Preflop Gaming Tactics in Unlimited Holdem

Unlimited Holdem Poker Main Strategy in Preflop

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:

1. I’m at the full table of nine players at the beginning of a tournament middle stage.

2. I don’t know very well any of the players.

3. As far as I can say all players act in quite serious conservative style.

4. There are no too big or too small stacks.

5. We all have a lot of chips as compared with blinds and ante.

This isn’t some exceptional number of conditions like you could have thought. Now tournaments have become so big that there often happen situations when at the table I know only one or two players. Most players which have laid out $500 or $1000 for participating in a major tournament are likely to play conservatively at least for some time. And stacks tend to stay in quite the same size until certain players begin to answer all-in for some actions.

The strategy I’m going to describe is rather aggressive than strictly conservative, but more conservative than many individual gaming styles you might see. It is meant to help you get out of difficulties and at the same time understand whether you have something serious for the game or not. In live tournaments this strategy is a little more conservative than that one of an average player beside you. In online tournaments you are sure to be one of the tightest players at the table.

When you’ll be implementing this strategy in practice, don’t worry if you feel that you fold your cards too long. It happens to all players when they play good.

If you get a little tired constantly folding great number of cards, remember these two facts:

1. Though poker on TV is real poker most hands aren’t shown anyway. There are a lot of cases when one player bets and all the rest fold their cards. Those hands are cut out in editing.

2. In unlimited holdem all your chips are under constant risk every time you start bargaining for the pot. A player wasting his money for a lot of pots is likely to flunk out of the tournament than a player bargaining for fewer pots but choosing them more careful.

When I’m finished with the strategy I will describe some corrections to be made when these preliminary conditions are changing. If you’re new in tournaments don’t worry too much about these corrections. If you can simply learn and apply the basic strategy you will of course play better than most players at your table. After you’ve studied thoroughly this strategy you’ll be ready to make changes based on your opponents’ gaming styles or differences in stack size.

Pay attention that in describing the strategy I call the player, who has to enter the game first after blinds, player in early position, and so on right to the button player which is in the seventh position. After them there are players who put in small and big blinds. Though I describe a game with nine hands, you should just remember that at a table with ten hands you have to play tighter.