by Al Sousa (site owner)
In holdem there are many styles of play that are profitable, but new players need a basic foundation to design their game. No two players play exactly the same. Some play tight, some loose, some aggressive. There is no absolute one way to play that is correct but there are many ways to play that are incorrect and that will lose you money in the long term. I will begin with some basic preflop concepts of the game that will hopefully improve your play. I will assume anyone reading this article already has knowledge of how to play no limit holdem.
Discipline: This is the most important concept to the game, in my opinion. Keeping a cool head, not getting upset at beats, knowing when to leave the game because it gets too tough, knowing when you are too tired or hungry to play, and knowing when to stay are signs of good discipline. A good player can lose a big hand, get upset, and actually play worse than the bad players around him. Many poker players refer this as "going on tilt". If you want to play no limit holdem keep a clear mind and have no worries bothering you. Play because you are feeling good and want to play. You should not play when you have negative emotions bottled up inside. It will directly affect the amount of money you win or lose. Discipline is also about other players. If a bad player beats you in a hand that you should have won never berate him or insult him. The best thing for you to do is simply say "nice hand" and leave it at that. If you upset a bad player you might make him want to leave or he will start playing better or tricky vs you because he is out to get you now. Most of the money made at poker will come from bad players so why make them feel uncomfortable. Also getting upset at a bad player means you also get upset. If you feel that you are getting upset because you took a bad beat in a hand take a break from the game. Get up and eat or drink something for 10 minutes to clear your head. I have seen good players lose hundreds of dollars in a matter of minutes playing a simple small stakes game because they were upset.
Position: This is the 2nd most important concept to the game. Having position on an opponent means you act last and they act first with respects to checking and betting. With position you make the most money, lose the least, and get to see what the other player will do first. When you play in position it makes decisions much easier because you have more information. With this knowledge one can assume that you should play most of your hands in position vs the other players. The importance of position is so large that if a bad player has constant position vs a good player it will be tough for the good player to make a lot of money.
Direct Odds or (simply) Odds: This is the amount of money you have to put in the pot relative to what is in the pot. For example if the pot is $50 and you have to call $25 to continue you are getting 2:1 odds. You are placing $25 to win $50 in the pot.
Implied Odds: This is the potential money you can win combining what is in the pot and the smaller stack of money between you and your opponent that is not in the pot compared to the bet size. If the smaller stack is $90 and there is $10 in the pot and $10 for you to call then your implied odds are 10:1. You call $10 to win the $10 in the pot and the potential $90 of your opponent or a total of $100. Even though an opponent has money to give you implied odds it does not mean they will. Bad players pay off more often than better players.
Hand Selection: I see many players make the mistake of playing the wrong hand in the wrong position. In general your position at the table should determine which hands you should play. One thing I strongly recommend is that if no one has called or raised you should generally always raise your hand if you intend to play it. This is to increase your chance of gaining favorable position on any opponent that calls, reduce the number of players you face if they call, and take control of the betting. Most players will usually check to the raiser and allow you to check or bet.
| BB |
SB |
EP |
EP |
EP |
MP |
MP |
CO |
BUT |
Early, Middle, Late Position, and the Blinds: A usual no limit game consists of 9 players. Any seat more than 3 away from the button, and not in a blind, should be considered early position. In these 3 seats you want to play very few hands. I would suggest only the best hands like AA-QQ and AK for beginners. As you get more experienced this range of hands will expand. Also since you are out of position vs most of the players you should raise about 4x the amount the blinds. The reason for playing so tight and raising is so most players will not want to call. You don't mind if the small or big blind call because you have position on them. If you will be the first to act on the flop you only want to play the strongest hands in early position and almost always for a raise.
In middle position, which is 2 and 3 off the button, you can open your hand range up. My suggested raising hands for beginners are AA-88, AK, AQ, KQs. Since there are less players behind you there is less of a chance they have your hand beat. Since you are out of position vs half the table I would raise these hands for the same reasons you raise in early position.
In late position, the 2 seats to the right of the blinds, your hands now open up dramatically. Because you have position on most or all of the players at the table you can raise many more hands. In fact if you keep to this ideal you should be playing most of your hands in position vs players. If you are a beginner my suggestion is to raise with hands that give you the best chance to make something good and won't get you in trouble. From late position you can raise AA-77, AK-A9s, KQ-KTs, QJ-JTs. This is a fairly tight range and you can increase the number of hands you play as you feel more comfortable with the game. In late position usually the only players calling will be the blinds. Because you raised and have position you have a large advantage over them. Most of the time any player that calls you without position will miss the flop and you can bet and take the pot for yourself.
