This article outlines some key points when playing pre-flop in Limit Hold’em. In general, the betting round before the flop is the easiest in Limit Hold’em, because it involves nothing more complex than deciding whether or not to play your hand
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It’s a good idea to follow the starting hand chart included in this article, but it’s also important to understand the basic ideas of pre-flop play. This enables you to make good decisions, if for example you don’t have the starting hand chart handy. It’s also worth considering deviating from the standard strategy in special situations, or when you are up against tricky opponents. These are the criteria you should consider pre-flop:
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1. The quality of your own hand
It is very important to play good hands and fold weak hands. This is because strong hands are easier to play than weak ones
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With marginal hands (hands with a slightly positive or negative expected value) you often end up in situations where you have to make very difficult decisions. That’s why it’s important to follow the starting hand chart at first. It will help prevent you from making expensive mistakes. You can occasionally deviate from basic strategy, but not until you master the fundamentals of pre-flop play in Limit Hold’em.
2. Your position at the table
Your position at the table is often just as important as your hole cards. If you are in good position (late), you have a big advantage in terms of information. With good position you can dodge bets when you have a weak hand, and win bets when you have the best hand.
In Limit Hold’em you should play very tight in early position, i.e. only play strong starting hands.
3. The number of players in the hand
The number of players often has a large influence on the decisions made during a hand. It is recommended that you play small pairs and suited connectors (two connected cards of the same suit e.g. 10?J?, or 7?8?) when you are up against a lot of opponents, whereas big aces are best played against only one or two opponents.
4. Raised/unraised pot
In addition to the number of opponents, the quality of a starting hand also depends on whether or not the pot has already been raised. A raise indicates that your opponent has a strong hand, making hands like AJ, KQ and KJ much more difficult to play, because you will be dominated too often by hands like AK or AQ. This significantly reduces your chances of winning the hand
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5. The quality of your own post-flop game
Pre-flop is all about playing profitable starting hands. If you are a better post-flop player than your opponent, you can have an additional advantage. Therefore hands you would usually fold can often be played profitably. The better you can play post-flop, the more hands you can play. That is because you can avoid expensive mistakes later in the hand, which often cost beginners a lot of money. A professional player can maximize profit with marginal starting hands by playing well post-flop, in contrast to a player with less experience. However, you shouldn’t overplay this idea – even the best players should play tight overall. In the long run, even professionals aren’t able to play really weak starting hands profitably, but they are able to minimize their losses.
