Basic tactings and starting hands

[Grumbledook]

http://www.vcpoker.com/pokerschool/holdem/strategies.htm

right I found this page a semi helpful reference when I was starting out

Has a list of starting hands the stronger the better and also means what position you can play them from.

The strongest hands you can usually raise with or reraise to chase out the drawing hands. The weaker the hands get the later or nearer the dealer button you should play them as there is less chance of someone coming in behind you with a strong hand.

Also the more people who have called before you in the pot the better the medium hands come as there is enough money in the pot to justify the odds of you hitting the winning hand. If no one has called into the pot before you and you are in a late seat, then its usually either not worth calling with the medium to weak hands cause the pot is too small. So either fold with them or go in for a raise in the aim to "stealing the blinds".

So winning poker is down to the starting hands you play, the number of people who are in the pot and your position from the blinds/dealer. There is more too it than that but to start with getting to grips with those should help improve your game.

 

[Toby]

Thanks grum I found that quite useful.

 

[Nick]

The strongest hands you can usually raise with or reraise to chase out the drawing hands.

That's a must in my opinion, but sometimes it's better to raise slowly rather than raising a lot at the start. People then get this feeling, I've already put XX into the pot so if I fold now I'm losing what I've put in, I may as well follow it up by calling this raise too.

If no one has called into the pot before you and you are in a late seat, then its usually either not worth calling with the medium to weak hands cause the pot is too small. So either fold with them or go in for a raise in the aim to "stealing the blinds".

Another good one, if you're playing in a fairly big table then go for stealing the blinds, it's better than wasting a good hand if you have one.

 

[ShadowStorm]

Hehehehe...got my dad with that one...

 

[ericraider1]

i think it also depends on whether youre playing side games or tournaments. for side games, i generally only play the top ten hands preflop, a-a through 8-8, a-k, and a-q. this works pretty well for me. you have to be really patient playing this way though. in tournament play, you need to try to build your stack early so it lasts in the later rounds. this means you need to play a few more hands than just those ten. you still have to be somewhat patient, but you only have so much time before the blinds start to hurt you.

 

[woodsy44]

I agree with the above link for starting hands. I also stay on these hands and also a few others. At the beginning of a tourney when the blinds are low i go in on almost everything except for 23, 34, 24 etc. This is because you never know what cards will come out in the flop. If your cards do not come - you have only lost 10 or 20 or so on.

 

[RammerJammer]

Hey, that's a really solid site, Grumble. Thanks.

And to supplement, here's the link to the Tournament Strategies section on the same site. Some really good stuff here, too!

http://www.vcpoker.com/pokerschool/holdem/tournamentstrategy.htm