Which hands to play pre-flop?

Video to the Article 

You found a good table, bought in and are finally part of the
action. Your two hole cards appear in front of you, and now you have
to ask yourself if your hand is good or bad, and what to actually do
with it.

This is what you will learn in the following article. Your position at the
table influences your playing style, and based on this, you will
learn which cards to play in the first betting round.

Video: Pre-flop
.
	You can also watch the content of this article in video format.  Simply click the picture in order to open the video. You should still read the article though, in order to ensure that you have really understood the strategy.  Your bankroll with be thankful.

2. The first step: What is your position at the table?

Position is in fact only another way of representing how many
players will still act behind you. From a logical point of view this is important, because the more
players there are behind you, the higher the probability that one of
them has a better hand.

Therefore: The more opponents act behind you, so the earlier your
position is, the better your own hand has to be.

Starting from the dealer, you count the seats counter-clockwise

To determine your own position, you start at the current dealer
(Button) and count the seats between you and him counter-clockwise.
Take a look at the following chart:

Blinds		Late		Middle		Early

As you probably already noticed, there are four different groups
of position:

• 2 late positions
  The
  dealer himself and the player to his right represent the late
  position.

• 3 middle positions
  The
  following three players are the middle position.

• 3 early positions
  Subsequently,
  the next three are in early position as they always have to act
  early in each betting round.

• 2 blind positions
  The two players who paid the blinds make up their own group. The player next to the dealer
  is the small blind, followed by the big blind.

What if a player leaves the table? When this happens, the first
early position simply drops out. Thus there are only two early
positions instead of three. If another player leaves the table, only
one early position remains.

3. The second step: Is your hand worth playing?

Only after knowing your own position, which only takes a bit of
practice, you take a look at your cards. Maybe you have a pair of queens or a pair of eights. What do you do with them?

The Starting Hands Chart shows you how to play your cards

The answer to this question can be found in a practical overview
created by our No Limit experts, the Starting Hands Chart (SHC). In
this tabular summary you can figure out which hands you play in which
way, depending on your position and what other players have done
before you.

Starting-Hands-Chart Hands Raises in front of you Early Pos. Middle Pos. Late Pos. Blinds AA, KK Doesn't matter Raise QQ, JJ None Raise AK One Raise   More than one Fold TT, 99 None Fold Raise AQ One or more Fold 88, 77 None Fold Raise AJ, KQ One or more Fold

In
the left column called “Hands” you find every playable card
combinations. If your hand isn't listed, it isn't worth playing. Yes,
there aren't that many, but that's the core of the short stack strategy after all. If your hand isn't in the chart, you muck it.

A

Ace

K

King

Q

Queen

J

Jack

T

Ten

9

Nine

The
second column tells you which options you have if one or more
opponents have already raised in front of you. Of course you play
differently if there have been raises as this usually represents
strong hands.

Your
position tells you which column to check. If you are in early
position, you look at the third column. If you are in either the
small or the big blind, you look at the last column.

4. The third step: How much do you raise?

As you have probably noticed, you always raise when you enter the pot.
But how much do you raise? There are a few simple rules to consider:

• If you are the first to enter the
  pot, you bet 4 times the big blind.

• If other players already joined
  the pot but only limped (only paid the big blind), you bet 4 times
  the big blind plus one more big blind for each limper.

• If somebody made a bet and nobody
  called, you raise 3 times the amount of his bet.

• If somebody made a bet and exactly
  one player called, you raise 4 times the amount of the initial bet.
  If two players called, you raise 5 times the amount of the initial bet. With three callers, you raise 6 times, etc.

There is one big exception though: If your raise would commit more
than half of your money, you push everything across the line. You go all in.

Ace Jack This example shows you how to act when several players limped, but nobody made a raise yet.

King Queen Here as well several players limp. You have King Queen in middle position. What to do?

Two Jacks You are in early position with a pair of jacks. Two opponents put you under massive pressure. Is your hand still good?

