Winning Poker Strategy Starts Before the Flop is Dealt

If you regularly find yourself in tricky spots in poker games – the root cause could be the way you are approaching the game before the flop. This guide focuses on the details of a solid, winning pre-flop poker strategy. Picking the right cards to play is essential, though there is a lot more to pre-flop poker to this. Players make mistakes with position, odds, putting opponents on ranges and stack sizes.

Post-flop: The Mathematics of Poker - Odds & Outs. Video to the Article. Introduction In this article. Outs are all the cards which can improve your hand. Odds Odds show the probability of one of the next community cards being one of your outs. A standard scenario for the application of odds from the flop to the turn occurs if you are. Pertaining to the bet or situation before the flop. Usage: Like in sentence 'When you are in a crazy game that is constantly having capped family pots preflop, you can call with a minimum of 22.

Here is what you will find in this detailed guide to pre-flop poker mistakes:

• Pre-Flop Hand Selection: What cards to play, and which ones to avoid
• Position: Where you will act in the betting (both in order of play and in relation to the pre-flop raiser) is a vital concept.
• Bet Sizing: Some common mistakes which novice players make with their bet sizing before the flop.
• Putting Opponents on a Range: How does your hand do against the kind of hands specific opponents raise?
• Pre-Flop Mistakes in Poker Tournaments: Specific advice during different stages of multi-table tournaments
• Wrap Up: Bringing the different factors together

Selecting the Right Hands Pre-Flop

The single biggest mistake new players make in pre-flop poker is to play too many hands. At the lower buy-ins, you will often find multi-way flops, where 4 or 5 players are seeing the community cards each time. Not only does this waste money when you fail to connect, it creates situations where you are unsure of what hands your opponents might hold.

A better strategy is to select a range of hands which are ahead of the average holdings your opponent’s choose – and to be selectively aggressive when you play them. As you will see in the section below, your position at the table will have a big influence on the types of hands you should play.

While you gain experience, it is important not to play hands which can put you in tricky spots after the flop. The concept of domination is important. If you play hands like Ace-Eight for example, you can be up against a pair higher than the eight when you flop this card. You can also find opponents with an ace and higher side-card when you flop the ace. This leads to tough decisions. Unless you flop 2-pair or better, you will be left guessing – and when the pot gets big, you are more often than not going to be behind.

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It is important not to play hands which can put you in tricky spots after the flop.

Risky Hands Pre-Flop

Here are some of the risky types of hand that you should cut out of your range:

• Unsuited Broadway Cards: Hands like King-10 off-suit are risky, especially from early position or in multi-way pots.
• Ace-X Hands: With a kicker above 10, you can play these hands (much better for a raise), with a kicker lower than this, you take on significant risk. Fold unsuited ace-x hands to a raise and avoid them from early position.
• Suited Hands: Many novice players enter a pot with any two suited cards. This is suicidal over the long-run. Even if you make that rare flush or unlikely 2-pair, you will never know if you are ahead or behind.
• Small Pairs: These can be played for their set possibility. It is often a mistake to play them from early position – especially when the table is active, and you might not even get to see a flop.

Solid Pre-Flop Hand Selection

A better selection of hands which will avoid major mistakes includes the hands listed below. Again, keep in mind that you need a stronger range of hands from early position. If you are on the button and everyone has folded, you can use some riskier hands to steal the blinds.

• Premium Pairs: This is aces, kings and queens. They can be played aggressively from any position at the table. In lower buy-in games, don’t try to get tricky with them, if you can build a big pot before the flop, then go right ahead.
• Ace King / Ace-Queen: These high card hands are among the best poker hands when they are suited. Even when off-suit they have a lot of high-card strength. In games where opponents play a lot of aces with small kickers, they are even more valuable.
• Mid-Pairs: Nines through to Jacks can win pots unimproved, they can be played aggressively from position, though are not ideal for 3-betting with as they can’t stand a 4^th raise easily.
• Small Pairs: Play pairs under Eight either to steal or for set value. If you hit a 3^rd card on the flop, you will often have a hidden monster which can win a very big pot.
• Suited Aces: Any ace-x hand which is suited can be played for implied odds value. The ones with higher kickers can also win pots with high-card strength. Aces with 2-3-4-5 side-cards can also make small straights. If you enjoy playing ace-x hands, make sure you have some flush potential – folding the unsuited ones.
• Suited Connectors: These hands go from 4-5 suited to K-Q suited. The strength of these hands is that they can make both straights and flushes, which will be disguised. This type of hand is ideal when you can see a flop cheaply. Like the suited aces, they rely on implied odds to be profitable.

