How do you play Broadway cards like K Q, K J, J 10, Q 10, ect. ?
This one is going to be shorter, in part because these hands are more showdown value oriented, and because I am finally running out of time to do the thing I have been procrastinating from doing…
These hands are great, especially when they are suited. I like them because they are less likely to get you in huge trouble. You are going to be more aggressive and call a lot more with AK than with KT, so you are going to win more medium-sized pots with broadway hands and win/lose fewer huge pots. However, they can also make a lot of nut straights, some nut flushes, and some large full-houses, which can often be pretty disguised, so they are fun to play.
The downside is that many people on Replay do not bet or raise without a premium hand, and you really don’t want to call or 3-bet too much with hands like QTs when your opponent’s range is almost entirely QQ+/AQ+, which dominates you. So, you want to play them as much as possible (and raise over limpers, which I do with almost my entire range in most situations), but always have a plan for how you expect to get paid. If you call a raise with QTs and hit top pair, then your opponent bets and you are pretty sure they have QQ+ then what exactly was your plan to make money from your call? You will not flop two-pair+ often enough to make it worth calling unless you think you can sometimes win with top pair or that your opponent’s range will sometimes miss the flop so you can bluff or they will give up.
You are going to miss the flop a lot of the time and just give up sometimes because these hands do not have enough showdown value to call much when they miss, but they do have some, which means they aren’t always great to bluff.
Most of the times, top pair with these hands is worth betting at least one street for value, and if you get called you might get outkicked or have them outkicked. Top pair with broadways also make for good bluff catchers because they have strong showdown value, so if your opponent polarizes their hand and can have bluffs, then you block some of their value hands and are potentially strong enough to call sometimes (although, as always, it depends).
If you flop a monster, bet for value as always, especially if it is a straight or flush that does not block hands your opponents would call. My advice in general is the same as the previous two threads, when you have a really strong hand, bet it. When you have a medium hand go for a little value, showdown, and bluff catch, when you have a draw bluff, and when you miss generally give up.
Players here are generally too passive: not betting often enough or large enough, calling too much, and slow-playing when they have a big hand. Just play ABC poker and you will crush this site up to the top 20 players and beyond. Not that I would never slow-play, but pretty much only against good opponents or situations where I have the board absolutely crushed (like flopping quads). Well, that was succinct…