Various weak hands

In sixth position I would play suited king-ten, king-nine and queen-ten. I would play them varying folds and raises fifty to fifty. And when I raised I would try and steal the pot by a simple raise three times higher than the big blind. (more…)

Suited cards

I have one uncommon move that I like to use with suite. If I’m in first or second position I will raise on them in 15% of cases pretending that I have top pair. I have to bluff from time to time in early position and suite as randomizer keeps my opponents from reading my bluff. When liaisons turn in a strong hand on the flop, hardly can anyone suspect me of having it, and when in the end I open the winning hand my opponents remember it for long time. (more…)

Not suited A9, A8

In early position fold these hands.

In third and fourth positions get rid of them as well. You can start playing these hands from fifth position. When you play them tend to raise in order to lower the necessity of seeing flop. (more…)

Not suited AJ, AT

In early position I would simply fold not suited ace-ten and at a serious table give up ace-jack. At a table with not so serious players I would try and play ace-jack with 50% of raises and 50% of calls. (more…)

Suited and not suited AK, AQ

Now we turn to hands without pairs. There are two strongest combinations among them: ace-king (big sleak) and ace-queen, which can be played almost the same as high pairs. Note that these hands are strong enough in order to (unlike smaller unpaired hands) make similar moves regardless of their suit. (more…)

88, 77, 66

These hands are evidently weaker than the previous group and they should be played properly.

You will play these hands in early position anyway but more carefully. You’ll prefer to enter bargaining with these middle-small pairs by limping but you need to add a few raises to cheat your opponents. I use the combination of 20% of raises and 80% of calls. (more…)

In late (sixth) position or on the button you wouldn’t like to make a raise three times higher than the big blind. Your bet in this case is more likely to be interpreted as trying to steal the pot and less likely as a bet simply to increase the pot, and you’d like to stimulate bargaining because hands calling in response will be a little weaker than usually. (more…)

This is the most advantageous situation since no one at the table has yet shown any strength and a bet can easily win the pot. Let’s see how you should act with various hands in certain situations. (more…)

What hands you decide to fold, call or raise depends mostly on the bargaining you’ve seen before you and on your position at the table. You have one set of criteria for the situations when all players before you have folded their cards and completely another one if two players have already made raise and reraise. It would be completely impossible to lighten all the possible raising, calling and folding combinations for each and every table position in a pot of holdem poker. I’ve classified them into five groups instead leaving you with good review of different possibilities. (more…)

On the next few pages I will describe main bargaining strategy in preflop.

This is a general strategy which shows my actions in the following situations:

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