Pre Flop Strategi
Position is everything in texas hold'em. It is definitely the most important aspect of the game. The importance of position in hold'em cannot be emphasized enough. You must play very tight poker in early position, but you should loosen way up as you get closer to the button. Not only do you open yourself up to a greater potential to get raised when you open early, you will have the same bad position for all betting rounds including the more expensive later rounds, and that is the main reason to consider position when you decide whether or not to play a hand. Your opponent(s) will have to act first in hands you play from better position, and you will get to react to their plays, and it will be easier to read their hands. The value of position cannot be specifically quantified, but there are many advantages to position in texas hold'em, and they are all HUGE. Overall, you will win more and lose less on the hands that you play from better position. The advantages of position allow you to play increasingly weaker starting hands profitably from better position.
The most important decision you will make in playing a hand is whether or not to play it at all. The following table lists the minimum required hands to consider playing a pot according to your playing position. "Consider playing a pot" is stated because you would play these cards from the corresponding position if the hand develops appropriately for your particular cards. Texas hold'em is a situational game. There are many factors that go into a decision to enter a pot. It always depends on the specific situation (how the hand develops as well as the game, the stakes, the players, their frame of mind etc.). That being said, the table below lists some general pre-flop requirements to consider entering a pot according to position in a ten-handed limit hold'em ring game. You should never consider playing a hand that is weaker than what is listed for each position, and you should often pass on the middle and late position hands if the pot does not develop correctly for your starting hand.
Minimum Hand Requirements for Ten-Handed Limit Texas Hold'em:
Early Position (Playable from any position)
Pairs AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88
Suited AKs-A10s, KQs, KJs, QJs
Unsuited AK, AQ
Middle Position (Playable from middle or late position)
Pairs 77, 66, 55, 44 [MJ: Would save 55 and 44 for late position]
Suited A9s-A3s, KTs, K9s, QTs, JTs, J9s T9s, 98s
Unsuited AJ, AT, KQ, KJ, QJ
Late Position (only playable from late position)
Pairs 33, 22
Suited A2s, K8s-K5s, Q9s, Q8s, J8s, T8s, 97s, 87s, 86s, 76s, 75s, 65s, 54s
Unsuited A9, A8, A7, KT, K9, K8, QT, Q9, JT, J9, T9, T8, 98
Here is some poker theory on the minimum recommended playing hands:
Pairs: Pocket pairs are great because of their potential to win unimproved; especially big pocket pairs like AA, KK, and QQ. Medium pocket pairs like JJ-88 can also win unimproved, but not nearly as often. Smaller pocket pairs are usually only profitable if you make three of a kind (set). You will flop a set or better 11.8% of the time (7.5 to 1). If you flop your set, you will fill up (make a full house) or make quads on the turn or river 33.4% of the time as well.
Suited: Pocket cards that are suited have a significant advantage over unsuited cards of the same numeric value. In addition to the odds of winning a hand by pairing cards on the board, suited cards will flop a 4 flush 10.9% of the time (you will complete the flush 35.0% of those times). They will flop a flush outright 0.85% of the time.
Connectors: Connected cards and to a lesser extent cards with only one gap have an increased value because of their chance to make a straight. The odds of flopping a straight draw of some sort depend on the cards. An AK can only make one straight, where as connectors JT-54 can each make four straights using both cards. AK is still the better hand because of the rank of the cards. If you flop an open ended straight draw, you will complete the hand 31.5% of the time.
Big cards: Offsuit hands with no straight potential are the worst kinds of hands to get involved with. Hands like A9 or K8 do appear in the minimum hand requirements for opening in late position because of the numeric value of the cards alone. You will pair one of your unmatched cards on the flop 32.4% of the time (about 2 to1 against).
Starting hole cards that do not match an opponent's hole cards are usually only small favorites versus each other head to head (except pair against pair). Head to head, a pair versus two overcards like 66 against AK is only a slight favorite (55%). High card and low card versus two unmatched cards with values between them like T6 vs. 78 is about a 57% favorite, while unmatched cards versus two smaller cards like AK vs. QT is about a 64% favorite. Preflop to finish, AK is only about a 2 to 1 favorite over 32. You can see from these examples that the advantages of suited and connected cards can contribute significantly to preflop hand selection.
