Does anyone us the Hutchison points system for their starting hand selection? If so, how well has it worked for you? Thinking about altering some of the starting hands I'm playing, this seems somewhat interesting.


The Hutchison Point System

After being dealt your pocket pairs, assign the following values:

Ace = 16 points

King = 14 points

Queen = 13 points

Jack = 12 points

Ten = 11 points

All other cards are worth their “face value.” (ie. 5 of hearts is worth 5 points, etc)

Additional Qualifiers:

Pocket Pair = +10

Same Suit = +4

Connected = +3 (ie. 9-10, or Jack-Queen. No gaps.)

One Card Gap = +2 (ie. Jack-King)

Two Card Gap = +1 (ie. Jack-Ace)

What the numbers mean:

If your total is:

30+ Premium cards, that can be played from any position, if there are no raises.

27+ These cards can be played from Middle or Late position, provided there are no raises.

25+ Should only be played from late position, if there have been no raises.

To raise or call a raise, you should have a point total of:

34+ In early position

31+ In middle position

29+ In late position

Examples

Ace-Ace: That would be 16+16 for the two aces, and an additional +10 for their being a pocket pair. Thats a total of 42 points. Obviously strong and playable!

Queen-Jack suited: 13 + 12 for the cards, +4 for suited, +3 since they are connected. A total of 32. You could call the big blind with this hand in any position, but if there is a raise, you should only call the raise in middle or late position.

10-6 suited: 11 + 9 for the cards, +4 suited = 24 points. Fold them! This is a perfect example of a hand that many beginning players will call with, hoping for a flush or miracle straight draw. They will almost always lose, and even when the straight or flush is made, there is good chance that a higher straight or flush will take the pot.

Hutchison Statistics

The creator of this formula states that in simulations, only playing 30 point hands yielded a win rate of 17% in a 10 handed game where every hand is played to the river. Obviously, if you played every random hand, you would have an average win rate of only 10%. Thats a 70% increase.

have read about it, but never used it. I've heard some pros say that using systems like this will get you in trouble in the long run. People tend to fall into the trap of focusing on starting hand selection only, and then ending up in hands with no clue how to play after the flop.

I imagine this would be a good guide for beginners, but it does not address the "feel" element of play. Reading a table, understanding peoples betting patterns, knowing when to make a move, or when somoene is making a move.

I doubt an experienced player would see an improvement in his win rates. A fish would stay out of trouble in the early stages of a tourny, but would get crushed in the later stages because he didn't know enough to loosen up on these requirements.

KK comes out to 38 points....

14 + 14 + 10(pocket pair) = 38


I like this system. Not necessarily to use forever, but it gives me a good idea of what might be considered a good hand and how to play it.

I've been trying to figure this out on my own and I'm learning, but this might help give me a boost in my learning.

Yeah.. At this point in my Poker career I probably do. I'm newer to the game than most of you and I still haven't developed a good *feel* for it, yet. One day I'll play nothing but JavaScript and higher, the next day I'll play low value suited connectors.

I really haven't figured out what works and what doesn't work for me and my inconsistancy is driving me nuts.

I just gave this system a try for about an hour and it worked out well for me. I didn't use it exclusively.... I also took into consideration the number of people in the pot, etc. One hour obviously isn't enough to vouch for the system, but it made me feel alot more comfortable about folding K5o or 78s.

I suspect you probably have a system of your own, even if it isn't written out in concrete. You must have starting cards that you would never bet on. This just gives me a starting point. As time moves forward I'll be able to make adjustments that fit my style better.

Originally Posted by gder03

your really need a set of values to determine how to play a hand pf?

No, but I'm trying to figure out the hands I overplay/underplay right now to tune up my "default" settings. Just started really getting into poker tracker - problem is it doesn't keep track of my live hands.

Right now my "default" is Harrington (which disgustingly enough, I've memorized) and I've read Sklansky and some other research, just wanted to know if anyone uses this or is it full of crap.

seems like it would work ok, but I don't think I would enjoy adding up the value of my cards every hand. Seems like wayyy too much work ;p