In limit hold'em, is A-10 offsuit in early position a playable hand? Perhaps in a very loose game, but playing A-10 offsuit from early position in a medium to good game will probably cost you money in the long run. Why?
If you hold A-10 in first position of a 10-handed game, about 38 percent of the time, one or more of the other nine players will have a dominating hand; that is, a hand that will beat A-10 more than two-thirds of the time. The hands that clearly dominate A-10 are pocket pairs 10-10 or higher, and A-K, A-Q, and A-J.
Note that pocket pairs of 9-9 or lower have a slight edge over A-10 (roughly 52 percent-48 percent for deuces to 56 percent-44 percent for nines), but that is not considered "domination," and is often referred to as a "coin toss."
The actual winning percentages against the dominating hands (according to CardPlayer.com Odds Calculator) are as follows: An A-10 offsuit upsets pocket aces less than 9 percent of the time. A-10 beats pocket kings, queens, or jacks about 29 percent of the time, and pocket tens about 30 percent of the time. A-10 beats A-K, A-Q, and A-J about 24 percent of the time. All of the above percentages were obtained using four cards of different suits. If both hands have a card of the same suit, the hand with the higher card of that suit wins minutely more frequently than the stated percentage because of flushes.
Thus, whenever you play A-10 from early position, with or without raising before the flop, you must be aware of the substantial danger of a better hand being out behind you that will beat your hand more than two-thirds of the time. And that could easily result in a rather expensive loss for you - especially when there is an ace (or aces) on the board and your ace is outkicked.
Thus, what figures to happen in the long run is that the total amount you win (many of your wins are small when opponents see an ace on the board and fold early) is usually less than the total amount you lose - especially when there is a better hand calling, betting, and/or raising behind you.
Note that all of this tends to suggest a relatively simple strategy. You might speculate playing A-10 from early position if you expect that your raise before the flop will get no or very few callers. But when you do get callers before the flop, tread very carefully unless you get a very favorable flop. You will flop a 10 with no facecards about 9 percent of the time (but then expect to see a facecard on the turn or river about 45 percent of the time). You will flop aces and tens about 2 percent of the time, and three tens less than 1 percent of the time. You will flop a straight (K-Q-J) only about one time in 300.
Exercise great caution on the one time in six that you flop an ace, since callers of your preflop raise will have a bigger ace with about one-third of the normal preflop-raise calling hands.
Otherwise put, if you don't win the hand early and you don't get a favorable flop, you should seriously consider folding at the first sign of resistance - especially when you suspect that your top pair of aces is outkicked. If you manage not to lose much when you do lose with A-10, then you are more likely to be on the plus side of the ledger in the long run when playing it. But, all in all, you should be aware that playing A-10 offsuit from early position in limit hold'em is at best a marginal proposition.
What about playing A-10 from early position in no-limit hold'em? It's like going from the frying pan into the fire! Whereas A-10 is a decent hand when shorthanded or a reasonable speculative hand from late position, it is clearly an extremely dangerous hand at a full table from early position - especially when you have a reasonable amount of chips! Do you really want to play a hand from early position in no-limit that you know will be dominated by more than 2-1 about 38 percent of the time by a hand behind you?
A-10 suited is a significantly better hand than A-10 offsuit, because the flop will have a flush or flush draw about 11.8 percent of the time. Note that the presence of the nut-flush draw after many flops offers the alternative of making a high-percentage come bet if it figures to take the pot uncontested, as you have reasonable backup chances if called.
Formerly a career lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, Mike Cappelletti has written numerous books on poker and bridge, and is considered to be one of the leading authorities on Omaha. Mike has also represented the U.S. in international bridge competition, and he and his wife were featured in a four-page Couples Section in People magazine. His books include Cappelletti on Omaha, Poker at the Millennium (with Mike Caro), and Omaha High Low Poker.