Raising from the blinds I would consider just like raising from early position. The one exception is AK. If there are too many very loose limpers that simply hate folding their hands, 4 or more, I would consider not raising and just checking (from the big blind) or calling the 1/2 bet (from the small blind). The reason is that your position is poor and you have to place a lot of money in the pot to raise properly. Usually if one calls many call along with them. So you could be facing a large pot vs many opponents in the worst position with a drawing hand. Yes even though AK is a strong hand it is still a drawing hand. You have to hit the flop.
Raising a Limper (not in a blind): I explained that limping, or calling, when 1st to act is a bad idea. You should raise or fold preflop. So what happens when someone limps ahead of you? My recommendation is to raise any hand that you would normally raise in your position and try to get the pot heads up with the limper or make him fold. Most of the time a limp is a sign of a weak hand. His hand is weaker than yours. Since you have position on the limper and generally a better hand, AND you would raise normally if you were 1st to act then you might as well raise. When you raise in this situation it puts more pressure on those behind you to play. Now not only are you raising but you are raising a limper which makes your hand appear stronger.
Calling a limper: Now lets say you have a good hand but not one that's strong enough to raise. You can now call behind a limper. This should induce others to call also. Since you will be playing only good hands this kind of play can create a nice big pot if you hit the flop.
Hands that you can almost always call in any position behind a limper is any pair. These hands play by themselves. With a pair if you flop a set (3 of a kind) you play on, if you don't flop a set then you don't play on past the flop. In rare circumstances will a hand like 77 or 88 be an over pair to the flop if it comes (2 3 6) or hit a nice draw (6 5 4). There you might play on depending on your position and the betting.
Hands that you might be able to call with include AJs, ATs, KQs-54s, KJs-64s. I would call in middle position KJs or better. In late position you can call with all the hands and add in hands like A9s-A2s. Calling from middle position with hands like KTs can get you in trouble if someone comes behind you with a hand like KQ or KJ. Hands that are small suited connectors play best when they have position on everyone. Because suited connectors hit a flop very few times you need to maximize the amount of money you make when they do hit. Having position with a hand like 65s will accomplish this.
What if I am Raised after I Call Behind a Limper?: In this case I would recommend folding your hand. Only in rare circumstances where many players call his raise should you consider calling the raise. Also consider your position relative to the raiser. If you have position on the raiser and many players called then I would call if the raise was not too large. With any pair you can call more often since your hand is very easy to play. For other hands I strongly recommend that they are suited. Suited cards play much better in multi-player pots because they can also make a flush in addition to anything else they might hit the flop with. For any hand that you call you need implied odds to call with that hand. For pairs it should be 15:1 and for drawing hands 25:1. With drawing hands more so than pairs I strongly recommend having position.
What if I am Reraised?: Usually when someone reraises they are representing a very strong hand. So you need a very strong hand to call his raise or reraise him. To consider playing you need to have AA-QQ and AK. I would be more tended to reraise again with AA-KK because they are the top 2 best hands. With QQ and AK it depends on the reraiser. If he is a very tight player you might fold, in very rare cases, or just call. If he is very loose you might reraise with them. Your reraise should be the amount of the pot plus a little more. Also how you play the hand depends on your position vs the raiser.
How Much Should I Raise Preflop?: A good way to know how much to raise is 4x the big blind plus the number of limpers. So if there are no limpers raise 4x the big blind. If there is 1 limper raise 5x the big blind, 2 limpers 6x the big blind, and so on. If you are raising from the blinds I would add 2x more to the raise. Raising from the blinds requires a larger raise because you are in the worst possible position at the table and you want to knock out the limpers. So if 3 players limp and you are the big blind I would raise 4x standard + 3x for the 3 limpers + 2x because you are in the blinds and out of position or 9x the big blind. You want to make others pay to play their hands when you are out of position. The extra large raise also discourage multiple callers. If they all fold that is fine, you just won a pot without seeing the flop.
Preflop Summary: Most of the money you will make comes from having position on opponents. So it is wise to assume that a player should play most of their hands when they do have position on their opponents. If you notice I increased the number of hands you can play as your position improves. The earlier you are in the hand the stronger your hand needs to be to play because your opponents will have position on you. The hand ranges I gave are fairly tight but I suggest any new player stick to tight ranges and play safe. You won't win a lot of money but you also won't lose a lot of money playing only good hands. You should win more than lose though. This will allow you to build confidence, learn the game better, and expand your hand ranges in different positions and based on your opponents.
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