5 Preflop Poker Mistakes Fish Always Make

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.

If you want to quickly improve your poker game, preflop is usually a good place to start.

Preflop spots come up over and over again, so studying these spots is likely going to be more useful than studying river check-raising spots that come up once in a blue moon.

Another benefit of improving your preflop game is that it’s going to translate to easier post flop game as well.

By eliminating these common mistakes from your preflop game, you are guaranteed to see a dramatic improvement in your poker results.

Let’s get right into it.

Preflop Poker Mistake #1: Open-limping

Open-limping is one of the telltale signs of recreational poker players, aka the fish.

Open-limping means just paying the big blind instead of open-raising when you are the first player to enter the pot.

Example:

You have A♥️K♦️ and you are the first person in the pot. You decide to just call the blind.

This is different from limping behind, i.e. limping in when another player has already limped in front of you.

Limping behind can be a viable strategy at times, but open-limping should be avoided at all costs.

If you are the first player to enter the pot, you should do so with an open-raise, instead.

Here are a few key reasons why you should open-raise instead of open-limping:

a) To build up the pot

If you want to win big in poker, you need to win big pots. And the best way to do so is to build up a big pot with your strong value hands as soon as possible.

The bigger the pot you build preflop, the easier it is going to be to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.

This has to do with pot geometry. Failing to build up a pot preflop leads to a vastly smaller pot when you get to showdown (unless you’re overbetting, which is not necessarily the best way to get value from strong hands).

To overbet means to use bet sizing that’s bigger than the current pot size.

So failing to build up the pot preflop can spell the difference between taking down a mediocre pot and totally stacking your opponent.

Check out my other article on preflop bet sizing for the exact amounts to raise by the way.

b) To avoid multiway pots

When you limp in, you’re inviting other players to limp behind you, which can lead to a lot of multiway pots.

A multiway pot is a pot with 3 or more players involved.

The more opponents in the pot, the harder it is for you to win, because every additional opponent will have some chunk of equity against you.

Even if you have a very strong hand like a premium pocket pair, your hand equity goes down considerably with each additional opponent.

Ideally, you want to see the flop against only one, maybe two opponents.

This is going to make it much easier to win the pot post flop, either by making the best hand, or by pushing your opponent out of the pot with a well-timed bluff.

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c) To get initiative

If you are the preflop aggressor (meaning you open-raise preflop and get called), you are perceived to have the strongest hand.

This gives you the initiative to continue the aggression post flop in the form of a continuation bet (or c-bet for short).

A c-bet is a bet made by the previous street’s aggressor.

C-bets are usually profitable, so you should be inclined to make one on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to do so.

Check out my ultimate flop strategy "cheat sheet" for much more.

If you open-limp, on the other hand, you won’t have the opportunity to make a c-bet, which means it’s going to be harder for you to win the pot.

d) To avoid getting raised yourself

A lot of amateur poker players like to limp in because they want to see a cheap flop, but this plan often ends up backfiring.

If you open-limp, you’re inviting other players to raise you, meaning you often won’t have the opportunity to see a cheap flop.

It’s usually cheaper (and a lot more profitable) to make an open-raise yourself.

Not only do you need to only put one bet in when you open-raise yourself, you also get the other benefits of being the preflop aggressor.

Being the preflop aggressor is statistically more profitable over the long run than being the preflop caller.

This is something I wish I knew before starting poker, as I discussed in a recent video.

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Preflop Poker Mistake #2: Playing Too Many Hands

If you want to improve in poker quickly, the best way to go about it is to simply play less hands.

Playing too many hands is one of the most common amateur poker mistakes, but fortunately, it’s one of the easiest ones to fix, as well.

In no-limit hold’em, most hands miss most flops (2 out of 3 times, to be precise).

This means that the more hands you play, the more often you’re going to miss the flop completely. 

And since you have to pay money every time to see the flop, the more flops you see, the more money you lose over the long run.

And no, the times you do hit the flop are not going to make up for all the misses.

That’s because not all hands in no-limit hold’em are created equal.

Some starting hands have a lot better chance to connect with the flop than others.

So the “trick” is to only play strong starting hands that have a reasonable chance of connecting with the board in some meaningful way.

Here’s a brief overview of starting poker hands you should play preflop:

a) pocket pairs (AA through 22)

b) suited Aces (AKs through A2s)

c) suited connectors (hands like JTs, 98s, 87s etc.)

b) broadway hands (high cards that can make the strongest possible straight, like AJ or KQ).



These hands make up for roughly the top 20% of all starting hands in no-limit hold’em.

The rest is trash and should be thrown away.

Take this list with a grain of salt, of course.

