In my book, The Complete Book of Hold’Em Poker (Lyle Stuart, 2001), I talk about one theoretical perspective of poker as poker being a conflict between a made hand and a draw.  By theoretical perspective I just mean a framework from which to think about the game.  In that book I talk about a dozen or so theoretical perspectives and point out situations where it might be useful to think about the game in certain of those perspectives, and situations where it might not be useful to think about the games in some particular way.

The idea of a made hand is one that has usefulness as a framework for thought at times, but at other times it’s really just not a good way to think about things.

Before we get to that, let’s talk about the origins and meaning of the phrase.  The phrase probably originated in draw poker where a classical

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Back when draw poker was common the games tended to be played with small antes and because of the small pots there often wasn’t a lot of action, having only two players active at the draw was not uncommon at all.  And the game was often played with a jacks-or-better rule.  That rule stipulated that the opening hand had to be at least a large pair, that a draw couldn’t open the pot.

As a result of all that it was common to see a two-hand confrontation that consisted of one hand with a pair and the other hand with a straight or flush draw.

And in draw poker, when you had that kind of confrontation it was always the case that the pair was ahead, and that the draw was only calling the opening bet because of pot odds.  Actually the draw usually didn’t have the correct pot odds to be drawing, but that’s why the tradition grew that the way to play winning poker was to start out with a made hand and let the other guy draw.  In draw poker that concept is true.  It’s also one of the reasons draw poker is almost never played anymore -- the guy who wants to gamble a little and draw to those flushes is taking so much the worst of it that he has almost no chance at the game.  Gamblers prefer games where they have at least some kind of chance of winning.

But in holdem the idea of a “made hand” simply isn’t all that clear.  Big pairs versus a draw just doesn’t translate into a clear cut situation in holdem.  A pocket pair of queens might be ahead of AK suited, but not by all that much, and even if it is ahead it’s not so clear that with all the extra betting rounds in holdem that you should expect to make money in a confrontation with AKs if you have QQ.

In holdem the idea of a made hand before the flop just isn’t a meaningful or useful concept at all.  The made hand framework has some usefulness after the flop, but not before it.

For example, is As Ks a made hand?  Well, it’s certainly not a pair.  But against a single opponent, As Ks is probably the best hand, probably has the best draw, and will probably still be the best hand after the flop.  But you often hear people say that they don’t think it’s a pre-flop raising hand (they’re wrong when they say that, but they do say it) because it’s not a “made hand.”

How can that possibly mean anything?  What does that mean?

I’ve heard it said that it means the As Ks would most likely need to improve to win the pot multi-handed.  It’s true that As Ks probably won’t win against two opponents if it doesn’t improve.  You can say the same thing about QQ against three opponents or about KK against four opponents.  But the people who give that explanation for why As Ks isn’t a made hand would never argue that KK isn’t a made hand.

That’s why the concept of “made hand” just isn’t useful when applied to pre-flop hands.  It’s not useful because it’s just one of those phrases that sounds good but after close examination has no meaning at all.  Kind of like the phrase “Weapons of Mass Destruction.”~~