by Al Sousa (site owner)
Playing in early positions means you are one of the first 3 players
in the pot just left of the big blind (assuming a 10 person game).
Generally you should only be playing premium hands in this position.
Playing small pairs and drawing hands like smaller suited connectors
is only asking for trouble. You are out of position and there is
no money in the pot to justify your hand. Also if someone raises
behind you they can only be raising with a better hand. Suited connectors
and small pairs need lots of callers and cheap flops to jusity their
draw (set, flush, or straight draws).
Only in very loose and passive tables can you play small pairs
and small suited connectors in early position. Your table has to
have 4-5 people calling pre flop every hand and should be raising
only 10% of the time or less.
Remember with the exception of AK or AQ big unsuited cards
do not play well in early position. There is much debate whether
even AJ and KQ off suit should be played in early position. Your early
position call with AJ or KQ will encourage others to limp in also.
You will be out of position with a hand that does not play well
in multiway pots. Raising with these hands will only invite better hands to call. Or worse someone you limp and a player with a
better hand like AQ or AK raises behind you. Now your dominated
and out of position. If one of your cards hit you could be in serious
trouble as you don't know if its being shared by the raiser with
a better kicker.
Only occasionally you should limp with a premium hand. I would
rather limp with AA or AK than KK. AA is the top hand and AK can easily
be dropped if it misses and no opponent will know you limped. KK
is trickier since you have an overcard that can beat you. But limping
in should only be done occasionally against tough opponents and/or
if your raises are getting too much respect. In a loose game where players don't remember how you played what hand always raise with your premium hands.
Hands like ATs, A9s, KJs, KTs, QJs,QTs, JTs might not be playable in
early position if the game is too tough or aggressive (especially
KTs and QTs). In my opinion position is very important especially in limit
holdem.
Personally, JTs has been profitable for me in early position because of its
unique properties. It makes the best straight, a good flush, and
is a very easy hand to get rid of if there is a raise behind you
and you miss the flop. Also if you hit 2 pair on the flop poor players
with hands like AK, AQ, AJ, KJ, KQ will call you all the way down
chasing the draw or 2 pair. All these combinations of events make
this hand profitable for me in early position. But this is my opinion
and experience. Many experts will disagree.
With hands like 22-66, 87s-54s, Axs, your table has to be very
loose 5+ players per flop and not aggressive (raise 10% of the time
or less) for you to call early. On top of that you have to be able
to play well after the flop to make these hands profitable. The
reason why you can play them is because tons of players are calling
and the flop will be cheap.
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