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Preflop play
Fixed Limit Holdem Pre-Flop Play
The most important decision you will make in any poker hand is the first – whether to enter the pot. This decision is based on several factors including your position at the table, the actions of other players who have already entered the pot, the cards that you hold and the tendencies of opponents yet to act.
Table position is an important factor in deciding which hands to play. This can be divided into early position (first 3 players to act), Middle position (next 3 to act) and late position for the rest.
Early Position Play
In early position you have 2 disadvantages. You have to decide what to play before you have seen the other players at the table act and you are more likely to have to act first after the flop. For these reasons your hand selection needs to be strict in early position. Stick to premium holdings such as high pairs, A-K and A-Qs. When you do play these hands you should enter the pot with a raise – this may prevent opponents yet to act from entering the pot with speculative holdings such as suited connectors.
Middle Position Play
In middle position you can enter the pot with a wider range of hands – once again you should usually raise any hand you wish to play. From middle position you will already have seen several player act before you. If an early position player has already raised you should stick to premium hands, re-raising with the highest of them. If nobody has entered the pot ahead of you then pairs from 7-7 upwards, A-10 of better and K-Q all become raising hands. If players have limped ahead of you then smaller pairs, suited connectors and suited high cards may be limped when your impression of the players still to act is that a re-raise is unlikely.
Late Position Hands
If everyone folds to you in late position you can raise with a very wide range of hands. Your objective is to steal the blinds without a fight – however you should ensure that your hands have a little value in case one of the blinds call. The button is the best position of all and hands as weak as Q-9, Any Ace and unpaired connected cards such as 6-7 can be added to the more obvious pairs and high card holdings here.
However if someone has raised or limped ahead of you these marginal hands should not generally be played. The value of your late position is that you are able to act last on the next betting rounds. If you have a medium to strong hand then isolating may be the right play if a middle position player has raised. Instead of just calling you re-raise, which causes the rest of the field to fold. You are now heads-up with the initial raiser and have position which will enable you to win those pots where your opponent missed the flop as well as the times when you flop the best hand – a profitable combination.
Drawing hands can also be profitably played from late position, here you have seen most of the field act already and are in less danger of a re-raise as there are few players left to act. This makes hands such as 7-8 suited and small pairs such as 3-3 playable for a small bet before the flop. Even if there was a raise preflop from early position and there are several callers you should call with hands like 34s, 45s, 56s, 78s,9Ts and one gapers like 46s,57s,68,79s,8Ts. You should also call with small and medium pocket pairs because pot is going to be big enough to make call profitable in case you flop a set(trips). The idea being that your investment will pay off many times over those times you hit a strong hand such as a straight or trips on the flop. |
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