Committed hands

There are some hands that you don't necessarily want to get all-in with preflop, but that are too good to fold. If you don't want to push with some of the hands I mentioned in the last post, you should still normally call a push.

Optional pushing hands: TT, AQ, (99, 88, AJ, AT, KQ)

You should normally call an all-in with pocket pairs above 99, AK and AQ. In certain situations, you might consider folding pocket pairs smaller than TT, AJ, AT and KQ.

I seldom fold 99 or AQ preflop. If an opponent that seldom raises has raised and I have to put in all or most of my chips to call, I usually fold AJ, AT, KQ and possibly 88.

Optional hands to commit with against maniacs: Any pocket pair, Ax (x is a card below ten), KJ, KT, QJ, QT, JT.

Be careful about commiting all your chips preflop with these hands. You should only do it if the person that moved all-in is a maniac (raising with at least half of the hands he gets dealt). It's also important to remember that even if the maniac has a worse hand than you, someone else might have a better one. If you're pretty sure that noone else will call (normally only if everyone else folded), you should normally call with most of the mentioned hands. Consider folding JT, 44, A3 and some slightly better hands if you're in a situation where you don't want to risk losing your entire stack. If you're in a good game and have built up a nice stack, you might even fold some hands like 66, A8 or KT.

If there are several people that will likely call the maniac, small pocket pairs will not be good enough to call. There will probably be several overcards that you have to avoid, so just fold 44 and smaller pairs in that situation. Consider calling with 55 and 66 against the maniac and one other caller. 88 and 77 might be good enough to call even against three or more opponents.

I'd probably fold all the other mentioned hands against the maniac and one caller, but I'm guessing that some of them might be marginally profitable. Perhaps hands like A9, A8 and KJ might be profitable. It helps if the hand is suited so Ax suited, KT suited and QJ suited might be good enough to call with too.