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When You’re First to Call

The criteria to use when deciding to play when no one else has called yet are different from the criteria that are important when deciding to call when another player has already opened the betting.

When no one else has opened yet, there will be some players who have folded, leaving you with a smaller field to worry about beating, and the only money that’s in the pot is the money from the blinds.

Under the Gun

When you’re under the gun, the very first player to act, there are nine other players who have not yet acted. You’re in a vulnerable position, and you’ll be in a vulnerable position at every betting round.

Only your best hands should be played-those that figure to be good enough to beat eight or nine random hands.

In first or second position, you just shouldn’t be playing many hands, the risk of getting raised by a better hand is just too great.

Early Position

In the next two positions, when one or two players have folded and seven or eight players are yet to act, you’re still in a pretty vulnerable position.

You can open with a couple of additional hands that are slightly more risky than the hands you can open with under the gun.

At a tough table, all these added hands have a potential to make an expensive second-best hand.

Waiting until a couple of early players have folded reduces those chances enough to make them profitable hands, even at a somewhat tough table.

Legend: Ax s. means an Ace and another lower card of the same suit.
Kx s. means a King and another lower card of the same suit.

Ax means an Ace and another card of a different suit from the Ace.
Kx means a King and another lower card of a different suit from the king.

NOTE: An entry like A 9 means that hand and any better hands. A 9 represents A K , a Q , a J , a 10 , a 9 of course, of any suit. The entry 6 3 means 6 5 , 6 4 or 6 3 , again of any suit. The next four tables are to be read in the same way.

Entering a Public Cardroom / The Play of the Game / The First Betting Round

The Flop / The Last Two Cards / Some Overrated Concepts