In the past series of this column, we have been addressing the playing styles, techniques and weak points of our opponents. Counter-measures have been presented to give the thinking player an edge over the super-aggressive player who likes to bully the table and the awareness about when to go into “Red Alert” when a Rock suddenly comes alive and raises and/or reraises the betting. But until this point, the playable hands – in various positions during the game – have been unaddressed.
Howard Lederer is a well-known poker player with several World Series of Poker bracelets won, numerous books, videos and articles authored and is a major force in the management of the online poker sites FullTiltPoker.com and FullTiltPoker.net. One of his projects before his online commitments took off was his SecretsofHoldem.com. I had subscribed to this service and as a result was included in his education materials sent out from time to time. One of these secrets was a No-Limit Hold’em starting hands and position guide. Anyone can enter a pot with any two cards and win that particular hand. That style of play is the bane of players’ existence and the talk of dumb plays such as that are constantly circulating in the poker room.
The thoughtless players (“I had a feeling it was gonna come”) continue to play this way because they get paid off just enough times for them to remember the last time it worked successfully. They conveniently forget all the times they have tried this, thrown chips into the pot and lost. While to the thinking poker player these players’ tactics result in profit, it’s the occasional beat that is remembered and worse, plants the seeds of doubt in the confidence needed for our style of 
play. But there’s a reason why the same players appear regularly at the final tables of televised tournaments, and the reason is they consistently start with good hands. One caveat: The hands played at a tournaments’ final table are dramatically different than the cards one must play to get there. What is presented below is for live action, pre-flop, No Limit Hold’em as recommended by “The Professor,” Howard Lederer.
In looking over this chart, it may surprise many as to what hands he includes in some groups and what is left out. Many favorite hands of players find themselves a lot lower ranked than what the player believes, but these rankings have come after years of mathematically profiling each hand against millions of opponents’ possible hands. There is still much room for interpretive play here; for example, playing any pocket pair lower than sixes in a raised pot is mathematically risky. There are still those who will call with a small pair hoping (remember the Wish Poker axiom?) to flop a set, all the while forgetting the odds of flopping a third card to your pocket pair is 11 percent, or one time in every nine tries.
Howard’s advice now is fairly conservative, yet still leaves plenty of room for aggressive play once the flop arrives and the texture of the hand becomes more evident. He says:
“After a player to your right has opened, reraise with Group A or B hands. After a player has opened, you should fold all hands not in Group A or B unless you are in the blinds.”
Again a reminder, what Howard is recommending in these graphs is for a serious, somewhat conservative player who wants to use the mathematical probabilities to emerge victorious with the winning hand. Anyone who is there for “the action” and who finds their satisfaction and excitement in throwing chips about will not benefit from this. This is just not their style and you’ll hear the remark “I’m just not patient enough for this game.” This kind of player is at the table for the excitement, the action, the rush they get when they are in that arena. Whether they depart as winners or losers is secondary to the experience. They forget, ignore or just do not care about the winners’ mantra: Patience, Position & Power.
In conclusion, Howard Lederer’s charts as duplicated above are for an aware player who can watch the players around him, getting the feel for their play and therefore also their weaknesses. These charts are for the patient player who can wait for the right moment to involve himself in the hand and then, being selective and aggressive, maximizes the probability of emerging the winner. These charts can be used to great effect by those who think about poker.
Drew Chitiea is a semi-pro poker player living in Colorado. His tournament wins amount to over $500,000 with fourth place at a World Poker Tour event and a second place at Binion’s World Poker Classic in Las Vegas.