A texas hold'em hand is dominated if it has 3 or fewer outs against a hand it faces, like AQ against AK. In this example only a Q can help AQ, an A will not. A hand like AK is a 3 to 1 favorite over hands it dominates like AQ, AJ, A9, KQ, KT, etc. (again, AK vs. 32 is only a 2 to1 favorite). An even more dominated situation occurs when you have a pair versus a smaller pair like JJ vs. 99 or a pair against two unmatched smaller cards like JJ vs. 98. In both of these cases, the JJ is about a 4 to 1 favorite. The most dominated situation occurs with a pair against another card of that same rank and a lower card, like AA against AQ. In this case there is no single card that can help AQ. A player in this situation can only catch two queens or make a miracle straight to escape (11.5 to 1 against). These are the profitable situations you are looking for and the horribly unprofitable situations you are looking to avoid.
Profitable play involves dominating your opponent's hands and avoiding situations where your hand is dominated. This has much to do with the opening hand recommendations because suited cards and connectors have the ability to make straights and flushes that escape the trap of domination. That is why the only offsuit hands you can play from early position are AK and AQ. When a player calls early with AT and gets involved in a pot against AJ or AQ, the A is dead for the AT hand. If the flop comes with an A and no Q or T, this dominated hand only has a 12.5% chance to catch a T on the turn or river and win the pot (7 to 1 against). And, the better hand has just as good of a chance to catch their kicker as well, in which case AT will still lose. This is the position you want to put your opponents in. You should be very selective about the hands you get involved with, especially from early position. You MUST be more selective about the hands you play relative to the hands your opponents play. If you choose to pass on more hands preflop and play better hands in more favorable position than your opponents, you give yourself a statistical advantage that translates into more profitable situations. It's just that simple. You win at limit texas hold'em in hand selection.
How to play your hands preflop:
You must consider your position in how you play your hand in texas hold'em. You must know what kind of action you want with your hand, and play accordingly from your position. You obviously must play only very good hands from early position, because you have very little control over how the hand will develop. You should often raise and/or reraise from any position with big pocket pairs like AA, KK, and QQ. You are likely to dominate many of the hands that will play against you. You want to get as much money in the pot as possible before the flop when you have one of these absolute best starting hands. If you were first in from early position with one of these huge hands, you might consider limping in with the intention of reraising if you suspect you might get a raise from another player. You would only consider limp-reraising if you are first in and your early position raises were not getting many callers. Once a player comes in, go for the raise and try to isolate them.
Playing big hold'em hands:You should raise an opened pot whenever you think you will win more than your share of what goes in. You obviously want to force opponents to put more money into the pot when you are likely to have the best hand, especially when you are likely to dominate their hands. Most players raise with their best hands, so you will almost always fold to a tight player's raise, and avoid this situation where your hand could easily be dominated. If you have a premium hand like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs or AK, you would always reraise rather than just call. You reraise to isolate and hopefully get heads up, and you want as much money in the center as possible with your premium hand.
From early position, you usually want to raise with medium pocket pairs like JJ -99 and big offsuit cards like AK and AQ to cut down the number of opponents and increase your chance of winning the pot. If you raise preflop from early position with something like 99, you reduce the number of players that will see the flop and make it more likely that your hand will be best even if an overcard falls. With no raise, hands like KJ or A10 will be more likely to come in and beat you if an overcard does flop. Also, any time you raise, you maximize your profit when you do win the pot, so it is usually profitable to raise when you have a strong hand.
However, in late position following several limpers, you would not want to raise with 99 because you will now fail to cut down the number of players who will see the flop (any player who called the blind will call a second bet if you raise). You would probably be better off to just call and see the flop before you invest more. The majority of your profit from 99 in this case would be when you either flop a set of nines or no overcards fall on the flop.
