NL Hold 'Em Tournament - Starting Hands

[Magician]

Hi,

I've found that what should be optimal in cash games might not be so true for an NLHE tournament.

For example, if I have only a medium or somewhat short stack, my implied odds on suited connectors might not be worth that much.

I also find myself occasionaly not playing KQs,AJs or JTs early in tournaments especially in early position - should I be raising with these, limping in with these, or am I right to sometimes muck these?

I know about standard hand charts which work for limit hold 'em but I'm sure there are also good guidelines for:

a) NLHE cash games (dependent on your stack size and opponent stack size)

b) NLHE tournaments

Re: suited connectors, is 98s any different really from 45s? Also how valuable is suitedness given you can easily end up drawing to a losing flush?

Is playing Axs or Kxs a good idea in either NLHE tournaments or cash? It seems Axs and Kxs don't get paid off well when they hit.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Short stacked in a tournament, high implied odds hands like 22 and 76s are worthless, throw them away. You have to put in too much of your stack in a situation where you'll hit the flop too infrequently.

In a ring game, there's no excuse for having a very small stack, so you shouldn't have the same kind of worries there. You have to rebuy chips if you lose some so you can play effectively.

In EP, especially in tournaments, throw away KJ, JT etc, even if suited. They are not the best in ep in a ring game, but if the blinds are small you can limp and see what happens. You might need to fold them to a raise tho.

The starting hands I play in ring games differ vastly from tournaments in one major respect: I play much, much tighter in tournaments. This is primarily because I don't play connectors or small pairs much in tournaments, only premium hands.

98s IS different than 54s in one respect: 98 is a trouble hand. 98s specifically is a trouble hand because it often makes the ignorant end of the str8 against broadway cards. I'd rather have 54.

In cash games, always look at the stack size of your opponents when deciding whether to play small pairs or suited connectors. Say someone makes a small raise and you have 22. If they don't have a big stack, don't call. If they have a huge stack, and enough to cover the overlay you need for implied odds, go ahead and call, hoping to flop the set.

Flush-over-flush happens so infrequently, it's not worth worrying about.

al

[Magician]

Al,

Could you provide a starting hand guide for tournament play?

EP, MP and LP - also hand guides for early, middle and late in tournament (so essentially that's 3 x 3 = 9 lists)? Plus some adjustments for having a small, medium or large stack.

With small pairs hoping for trips - should I worry much about running into bigger trips?

[punkass]

Trips over trips happen less frequently than flush over flush, so you shouldn't worry about that when you do hit the 2nd or bottom set.

Tournament play depends on the number of people at your table. Fold A8 against a full table in EP, but raise with 3. Stuff like that.

Also depends on the kind of people at your table. It's harder to come up with a "cheat sheet" for tournament play than it is for a ring game.

[Magician]

How about a cheat sheet for a NLHE ring game then?