[Buzz]

Howmany - I don't like this hand for one-on-one play, but having position against a blind who can be bullied seems worthwhile. Is the blind poster someone who can be bullied?

Seven players in the game and three have folded when the action gets to you in the cut-off seat. Is it possible to steal the blinds or get one-on-one with a big blind who can be bullied? If so, I like the raise. If not, the pre-flop raise with this hand seems ill advised.

I think you're a very slight favorite over a random hand. However, I think you're about a two to three under-dog against a hand with an ace. Will one of the three players behind you have an ace after three players in front of you have already folded? Impossible to know for sure but I'm guessing it's probably more likely than not.

Still, if a steal will work....

But then it doesn't and you're probably up against at least one opponent with an ace.

And then you miss the flop. Can you play this like Texas hold 'em and bully these guys out of the pot? Maybe a steal will work now.....

But then it doesn't and you're heads-up against probably a better hand, and stuck in the pot.

So you're risking four big bets to win less than a half big bet if you split (the most likely scenario) and you simply lose when your opponent beats you for high, as seems likely after this flop.

Not having any shot at low is one major shortcoming of this hand when heads-up. The other major shortcoming is you don't have an ace.

If you hit a king on the flop you're looking fairly good. However, the ten-nine combo sucks, and the king-nine or king-ten combos are worse. (Yeah, I see the straight flush possibilities, and you'll actually make a straight flush about one time out of a thousand, something like that).

What it boils down to is you don't have a very good starting hand, and when you do make something good with it you should want as many customers as possible.

Buzz