One of the more neglected skills among beginning poker players involves thinking ahead when looking at your cards. More specifically, many new players get a hand, and only think about how it relates to preflop play. To illustrate what we’re talking about, let’s say you have A-9 preflop, which is a decent hand for the following reasons:

1) You’ve got an ace
2) The 9 is an alright kicker
3) It’s suited

Taking these three factors into account, some players might be tempted to play this hand no matter the situation – provided the price to see the flop isn’t too high. However, playing a hand like this could also lead to trouble depending on the situation.

For one thing, your 9 kicker isn’t that great, thus leaving the possibility that your A-9 combo could be dominated by hands A-T and up. Another thing worth mentioning here is how you have very little straight potential since there’s too big of a gap between these hands.

Of course, the situation you’re in can also make this a really bad hand to play. For example, let’s say you’re in middle position during a poker tournament with 15bb in an unopened pot. Now A-9 suited isn’t a terrible hand to play here, but what happens if you open with a 3xbb raise, and somebody reraises to 8xbb; at this point you’re almost in a situation where either a call or shove puts your tournament life at stake. And if you choose to fold, you’ve just lost a fifth of your stack trying to play a marginal hand from middle position.

To sum this up, it’s important to think about all of the factors and possible outcomes before choosing to play a marginal hand preflop. If you think there’s too much at risk, fold your hand and wait for a better opportunity.