For example, you are first to act after you have been dealt two aces (AA) or like our example with JTs and instead of raising, you just call – this is called a limp. Limping is defined as calling the big blind instead of raising or folding. This result leads onto a second reason new players are unsuccessful – frequent limping So our options are now to raise or to call because our hand is too strong to fold. We can determine ‘how strong' a hand is using a program called Equilab.

Luckily, JTs is in the top 12% of hands and therefore is a hand we would want to continue with, in this case. Preflop Poker Strategy Tip 1: Only play a small percentage of the hands you are dealt. Therefore, the first important poker strategy tip: The vast majority of winning poker players are relatively tight, and for the most part, losing players are loose. Players who play a small selection of the hand they are dealt are referred to as tight. Conversely, players who play lots of hands are known as loose. Thus the first preflop poker strategy tip is to play only a small percentage of the hands you are dealt – the type of hands to play will be discussed further on in the text. Only Play A Small Percentage Of The Hands You are Dealt This belief isn’t the case and often is the main reasons a new player loses money when starting out. They believe that they can outplay their opponents post-flop and turn a profit even with the weakest hands. But I will try to cover the most fundamental factors in the coming paragraphs.įirstly, it is very common to see new players play too many hands. There are a huge number of factors which we need to take into account, and unfortunately, I won’t be able to cover them all. We have to decide what to do: we can raise, call (otherwise known as a limp) or fold. An ‘o' after the JT would refer to off-suit) in the first position under the gun ( UTG) on a six-handed table with $1/$0.5 BB and SB. We have JTs (J = Jack, T = Ten and the ‘s’ after JT means both cards are of the same suit. So to help you understand let’s take a quick example (click the picture to see the full replay): Thankfully this is one of the easier areas of the game to understand. Your first decisions will be made preflop during a hand, so it is important to get these decisions right. Your preflop poker strategy forms the foundation of your game. Texas Holdem Strategy: Betting and Raising.Summary Of Preflop Texas Holdem Strategy.Only Play A Small Percentage Of The Hands You are Dealt.

Starting hand strategy texas holdem