A-10 Hand of Death

I wanted to write a bad beat story because we all have them. Instead, I decided to speak about something we all have. That one hand that we value too much. Three times in the last week I have gotten killed by “My Baby” Q-10 suited and non-suited. Not sure why I hold on to her so much. I see her in early position and bet with her all the while thinking...single non-connector…never play in early position. I know this rule inside and out and I can still never get away from the hand. I suppose the one thing that kills me is that this hand looks much more beautiful than what she is. Even suited she is kind of weak to be honest, because you know in low-limit there is always someone in with a K or A who is waiting for it to hit and will beat it to the end even if you do pair high card after the flop. So how do you play this hand is the question. Here are my thoughts.

In early position: You best play this baby hard and strong…that means raise. If people see you have been a rock they will put you on a strong hand…say high pair or AK. This is the only way in which to play this in early position in my humble opinion. If you are raised from behind you know you are probably facing a huge pair or AK and should opt to fold if you aren’t hit hard in the face on the flop. If you do hit your queen you can represent trips with a high pair and hopes that re-raise gets out. Yet, this is low-limit so you better hit trips or two pairs. Or you can hope for the straight or flush, but even then the flush might get chased down. I know that I am talking about a lot of monsters here. But truth be told it’s hard for this hand to stand on two legs because in low limit you’re going to be going up against a KorA almost every hand. So it’s something to think about.

Another thing that I hate about this hand is that often you get caught chasing the straight. Get out of there. You will almost always have someone with the high end of it. So be careful when you do hit the straight and see who is being sneaky about their bets. There should be alarms up at all times with the straight.

O.K. so now you know this hand has been killing me. I think it’s been killing PUALIE, too. I tell you there are those hands that you just have to fold and get out of. Kind of like a bad relationship. Your T.V. is missing and your girlfriend is skinny as a rail…she tells you the T.V. broke and that she took it to get fixed…in the mean time she’s grinded her teeth to the gums and won’t go outside and sits in a dark corner…when you ask her where and when you can pick up the T.V. she tells you to fuck off. Well that’s at how you should look at this hand…pure trash.

posted by Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa @ 12:20 PM