“I went so card dead, nothing I could have done.”
The epitaph of tournament runs for so many players. I’ve heard a version of this statement from many players over the years. Blaming the deck for a lack of good cards is a natural reaction for the casual poker player. However, the expert makes do with the cards dealt to him and makes no excuses. Let’s talk about what to do during those stages of a poker game where you are card dead and how to survive.
Have Perspective
The first roadblock in thriving while being card-dead is purely mental. Players have to realize that while card distribution is naturally random, it is not going to be evenly distributed, and there will be variance and groupings in the cards we are dealt. Statistically, a player should get dealt pocket aces, the best hand in Texas Hold ‘Em, once in every 221 hands. But sometimes a player may not see pocket aces for 1,000 hands. Other times, he or she may get dealt pocket aces twice in a row! These are normal and natural occurrences in poker, and one has to be at peace with that.
One common mental mistake I see players make during these card-dead stretches is an emotional one. Players will begin to lament their bad luck and start to feel sorry for themselves. There is no room for this attitude in playing winning poker. These types of thoughts often get used as justification later for overplaying a mediocre hand.
“It was the best hand I saw in 4 hours!”
Players need to be comfortable with the idea of getting weak holding for hours on end. As someone who enjoys a challenge, I often think of these stretches as higher difficulty levels of the game where the player has to be more creative to survive and win.
How We Can Win With Bad Cards
Let’s talk about some of the specific scenarios where a player can thrive while being card-dead. If we think about positions and setups where we can profitably play bad hands, we quickly realize that nearly all these situations occur in wide-range setups around the button and blinds. While we cannot profitably open K7 offsuit or 95 suited under the gun in a full game, we can open the button or defend the big blind. A natural response to being card-dead is to play even tighter and fold automatically preflop. It is important not to overfold in these spots while card-dead.
There are also aggressive actions available to use with these weaker holdings that players may be missing while lamenting their bad luck. There are plenty of strategies that involve re-raises both preflop and postflop with weak holdings. I challenge you to ask yourself if you feel confident finding those spots and taking them while being card-dead.
Context Is Important
Especially for live players, it is easy to forget how few hands players are seeing as well. An average live poker game may see 30 hands an hour. Are we comfortable with how easy it is to be dealt bad cards for 30 hands? 60 hands? Having to fold for a few hours is a prerequisite course to playing winning poker. Being content with folding when necessary, but capable of improvising aggressively with marginal holdings is the key to success when card-dead. And most importantly, no feeling sorry for yourself.
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