It’s not an exhaustive list by any means. It’s just a rough guideline on certain hand categories that are likely going to be profitable over the long run.

The actual number of hands you should play is going to depend on a lot of different factors, namely your table position, the stack sizes, your opponent’s playing tendencies, the previous action and so on.

If you want to know EXACTLY which hands you should play preflop, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

Now, folding close to 80% of all starting hands may seem boring, and fair enough.

If you just want to have fun, you can play just about any starting hand that’s dealt to you.

You just can’t expect to win any money over the long run this way.

If you want to make money consistently in this game, you’ll need to endure a bit of boredom from time to time. It’s a fair tradeoff as far as I’m concerned.

Again, the top 20% of hands outlined above are only a rough guideline.

You can play a lot more hands in later table positions (namely the cutoff and the button).

The closer you are to the button, the better the chance you have to play in position post flop, which means you can open-raise with a wider range.

To play in position means being the last player to act in a betting round.

This brings us to another common amateur poker mistake, which is calling out of position with weak hands.

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Preflop Poker Mistake #3: Calling Out of Position With Weak Hands

As a general rule, calling is the last option you should consider preflop.

You should see most flops as the preflop aggressor. This means open-raising and 3-betting preflop.

Being the preflop aggressor is statistically more profitable than being the preflop caller.

If you’re using a hand tracking software like PokerTracker 4, you can check these stats yourself.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a calling range preflop at all.

It just means you should be aware that calling preflop will put you at a disadvantage throughout the rest of the hand.

This is especially the case if you’re playing out of position.

It’s very hard to play your hand profitably as a preflop caller when playing out of position.

That’s because you usually have to react to continuation bets from your opponent, which is going to make it harder for you to realize your equity.

Of course, you have the option of betting into the preflop aggressor, thus denying them the opportunity to make a c-bet.

When you bet into the previous street’s aggressor out of position, this is known as a donk bet.

While there are certainly spots where donk betting can work, it’s usually not the best play.

That’s because you are betting into a theoretically stronger range.

If you are the preflop caller, your range is capped, meaning there’s an upper limit of hand strength you can theoretically hold.

A capped range means it’s unlikely that you have strong hands like pocket Aces, pocket Kings, Ace-King and so on, because you would likely 3-bet those hands instead of calling.

On the other hand, the preflop aggressor’s range is uncapped, meaning they theoretically could have all these strong hands in their range.

This is one of the reasons donk-betting is usually not a good idea.

A better alternative is to check-call or check-raise instead.

A check-raise in particular is a very strong play you can make to offset your positional disadvantage.

While check-raising is a great line to add to your arsenal, you should still keep in mind that calling preflop is not likely to be profitable over the long run.

This is especially the case if you happen to call with a lot of mediocre hands that could easily be dominated.

A dominated hand is the one that’s unlikely to win against a stronger hand, due to an inferior kicker.

A kicker is the card in your hand that doesn’t help you make a certain hand combination, but can often determine the winner if both players have the same combination.

For example, if both players have a pair of Aces, the player with the stronger kicker wins the hand.

Playing hands with weak kickers can often get you in trouble because the most common combination you’re going to make in no-limit hold’em is one pair.

This means the kickers could often determine the winner of the hand, so you want to avoid playing hands with mediocre to bad kickers.

This is especially the case in 3-bet pots.

When somebody 3-bets you, their range is going to be heavily weighted towards premium pocket pairs and strong broadways.

So it can be a huge mistake to call with a hand that can be easily dominated by your opponent’s 3-betting range.

Preflop Poker Example Hand #1

You are dealt Q♦J♣ in the CO (cutoff). 

You open-raise to 2.5 BB. A tight and aggressive (TAG) player 3-bets to 11 BB from the SB (small blind).

You: ???

You should fold.

In this spot, your hand will often be dominated by a number of stronger hands in your opponent’s range, like AQ, KQ, AJ, as well as all the strong pocket pairs.

There might be some bluffs that you’re potentially ahead of, but these are going to account for a smaller part of your opponent’s overall range.

When a tight and aggressive player 3-bets you, you should usually give them credit, and assume they’re not going to 3-bet you with any random 2 hands.

One factor that’s working in your favour is the fact that you’re playing in position.

But if you want to make a case for calling here, it would be better to do so with slightly stronger hands that could perform better in 3-bet pots.

Of course, if you know that your opponent is 3-betting too liberally, or if you think you can outplay them on future streets, you can certainly make a case for calling in similar spots.

But if not, it’s usually better to err on the side of caution and simply save yourself the trouble.

In today's games, it takes more than waiting around for premium hands to be a profitable long term winner.

