Pre-flop strategy
This is where you will make the most routine decisions based on 3 factors;
- the actual hand you hold
- the position that you are in
- (more advanced) the mood of the table and your image. This will be discussed in the advanced sections.
There are plenty of common guides to what the best hands are, and here is a commonly known hand ranking chart ranked by ‘Sklansky’ into 8 different groups.
1. AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs (s means suited)
2. TT, AQs, AJs, KQs, AK
3. 99, JTs, QJs, KJs, ATs, AQ
4. T9s, KQ, 88, QTs, 98s, J9s, AJ, KTs
5. 77, 87s, Q9s, T8s, KJ, QJ, JT, 76s, 97s, Axs (x means anything less than 9), 65s
6. 66, AT, 55, 86s, KT, QT, 54s, K9s, J8s, 75s
7. 44, J9, 64s, T9, 53s, 33, 98, 43s, 22, Kxs, T7s, Q8s
8. 87, A9, Q9, 76, 42s, 32s, 96s, 85s, J8, J7s, 65, 54, 74s, K9, T8
Sklansky in his book “hold em poker for advanced players’ gives a great guide into playing these hands, even though this book is dedicated to the limit game, the preflop section is very similar to the no limit section.
Since this guide is meant to be concise, I won’t go into the specifics of how to play each hand, the books that we review will be able to provide you with more detailed explanation of playing these hands as well as different views of how to play these hands preflop.
There are a few general rules for these hands
- The higher the groups, the easier it is to play in any position on the table. For e.g you should always play AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs with a raise 2-5 times the big blind in any position if you are the first one to come into the hand. For e.g in a 10/25c game and you hold AKs and you are under the gun (first to act after the big blind) then you will raise it to 50c up to $2.50. We discuss how much to raise in the more advanced sections.
- The lower the groupings you get into, the later position you should be coming in with the hand. Only hands in the first 4 groups should be called for a raise when coming into pot. For example, you don’t want to be coming in with a call UTG or even middle position with A7s or J8.
- When you first start playing the only hands many pros recommend you play in the no limit game is the top 10 hands and maybe the middle pairs down to 66; this follows a supertight strategy that Phil Hellmuth recommends in his book.
- According to TJ Cloutier in his book championship poker, KQ, KJ, QJ, JT, are trap hands and should not be played in early position or in heads up raised pots. If they are played, they should be played cautiously after the flop if the player they are up against is a tight player.
- Suited cards are overrated by new beginners, and many players get into trouble playing k4s, or a5s etc. The chances of flopping a flush are around 5% and so this should be remember that AKs is only like 1% better than AK and it’s not a big difference preflop. These hands can be played in unraised multi player pots in late position, but should be avoided in raised pots and early position.
- Always be PATIENT. Waiting for these good starting hands may result in your original buy-in becoming short by 20-50%, but when you do get the goods you will be able to double up through the weak players playing too many hands (this is very true in the lower limits of online player, at the higher levels, there is an adjustment to this strategy that is needed). Don’t be tempted by the reckless player that triples his buy-in within a few hands playing hands in group 8, in the long run (unless he is using that reckless image to his advantage) he will lose to more conservative players if he doesn’t know how to slow down with his aggressiveness.
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