Limit Strategy - Big Poker

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Playing solid profitable limit hold’em is a matter of starting hand selection, position and understanding pot odds. If your not familiar with pot odds you will find a section devoted to pot odds in almost every poker book on the market.

Position is the most overlooked part of hold’em when players first start learning the game. The later you act each round, the more information you will have to make decisions with and the less likely it will be that you are raised by a player behind you. For example, K9 in first position is not a hand you want to be calling or raising with because one of the nine hands behind you probably has you beat but K9 on the button after everyone folds might be worth a raise since you only have to beat two hands instead of a full table. The best position to be in is on the button and the worst is the small blind since the small blind is the first player to act in each of the remaining betting rounds. The more information you have before you are required to act, the better your results will be. This is the main reason to only play strong hands from early position. Here are some starting hand suggestions. As you gain experience you will be able to deviate from them depending on the make-up of your opponents, your table image and your ability to play correctly after the flop.

Early Position – AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs, AK, AQs, AQ, AJs, KQs

Middle Position – TT, 99, AJ, ATs, AT, KQ, KJs, KJ, QJs, KTs

Late Position – 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, Axs, KT, K9s, QTs, JTs

This chart is just a guide and you must adapt it to the situation you are in. For example if I am in middle position with AJ and there is a raise and re-raise in front of me, I will fold unless the re-raiser is a terrible player. A solid player won’t re-raise an early position raise without a very strong hand. In late position, the small pairs are only good if they flop a set, which only happens one out of about every eight times. This means that for you to be profitable playing small pairs you must be able to win over eight times your investment when you do hit your hand.

Concentrate on playing quality “Top 10” starting hands when you first start to learn hold’em, this will keep you in the game while you learn the more subtle techniques that are required to beat the tougher games. When you stick to the powerful starting hands your opponents will start to fear your bets and raises because they’ll see that your always playing something strong. Once you’ve mastered the basics you can add some other starting hands like 10/J suited to avoid the risk of being too predictable.