Introduction

I was at the local card club the other night playing $4/$8 limit Texas Holdem and I noticed something about one of the players there. He claimed to be a good player, but I noticed that he made a lot of mistakes while he played. One of the largest leaks in his game was his preflop play. After studying this player I began to notice that he was not the only one at the table making these mistakes and that's when I thought to myself that there are many people who simply do not know how to play their hands preflop.

I learned Texas Holdem from the books. "Play tight, but be aggressive," David Sklansky says. "Play tight and also play aggressive," Doyle Brunson says. "Play the top hands and be aggressive," Phil Hellmuth says. All of these authors have 3 things in common. They are all professional level Texas Holdem players, they all suggest playing tight and they all suggest playing aggressive. Let me teach you the lessons that I have learned from these authors and use their strategy with the example of the players at my $4/$8 table.

The first hand I noticed the first player, we'll call him John, make a big mistake on was when he was under the gun. My general poker strategy for under the gun play is "If it's good enough to call with, it's good enough to raise with." You must play very tight and very aggressive when you are under the gun, but this player called with A7o. If you want to win at Texas Holdem in limit games such as these you should only be raising in this position. The hands you should be playing are AA, KK, AKs, QQ, AK, JJ, AQs, AQo, or AJs, any other hands you should fold. The first position is the most critical position at the table and when you are first deciding whether to get into a pot you have no information about the hands your rivals could have in their hands.

Just as in any situation, this strategy can be changed a little bit depending on your table. Sometimes it is okay to just call rather than raise. The only time this is okay is when you have AA, KK, QQ, and sometimes AKs and the table is a loose aggressive game. Call from under the gun and let some other chump raise the pot for you. When the action gets back to you, reraise! Make it two more bets for the next person to call you if they want to see a flop. The purpose of your just calling under the gun was to get these fish to limp in and let the aggressive fish raise you preflop. This way you get the extra money in the pot with the best possible hand and you win more bets. I usually outright raise with AKs, there is no need to backraise with your hand if you do not have a pair already.

John had made a big mistake calling with A7o. It would have been a better move for him to raise. Why? Because if he would have raised I would have folded my A10o in late position because I would have given him a little bit more respect and less players would have entered the pot. Four players saw the flop in this particular hand and the flop came down Ah Js 4s. The small blind checked and the big blind bet. John was faced with the decision of whether to call or to raise, but he just called with his ace. The action was on my and it was 1 small bet to call, but I wanted to find out exactly how strong the big blind's hand was (since the big blind can have just about any two cards) so I raised the bet. The small blind folded, the big blind called and John called. The turn card was 6d which I knew didn't help anybody. I put the big blind on a flush draw after he checked to John. But then John bet out into me. Being the aggressive player that I am I made a quick raise in hopes to eliminate the big blind and get heads up with John, which is exactly what happened. John just called me again so I was pretty sure he didn't have two pair and was just trying to buy another card or making another mistake. The river came As and John checked to me. I bet out with my AAAJ10 and John raised me. I know it was pretty obvious by the way he played the hand that he had an ace in his hand so I reraised him and he called. He laid down his hand and said "Trip aces," so I layed mine down and said "10 kicker." John lost and I picked up a nice size pot.

John was upset that he had lost, but if he would have followed the correct preflop strategy from the start, he would not have lost the $52 that he had lost ($4 preflop, $8 flop, $16 turn, $24 river). Now if he played his strategy right he would have won a $120 pot. He would have won $68 rather than losing $52. So if you look at it, this preflop mistake not only cost him $52, it really cost him $120 because if he would have played an AJ or better in the same situation I probably would have gone until at least the turn and he would have won. Now you can see why your preflop strategy for playing under the gun is so important. There are always a few good players and sometimes a shark like me observing every move you make and every tick you make at the table. Once we pick up on the way you play and the mistakes you make we exploit it to the fullest extent that we can and before you know it you've lost $200 in less than 3 hours just like John did.

Preflop Strategy

There are many mistakes being made preflop. To fix the leaks in your game I suggest you follow the following preflop strategy until you get a feel of the game and the players that you are playing with.

First position / under the gun: Raise with AA, KK, AKs, QQ, AK, JJ, AQs, AQo, or AJs.
Call: NONE.

Early position: Raise with same hands plus 1010, AJ, KQs.
Call:KQo

Middle position: Raise with same hands plus KQo, KJs, QJs
Call A10s, A10o, KJo, QJo, K10s, 99, 88

Late position: Raise with same hands plus A10s, K10s, KJo, QJo, 99, 88
Call with 77, 66, 55, Q10s, Q10o, K10o, J10s, J10o, J9s

Remember that this is also subjective. Sometime you don't raise exactly as this chart says. You are only raising as this chart says when you have no raises before you and few players calling before you. This chart represents the raises you should make if you have 1-3 players calling before you.

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