Most over-rated / under-rated hold 'em starting hands?

[Louie Landale]

Most underrated would be AK when Aggressive Andy 2-bets. Most overrated would be AK when Mother Theresa 3-bets.

- Louie

[sully4321]

then don't reply to it [censored]
don't insult me / waste my time reading your tough guy "i swear i'm good at poker" [censored] post

ass

[TheClown]

I have to say AKs/os. Not just me, guess alot of players have way to high hopes about this hand, and have a tendency to overplay them. If none of these cards hit on the flop, and it´s been a raise (depending the size of the bet) FOLD :-)

[danzasmack]

AQ is much more overrated than AK. I don't think hands like JTs or AJs can be considered overrated because a lot of the better players know how vulnerable they are. But AQ will kill you.

most underrated - JJ. stop complaining, it's +EV, i'll take it every hand.

[diebitter]

Overrated: 55-22 SSH has them as playable from middle (or early in loose games) if I remember rightly. You gotta be kidding!

Underrated: 1-gap suited connectors from T8s to 53s - okay they make up less straights than 0-gap, but boy do they make money when they hit, as they are so invisible, especially when there's a busted flush on board. Not so good when they're at the ignorant end of the straight though. Only playable in a big field from late/blinds, obviously.

[sghaba]

I see QQ pre-flop as great cards and bet/raise/re-raise accordingly. After the flop, if I see it, everything changes...

sghaba

[Ehonda]

Suprised no one said JJ. I hate JJ. I can't win with them and always lose to them [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[midget23]

I just dont see my QQ losing that often to Ax, and Kx probably for a number of reasons. I play it strong preflop and even if an A or K flop I'm still firing 2/3 on the flop and 2/3 on the turn. That A5o or that K7s has to be either reading you great or incredibly dense not to at least let the idea of you holding AK enter his mind. 9/10 times i'm either showing QQ down to a pair of aces/king kicker or a pair of kings/ace kicker, or a trash AX KX 2 pair hand.

[RiverTheNuts]

Maybe its a mental thing with how I play it, or a ridiculous streak, but T8s has made more BB/100 than everything but AA and KK over my past 100,000 hands... this said, I now open-raise it from any position [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[brick]

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Baby/medium suited connectors are WAY overrated.

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Perhaps worse than that is 32s, which people think is a suited connector because the cards are close to each other. However, you can't make a straight from 0 to 4. 32 is really a 2-gapped connector. It makes fewer straights than 42 or 52.

According to PokerRoom, people lose an average of 0.16 BB/hand with 32s. That's dead last. A2o is close, losing 0.15 BB/hand.

22 is another commonly overrated hand. It loses 0.09 BB/hand. I love hearing fish say, "Pockets! I always get outdrawn," as though there were a special prize for showing down a hand that starting out as a heads up favorite over the hand that hit the flop and value bet the whole way. People hear that AK is a good hand, but that 22 is a favorite heads up against AKo. They erroneously conclude 22 is a good hand.

JT is another hand people overrate. It's a fine hand in blackjack, but it's not a good hand in poker. I can't believe some people think/thought JTs was the best hand in poker. According to PokerRoom, JTs wins on average, but only 1/15 as much as AA.

Low offsuit connectors are another type of hand people overrate. There are times when offsuit connectors are marginally profitable, such as overlimping on the button or completing the small blind. People play offsuit connectors far too frequently, and lose a lot with them: 54o loses 0.13 BB/hand, 65o loses 0.12 BB/hand, 76o loses 0.11 BB/hand, 87o loses 0.13 BB/hand, 98o loses 0.10 BB/hand, and T9o loses 0.08 BB/hand. Many players would be better off if they hadn't heard of a connector.

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Great post!!