There are many different styles of poker. Most beginning players either play very tight or loose. After playing a few thousand hands of poker it is inevitable that your style of play will evolve. No matter what your style is, there are always hands that can be tricky to play. Marginal or speculative hands fit this mold nicely. Playing marginal hands in no limit Hold’em poker can be incredibly profitable, knowing when and how to play them can help make you a winner.

At a full ring table, playing a marginal hand is a profitable play when there are a few factors at play. Hands like suited connectors or suited gap cards hold up well when there are multiple people in a pot and you have a good position on the poker table. If you see four or five people limp in or call a small raise and you are on the button, playing eight nine or jack-ten can be very powerful. You will have the power of position and depending on the flop you can hit the flop or have multiple draws that could mathematically be a favorite in the hand.  With more people in the pot you will also have greater odds to call.

If you play shorthanded marginal hands are best used from middle position to late position. Raising with these type of hands is not a terrible play. You can either take the pot uncontested, and if you get a call from the blinds you will have bought position. If you get re raised with a marginal hand in a shorthanded game you will likely be behind, but again depending on what kind of raise and how many others enter the pot you may still have odds to call.

In a poker tournament, setting marginal hands are best played as if you are at a full ring table. Playing them out of position is not ideal. If you are a big stack these hands however can be used effectively to make standard raises and bully the blinds who may not want to play anything but premium hands.