|
Playing Early Positions D. Asked:
I'm a relatively new poker player – less than a year of playing – and I found an article in the Hollywood Poker forum by Vince Van Patten that explains a really simple way to play your position for success.
It has been a gold mine for me so far, but there is a situation that I find myself in frequently, and I am never sure how to play it.
So, let's say, for simplicity's sake, that there are 10 players at the table. I may be wrong, but I refer to the Small Blind 1st Position, BB 2nd position, and so on... So I am in 3rd position with about an equal chip stack as the rest of the players. Vince says you should only bet Pocket Tens or better here, but it's tough to lay down Q 10, K 10, K J, K Q, A 10 etc.
What is your advice on playing a somewhat decent hand in an early position? Just call? Bet small? Bet large? And then if someone else in late position bets strong, do you call or raise or fold it?
Hi D.,
Vince is correct - you need to make the most laydowns when you're in early position (first to act, "under the gun" as they say).
Rigid starting hand guides are a good thing to follow – even for intermediate players. Not playing anything but TT-AA, AKs, AKo, and AQs in the first two positions after the blinds is a reasonable approach for full-table play in most standard low buy-in cash games and tournaments. Hands like QT and KT may look good, but should be folded even in middle position. Save KT and QTs for blind steals in late position when no one else has entered.
Of course, for higher limit games, you can open up your playing requirements if the game is tighter. For instance, in my limit games, I usually add 88 and 99 to what I'll open from early position, because I know I will often be able to steal the blinds because everyone plays so tight. You'll need to adjust to your own game, but knowing that QT and KT and KJ under the gun are folds is vital.
Also, try to make sure that when you’re first to enter the pot, you almost always enter with a raise. Open limping is a weak and pointless play, especially in games at the lower limits where you're practically guaranteed action, even if you raise. In early and middle position, you should be tight but be aggressive pre-flop (as usually is the case post-flop as well).
As you move to later positions, you can open up your play more, up to and including on the button when the pot is yet unopened you can raise with any ace, two face cards or any pair.
I can't give you a perfect hand chart because I don't know the game you play most (I assume it's NL cash games or tournaments) but usually you should play more hands in late position if no one has opened the pot, and when someone opens for a raise you should tighten up substantially. For low buy-in NL cash games, assuming you are a beginner to intermediate player, you should consider a book like "Mastering No-Limit Hold'em" by Russell Fox and Scott T. Harker – especially if you are relatively inexperienced. If you're a limit player, consider "Small Stakes Hold'em" by Miller, Sklansky and Malmuth. This book is good for low limit games for both hand selection and a lot of other important things (like strategies to protect your hands and deal with calling stations!).
when deciding what hands to play preflop, consider the strength of the hand in terms of high card or high pair strength first. (Example: AK and AQ have high card strength, AA-JJ have high pair strength etc.). This is more important than anything else is – especially when you are first to enter. Second, consider whether your hand has strength from being suited or connected, while remembering that being suited or connected is usually not enough on its own to warrant playing. Fold Q2 of diamonds in middle position even though you might play KQ of diamonds because KQd has suited AND connected AND high card strength but Q2 is only suited. After considering these items and your position, consider the texture of your table. Tighter games allow you to raise more so that you can steal the blinds. Looser games mean you should call with suited connectors more often if there is a lot of limpers and no raising before you act. Consider specific opponents if you know them well (eg. does the big blind often call raises? Are they tight and do they fold a lot?).
When you do decide to play a hand in early position, and you make your standard opening raise (which for no-limit should be 3 or 4 times the big blind), it should be pretty apparent whether or not someone who re-raises in late position is a threat or not. If you get dealt TT and raise to 4x the big blind under the gun, and a player in the cutoff seat (one from the button) re-raises to make it a total of 12x the big blind, you can assume you're either behind (to a larger pair) or it’s a coin flip situation (versus AK or AQs). Of course, sometimes you don't know where you stand based on the betting, and then you just have to proceed with caution. Many people will not reveal their true strength until the flop in NL or the turn in limit.
As for calling/raising or folding to big bets made from late position, assuming you have raised strongly before, give your opponent some credit and only re-raise with a real monster (like AA or KK) and be careful about getting into situations where you should fold but you call hoping you'll win. I think the book by Fox and Harker would help you a lot with calling raises preflop in low buy-in no-limit. Books are good for learning things like hand selection and positional play.
Good luck at the tables!
- Coach
 
| 
