04099
A9s	0.277054		65s	-0.07291
A8s	0.269772		54s	-0.10523
AK	0.317822		43s	-0.16428
AQ	0.29782		32s	-0.2312
AJ	0.278578		EV	0.240726

This solution is pretty easy to remember and solves a # of problems:

• Small pairs make sets which are such powerful hands that they play well out of position, one can go for check raise traps and make other moves which you can’t with weaker hands like just top pair against multiple opponents.
• One’s range is not Ace or King dominated so you can continuation bet on low flops and people will learn to give him credit instead of just blindly re-raising.

Although the theoretical EV for the starting hand range has gone down .05 these starting hands have a lot more utility and one will see their pre and post flop frustration drop as well as their profits rise.

♣♥♦

Darkened Poker

Tags: 6-Max, Poker, Starting Hands, Texas Holdem

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