+ EV

Yes another week is upon us. Had a steady weekend on the poker tables. Played in the "raise the river" poker league tourney on Sunday morning for a bit of fun. Ended up going out early with my QQ getting outdrawn by a flush draw (yet again). When I left, Yorkshire pudding was way out in front, hitting everything and going for his second win.

Today's Topic: +EV Hands.

Just out of curiosity I ran some simulations on Pokerstove over the weekend. I wanted to find out what hand you would need to be a favorite over the rest of the table if everyone went all in with random hands before the flop. Obviously this isn't likely to ever happen (except maybe heads-up) but it is interesting to see if everyone has folded to you 2 before the button what hand you would need on average to have the best hand. It is especially usefully in a Tournament when the blinds are getting bigger and your stack is getting small, what hands you should start pushing with and have a good chance that you have the best hand. Here's the result:

Heads-up    Q6o

3 players    K5o

4 players    K7o

5 players    K8o

6 players    K9o

7 players    K9o

8 players    K9o

9 players    K9o

10 players    K10o

So interesting enough there is not a big difference between 4 players to 10 players, in this situation if you are holding king 9 or better then on average you are likely to have the best hand at the table. Lower than what I thought it would be. So next time you are low stacked in a tournament and look down at a K9o it could be worth pushing with.

Today's Link:

Pokerstove is a great little free application. If you are ever unsure if you were ahead or behind in any given poker hand, just enter each person's hand and it will compute the win percentages for you. Great to use when reviewing a session. Download it here.