You also need to know how to play optimally in less than ideal spots, like playing against tough opponents without the initiative.

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Preflop Poker Mistake #4: 3-Betting the Minimum Amount

A 3-bet is a re-raise against another player’s open-raise.

Example: 

Somebody raises to $5 and you re-raise to $20 with K♥️K♦️

A 3-bet is a powerful weapon you can add to your preflop arsenal, but it’s only effective if you do it the right way.

A lot of amateur poker players make the mistake of 3-betting the minimum amount, which is a terrible play for a few reasons.

In poker, there are two main reasons to put money into the pot: you can either bet for value or as a bluff.

If you’re betting for value, you’re trying to get called by a lot of weaker hands. When you’re bluffing, you’re trying to get the stronger hands to fold.

3-betting the minimum amount accomplishes none of the two, so you should avoid doing it altogether.

Let’s consider 3-betting for value first.

If you have a strong hand like a premium pocket pair, for example, 3-betting the minimum amount means leaving a lot of money at the table.

If you have a strong value hand, you should try to build up the pot quickly while your hand is likely ahead of your opponent’s calling range.

Also, building a big pot preflop will make it easier for you to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.

If you only 3-bet the minimum amount, it’s going to lead to a vastly undersized pot on the flop, meaning it’s going to be harder for you to stack your opponents.

Also, 3-betting the minimum amount gives other players the incentive to come along for the ride, because they will be getting good pot odds on a call.

So when some players are complaining about constantly getting their Aces cracked, for example, one of the reasons might be the fact that they’re failing to “thin the herd preflop”, and they’re inviting in a lot of multiway pots.

3-betting the minimum amount is even worse if you’re doing it as a bluff.

When you’re bluffing, you’re trying to induce your opponent to fold. And nobody is ever going to fold to a min 3-bet, because it makes no mathematical sense.

When you 3-bet the minimum amount, your opponent can call you down profitably with basically any 2 cards, because they are getting such a good price on a call.

And again, each additional caller is going to incentivize other players to come along for the ride, as well.

So which 3-bet sizing should you choose instead?

The optimal 3-bet sizing is going to depend on the situation, but as a general rule, you should size up your 3-bet to 3 times the open-raise when you’re playing in position, and 4 times the open-raise if you’re playing out of position.

So if a player open-raises to 3 BB, you should 3-bet to 9 BB if you’re playing in position, and 12 BB if you’re playing out of position.

The reason why it’s a good idea to size up your 3-bets when playing out of position is that you want to charge your opponents a premium if they want the pleasure of playing a pot in position against you.

You’re letting them know that if they want to play in position against you, they’re going to have to pay up.

Also, sizing up your 3-bets leads to smaller effective stack sizes post flop, which makes the post flop play easier when you’re playing out of position.

Again, this is just a general guideline, and you can deviate from this bet sizing depending on the circumstances.

But if you want to deviate from this bet sizing, it’s better to go bigger, rather than smaller, for the reasons mentioned above.

For example, if you have a strong value hand and you are up against recreational players who love to call a lot, why not bet bigger and charge them more.

This is a form of exploitative bet sizing you can use to maximize profits against weaker competition.

To learn how to get max value from your strong hands, check out my book, Crushing the Microstakes.

Preflop Poker Example Hand #2

Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB 

You are dealt Q♥Q♠ in the SB (small blind). Villain open-raises to 2.5 BB from the CO (cutoff). BU (button) calls.

You: ???

You should 3-bet to (at least) 11 BB.

In this spot, you should look to increase your 3-betting size, especially if at least one of the players involved happens to be a recreational player.

You have a great value hand, and you can comfortably get called by a lot of weaker hands.

Since you will be playing the hand out of position, you should 3-bet to at least 4 times the open-raise. 

However, due to the involvement of the preflop caller in the hand, you can bump up your 3-bet size to 11 or 12 big blinds.

If the preflop caller is a fish, you can increase your 3-bet even further!

When there is at least one caller of the open-raise, your 3-bet is called a squeeze.

Check out my other article for a full preflop squeezing guide.

Preflop Poker Mistake #5: Disregarding the Pot Odds

We’ve already established that you should get to most flops as the preflop aggressor, meaning you shouldn’t call too often preflop, especially with easily dominated hands.

However, you can still call preflop profitably if you’re getting decent pot odds on a call.

A lot of amateur poker players make the mistake of only considering their hole cards when deciding whether or not they should get involved in the hand.

Your actual hole cards are important, but they’re just one of many factors you should consider when playing.

That’s because the range of hands you can play profitably depends greatly on other factors, like your table position, opponents you’re facing, the previous action, the effective stack size and so on.

Only after you consider these factors can you determine whether or not your hand is actually worth playing.

