6-max hand selection: showdown strength vs. playability vs. kicker

[BadBatsuMaru]

I see a lot of comments about hand selection (like the posts about stealing from different positions in the digest) that don't go into too much depth about the actual reasons behind the hands played. It almost seems arbitrary, i.e. "I guess I should be raising 40% of my hands opening from the button, so I'll pick these."

I think everybody knows that some hands are more playable than others. If you look at a table of heads-up hand rankings, you'll see that K5s and QTo both barely make it into the top 30% of hands, but K5s is a pretty questionable hand. Are you going to be happy to draw at a flush heads-up? Are you going to be happy about hitting your 5 if you get played back at? For that matter, what are your chances of being dominated if you hit that K and get any action? You might as well be playing 32o and bluffing at the K.

This leads people to play hands based on a somewhat arbitrary "playability" they have in their mind as much as they do based on actual strength. I think most people are happy to try and steal with T9o and 98s, even though they only barely makes the top 50% of all hands, because they seem to be very easy to play post-flop.

A lot of people also steal with any A or any K. For example, K2s (which is in the top 40% of hands) vs. T8o (which doesn't make the top 50% of hands). How are you going to play the K2s post-flop if you get any action? At least with the T8 you have a better idea if you're good.

In short-handed NL games, there are instances where you can refer to the strict heads-up hand rankings, but I get confused seeing people who say they play A2o strongly from late position. If that's +EV, I want to make the play, but it seems like I'm happier if an A doesn't fall, because when I hit the A I feel like I have to call it down and show my sad kicker. After all, why was I playing the hand? Also, I see some people saying it's stupid to steal with 22 and 33, but hey, they do beat A high, and you have that chance of the big payoff when you both hit the flop.

I basically get the feeling that the cards are secondary to my poker play when I'm opening from the button, and they really just serve as a way to gauge if I'm stealing the amount I want to (that is, if I want to steal 40% from the button, then I pick 40% of the possible hands in the deck and then I know I'm stealing as much as I want to). At that point, I really have to wonder if I should be playing many of the high-card hands with questionable kickers. Some people may think it's stupid not to steal with the mid-to-small Kx hands, but I worry about getting into trouble much more with them.

I'm not saying I'm going to stop stealing with A-little from the button. I'd just like to get some discussion from people with 6-max experience going, since I'm extremely new to the scene.

You assume that you won't get action with K2 when a K flops from anything but a better K. I think this is overly pessimistic. Since you are on a steal, opponents are even less likely to believe you hit the K.

Also, what do you do with T8o when the flop is KQ8 and you get played back at? What about A82? Every hand has tricky situations, and avoiding them costs you money.

When you're on a steal, it is much more likely that you'll get called down, so stick with hands that can win more than their fair share of showdowns.

Staying away from 2 and 3 kickers is good because even if you pair a 2 or 3, your opponent almost always has two overcards that you have to dodge, so you're basically just playing with one hole card.

[BadBatsuMaru]

You're right about me being overly pessimistic, and I do steal with any A from the button.

I guess I just think I should be raising more in 6-max, but I have some real problems with adding hands. I'm currently raising 24% from the CO and 38% from the button most of the time, and any hands I could add seem like they have some real problems.