Middle Position
Once two or three players have folded, you’re in a little better position.
You’ve only got five or six players yet to act and two of them are in the blinds, who will be in a weak position relative to you after the flop. You can add a lot of hands to your list of hands to open with.
Late Position
Infrequently, you’ll be in late position, and everyone who has acted ahead of you has folded.
If this happens frequently,you’re in too tight a game and should move to another table. Or go home and watch reruns of Gilligan’s Island.
When it does happen, you can safely open with a lot more hands than you can in early position.
The Small Blind
If everyone has folded except the blinds, and you’re in the small blind, you should aggressively go after the blinds at least half the time.
The tighter and the more passive the player on the bigs blind tends to be, the more often you should attack the blinds when the situation arises.
Opening Hands When You’re First In
In the last table, I suggest K 6
as a minimum-suited King to open with from late position, when you’re either last or next to last before the blinds.
To many people K 6
doesn’t seem to be all that much different a hand than K
2
.
This is because, if you flop a King, then in either case if someone else also has a King, your hand will likely be beaten by a kicker.
The flush draw potential of the two hands is the same, and the difference between a pair of Kings with a 6 kicker and a pair of Kings with a 2 kicker isn’t much.
Also, two pair with Kings and 6s aren’t much different than two pair with Kings and 2s.
All that’s true, but the difference between a 2 and a 6
is still fairly large, particularly when you’re opening from late position.
I suggest the K 6
as a minimum if you’re one of the last two players (the button and one to the right of the button).
In this case you’re got two or three possible callers.
You’re not really looking to flop a flush draw-odds are pretty weak for that with at most two or three callers.
The flush possibility only adds a very little when you’re first in from late position.
In the same position I suggest K,7 unsuited as a minimum opening unsuited King.
Against such few opponents, the King can sometimes even win just with its high-card value.
Flopping “second pair” (pairing the second highest card on the flop) is a good hand in a short-handed game, and if only three or four of you haven’t folded, that’s the situation you’re in.
so, pairing the King is probably enough, and you won’t need a kicker. The King is actually the kicker here.
The 6 can flop second pair, and second pair with a good kicker is a strong hand in a short-handed confrontation. A deuce or trey isn’t going to be flopping second pair much.
That’s the difference between K 6
and K
2
. Very small cards like 2 through 5 will flop “bottom pair” too often.
Very small pairs will often be beaten by second pair, but a small card as large as 6 or 7 is often just large enough to make a difference. Another major difference between the 6 and a 2 is overcards.
If you pair a 2 on the flop, then every card that comes on the turn or river is an overcard to your pair, bringing a risk of beating you by pairing a card in the hand of an opponent.
If you flop the bottom pair with a 6, then only six overcards might make someone a larger pair on the turn or river. This is a big difference.
Entering a Public Cardroom / The Play of the Game / The First Betting Round