Poker When To Fold Preflop

Pre flop hand ranges in Texas Hold’em are the framework for any hand that is played. Without a proper understanding of which hands should be played pre flop, no player will be able to effectively play post flop. Imagine players who were blindly calling raises, or even making raises, without even knowing which cards they were holding.

Needless to say, this is far from an optimal strategy. Actual pre flop hand ranges are very situational and are always changing. The hands that you play at a loose table will be quite different than the hands you would play at a super tight table. This is an example of some very basic table dynamics that should be considered whenever you are trying to identify a solid pre flop hand range. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and hand ranges are much more intricate than this.

Dec 05, 2016  4-betting preflop. 4-betting depends completely on the 3-bet range of your opponents. If your opponent is only 3-betting AA and KK, then you can only 4-bet AA against your opponent. You can use the poker statistic folded to 4-bet preflop (F4B) to help with your decision. If we use the gorilla maths method outlined in Poker Satellite Strategy. Could this spot near a satellite bubble be a time to fold aces preflop? Read and decide yourself.

  • Preflop is the most played and important street in poker, so today we are going to lay out 12 preflop mistakes that beginners (and even some pros) consistently make. I see players making these mistakes all the time, but almost all of them can be rectified with some simple adjustments.
  • Sep 10, 2018  The app also has the fastest and most accurate equity calculator for all streets - Preflop, flop, turn and river. We have training modules to train different aspects of Poker. Pot Odds, Equity Drills, Shove/Fold Charts Trainer, Combinatorics are some of the.
  • Oct 23, 2018  What is your plan when you call the preflop raise, miss the flop, and face pressure? If you are going to play most flops fit-or-fold after calling, was calling preflop really best? If you 3bet preflop and your opponent calls, what is your flop plan both when you hit and miss?

Table Dynamics

There are a handful of primary variables that should be analyzed whenever determining which hands should and should not be played. Some of these dynamics are completely obvious, while others will be much tougher to notice. Great poker players will tweak their ranges down to the smallest detail, be it position, history, or someone’s mood.

A lot of poker players like to try and set up pre flop hand ranges as if they are doing math, but it is much more of a science. Adjustments to any number of table dynamics will play a large role in whether or not you are playing with solid hand ranges.

The looseness or tightness of a table should be the first factor that you look at whenever trying to figure out which hands to play pre flop. For the most part, determining whether a table is tight or loose is quite easy. You don’t need hours of experience or past history to tell just how a game tends to be playing. It is worth noting that sometimes a table will be neither tight or loose, in which case you should still be adjusting your hand ranges accordingly.

If a table is playing very loose, your goal as a winning player should be to tighten up a little bit. This might seem like odd advice since your opponents will be playing many more hands than they should be. If you really think about it, though, playing tight at a loose table only makes sense. Pretend that you are driving a car on a road with all kinds of reckless drivers. You wouldn’t start driving like a maniac just because everyone else is doing it.

In fact, anyone with common sense would instead drive more controlled and with a higher level of awareness and concentration. It works the exact same way when you are at a poker table with a number of reckless players. If you start to loosen up you will be playing right into their hands. Loose tables are the easiest way to win a lot of fast money in poker. Don’t waste your time trying to exploit players who couldn’t find the fold button on the screen if they had a gun to their hand. Let them donate their money by waiting around for a strong hand.

Tight tables work in the exact opposite way of loose tables. Instead of tightening up, you should be widening your pre flop ranges. Start to play some hands that you would otherwise be throwing away. You should be doing this because tight players will generally allow you to walk all over them. Most of the money to be made in a tight game comes from solid pre flop play.

Pick apart the players who fold everything but aces and kings by raising and re raising and forcing folds. If you do get some resistance, though, be prepared to let go of your hand. When a tight player starts to fight back, it usually means they have something very strong.

Position

Position is one of the most important factors in almost any regard when it comes to poker strategy. As a general rule of thumb for pre flop hand ranges, early position players should play tight, middle position players should be a bit looser, and late position players should be the loosest.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should be 5 betting all in pre flop with 8-6 when you are the last to act, but it does mean that you should be going after easy pots. A lot of players are afraid of playing pots out of position, even when they have a decent hand. To exploit this weakness you should be making the occasional re raise pre flop with random pocket pairs or hands that you would usually flat call or make an open raise with.

Just as late position gives you an opportunity to pick up uncontested pots with relative ease, early position will make your life difficult. When you have a weaker hand in early or even middle position, don’t even waste your time. Players who play wide ranges of hands from earlier positions often find themselves looking for the re buy button.

Becoming good at online poker. Sep 19, 2017  If you love playing poker and are good at it, you’ve probably dreamed about the professional poker player life. Make sure it’s an informed decision here. This is true for both online or live poker. A casino can become a noxious environment when you spend all your time there, and the pace of play can be frustrating. Likewise, sitting in.

Never underestimate the value of winning a number of small pots by opening up in later position - you might just find that it serves as a large portion of your total earnings. Small-ball poker may not be fun but it sure is profitable.

