Poker: Poker Strategy: Pre-flop Strategy

Online Poker Strategy. Pre-flop Strategy

Before you start betting like a maniac when you get two eights in the pocket, you need to carefully consider all factors involved in solid pre-flop strategy. The factors to consider are the number of players, how aggressive/passive the players at the table are, your bankroll, your position, and how much risk you are willing to entail.

Number of players
With 10 people in the game, it's much more likely that someone else has a strong hand in the pocket than in a short-handed game. Also, you'll need to be more cautious in larger games, as the chances of someone's pre-flop hand fitting the flop will be much better. More competition means stiffer competition.

How aggressive the players are
Assuming you've been playing with a few people for several hands, and you noticed some joker is raising every hand pre-flop, you'll want to play tighter. Let them win the blinds (big deal) and nail them to the wall when you have a solid hand in the pocket pre-flop.

Your bankroll
If you are short-stacked, you'll want to play extremely carefully and select one hand to bet on, hoping to get as many players involved as possible for a larger pot. You'll want to be all-in before the flop is dealt. On the flip-side, if you have a mountain of chips in front of you, you can take the high-risk, high-payout bets.

Your position
People in late position have the ability to influence the size of the pot much more than those in early position. This is especially true pre-flop. The following table provides a recommended pre-flop strategy:Group Hands Can be played at position

Group	Hands	Can be played at position
1	A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-Ks	under the gun, early, medium, late, button
2	T-T, A-Qs, A-Js, K-Qs, A-K	under the gun, early, medium, late, button
3	9-9, J-Ts, Q-Js, K-Js, A-Ts, A-Q	early, medium, late, button
4	T-9s, K-Q, 8-8, Q-Ts, 9-8s, J-9s, A-J, K-Ts	early, medium, late, button
5	7-7, 8-7s, Q-9s, T-8s, K-J, Q-J, J-T, 7-6s, 9-7s, A-Xs, 6-5s	medium, late, button
6	6-6, A-T, 5-5, 8-6s, K-T, Q-T, 5-4s, K-9s, J-8s, 7-5s	medium, late, button
7	4-4, J-9, 4-3s, T-9, 3-3, 9-8, 6-4s, 2-2, K-Xs, T-7s, Q-8s	late, button
8	8-7, 5-3s, A-9, Q-9, 7-6, 4-2s, 3-2s, 9-6s, 8-5s, J-8, J-7s, 6-5, 5-4, 7-4s, K-9, T-8	Button

Note, 'under the gun' means first to act and 'button' means last to act (i.e. you are dealing).The 's', in A-Ks for example, stands for 'suited'.

Your tolerance for risk
Depending on your playing style, you may want to play more or less aggressively pre-flop. Players who shoot for larger pots, but don't mind a greater chance for losing a few hands will want to raise pre-flop, especially if they are in late position. Some players prefer to be as selective as possible pre-flop, grinding out a winning hand here or there. It really depends on your own style of play, and how you perceive the players around you. Without taking much of this into consideration, you want hands that have high card value, or the ability to be the best hand (the nuts). You'll want to seriously consider playing high value cards (queens, kings and aces), suited (drawing for a flush) and connected (drawing for a straight) cards, and obviously, always play high pocket pairs (queens or better).

More information on Poker Strategy:

Poker Probabilities
Pre-flop strategy
Post-flop strategy
Successful poker betting
The important art of bluffing
Chip and card handling
7 Card Stud