Position and Pre-Flop Poker Mistakes

Once you have a solid starting hand range, you can start to factor in your position in the betting. When you are one of the first players to act, you have little information about what your opponents hold (and whether they will raise). You also act first in the betting on the flop, turn and river.

This makes a big difference to how many hands you can profitably play.

For example, small pairs rely on hitting a set to be profitable. If you are in later position (the dealer button is ideal), and see a raise and a call, you can play this type of hand profitably. If you are one of the first players to act. You need to bet – and might get raised in one or more spots. This means you don’t have the correct odds to try and hit your set – and the hand needs to be folded. The same logic applies to suited aces and suited connectors.

You can adjust for position by playing a narrow range of hands (higher pairs, ace-king and ace-queen suited) and then add in hands for each spot closer to the dealer button. If you are one of the last few players to act, a wide range of hands can be used as a steal.

Position in relation to the pre-flop aggressor also needs to be factored in. Say two loose players from early position limp, and someone in middle position raises. You are on the button with a good (though not premium hand). Here you can expect at least one of the limpers to call. When they check to the raiser on the flop, this player will likely bet. Now you need to act before you know what the early position players will do. While you are ‘last’ in the betting, your position relative to the raiser is bad. If you call, and then face a re-raise from another player – you have found yourself in a tricky spot. You can avoid this pre-flop poker mistake by playing a tighter hand range when you see this type of situation occurring.

Pre-Flop Poker Mistakes: Bet Sizing Mistakes

How much someone bets is one of the best online poker tells. Many novice players vary their raise size depending on how strong their hands are. For example, someone might bet 3x the big blind with mid-strength hands, and 4x when they have a premium holding.

To avoid this error, I recommend you pick a raise size and stick with it – playing all of your opening range the same way.

Here are some other bet sizing pre-flop poker mistakes to look out for:

• Limping Aces / Kings: Many players like to trap with their strongest pre-flop holdings by limping and then re-raising if someone tries to take the pot. This can work, though has some risks. You might find five calls behind you and no raises, forcing you to guess how your opponents hit the board on many flops. You also give away the strength of your hand, especially if you raise when entering the pot with other hands. If you raise, observant opponents will know that you don’t have aces or kings – valuable information which could win them a big pot.
• Limping Too Many Hands: Some players limp a lot of their (loose) pre-flop range, and then call bets with them. This leads to situations where you have a lot of factors against you. Your range is capped (since you would have 4-bet with strong hands), you are out of position and your opponent has indicated that they like their hand.
• Calling Bets Without the Odds:Calling with too many hands is not a pre-flop poker winning strategy. Most players continuation bet, and unless you hit the flop hard, you will never know where you stand. You also cap your range by calling, again you’d be re-raising with strong hands. If you are hoping to hit a set or straight / flush draws, then you need to ensure that the stacks are deep enough to make this play profitable. You should not call more than bets without 12x the chips behind with pairs, and 25x the bet behind with suited aces or suited connectors.

Bet sizing errors made before the flop can easily snowball after the community cards are dealt. This leads to situation where you find yourself facing a big bet on the river – with no real idea of where you stand!

Bet sizing errors made before the flop can easily snowball after the community cards are dealt.

Putting Your Opponents on a Range Pre-FlopTight

A big mistake many players make before the flop is to focus only on their own cards. Even with a solid starting hand strategy, awareness of position and taking odds into account – you’ll need to think about what kind of hands different opponents are playing.

This can get complex, and as you move up the stakes you’ll need to construct ranges for specific opponents. At a basic level, you can decide whether an opponent is tight or loose, and how tricky they play – and use this to assess their likely holdings.

