Texas Hold ‘em – Pre-Flop Strategy

The primary strategy for you as a player when first getting into the pre-flop stage of a game of Texas Hold ‘em revolves around two main concepts: your position on the table, and your two cards dealt pre-flop.

Position plays an important role in the pre-flop stage of the game, as it is the deciding factor in determining the order in which each player will have a chance to play cards during the round. The positions are generally divided up into both individuals and key areas, with the dealer, big blind, small blind and the person “under the gun” (or immediately after the blinds that has to play first) making up the key individual players, while early, mid and late positions refer to general areas around the table in relation to the order in which players in these positions make their calls each round.

The rule of thumb for your position and how it affects your plays is generally fairly simple – the earlier you must make a decision to either play or fold your hand, the stronger the hand you will need, while later positions offer more flexibility in determining your proper course of action. This is due to the fact that the earlier positions in each game set the tone and direct the general actions of players later on in the round, and at the same time, those players are being observed for a clue as to what their hand may be. For this reason, and given the unpredictability of the situation, it is best to only play particularly strong hands rather than mediocre or poor ones, as anything less than a strong start puts you into an unsafe position from the very beginning. Cards such as AA, KK, QQ, TT or any other suited combination of those are all good hands with which to begin your game.

In mid to late positions, you have a bit more flexibility in your moves when determining whether or not to play or fold your hand. Because you can watch the players before you to see how they act, you can gain a better understanding of how the game will progress and adjust your plays accordingly, while at the same time being in a much better position to play mediocre hands and have a good chance of winning (so long as playing doesn’t require you to raise or call a raise earlier on, as these could be indications of stronger starts by earlier players.) Hands such as most other pairs (99, 88, 77, etc.) as well as most suited high pairs (JT, 98, QJ, etc.) are all reasonably good hands to play with at this stage, but again are not really a good choice to continue play with, should another player raise before you. Any of the other two card pairs mentioned for earlier positions to give a strong lead would be better for pursuing a player’s call.

Finally, as always, watch your opponents’ reactions. Watching how your opponents react in this crucial stage can give you some strong insight into what to expect later on and no small detail should be ignored.

In order to improve your poker game, you need to read up on the latest poker strategy!

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