Tony writes, "I saw your article on live poker on your site and it was spot on. Could you give me a recommendation on what hands to play, raise first in and limp and what positions.to play them I know it mostly depends on the table dynamic but was just looking for a basic starting hand chart when I first sit down or not getting any reads on my opponents early in play."
If this question was about heads up, my starting hand chart would be
something like this: "In position, raise everything. Out of position,
fold everything, unless it's strong enough to three-bet."
I feel very uncomfortable recommending a starting hand chart for full ring play. There are a couple reasons why.
If you're 100BB deep, and a preflop raise is about 4BB, then even if you had a completely trash hand, like J2o, which you intended to fold unless you flopped a miracle like trips or better, you would only be losing 4BB. Now, if you make a bad play post flop, say, bluff raise when you shouldn't, you're making a mistake magnitudes larger. You could easily lose 60BB on a bad bluff raise.
Now, I'm not saying to play all kinds of trash, but I'm saying that any strategy that says "Always fold A8, but always call A9" is a pretty bad strategy. Any time you get close to that "line" of hands in your starting hand chart, you're being asked to make a binary decision (play or fold) on a hand that has a very marginal EV value. In reality, you could be a significant winner at these stakes if you played 20% tighter OR 20% looser than any hand chart recommends. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's not your biggest leak. Focus on what matters.
Here's another tidbit to help you hand select. Have you SEEN the kind of rake the casino takes from every pot you win? Effectively, it's pretty much like your opponents being significantly better, such that when you win pots, they're 10% smaller. As such, it actually pays to win fewer pots. For this reason, you wouldn't be wrong to adopt a MUCH TAGier style than any starting hand chart recommends. In fact, you could probably crush casino games if you played nothing but QQ+.
If you absolutely MUST have a starting hand chart, there are no better charts than the ones found in Harrington on Cash Vol. 1 or No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice.
I got my start playing live full ring. The games are still hilariously bad every time I go. Good luck!