One such factor that often gets overlooked by amateur poker players is the pot odds.

Simply put, the pot odds represent the ratio between the pot size and the price you need to call to continue playing the hand.

The pot odds are expressed as a ratio, like 2:1, 3:1 and so on.

The first, bigger number represents the pot size, while the second number (which is always 1) represents the price of a call.

To calculate the pot odds, simply divide the pot size with the price of a call to get a ratio.

For example, let’s say the pot size is $100 and your opponent bets $50.

After your opponent’s bet, the pot size is $150, and the price of the call is $50.

So when you divide 150 by 50, you get 3, so you’re getting 3:1 odds on a call.

The pot odds represent the risk to reward ratio.

The better the pot odds you’re getting, the more often you can continue playing the hand and vice versa.

You can use the pot odds to figure out how much hand equity you need to continue playing the hand profitably.

Your hand equity refers to the percentage chance of you winning the pot if both players flipped their cards over and went to showdown.

To figure out how much equity you need, you can turn the pot odds into a percentage.

You do this by adding the two numbers in a ratio, then dividing 100 by the result.

For example, if you are getting 3:1 odds, you add 3 + 1 = 4

100 / 4 = 25

So when you’re getting 3:1 odds, you need 25% equity to break even on a call.

If you have more than that, your call has positive expected value (it’s +EV). If you have less than that, your call is -EV.

Of course, you can’t know your exact equity in the hand, since you can’t actually see your opponent’s hole cards.

But you can still try to narrow down your opponent’s range and get a rough estimate on your equity, then compare it to the pot odds you’re getting.

Preflop Poker Example Hand #3

Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB

You are dealt J♥9♥ in the BB (big blind).

Villain open-raises to 3 BB from MP (middle position). BU (button) calls. SB (small blind) calls.

You: ???

You should call.

In this spot, you don’t have an amazing hand, but it’s still far from unplayable.

But other than your hand strength, the bigger factor that determines you should continue playing the hand is the pot odds.

Let’s calculate the pot odds you’re getting in this spot.

Villain open-raises to 3 BB and gets 2 callers, and you’ve already posted 1 big blind.

So the pot size is 10 big blinds, and you need to call 2 big blinds to continue the hand.

In this spot, you’re getting 5:1 odds on a call, so you need roughly 17% hand equity to call profitably.

Just to clarify, the pot odds tell you whether or not your call is profitable RIGHT NOW.

This means the pot odds don’t take the future streets into account, and don’t consider the amount of money that can potentially enter the pot later on in the hand.

This is where the implied odds come in.

Implied odds tell you how much money you can potentially win on future streets, so they take into account the potential future actions of your opponents.

The difference between the pot odds and the implied odds is that the pot odds are precise, while implied odds require a bit of guesswork.

Check out my poker odds cheat sheet for much more.

5 Preflop Poker Mistakes Fish Always Make - Summary

You don’t need to study a bunch of advanced poker strategy to improve your preflop game.

All you need to do is stay disciplined with your starting hand selection, and avoid some common preflop mistakes that could get you in a lot of trouble.

To sum up, here are 5 common preflop poker mistakes you should avoid at all cost:

1. Open-limping

When you open-limp, you can’t win the pot preflop, you’re failing to build up the pot with your strong value hands, you can’t make a c-bet on the flop, and you risk getting raised yourself.

If you’re the first player to enter the pot, always do so with an open-raise instead.

2. Playing too many hands

You should only play hands that have a decent chance of connecting with the flop in some meaningful way.

This includes pocket pairs, strong broadway hands, suited Aces and suited connectors.

The rest is trash and should be thrown away.

3. Calling with easily dominated hands

As a general rule, calling is the last option you should consider preflop. This is especially the case if you’re calling with hands that are easily dominated due to a weak kicker.

The most common combination you’re going to make in no-limit hold’em is one pair, so a kicker can often determine the winner of the hand.

4. 3-betting the minimum amount

3-betting the minimum amount makes no mathematical sense. If you’re 3-betting for value, 3-betting the minimum means leaving money on the table. 

If you’re 3-betting as a bluff, nobody is ever going to fold to a minimum 3-bet.

You should size up your 3-bets to at least 3 times the open-raise when playing in position, and 4 times the open-raise when playing out of position.

5. Disregarding the pot odds

The pot odds are the ratio between the pot size and the price you need to call to continue playing the hand.

The better the pot odds you’re getting, the more often you can continue playing the hand and vice versa.

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This article was written by Fran Ferlan

Poker player, writer and coach

Specializing in live and online cash games

For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at email@franferlan.com

Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here

Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

4 Preflop Poker Tips EVERY Beginner Should Know

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.