Examples of Preflop Play

Now I'll explain some real-life examples of how I would play certain hands from certain positions:

Early Position

Early position will require that you are focusing on a stronger range of hands. In a 6-Max or full ring game, plan on raising with any pocket pair and big face cards. This is not a time to limp in (ever) or to raise with random suited connectors. Minimize the risk involved with playing out of position by sticking to solid hands.

Middle Position

Middle position allows for some more flexibility than early position, but you should still be extremely wary of suited connectors and other more speculative hands. In MP you can open with marginal aces like A9, AT, and AJ, but don’t make a habit of raising with any ace. Pocket pairs are still always worthy of a raise.

If someone has made an open raise in front of you, consider making a flat call with pairs and bigger hands like KQ, AJ, and AQ. Your three betting range should be along the lines of TT or JJ+ and AK.

Late Position

Late position is the time where you can do a little bit of free lancing. Take chances and try to experiment with hands that you wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to play. If you think someone is being a little too aggressive pre flop, go ahead and make a light three bet and see what happens.

Always aim for max value in late position when you have a big hand and look to force out the stragglers who are hoping to outdraw you with little risk. Late position is always be the most profitable position on the table.

Expert Concepts:
1. When to Fold
2. Big Mistakes
3. River Betting
4. Hold'em Edges
5. Adv. Game Selection
6. Expected Utility
7. Expected Utility 2
8. Poker Professionals
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Note: This article only applies to Fixed-Limit Hold'em
Most decent players have a pretty good understanding about when to fold preflop. The decision you make preflop is a crucial one, and is covered extensively on this site (see Longhand Limit and Dynamic Hand Value). Simply put, you want to play premium hands preflop. In terms of marginal hands, you want to play suited connectors and small pairs more when it is a multi-way pot and less so when it is about three people seeing the flop. For big cards such as AJ or KT, the opposite is the case. Be more willing to play these hands in a heads up or three way situation. Always fold garbage hands like Q 5.
Again, these preflop decisions are important, but they are not the whole story. There are three rounds of betting postflop, and the decisions you make are not automatic. Surely, pot odds will help you, especially if you are on a draw, but what do you do if you have a made hand but are unsure of where you are in the hand?

Poker Hands To Fold Preflop





Suppose the pot was raised preflop, and you have pot odds to go ahead and call the flop. What do you do on the turn? This is a judgment call. If someone bets the turn and someone raises and another player calls, you can rest assured that your Jacks are not good and go ahead and fold. However, what if someone bets, everyone else folds and it's to you? What is the correct decision?
Small Mistakes vs. Big Mistakes
In limit hold'em, the bets are a small fraction of the pot. This encourages action because it is cheaper to see a showdown. This aspect of Limit appeals to fish and new players who like to 'see cards.'Poker When To Fold Preflop
Most bad players lose money at limit hold'em over time and not one any one big hand. This is because they continually make small mistakes. They call when they do not have pot odds, or they continue to call when they are clearly beat. Every time you call when you shouldn't, you are making a small mistake.
A big mistake at limit hold'em is folding when you should not have. I do not mean folding early and then later finding out you would have hit a miracle river. I mean folding when you have the best hand late in the pot.

Suppose you raised the pot preflop and there were 3 callers (8 small bets). It is checked around to you. You bet, someone raises, 2 people call, you call. The 5 falls on the turn. The raiser bets, the other players fold.

Upswing Poker Preflop Chart


Right now, there are a total of 18 small bets in the pot (8 preflop, 8 flop, 2 turn; remember that a big bet is equivalent to two small bets). What should you do? You are probably beat. However, if you call on the turn and the river, you will invest a total of 4 small bets. If you call to the river, there will be a total of 24 small bets in the pot, so you must win this pot 16.7% or more of the time in order for a call down to be appropriate. Assuming you have 5 outs (which is not the case if he has KQ or AK, but let's just assume), you have a 10.9% chance of drawing out. You only need to be about 6% confident (16.7% - 10.9%) that you have him beat. This is very small indeed!
Thus, you should probably go ahead and call down, even though you probably are beat. However, many weak-tight players will fold this, which is a disaster if the other player is bluffing or is on a draw.
So When to Fold?

Poker Hands To Fold


Poker Preflop Equity Chart

Basically, there are two major decisions to be made at limit hold'em. The first happens preflop, whether to play your hand or not, and the second decision is to be made on the turn. The flop decision is not that important because most of the time you will just be making or calling a small bet; this is a decision that can be made almost entirely based on pot odds.
The second major decision is on the turn. Assuming you call the turn, you should call the river because it would be a disaster to fold the winning hand on the river. Calling the turn and the river means investing 2 big bets, equivalent to 4 small bets. Assuming the pot is raised preflop and just one bet is made postflop, you would have only invested 3 bets to see the turn. Thus, you can fold at the turn and lose slightly less than half the money you would have lost had you called to a showdown.

Best Poker Folds

The river is not the time to fold your hand. The only exceptions to this are when you missed a draw (such as a small flush draw) or if there is so much betting and raising that you know you are beat.

Next Article: Big Mistakes vs. Small Mistakes


Poker Preflop Chart

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