You might want to limp from early/middle position with hands like AJ. Even though it is not a good multiway hand (which would argue for a raise), you should not raise because you are out of position and have a greater chance that your hand could be dominated by a player yet to act, and multiple players may come in anyway. You will give callers better odds to draw against you if you make a hand and they flop a draw. By not raising and keeping the pot smaller, opponent's calls on later streets will be less profitable for them, which is better for you. Also, you will lose information by raising early with hands like AJ.
You should almost always raise with AK because AK cannot be out kicked and can only be dominated by AA and KK, but there are several more hands that dominate AJ. If you raise, you will have no idea if a caller dominates your hand. If you do limp and someone raises behind you, you gain information: you could very well be up against AA, AK, or AQ, so you will want to keep that in mind when you decide how to play after the flop. In late position following perhaps one limper, you are in better shape to raise with your AJ. You are in good position and less likely to be dominated by a hand like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK or AQ if no one raised in front you, and more likely to dominate a limper with an A and a weaker kicker. Your raise may knock out the blinds as well and get you heads-up or nearly so with a hand you dominate. That makes a raise here more profitable.
You would not play smaller suited connectors like 78s from early position because you don't know how the pot will develop so you can't be sure you will get the multiway pot you want. If you limped in early with 78s and got raised, you could end up trapped with two of your bets in a relatively small pot heads-up against a hand you are probably unlikely to beat. You will not be getting proper odds for your straight or flush draw, and that is exactly the situation you don't want with this type of hand.
In late position, you can see the action before you decide whether or not to play. You would probably fold the 78s if only one person limped in front of you. If there was no raise and several players limped in, these hands definitely become playable because you are getting the kind of action you want. They are not as strong as the medium and big suited connectors, so you would seldom raise with them. You will often be folding after the flop, so you would like to see the flop cheaply. Small suited connectors down to 54s have the potential to make 4 straights and/or a flush, and when you hit your hand well in some other way by making two pair or trips, your hand is well disguised. If the flop comes A77, who would expect someone would be in with a 7? Any ace will pay you off. Also, when you completely miss the flop, which will often happen, you can easily get away from the hand. If you don't flop a straight or flush draw (or some very strong hand), you will usually just fold out.
To avoid becoming trapped, you have to be able to let go of these hands if you don't get an excellent flop. If you don't flop a flush draw, two pair, or better, you should fold to any bet. Even if you make top pair with your K or Q, you should still fold if an opponent bets into you. If checked to you, you would usually bet top pair, but if you get raised, you should fold immediately. If you make a flush, you would prefer to see the higher suited card(s) on the board to insure you have the highest possible flush, otherwise you must keep in mind that you could be against a bigger flush. You would never play these types of hands in a multiway pot if they were unsuited, but you would consider playing unsuited hands with straight potential like QT, JT, J9, T9, T8, and 98 following many limpers.
These hands also run a similar increased risk of making second best hands when many players see the flop. If you don't flop a straight draw, two pair or better, you should usually fold to any action. If you do make a straight, you will know if you have the nuts. If a higher possible straight is out, you must keep that in mind. These marginal late position hands can be profitable if played correctly in the right situations, but they have serious potential for disaster by making second best hands which can be difficult to get away from. You don't really give up anything by passing on these weak hands all together. Passing on these types hands is almost always correct anyway, and one mistake can wipe out any small advantage to playing them perfectly.
If the pot is raised before you voluntarily enter the pot, you should often fold right there; you should almost never cold call a preflop raise if you are not in the big blind (you will see bad players do it often, but it is a terribly unprofitable play). Unless you are in the big blind or the pot is already multiway, and you have a great hand that plays well multiway, don't call a preflop raise. Don't call preflop raises with hands like AQ or KQ (unless you have some reason to believe the raiser has a weak hand). Most players raise with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs and AK, so if you call with even very good hands, you could easily be getting into a dominated situation. Any flop that hits you could hit the raiser better, and you could easily end up losing a huge pot when you could have folded for free.
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