winning poker strategy

Preflop is one fot the most misplayed street in Texas Hold'em. Some of the biggest preflop mistakes include:

1) Playing too many hands
2) Failing to secure good position for the hand
3) Giving away information about your hand by the size of your raise
4) Calling other player's preflop raises too often

This article will look into the four biggest mistakes made preflop, and will help you start your hands off right.

Playing Too Many Hands
It's not easy to fold KJ, QT, or A9. They seem like they can win us a pot enough of the time that limping seems tempting. After all, when we flop a big hand we can win back our investment right? The problem with this logic is that it ignores the eality of poker. Yes, you will win the odd big pot with each of these hands. However, you also have to account for the big pots you are losing with these hands.

King Jack is dominated by AK, KQ, and AJ. Worse yet, when you hit a really nice flop, like J 4 2 rainbow, all of the money you have in front of you is going in the middle. Stacking off on this flop is almost always the correct play. The problem is, if another player was active preflop and is now playing for stacks, you are losing to a better hand far more often than you are winning here. The occasional 9 10 Q, or 10 Q A, flop isn't going to make up enough ground to justify putting yourself in these kinds of situations on a regular basis.
King Jack, and other similar hands, are raisable hands. However, you want to be raising into a minimal number of players, and you want a high probability that you are going to have position. Some situations where King Jack should be raised include from the button, in the big blind if it's just you and the small blind, in heads-up games, and in the later stages of Sit and Go's when the blinds are getting high and there aren't many players left.

In every case above you are the one raising, and you are minimizing the chances that a hand that dominates you is going to be out there. In every case above there are very few players left who haven't made a decision yet.

Most players get sucked into playing too many hands because they limp in, and then feel as if they have an investment in the pot. In a $1/$2 game a player will often limp under the gun with KJ then call the buttons raise to $8 because they have already paid $2, and feel that they should at least see what the flop looks like.
You are risking everything you have in front of you just because you have $2 in the pot which you can't let go of. In addition, you will miss the flop completely most of the time. The other player has the lead in betting which means statistically they will win more than you will. If they have position as well then you are definitely throwing away money over the long run.

There are actually dozens of hands that people call with that put them in even more trouble including junky Aces, QT, and J9. Also, I'm not entirely certain when this happened, but everybody seems to be stacking off with K2 these days in Sit and Go's.
Unless the blinds are about to eat your stack, being patient is not as big of a mistake as playing too many hands is. Wait for good situations where you have an advantage. Seeing every flop you can is not a profitable preflop strategy.

Failing To Secure Position
Anybody who has ever read anything about poker has been told this repeatedly - position is important. For most players this goes in one ear and straight out the other. They will say "Yeah, yeah, position is important, I know that", but then they make preflop plays that almost guarantee them to have a player or two with
position on them.You have to choose the size of every preflop raise you make with position in mind. You want to maximize the chance of driving out the players behind
you while encouraging one, or possibly two, out of position players to call
you. If there are limpers in front of you then you already have players who want to see a flop. You should raise more with limpers in front of you to discourage the players behind you from trying to come along. As a general rule add at least one big blind for every limper. If they almost never fold then add another one if you think they will pay it. This may mean that you raise 6 to 8 big blinds before the flop with a hand like QQ one time, and then only 3 to 4 big blinds the next time. So many players just raise 3 BB or 4 BB because they want to be "hard to read". The problem with this strategy is, you want to be hard to beat, not hard to read. Being hard to read is only a means to an end. That end is being hard to beat.
When you raise with your position in mind - you are much harder to read. The more factors you work into your preflop raising amount the more random your bets are going to seem.
We talk more about the factors that should go into your raise below, but for now just remember that limping maximizes the chance that you are going to be out of position for the hand. Limping into a hand is basically throwing away any chance you have to take position. Sometimes a min-raise with JT or QJ is all you need to capture position for the hand. If nothing else, it juices the pot a bit and raises the chance that you will win a big pot if you connect.

Giving Your Hand Away With Your Bet Size
There are a number of theories about optimal bet sizing. Let's look into a few of them:

Betting the same amount all of the time
I ripped into this one above because it lacks the ability to account for limpers in front, and potential action behind you. More than that, this strategy doesn't account for the differences between hands that play well multi-way and hands that play better against a small field. Your preflop raise has the potential to do so many things for you, and this strategy accomplishes none of them.

Betting the same amount based on your position
Phil Gordon did a pro tip that pitches a system where you raise two and a half times the big blind from early position, three times the BB from middle, and four times the big blind in late position. This again does little as far as buying the button goes, and it doesn't help you to select how many people will call you. I know Phil Gordon doesn't actually follow these requirements as I have seen him play, so I am not entirely certain why he would write a pro tip that makes players believe that preflop play is that simple.

Stay Flexible
Don't have some systematic approach to raising that limits your options. There is only one rule you need to follow to choose how much to raise:

Rule #1 - Decide how many people you want to call you, and figure out how to maximize the chance that you get that number of callers. If two players have limped in front of you and you have three potential players behind you raise it somewhere between 5-8 big blinds. If they are tight players go with five. If they are very aggressive and call big raises light then go 7 or 8.
You always want one caller with strong hands like AA, AK, KQ, or QQ. That is the most profitable situation you can get with these hands. So before you raise ask yourself how you can end up with exactly one caller, and try to make that happen.
The second benefit to playing this way is that you are hard to read - which is the only benefit of the two systems above. The two systems above sacrifice profit to achieve the goal of being hard to read, while following this rule will accomplish the same goal without sacrificing anything.
Nobody can read a player who raises from middle position four big blinds with AQ sometimes, and eight big blinds other times. Better yet, if they see you raising eight big blinds with AQ, they aren't going to suspect you of having AA later on when you raise eight big blinds. That means that you can often get more money in the pot preflop with your big hands. Your preflop raises have to do some work for you. They have to select the number of callers you want. They also have to discourage action from people who will have position on you, while encouraging at least one call from a player you have position on. If raising 6, 8, or 10 BB will create the situation you want, then do it.
Finally, in order to accurately predict the number of callers you will get you have to read your table well. You have to know who almost never calls a raise, and who will call a big preflop raise with K2 offsuit. When you understand what hands each player is willing to call a preflop raise with you will be able to select better raise sizes to achieve your goals.

Calling Preflop Raises Too Often
There's too much calling in poker these days. The person who raises last preflop will win the pot an overwhelming majority of the time. Calling isn't winning poker. If your only motivation to call somebody's raise is that you have already invested a big blind you have essentially risked your entire stack because you were pot committed to the amount you limped with.


Calling is for suited connectors and low pocket pairs. That's the whole list of hands that calling is correct with in most situations. Calling is not for KJ, Q9, A8, or anything else that will flop you a second best hand more often than it flops you the winner. If you really want to play these hands take the lead by raising before the flop. When you limp/call your decisions aren't clear. Is your opponent's raise on the flop just a continuation bet, or did they connect? Now you have to reraise just to find out, and by that point you often get sucked into playing until the end. It is a fundamental maxim of poker that raising is better than calling. When you raise you have fold equity. When you raise you are in the captain's chair. When you raise you have the chance of buying the button. When you call, you often have a second best hand that wasn't strong enough to raise with, but that you just can't fold. Worse still, your opponent did raise, so their range includes every hand that is crushing your hand.