Tight Players: Tight players are waiting for premium hands. This type might call with small pairs or suited connectors (when it is cheap to do so), though when they raise you can put them on a narrow range of the best hands. When a tight player re-raises before the flop, they may well only have queens, kings, aces or ace-king. When you are deciding which hands to profitably play, ask yourself how you do against this range.

Loose Players: Now you will see a huge range of hands played, this can be as wide as 50% of all starting hands, including any suited cards or unsuited high cards. Many small stakes players divide their range pre-flop. They limp with a wide range, raise with a smaller one, and re-raise with the types of hands that you might only call with. Flop betting is more important here, though you can certainly widen your own re-raising range to ‘isolate’ the worst offenders. Some of the loosest players will fold to a big bet pre-flop, though most will not. When you do isolate them, make sure you have a hand that is likely to be the best by showdown.

Tricky Players: Some opponents will play ‘backwards’, mistaking this for being deceptive. If someone raises a lot, then limps in later position with aces or kings, they are making a huge mistake. You can call with a wide range of high implied odds hands here and hope to out-flop them. Remember when these tricky players do raise, they will likely have hands that can’t stand too much pressure.

Pre-Flop Poker Mistakes in Tournaments

So far, the discussion assumed we were in a cash game with relatively deep stacks. If you are playing in a high-stakes poker tournament, there are some other factors to keep in mind. The most important of these is to keep stack-depth in mind – and adjust how you play accordingly.

In the later stages of a tournament, stacks can vary in size. Some opponents will only have 10x the big blind, while others have more than 100x. This leads to spots where ‘restealing’ pre-flop becomes a profitable play.

For example, it is folded to player A in the small blind, who opens for a raise. Player B in the big blind only has 8x the size of the big blind in her stack. This player then shoves all-in, putting player A to a decision.

Let’s use round numbers to look at the math.

If the blinds are 500 / 1000 and player B has 7000 chips left after posting the big blind. The pot is now 1000 (bb) + 500 (sb) + 500 (antes) + 1500 (raise from player A) = 3500 chips. Player B raised for 7k more, putting 10,500 chips out there. Player A needs to call 5,500 chips to play (almost 2/1 odds).

Almost every legitimate raising hand has plenty good enough odds to make this call. However, player A will expect to lose the majority of the time.

The mistake was the initial raise. If player A had gone all-in instead, the player in the big blind would not have had the opportunity to re-steal, and those extra chips would have gone to the aggressor.

Poker tournaments stack sizes determine pre-flop play in other ways too. When the bubble approaches, mid-sized and small stacks will tighten up – looking to reach the money before taking any risks. If you have a big stack, failing to raise a wide range of hands to put pressure on these stacks would be a mistake – you are leaving money on the table. A similar situation occurs just before the final table.

Pre Flop Odds

Wrapping Up: Components of a Solid Pre-Flop Strategy

Working on your pre-flop poker game will make a big difference to your profits. You will rarely win a big pot before the flop – though you can easily set up situations where you can lose them. A solid starting hand selection, which varies depending on your position at the table is the best place to get started. You need to take into account odds, plus your read on what the bet sizes of opponents mean.

Once you have mastered the basics, you’ll be able to adjust your pre-flop poker strategy for different situations. At this point, you’ll be ahead of most novice players, able to exploit their pre-flop poker mistakes to your advantage!

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Once you familiarize yourself with basic Texas Hold ‘em play, hand rankings and dealing, you should learn about the odds and probabilities associated with different aspects of the game. While it may be impossible to calculate precise odds mid-hand, particularly given you’ll never see your opponents’ cards until all decisions have been made, knowing when to play (and when not to play) different hands typically requires more than just good instinct.

https://withomg.netlify.app/wheel-of-fortune-game-answers-ps4.html. In Texas Hold ‘em, winners are often decided before the community cards are even laid out, so the chances of being dealt a strong starting hand is something many players think.

Calculating Texas Hold ‘em Odds

To understand the odds of drawing any particular starting hand, you’ll have to consider all of the factors that go into the deal of a hand. Considering a shuffle to completely randomize the order of the cards, the biggest factors that will affect a draw are the number of players at the table and your own position relevant to the dealer. Also consider that there are four cards of any given value in each deck and there are 169 different hole card combinations. That being said, there’s a roughly one in 1326 chance that players will be dealt any specific hand, so it’s important to know what kind of odds you should keep in mind whenever you step to the poker table.

