Before The Flop In Poker
But here’s what they don’t tell you: Your poker strategy before the flop is far more important. The decisions you make with your starting hands are like seeds planted in the ground; do it right, and you’ll reap a rich harvest. Do it wrong, and your bankroll could wither.
In this poker strategy article we discuss when a player might consider folding a ‘monster hand’ preflop in a game of No Limit Hold’em (NLHE) poker. Why might a poker player do such a thing? Let’s discuss…
There’s an old saying in poker, coined by the inimitable Kenny Rogers, that you’ve got to know when to hold’em and know when to fold ’em. The old Texan was way ahead of his time when it comes to No Limit Hold’em poker strategy. Making successful laydowns at the poker table is as crucial a skill as any that you will ever learn. However, it’s not easy to fold big hands pre-flop, even when the evidence that you are beat is overwhelming. After all, you might have been waiting all day to be dealt something good – but if you’re behind it doesn’t matter what has occurred before, you still need to let it go and lose the minimum.
So, how can you tell if you should fold a strong hand? There are many different elements that go into making the correct decision – and it’s important to consider all of them. When you get dealt a strong hand like pocket Jacks or Ace-Queen, the immediate expectation is that you should play aggressively and give yourself the opportunity to win a big pot. This means opening with a raise, or putting in a re-raise (three-bet) if someone has opened before you. But what do you do when you face aggression by another player who raises again? It’s completely dependent on the state of the game and who that opponent is.
What Is Before The Flop In Poker
Given that modern poker strategy prescribes aggressive pre-flop play from the blinds, raising too many hands on the button can cause you to be exploitatively 3-bet by players in blinds. A leak such as this one can slowly but continuously damage your win rate, so be cautious to not over-raise from the button. Before the flop is where it all starts, where you are forced to make your first important decision depending on all of the variables involved with the hand. It is important to make good, solid decisions before the flop, as it will form the foundations for how the rest of the hand will be played out.
If, for example, you are in the early stages of a tournament there’s a strong possibility that the player you’re up against has a really strong hand. That’s because, unlike later in the tournament where blinds and antes are much bigger, there is no real reason for them to go after you and get out of line. In this instance, you certainly shouldn’t get carried away with your hand and look to get all-in before the flop. It would be much better just to call and get more information depending on what cards come on the flop, or even just to fold and wait for a better situation in a more important stage of the tournament.
There’s nothing in poker quite like scooping a big pot on the river. People are all-in, there’s a pile of money on the table – these are the situations that get played over and over again on the TV shows. But here’s what they don’t tell you: Your poker strategy before the flop is far more important. The decisions you make with your starting hands are like seeds planted in the ground; do it right, and you’ll reap a rich harvest. Do it wrong, and your bankroll could wither.
Before The Flop In Poker One
Getting the right poker strategy pre-flop is even more important when you’re playing online poker at Bovada. You’re not going to have access to the same “tells” that you can pick up from live opponents, and those tells become more pronounced as you move towards that big showdown on the river. Instead, concentrate on choosing the right starting hands when you play Texas Hold’em online. It’s easy once you understand the basic concepts behind the game of poker.
Position Is Power
Concept No. 1: It’s usually better to act last when you play poker. When you’re sitting under the gun at a full-ring table, you have eight players waiting to pounce when you open the betting. The closer you get to the big blind, the fewer players you need to fold in order to take the blinds uncontested. That’s why it’s recommended to open a tighter range of hands from early position, and a wider range late.
Thanks to the power of math, we can calculate something close to an “optimal” range of starting hands (see Poker Hand Rankings here) while using a certain open-raise size. You can find hundreds of recommended ranges online; they’re not standard, but they tend to conform, especially from under the gun. Don’t worry about memorizing these ranges exactly. As long as you’re in the ballpark, it’s more important for you to understand the reasoning behind them.
Once you’ve got a feel for these opening ranges, you can work on pre-flop ranges for calling, 3-betting, 4-betting and so on. Then you can start worrying about other things you’ll run into when you play the great game of Texas Hold’em poker – flop strategy, for example. Get the simplest things correct first; work on your preflop ranges, and you’ll already be putting yourself in a better position to win those giant pots on later streets.