If you want to quickly improve your poker game, the preflop play is usually a good place to start.

That’s because you will likely encounter similar preflop spots over and over again, so it makes sense to focus more on this part of the game than check-raising the turn or triple barrel bluffing, for example.

In this article, we’ll go through the best preflop poker tips for beginners.

These tips are guaranteed to improve your preflop game, and they will translate to easier (and more profitable) post flop play as well.

Let’s get right into it.

Preflop Poker Tip #1: Only Play Strong Starting Hands

One of the most common preflop mistakes amateur poker players make is playing too many hands.

If you want to quickly improve your poker results, the best way to go about it is to simply be more selective with the hands you choose to play preflop.

In fact, just play the hands marked in yellow below:



In no-limit hold’em, most hands miss most flops, so you should only play hands that have a reasonable chance of connecting with the flop in some meaningful way.

If you play a bunch of junk hands, you’re going to miss the flop more often than not, and since you need to pay money to see the flop, the more flops you see, the more money you’ll lose over the long run.

And the times you do connect with the flop won’t make up for all the losses.

That’s because some starting hands simply perform much better post flop than others.

While you can technically smash the flop with any two cards, some hands will connect with the flop much more often than others.

Let’s take a random hand like J♥️2♥️ to illustrate the point.

Hands like J♥️2♥️ suited fall into the category of suited junk.

Basic Flush Draw Odds Explained

A lot of amateur poker players play just about any random hand for the prospect of catching a flush post flop, but this is a big mistake.

That’s because it’s exceedingly rare to make a flush in no-limit hold’em.

The chance of flopping a flush with a suited hand is only 0.8%.

You have a better chance of flopping a flush draw, but this is also far from likely.

And even if you make a flush, you’re still not guaranteed to win the hand, because your opponent could have a stronger flush than you.

If you make a flush with J2, any suited Ace, King or Queen of the same suit can potentially have you beat.

That’s an insane number of combinations to worry about.

Apart from the potential of making mediocre flushes, a hand like J♥️2♥️ has very little going for it in terms of post flop playability.

It can’t make any straights, and it will flop a top pair only about 8% of the time.

And even if you flop a top pair, you still have a weak kicker to worry about.

A kicker is a card in your hand that doesn’t help you make a certain hand combination, but can often determine the winner if both players have the same combination.

For example, if both players have a pair of Jacks, the player with the stronger kicker wins the hand.

And since the most common hand combination you’ll make in no-limit hold’em is single pair, you want to avoid playing hands with weak kickers, because you run the risk of your hand being dominated.

A dominated hand is the one that’s unlikely to win against a stronger hand due to an inferior kicker.

You always want your hand to dominate your opponent’s hand, instead of the other way around.

Bottom line: junk hands will often miss the flop completely, and even if you connect with the flop in some way, you still run the risk of your hand being dominated.

By the way, if you're serious about taking your poker game to the next level I have just opened up enrollment in my new advanced training program, Play Fearless Poker.

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Stop guessing. Start winning.

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So which hands should you be playing preflop then?

You should only play hands that are either very strong in and of themselves (like premium pocket pairs) or hands that can often improve to strong combinations post flop.

There are 3 main criteria to consider when determining your starting hand strength:

a) high ranking hands are stronger than low ranking hands

This one is fairly obvious. High ranking hands will flop a top pair more frequently than low ranking hands.

b) connected hands are stronger than unconnected hands

Cards that are adjacent to each other will make a straight more frequently than cards with a gap between them (one-gappers, two-gappers etc.)

For example, a hand like Jack-Ten can make a straight 4 different ways, while a two-gapper like Jack-Seven can only make a straight two diffferent ways.

c) Suited hands are stronger than unsuited hands

Suited hands will make a flush more frequently than unsuited hands, but you shouldn’t play a certain hand just because it’s suited.

Remember, suited junk is still junk.

Check out my other article on EXACTLY which hands to play preflop for much more.

But for a brief overview, it’s advised to play the top 20% of all starting hands in no-limit hold’em.

This includes:

a) pocket pairs (AA through 22)

b) suited Aces (AKs through A2s)

c) broadway hands - high ranking cards that can make the strongest possible straight, like AJ or KQ

d) suited connectors (like JTs or 98s)

The rest is trash and should be thrown away.

Of course, this is just a rough guideline, so take it with a grain of salt.

The actual number of hands you can play will depend a lot on your table position and other considerations, like your opponent’s type, effective stack sizes and so on.

Also, more experienced players can often get away with playing more marginal holdings, like when they are playing a loose and aggressive play-style.