Pre Flop

You have a 55:1 chance of being dealt a pair of Jacks or higher.

Your Texas Hold’em experience will begin with your hole cards, and while you cannot change the cards that are dealt your way, it’s good to know what to expect. While World Series of Poker reruns may make it seem like someone at the table will be dealt pocket kings every hand, starting with a monster hand is rarer than you may imagine. For more on Pre Flop strategy see our guide here.

Quick Odds

While an extensive list of the probabilities for preflop hands could fill a book, here are some quick odds to consider when you’re peeking at your cards for the first time.

• Being dealt a pocket pair: 16:1
• Being dealt suited cards: 3.2:1
• Being dealt suited connectors: 24:1
• Being dealt AK: 82:1
• Being dealt two cards of jack or higher: 10:1
• Being dealt AA, KK, QQ or JJ: 55:1

The Flop

The flop is a game changer in every sense of the words. With more cards in your hand, players will get their first real taste of what the final outcome will look like. That being said, players will want to think about the odds for how their hand could turn out before they start placing or calling bets. For more on Post Flop strategy see our guide here.

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Best Pre Flop Hands

Quick Odds

Pre Flop Odds Chart

Though the presented odds may be mathematically accurate, they do present a best case scenario that you won’t always find yourself in at the table. These calculations don’t take into account the probabilities of the card or cards you are looking for turning up as burn cards or in your opponents’ hands, so keep that in mind when considering your next move.

• Hitting a pair on the flop: 2:1
• Pocket pair improving to three of a kind on the flop: 7:1
• Flop being three of a kind: 424:1
• Odds of flopping a flush with suited hole cards: 118:1

The odds of flopping a straight can be a bit harder to pin down. Depending on your starting hand, there are any number of card combinations that could lead to a flopped straight. Those hands that have the more flexibility when it comes to straight draws, particularly middling connectors (those between 5 and 9), have the strongest chances of hitting on the flop because there are more cards that could allow for their straight to hit. The wider the gap between your starting cards, the worse your chances are.

The Turn and River

Naturally, as the hand progresses and fewer cards remain to be dealt, the odds of making any particular hand become slimmer and slimmer. That being said, you’ll want to look at the odds for a hand from beginning to end as well as those from stage to stage.

Quick Odds

Your odds change as each new card is dealt.

Over the course of a full hand, these scenarios could play out

• One pair on flop improving to two pair or a set by the river: 4:1
• Catching an ace on the turn or river: 7:1
• Open ended straight hitting by the river: 2:1
• Gutshot straight draw hit by the river: 5:1
• Pocket pair improving to set by river: 10:1
• Going runner runner for a flush: 23:1
• Going runner runner for a straight: 67:1

Pot and Implied Odds

In addition to the odds that your cards will pair or better, experienced players know that pot odds, that is, the ratio of the size of the pot to the cost of a call, play an important role in proper Hold’em strategy. With all of the risks that are inherently involved in games like poker, players won’t get far if they don’t decide to gamble every so often – and pot odds allow you to make smarter decision when it comes time to place your money on the line. Pot odds take into consideration the likelihood of making a hand to establish a decent risk vs. reward ratio.

Another important statistic for players to keep in mind is ‘implied odds,’ which factor in the likely size and frequency of any betting that may come in later rounds of play. These come into play post flop and will be a factor until the river is dealt, and unlike most other Texas hold ’em odds, implied odds will be entirely based on your read on your opponents’ betting habits and aggression.

To calculate effective pot odds, consider your position in the hand and relative strength, then make a note of the amount of money currently in the pot. If you’re in a position to call, think of how much you stand to win should your hand come out ahead, as establishing a solid return on investment can help turn a questionable call into a big win. If no one has bet, then pot odds can help you deduce what size bet you will want to make in order to shift the statistical probabilities in your favor. With a sound bet, you could either make the continued investment not worth the potential gain or place a value wager designed to elicit a call from any remaining opponents. You will have to decide whether or not your chances of winning are worth risking the amount you could lose if you are wrong – a fine line for some players, but one that must be crossed often. For more on Texas Hold’em pot size and strategy see our guide here.