5. What do you do if somebody raises after you?

Sometimes you face a situation in which you have a good hand, but
another player re-raises after you. What to do then? The starting hands chart doesn't help you in this case.

In this situation you only have two options: Either you fold, or
you bet all your money and push all-in. The decision itself though is easily
calculated. A key factor is the ratio between your remaining amount
of money, and the size of your initial raise.

If for example you raised to $0.40 and are left with $1.60, your
ratio is $1.60 : $0.40, or also 4:1. The following chart shows you
when to push all-in with your hand or when to fold.

An opponent raises behind you. When do you go all-in? Your remaining money : Your original raise You go all-in with... 4:1 or higher AA, KK, QQ, JJ AK Between 4:1 and 2,5:1 AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT AK, AQ 2,5:1 or less With every hand you raised with

Let's imagine you have Ace Queen (AQ) and raised to $0.40. One
player behind you re-raises to $1.20, and you are left with $1.70. Do
you push all-in?

No, you muck your hand. The ratio between your remaining money in
comparison to your initial raise is $1.70 : $0.40, which is a bit
more than 4:1. According to the chart though you only push all-in
with AQ if the ratio is smaller than 4:1.

Ace Jack Case A Ace Jack in late position isn't such a bad hand. But then an opponent stirs up trouble. How to continue?

Ace Jack Case B In this example you are in a similar situation, but something has changed.

6. Conclusion

Congratulations! With this article you already learned a major
part of the short stack strategy. You now know that your playing
style depends on your position, and the starting hands chart tells
you which cards to play.

You also learned how to calculate the correct size of your bets. 4 big blinds + 1 big blind per limper if nobody raised yet. If there
has been one raise, you re-raise 3 times the amount of the initial
bet + 1 bet for each caller.

And finally you learned how to react when other players re-raise
behind you. You simply check how much your own raise was and how much
money you have left. In the chart, which you can also find in the handout again, you can check if you push all-in then or not.

In the next article How
do you play after the flop?, you learn how to continue after the
first three community cards have been put down on the board.

7. Appendix: Answers

Question 1: How are the positions of the players determined at the poker table?	a)		By the position of the current dealer.
Question 2: How many early positions are there at a poker table with 10 players?	c)		3
Question 3: How many middle positions are there at a poker table with 10 players?	c)		3
Question 4: When players leave the table, which positions drop out first?	a)		The early positions
Question 5: When four of the intial ten players have left the table, how many middle positions are there?	b)		2
Question 6: KK signifies which hand?	b)		Two kings
Question 7: You have two eights, nobody raised in front of you, and you are in late position. What do you do?	c)		Raise
Question 8: You have two sixes, nobody raised in front of you, and you are in late position. What do you do?	b)		Fold
Question 9: You have two queens and a player raises in front of you. What do you do?	c)		Raise
Question 10: You have Ace King. A player in front of you raises, another one re-raises. What do you do?	b)		Fold
Question 11: You play NL10, so the big blind is $0.10. Nobody entered the pot yet. How much do you raise?	b)		$0.40
Question 12: You play NL10, so the big blind is $0.10. Two players in front of you entered the pot, but only limped. How much do you raise now?	b)		$0.60
Question 13: One player raised to $0.40, and another one called. You want to re-raise. How much?	a)		$1.60
Question 14: You want to raise. When do you push all-in immediately?	c)		When you would have to invest more than half of your money with your raise.
Question 15: If another player re-raises behind you, what won't you do in any case?	c)		Call
Question 16: If you push all-in depends on your previous raise. Which other value depends on it?	a)		The amount of your remaining money.
Question 17: You raised to $0.50 with 77 and are left with $1.50. One player behind you re-raises. What do you do?	c)		Fold
Question 18: You raised to $0.50 with TT and are left with $1.50. One player behind you re-raises. What do you do?	b)		Push all-in