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that'll make four Straights and they'll all be the nuts. It can make a nut
Straight with a 9 8 7, Q 9 8, K Q 9 and A K Q. A jack Ten can't make a bad
Straight - they're all the best hand.
All the connecting cards from a 10 9 down to 5 4 will make four Straights ...
but only three of them will be the nuts one of the Straights will be the little
end. If an 8 7 6 falls, a 5 4 can be beaten by a 9 5 or a 10 9 ... and, if a K Q J falls,
a 10 9 can be beaten by an A 10.
Also, when the cards are one card apart as with a 7 5 ... you can only make
three Straights and only two of those will be the nuts.* (You can have the nuts
with a 6 4 3 or an 8 6 4 ... but you won't have the nuts with a 9 8 6.) Similarly,
when you've got a hand that's two cards apart ... you can only make two
Straights with just one being the nuts** (With an 8 5, you can make a Straight
with a 7 6 4 and a 9 7 6 ... but only the former will give you the nuts.) As you
can see, when the cards in your hand are separated, it not only reduces the
number of Straights you can make ... but it also means that you'll be able to
make fewer nut hands with them. This consideration is the reason why a 7 2
offsuit is the worst Hold 'em hand there is. It's the one hand that has the
smallest probability of success.
*An exception here is Q 10 which will make three nut Straights.
**An exception here Is K 10 which will make two nut Straights.
Another very interesting point is that even though a J 10 can make four nut
Straights ... it's not a hand you'd prefer over, let's say, a 9 8. The latter hand is
preferred because you can make more money with it. Here's why:
If the Board comes A 8 8, you'll have a pretty good hand (with a 9 8) ... and
you can feel reasonably confident (especially in a raised pot) somebody else
didn't turn three Eights. If they did, they probably have an 8 7, a 9 8 (like you
have) or possibly a 10 8. I mean they're not likely to be in there with a Q 8 or K
8. (There are people who play those hands, but if you're in there with a good
player he's not likely to have such a hand.)
Now, if you have a J 10 in a raised pot, and the Board comes J J 4 ... well, you
could very well have "kicker trouble". There's a lot of players that'll play an A
J, K J or Q J in a raised pot. Or, if the Board comes 10 10 4 ... you could have a
similar problem since you could be up against an A 10, K 10 or Q 10.
There's other interesting points to be noted about the small connecting cards
that might go unnoticed. Let's say you play the 7c 6c and the Flop is 6s 6d 2h.
If an off card falls on Fourth St. and you continue to play your hand pretty
strong (in No Limit) and someone's still in there with you ... it's likely you're
in there with another Six. Now, you have to decide what your kicker's worth.
It's bad - only Seven high. So you might think you've got "kicker trouble". But,
do you? If he's a good player, what's his kicker likely to be? If it was a raised
pot coming in ... you could put him on one of three probable hands a 7 6 (like
you have), a 6 5 or an A 6. It's not likely to be anything else. Because of the
raise before the Flop, he probably didn't play a 10 6, J 6, Q 6 or any of those
trash hands even if they were suited. So your Seven kicker is not so bad after
all. Most people would think that if you're in there against another Six, there's
just no chance your Seven could be a good kicker. But it could. It's a lot closer
than it looks.
There are times you can even know more than the fact that your kicker's
probably not as bad as another player might think it is. Quite often, when you
know you're up against a good, sound player in the situation described above
... you can do more than merely put him on the other Six. You can name both
his cards because you can know what suit he's got. He's either got the Ah 6h,
7h 6h or the 6h 5h. So if there's a back door Flush possibility (a Flush made
with two running Hearts on Fourth and Fifth), then you could get a read on
him there, too.
You can't always analyze the possible hands your opponent might have and
read the situation that well. If you know a player's style and the hands he's
likely to play ... you can usually come pretty close. But, if you're up against a
weak player or somebody who's just speeding around (playing real loose and
with no definable pattern) ... then you can't say such a player couldn't have,
let's say, a Qs 6s. He could have. As I've so often said ... a big part of winning
play is knowing your player. You've just got to know people ... and watch
(carefully) how they play.
A good example of knowing your player can be illustrated by a pot I played
with Gary Bones Berland (the man who came in second to me in the World
Championship Hold 'em event in the 1977 World Series of Poker). Bones said
that that pot was the turning point in the whole tournament for him. It
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