Position is one of the most important aspects in poker. Analyzing the hands preflop is of little use without knowing what position we are in, since only the first group of hands will always be played and the second on many occasions. What positions will we take into account before the community cards?
- Blinds: Here we will play with a wide range of cards, because on some occasions, if there are no previous strong bets, we will be able to play the pot against few players. If there are 9 players, a 7-8 doesn’t make the Top 10%, but if there are only 2, we’ll probably make the top 50%.
- Cutoff or dealer: Here we use fewer hands in our preflop strategy. If there are no previous bets, we will be between 4 or 5 players, and we must have the Top 20-25% of hands, and always with caution.
- Medium positions: The range is wide, because from 5th to 7th position things can change. Here practically only ‘premium’ or ‘semi-premium’ hands.
- UTG: If we open our hand, we only use the best 10% of cards, that is, the premium group and/or some of the ‘semi-premium’.
These groups of hands will depend on the previous bets. Obviously, if there is a raise and another ‘re-raise’, we will automatically go to the UTG bar. on the other hand, if there is a timid raise or a ‘call’, perhaps we will accept two groups of hands to enter. On many occasions, we will have to play desperate. If you have 20 blinds or less, the yardstick will go down, and if you have 10 or less, a lot of hands will probably be worth an all-in.
Preflop game reading, strategy
The preflop in poker helps us to read our rivals, and at the same time, it is a determining factor to decide if we enter or not, and how we do it. If a player always comes calling but with a much more open group of hands than the one proposed in this article, we are talking about a ‘loose-passive’ player, while a ‘tight-aggressive’ player will do just the opposite: play few hands. with violence.
The ‘loose-aggressive’, on the contrary, will play many hands aggressively, while the rocks are the ones that will be in a corner, silently, waiting for the AA to think about whether to play. Adapting your style to meet and win the different types of poker players, but without losing your bases, will be key.
When they pay, I go up…
“When you call, I raise, when you check, I bet” is a saying taken to an extreme, but very useful in correct poker strategies. A raise can give us a pot, as well as player information. If we want to be a shark at the table, a ‘tight-aggressive’, it will be necessary to select the hands well but play them violently.
Our preflop strategy will only contemplate making a ‘call’ in those hands that we are looking for a project with players in hand, and/or keeping rivals on the table. Although it may seem easy in writing, implementing it in real money poker games is not. For this reason, strategy and theory must always be accompanied by practice.