No Limit Holdem Advice

I left my last article talking about how to manage your stack when you have a stack of 10 big blinds.  In this article I am going to share with you the type of hands I would recommend shoving when choosing a hand to make a move with.  I am going to discuss situations in which you are the first to act in the pot whether it be you being under the gun or if everyone has folded their hands to you.  Poker can be very tricky but with these tips hopefully it’ll start treating you a little better.
After we get passed the obvious shoving hands such as all pocket pairs, AK and AQ  a player may become unsure of themselves when making their all in move.  Say we are under the gun with a hand like A7.  I would recommend folding this hand in this situation because A7 plays horribly after the flop because you wont be able to use both your cards for straights and if isn’t suited then that takes away from your chances even more. When a player calls you in this situation more often than not the calling player will have you dominated pre-flop.  If the player is calling with 7s or better then you are only drawing to your ace and if they call with A8 or better then your down to only hitting a 7.  Ok now let’s say were in the same situation with J 10 or a hand like 53 (or some other suited connectors).  Hands like these play better after the flop because of straight and flush draws.  There also more effective because if your not getting called by a pair you are getting called by hands like AK, AQ.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that 53 plays better against AK than the A7 we folded under the gun before.
Ok now let’s say we are on the button or in the cutoff position with the same A7.  A hand like this is ALWAYS a shove even though you are going to get picked off sometimes(its just the nature of the beast), a player cant afford to fold in a situation like this with only 10 big blinds.  The difference is your only shoving against 2 or 3 players as oppose to shoving against the entire table.  Now with a hand like 53 in the same situation, some players would fold and some players would shove any 2 cards no matter what.  Before shoving a hand like this in any situation you should evaluate the table and re-evaluate your image on the table and make your best decision from there.  If you seem likes a wreck less player then players might call you with a wider range but if your image is tight then players may lay down the better hand and let you take the pot.
I am not saying this is THE way to look at these situations but go ahead and take these tips and see how they work within your game.  When all else fails, simply walk away from the game and never look back. J