Pre Flop Play

Early Positions – The four seats to the immediate left of the dealer are considered early positions. As they have to act first, %%%early position%%% is a disadvantage and because they act before anyone else has it is best to be very choosy about your hand selection.

Playable Starting Hands

Top Hands

A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-Ks, A-Ko

Good Hands

T-T, 9-9, A-Qs, A-Js, A-Ts, K-Qs, Q-Js, J-Ts, A-Qo, K-Qo

Average Hands

8-8, 7-7, K-Ts, Q-Ts, Q-9s, J-9s, T-9s, T-8s, 9-8s, 9-7s, 8-7s, 7-6s, 6-5s, A-Jo, K-Jo, Q-Jo, J-To, A-xs

Marginal Hands

6-6, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3, 2-2, 5-4s, 4-3s, K-9s, Q-8s, J-8s, T-7s, 8-6s, 7-5s, 6-4s, 5-3s, K-xs, A-To, K-To, Q-To, J-9o, T-9o, 9-8o

A – Ace, K – King, Q – Queen, J-Jack, T – Ten, 2-9 card value , x – unknown cards,s – same suit, o – different suits

 

Top Hands: With any of these raise. If you are re-raised, raise again. Don’t pussy foot around as it is essential you play these hands aggressively. You’re doing this because you want money in the pot and to scare as many of the other players into folding so that they don’t draw a better hand than you. At the point of pre-flop you are probably holding the best hand. But if you let other players into the hand because you weren’t betting high enough then, they might draw a better hand than you.

Don’t try to slow play these hands thinking you will build the pot. You are giving the other players more chances of hitting a better hand than you. The more in the hand the more chances one of them will hit a better hand.

Good Hands: Call and wait to see what others do. If someone raises then you should fold. Before you hit the fold button though consider why the player is raising. Are they normally a tight player? If they are then fold but if its the player type that calls anything then call the bet. If the pot is raised again though, it is probably best to get out of the hand and fold.

Average and Marginal Hands: I early position these hands will get you into a heap of trouble. Folding and be patient is the only wise thing to do.

Middle Positions – Middle position are the three seats to the left of the early position. This is half way as you know some of the table situation bit not all of it.

Top Hands: Play these just as you would in early position. Make the most of them when they come along as they wont come along very often.

Good Hands: Playing these is dependent on whether you are facing a raise. If not then you can raise with these hands. But if there is a raise after you have played , you should call but if two players make a raise it likely one of them has you beat so fold an don’t get pulled into a raising war.

Average Hands: these hands including medium ranked connectors. This makes them ideal drawing hands with which to make a flush or a straight. Hitting one of these is probably the only way to win with these hands as if you do hit a pair it’s unlikely to be the highest pair. The odds against making a flush or a straight are high and the attempt to do so will probably to be expensive.  Though luck might be on your side and you get the three cars you need on the flop, there is also the chance you won’t and it couldn’t be expensive to follow it through.

Marginal Hands: The low pairs and gapped connectors. These don’t offer much of a realistic chance of making a good hand. Best thing to do with these hands is fold them.

Late Position: The last three places at the table. Being in late position gives you many advantages as you have seen your opponent’s moves and have a much better idea if which hands are playable and which aren’t. Your decisions are easier to make and you have more options regarding the hands you choose to play.

Top Hands - Raise, raise and raise. That’s all there is to it.

Good Hands - If someone has already raised, just call the bet. Otherwise, raise and then see what others do. Most will probably fold, if they call throw in another raise and try to narrow down the field even more. If someone re-raises just call. You defiantly want to see the flop with these cards but you don’t want to pay too high a price.

Average Cards: Straights, flushes and sets are what you are looking for with these cards. But remember you need value in terms of the size if the pot to make them worth playing. If someone raises, you should generally fold as these hands are speculative so you want to see the flop as cheaply as possible.

Marginal Cards: One of the advantages of being in late position is that you can play marginal hands that in any other position you would fold. Again they are speculative hands and should only be played if you can see the flop without too much expensive.

You should also learn what the most common mistakes are at Pre-Flop so that you can avoid them

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