Re: Number of Players and Starting Hands
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This simply has no bearing whatsoever to how the game of poker works. People like to play hands like 87s BECAUSE they aren't near the top of the preflop hand rankings. This is because they can deceive their opponents and make a lot of money against overpairs like AA, etc. Playing poker predictably means you will lose money to observant opponents.
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Yes, hands like 87s have implied odds, but they also have reverse implied odds. That is, it's not difficult to hit your hand and still lose the pot. And when you lose that pot, you're likely to lose your whole stack.
Presumably for this reason, and because it hits so rarely, my PT stats say 87s is a losing hand.
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If I grant you the argument that 87s will not show up as profitable in PT, I can still provide another argument for including it in your preflop range. Take this example: when you are heads up on the river, you want to be bluffing some percent of the time so that you will get paid off with your made hands. Therefore, you need your range to include bluffs to profit on other hands. This same idea (what is known as balance) applies to your starting hands. It may be that 87s is profitable in reality but it only shows up in other hands.
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You assume my opponents are thinking players. For the most part, they are in level 1 thinking: "I have a good hand. I call!" And this is live 10-20 NL.
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