But for beginner poker players, it’s advised to stick with a simple tight and aggressive strategy, and avoid a lot of marginal spots that can get you in trouble post flop.

Now, folding 80% of the time may seem boring, and fair enough.

If you just want to have fun, you can play just about any hand that’s dealt to you.

But if you want to become a winning poker player, you may need to endure a bit of boredom from time to time.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should just tune out whenever you’re not directly involved in the hand.

You can use this downtime to observe the action and try to pick up on tells from your opponents.

You can look for physical and timing tells, betting patterns, and so on.

You should also pay attention to the action sequence and try to read your opponent’s hand based on their actions.

By the way, check out my recent video on the 7 easy ways to spot tells for a much deeper dive.

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Preflop Poker Tip #2: Enter Most Pots With a Raise

If you are the first player to enter the pot, you should do so with an open-raise.

A lot of amateur poker players make the mistake of open-limping instead of open-raising.

To open-limp means to just pay the big blind instead of open-raising, which is a big mistake for a number of reasons.

Here’s why you should always open-raise instead of open-limping:

1. To get initiative

If you are the preflop aggressor, you are perceived to have the strongest hand. This puts you in the driver’s seat, meaning you can dictate the tempo of the hand throughout the streets.

If you get to the flop as the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (or a c-bet for short) on the flop.

C-bets are usually profitable, so you should be inclined to make a c-bet on most flops unless there’s a very specific reason not to do so.

Check out my other article on expert flop strategy for more information on when (and when not) to c-bet.

2. To steal the blinds

If you open-raise, you can sometimes win the pot outright preflop if all your opponents fold.

If you open-limp, on the other hand, you are giving the players in the blinds absolutely no incentive to fold.

This means you’re allowing them to see cheap flop and realize their equity against you.

In essence, poker is all about blind stealing. Without the blinds, the players would simply wait around for pocket Aces all day, and fold all their other hands.

The blinds stimulate the action because they give players something to fight for. 

Learning to steal the blinds effectively is one of the best ways to consistently print expected value (or EV for short).

Blind stealing spots come around fairly frequently, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for them, especially if your opponent don’t defend their blinds often enough.

Blinds stealing spots refer to situations where you have the opportunity to open-raise from the late position (the cutoff, the button or the small blind).

The importance of playing most hands in late position will be discussed below.

3. To build up the pot

In poker, you will earn most of your money with your strong value hands. So if you get dealt a strong hand, your best bet is to build up the pot with it as soon as possible.

The bigger the pot you build preflop, the easier it is to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.

This means you should usually avoid slowplaying your strong hands.

To slowplay means to play your hand passively (check or call instead of betting and raising) in order to conceal your hand strength.

When you’re slowplaying, you are essentially relying on your opponents to build up the pot for you.

This is great if you’re playing against very aggressive players, but it’s usually not the case when playing low stakes poker games.

At the lower stakes, players tend to play passively, meaning you can’t rely on them to build up the pot for you.

So if you want to build up a big pot, your best bet is to do it yourself, and let your opponents call you with weaker hands.

4. To avoid multiway pots

Finally, open-raising allows you to “thin the field” preflop, and ideally get to the flop against only one opponent.

In other words, open-raising discourages multiway pots, i.e. pots with more than two players involved.

The more players involved in the pot, the harder it is for you to win the hand.

That’s because every player will have a certain chunk of equity against you, even if you have a strong hand.

Let’s take pocket Aces, the strongest starting hand in no-limit hold’em as an example.

Against a random hand, pocket Aces have a whopping 85% hand equity.

But if you were to play against 4 players with random hands, your hand equity falls to only 56%.

So when players complain about always getting their Aces cracked, this may be one of the reasons why.

You don’t want to allow your opponents to draw out on you for cheap. 

You want to let them know right away that if they want to get involved in a pot with you, they’re going to have to pay up.

Now that we’ve covered the main reasons why you should open-raise instead of open-limping, let’s discuss which bet sizing you should use.

The standard open-raise size is 3 big blinds.

So if you’re playing a $1/$2 cash game in your local casino, the standard open-raise would bet $6.

You can increase or decrease your bet size depending on the situation.

For example, if another player limped into the pot before you, you can try to isolate that limper with an isolation raise (or iso-raise for short).

The standard iso-raise size is 3 BB + 1 BB per limper.

So 4 big blinds for 1 limper, 5 big blinds for two limpers etc.

You can add an additional big blind if you’re playing out of position, or to build up a bigger pot if you’re playing against a particularly bad opponent.

Conversely, you can decrease your open-raise size to 2.5 BB (or even 2 BB) if you’re stealing the blinds, for example.

