poker muse

someone asked daniel N. (not even going to try to spell it--fuck, i can't even say it) what were the hardest cards to play in no limit hold-em and he said, "good cards in early position." that is so fucking right. take two fairly good but also dangerous cards, ace-queen off and ace-jack off (and this hand is a jack off hand because it is really fucking dangerous unless you have the top two pair or the straight because anyone that calls you ace flop bet could very easily have you out kicked). if you raise with these two cards from first or second position you are so early in the betting sequence that if you bet big the only ones who call you are either ace-king or ace queen or big pairs or sometimes medium pairs. if you raise small, you still can get too many callers so that unless the flop hits you right on the buttton it surely hit someone else. same would go for just calling with aq or aj in early position and see what devolopes. this problem is the same with big pairs, raise big and you only get called by big hands and so once again you are looking for a good flop. jacks and queens are very dangerous early. if an ace comes and you bet, if you are called you are beat, if an ace comes and you check you open yourself up for someone to just flat ass steal the pot by betting. if you raise big and everyone folds, you win just a big and little blind and in 1-2 that means 3 fucking dollars.

so, in my opinion, how you play good cards in early position has to take into account the make up of the table. no two tables are going to be exactly the same but they can be divided into certain general groupings; passive, aggressive, tricky, straight ahead, bluffers, rocks. can you bully them? will they call you down with a small pair? will they bully you?

i would like to hear from some of you out there who are, as i, hooked on hold-em and ask you how you go about playing ace queen or jack and how do you adjust if they are suited? not only preflop but on the flop and turn. for my part, pussy that i am, i throw away ace jack in first or second position unless suited and then i put in a small raise and cold call with ace queen unless suited and then i do as i would with the aj suited. one of my goals is to keep my losses low and therefore i play very, very tight in early position. however, i could be leaving money on the table. thoughts????