Joined: Jan '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 1204
is that in order because q9 is more trouble thank jk an kq.... an jk is more trouble than kq also, makes no sense if its in order. an why q9 an j8 but no q10
Posted by jovicakralj: Top 10 trouble hands: A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9,A10,AJ
AQ too is a big trouble hand, trust me m8... sometimes I prefer to be dealt A2 than AQ just to avoid been in trouble in tourneys. Just because A2 is often an instant fold than AQ as with AQ you often lose big with...
Joined: Dec '11
Location: Montenegro
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 81
lol man!
You wrote a hugeeee, hugeee post, but i found it kinda silly! You can write that every hand in texas holdem can be trouble hand
ex. 7-2 offsuited.. The most ridiculous hand in texas holdem. You just have to fold that hand.. But if you play it, and then flop comes - 7 7 4 you are god.. BUT! Someone might have 7 with a better kicker..
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
A thread about poker that has people talking, cool!
I agree with your selections other than J8. J8 should (IMO) be replaced by JQ, as it is a hand a lot of newer players will go with, might even call a raise with, flop top pair but be outkicked by the initial raiser. Depending on position I will play JQ, preferably suited, but usually in late position with a raise against people who have flat called or only the blinds in the pot. Definite caution required when people call your raise and you only flop one pair.
Joined: May '09
Location: India
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 4873
I think troubled hands depend upon player and their playing style. for me most troubling hand is KQ, if u hit top pair many times you just run into AK/AQ and then
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 852
I honestly believe that for a lot of rookies another real trouble hand can be AKs. I see a lot, and I mean a lot of players over play AK. It is a very pretty hand an indeed a powerful drawing hand, but it's just that a drawing hand. If it's been 3-bet in front of you to over half your stack a lot of players are just gonna stick it in. In this situation at best you hope to be in a coin flip situation with queens or jacks, but I can't tell you how many people I've seen go broke with Ak vs Aces(myself included). I'm not saying I don't play AK but I definitely try not to over value it. I try to play more flops with my opponents though as I am confident I can either outplay them after the flop, or get off of my hand if they have a monster. There are a lot of hands on this list that I just don't play in a FULL ring game or tournament. Good thread.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: Netherlands
Age: 57 (M)
Posts: 36
It is not said that you never cant play these hands, it only says these hands get you the most in trouble. Some of these hands are very strong if you are in position or if you play against very tight players or really loose players.
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
I think all these premium hands are pretty hard to play if you don't hit the flop at all obviously, but as always you always need to cbet them if you raised/rereaised preflop...
Thats why i like to play omaha, you can both have a pair and good connected cards
The hands that I had more trouble playing are QJ and JJ. QJ is a worthless hand if you hit your pair because most of the time you will be against KQ/KJ/AQ/AJ which makes your hand pretty troublesome. I only play these hands as suited connectors, otherwise I find myself losing pots way often. And JJ...my god...if you have this hand apparently everyone else will have KQ/KJ/AJ/AQ/AK or any ace for that matter and will end up hitting it.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
Really good post! Enjoy reading through it and all the replies that the post received. Definitely makes you give some thought to hands that one may think are good hands. I don't like donk playing, but most every hand is chance until the flop, then your still not safe, but know where you stand generally. Small pairs are the hands that scare me the most due to someone will usually have an A,K,Q,J or 10 so unless you hit 3 of a kind you better play your small pairs cautiously or scare your opponent into a fold.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
Very nice article. I never play J8, but, about all the others, this text is very clarifying. That Q9 example happened me several times, and, with the KJ, I have some friends who promise themselves they would never play it again.
Joined: Feb '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 7
You didnt mention position. I think all of your trouble hands can be played profitably if you have position and know how your opponents play, for example some players will never fold if there is only 1 overcard on the flop often rightly but say you hold Q-9 and the opponent holds J-J the flop comes down 3-7-Q it will be very hard for them to fold those jacks turning a trouble hand into a very nice pot for you.While i do agree they can be trouble if you play them in early position I dont think they have to be if played in late against the right opponent.
Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
As much as I like the sentiment; there is a tendency to over-value these hands, I completely disagree that you can just lump all these hands together. I also disagree that they can be ordered by the degree that they cause trouble.
If you define trouble hands as hands, which produce confidence preflop but result in difficult situations more often than not, then AQ is not comparable with A10. All the above hands need to be treated with appropriate care but all are played completely differently.
A10 for example is barely playable in early position. If you hit Axx, and bet first on the flop, you won't get called by many hands you can beat and you have to fold to a raise. So full-ring fold A10 utg preflop. You wouldn't fold AQ however, even if it can lead to an even more dangerous situation. Just exercise extreme care post-flop.
Each hand demands different play and different levels of caution depending on the flop. For example Q 9 is quite strong on a board K 10 J but weak on a board Q 10 5. So the second hand would likely lead to more trouble.
------------ Q9 is actually a good hand to play in mid-late position imo. Unlike AK and AQ where it's usually obvious if you've hit, Q9 is better disguised on boards like 10 3 J 8 7 or K J 10 5 5 where opponents may have hit also and will pay you off.
You won't hit a fantastic hand often with Q9, 10J, KJ but when you do you can usually get a good payout. If you don't have the nuts, obviously think twice. But you can't be scared of one hand if your opponent will bet with many others. Always think what your opponent will call with.
It's easy to overvalue JJ and KQ preflop but these are good hands. They are only dangerous when you don't read the signs. You do not for example re-reraise JJ or call a reraise with KQ but you can raise with both. Just don't over value a pair on the flop.
Imho there's no such thing as fixed trouble hands, they vary from player to player and any hand can hit a cold board.
To me, biggest trouble hand is AJ. But any hand is dangerous post flop of course, unless its the nuts ^^
But IMO it's rarely the starting hand that gets you in trouble, it's mostly hitting something good when someone hits something better. Knowing how to play top pair without top kicker is very important in hold'em because you really have to rely on your read. So I agree that Kj, KQ, K10, QJ, 10j, J9, Q9 etc. type of hands can really get you in trouble, especially if you don't know how to "manage" or "control" the size of the pot.
Joined: Jan '12
Location: Romania
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 74
I think a big problem is KK, because if in the flop show an A u dont know if the opponent have an A, but most of the time they hae. And another problem i think is AA>maybe most of all u think is the better hand u have, but i dont think so.Why? Because if u have AA maybe u raise to much and everybodey folds, maybe u raise just a little and a lots of people calls and then u have problems, even if u raise corectly, u can still loose, cause from any flop cames without an A u have problems.I lost too many times with AA and i played a lost of theese hands and played all kind of raises, even all in and get called with 7 2 and lost....
7 
4 
you are god.. BUT! Someone might have 7 with a better kicker..