By decreasing your open-raise size, you’re giving yourself a better risk-to-reward ratio, meaning your opponents need to fold less often for your stealing attempt to be profitable.

Check out my other article on preflop bet sizing for a much deeper dive on this.

Preflop Example Hand #1

$1/$2 Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB

You are dealt Q♥Q♦ in the SB (small blind). 

A loose and passive player open-limps from the MP (middle position). Another player limps behind on the BU (button).

You: ???

You should open-raise to $12.

This is a good spot to go for a bigger bet size, and take advantage of your opponent’s overcalling tendencies.

To overcall means to call more often than would be considered “optimal”. In other words, calling so much that it leaves you vulnerable to getting exploited.

In this spot, you have a premium hand, meaning you can get action by a lot of weaker hands.

As for the best bet sizing to use, there are two limpers, so you should add a big blind for each limper, plus an additional big blind because you’re playing out of position.

This brings us to the total of 6 big blinds, or $12.

If you suspect that one or both of the limpers happen to be huge calling stations, you can bump up your bet size even more.

This helps you build up the pot while you are likely to have the best hand, and it makes it easier to ship the rest of your stack in post flop.

For much more info on exploitative bet sizing, check out my book Crushing the Microstakes.

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Preflop Poker Tip #3: Play More Hands in Position to Get an Edge

A solid tight and aggressive (TAG) strategy entails only playing strong starting hands and playing them aggressively (i.e. betting and raising) both preflop and post flop.

The third key component of TAG strategy is playing most hands in position.

Playing in position means being the last player to act in a betting round.

Playing in position is just about the biggest advantage you can have in no-limit hold’em, short of actually seeing your opponent’s hole cards.

Here’s why you should play most of your hands in position:

a) To get more information

Poker is a game of incomplete information, and the player with the informational advantage will come out on top more often than not.

In a skill game like chess, all the players have access to the same information. Both players can see the board and all the pieces at all times.

In poker, you can’t see your opponent’s hole cards, but you can get a better feel of their hand strength by playing in position.

If you’re the last player to act in a betting round, you get to see what your opponents did, while they have no idea what you’re about to do.

That’s why Phil Ivey famously said that he couldn’t even beat his grandmother if he was forced to play every hand out of position.

You can learn Phil Ivey's entire strategy in his Masterclass by the way.

b) To control the size of the pot

If you’re the last player to act, you get the final say at the size of the pot.

Playing in position simply gives you more options.

For example, if a player checks to you, you can either check back to control the pot size and get a free card, or you can bet to inflate the pot if you have a strong hand.

Conversely, if your opponent bets, you can either call or raise yourself. 

c) To bluff more effectively 

Due to the informational disadvantage, most players simply won’t be willing to fight back as often if they are playing out of position.

This means you can often push them out of pots with a well-timed bluff.

In other words, playing in position will allow you to win “more than your fair share”, and pick up a few pots even if you don’t have a particularly strong hand.

A word of caution: you should be careful when trying to bluff recreational players, because they generally dislike folding, and will often call you down if they catch any remote piece of the board.

An exception to this rule may be when you’re playing against a player who likes to see a lot of flops, but gives up pretty easily if they miss the board (which will be most of the time).

Against these “fit-or-fold” players, you can make a c-bet on most flops since you can expect them to fold every time they miss the flop, which will happen 2 out of 3 times on average.

So how do you play more hands in position?

You simpy open-raise more hands in the late table positions (the cutoff and the button), and play less hands when you’re in early table positions.

You should also be careful when playing in the blinds, because you will ALWAYS have the positional disadvantage when you’re in the blinds.

The only exception is if you’re playing in the big blind against the small blind.

When playing in the blinds, you will lose money over the long run, no matter how well you’re playing.

This is just the nature of the game: the money always flows from players playing out of position to players playing in position.

So when playing in the blinds, your goal isn’t to win money, but to lose as little as possible, then make up for the difference when you’re playing in position.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should fold every hand you’re dealt in the blinds, because it may leave you vulnerable to getting exploited.

If you don’t defend your blinds often enough, other players may try to steal your blinds every chance they get.

For more advanced poker strategies like blind defence, check out The Microstakes Playbook.

Preflop Poker Tip #4: Light 3-bet More Often to Keep Your Opponents Guessing

This play is a bit more advanced, but it’s well worth incorporating into your game even as a beginner poker player.

To 3-bet preflop means to re-raise against another player’s open-raise.

To 3-bet light (aka to 3-bet as a bluff) means to 3-bet with the intention of getting your opponent to fold and taking down the pot preflop.

If you’re a beginner poker player, your best bet is to keep your 3-betting range value-heavy.

This means you should mainly 3-bet with your strong value hands, namely premium pocket pairs, strong broadways etc.

