what are playable hands?

[cardplayer52]

I recently got HEM and realize one of the hands I made the most on is a suited gapper. I don't play suited gappers as a rule. But seeing the result of the one gapper I play I wonder does anyone play them for profit??

[AFchung]

yes they can be played profitably... in position

add a bunch of sc's and one gappers into your CO/button raising range, and youll show profit not from hitting flops hard but from taking pots down with a continuation bet

if i'm not raising, i will generally only flat in LP if someone else raised EP and there was at least one caller. when someone else calls the implied odds go way up, and SCs play very well in multiway pots

[drmcboy]

andy bloch has a super math oriented chapter in the FTP tourney book where he breaks out raising hands by position. He raises gappers as low as:

QTs UTG
add J9s and Q9s UTG-1

yadda

on the HJ he's down to K5s, Q8s, J7s, T7s, 97s

BU Q5s J6s T6s 64s

this is not to say you need to play all these hands but automatically folding all of them is a mistake.

also while there is nothing wrong with looking at profitability of each hand in a vacuum raising these hands should help you make more money on other hands. to be honest given the nature of this question I doubt you have enough of a sample for numbers like those to be useful. I would focus on improving your play in specific hands rather than changing statistical trends.

[cardplayer52]

to be honest given the nature of this question I doubt you have enough of a sample for numbers like those to be useful.

17.5k hands I had a crap load more but deleted them before I got hem. Days before too. It seems to me to be enough i really don't know. But the reason I make so much is i only play in position multi way deep stacked etc... Also if I miss the flop there very easy to fold. Andy bloch says rasie with gappers down to QTs UTG does that mean KQs,QJs,QTs also?? Have not read that book but sounds like I must.

[drmcboy]

yes, QTs and all better BW suited gappers/connectors. A8s+ UTG. Again, you don't need to play this aggressive but you should certainly be raising a hand like QTs in LP in almost all cases.

The book is interesting, it has lots of different authors, including several who contradict each other. Ted Forrest and Gavin Smith write looser lagger chapters while Chris Ferguson, Andy Block and Howard Lederer have more TAG things to say. It has 6-7 NLHE chapters then gives a brief treatment to all the HORSE games. If you play on FT you may have enough points to get it from their store, if not it's worth a buy, esp if you want to start learning the other games, which I highly recommend.

[cardplayer52]

I just read winning poker tournaments one hand at a time vol.1 multi authors also. It's got to be the best best best poker book i've ever read. But i'm going to be reading professional no limit with the book clubs here. It's under the tools tab. If your interested. But i'll check that book out for sure thanks.