Amid all the volumes of poker strategy articles, I thought it might be nice to give some advice that might actually help and save players a few dollars.
What is pre-game prep in regards to poker? You've been working on your bluffing skills, pot odds and hand selection and many other things, but do you know what you are going to call? Pre-game prep is about grading your hands in relation to how much hard earned cash you are willing to invest in them.
Obviously, if some dipstick goes all in pre-flop and you have AA, you will call. (Keep in mind, you can still lose and if all your cash is on the table including the rent money, perhaps it would be better to wait until you have a "nut" flush with the A in your hand.) But, what about 10-7 offsuit? 8-9 suited? A-3 offsuit? I'll tell you one thing, the player that is going to take your money knows what he will call.
Pre-game Prep is about what you are going to call before the flop. This is a calling strategy to get you in games with the best cards possible, not a betting strategy. I am probably not as tight a player as most experts would like, but I'm far from a loose cannon. As an example, here are some basic pre-flop guidelines:
- I will call most hands (except 2-3, 2-4 and the like) as long as the bet is no more than 2 times the blind.
- I will call with any of the top 30 opening hands as long as the bet is no more than 8 to 10 times the blind.
- For bets over 10 times the blind, I will call with top 10 opening hands, preferable top 5.
- #1 is based on the assumption that you are going to flop a set/flush or straight often enough to cover all the lost bets. May not prove out mathematically, but seems to be true in the real world.
- #2 If you can play with the top 30 hands most of the time, you should have a pretty good game.
- #3 For all my chips, there is a top 6: AA KK QQ JJ AKsuited and AQsuited. For all-in before the flop, I would prefer AK & AQ.
This should be used as a guideline, particularly item #1 and #2. I think you'll find as you tighten up your starting hand selection you will win more often.
Pre-game Prep II
Assuming you got in cheap with a good starting hand, what's next?
Duh, hit the flop. At this point you have 71% of your hand. You need a pair, four-to a straight or flush or something that gets your heart racing. If not, fold.
This is where you'll lose most of your money and where bad beats begin. You need to decide whether a high pair is worth 10 times the blind, 20 times the blind or an all-in. Not as hard as it sounds. For an all-in before the flop, you would probably call with AA,KK or AK. Do the same for hands that you might have after the flop. For example, call all-in with trips, a straight or flush after the flop. What's a high two pair worth, a four flush?
Next is the turn. Improve on the turn. If not fold. If your hand isn't made after the flop, then it should be made after the turn. This is when you should decide what bet will extract the most money from your opponents and look for slow players waiting to nail you.
And the river- If you don't think you have the best hand now, why are you in it?
This is really a fall-back strategy. When things are not going well. If you get in cheap, hit the flop and improve on the turn, you will win a lot of poker hands. Call it CHI for cheap, hit, improve. The primary obstacle to this strategy is patience. You will not play a lot of hands, will probably not get a whole lot of action and will be considered a pretty tight player. On the upside, you will walk away from the table with more money than you started with. I believe that's how we decide the winners in Poker.
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