If you’re a beginner poker player, you will ideally play in low stakes poker games with other beginners.

This means your best bet is to keep things simple and play your strong hands very straightforwardly (i.e. bet and raise when you believe you have the best hand).

That’s because you will often get called by a number of weaker hands.

In no-limit hold’em, most of the money you’ll earn will come from your strong value hands where your opponent is willing to pay you off with a weaker hand.

However, if you only ever 3-bet with very strong hands, over time you may become too predictable to players who are paying attention to your betting patterns.

I’m not talking about recreational players here, since they won’t be paying attention to your betting frequencies.

I’m talking about regular players who take the time to improve their game by studying off the felt and actually pay attention to your actions.

Against these players, it’s a good idea to add a few 3-bet bluffing hands in your range.

For example, let’s say you usually only 3-bet premium pocket pairs (pocket Jacks or better) and Ace-King.

This is a reasonable range to 3-bet with, albeit a really tight one.

This range consists of only the top 3% of all starting hands in no-limit hold’em.

So against players who are paying attention to your betting frequencies, it will be as though you are playing your cards face-up.

Your opponents may adjust their game by simply refusing to give you action every time you 3-bet.

And since these strong value hands will form the majority of your winnings, it’s important to be able to extract as much value with them as possible.

This is where light 3-betting comes into play.

By throwing out an occasional light 3-bet, you’ll be able to take down a few pots even without a particularly strong hand.

You will also constantly keep your opponents guessing at your hand strength.

This means that once you actually do wake up with pocket Aces, you’re more likely to get paid off.

Now, this doesn’t mean you should start 3-betting with a bunch of random hands just for the sake of it.

Ideally, you want to 3-bet light with hands that have some sort of playability post flop in case your light 3-bet gets called.

The best hands to 3-bet (and even 4-bet) light with are small suited Aces (A5s through A2s).

These hands have great playability post flop, with the ability to make nuts flushes, as well as straights.

You can also make a top pair if another Ace comes on the board.

The range of A5s through A2s will flop a top pair or better 19.5% of the time.

“Or better” means two pair, three of a kind and so on.

Suited Aces also have blocker power, meaning it’s more likely for your opponent to fold to your 3-bet.

A blocker is a card in your hand that reduces the number of strong combinations from your opponent’s range.

For example, if you have an Ace in your hand, it’s less likely for your opponent to have strong combinations like pocket Aces, Ace-King, Ace-Queen and so on.

An Ace in your hand reduces the number of combos of pocket Aces from 6 to only 3, and the number of combos of Ace-King from 16 to 12.

Preflop Example Hand #2

Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB

You are dealt A♥4♥ in the SB (small blind).

A tight and aggressive player open-raises to $5.

You: ???

You should 3-bet to $20.

This is a great spot for a light 3-bet.

In this spot, the villain is likely blind stealing, so you can assume their range is quite wide.

Tight and aggressive players will gradually expand their open-raising range as they get closer to the button.

And a lot of hands in their range won’t stand the pressure of a 3-bet, meaning you can get your opponent to fold quite often.

You also have a blocker in your hand, meaning it’s even more likely for your opponent to fold.

Even if you get called, you still have a great speculative hand that can connect with the flop in a number of different ways.

In today’s games, it takes more than waiting around for a premium hand to be a profitable long term winner.

You also need to look for edges in less than ideal circumstances. This means knowing how to play out of position against skilled opponents who won’t just roll over.

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4 Preflop Tips For Beginners - Summary

You don’t have to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to improve your preflop game.

All you have to do is get familiar with the basic tight and aggressive (TAG) strategy, which includes only playing strong starting hands in position, and playing them aggressively both preflop and post flop.

With that in mind, here are 5 preflop tips every beginner poker player should know:

1. Enter most pots with a raise

If you are the first player to enter the pot, you should do so with an open-raise (or a 3-bet).

By being the preflop aggressor, you will get the initiative, you will build up the pot with your strong hands, and you will “thin the field” by avoiding big, multiway pots.

You can also occasionally win the pot outright if all the other players fold.

2. Only play strong starting hands

If you only play strong starting hands, you will connect with the flop and make strong combinations more often than players who play just about any two random cards.

Your hand will also often dominate your opponent’s, instead of the other way around.

You should only play strong starting hands like pocket pairs, broadway hands, suited Aces and suited connectors.

The rest is trash and should be thrown away.

3. Play most hands in position

By being the last player to act in a betting round, you get the informational advantage, you can dictate the size of the pot, and you can value bet or bluff more effectively.

To play more hands in position, simply open-raise more hands in late table positions (the cutoff and the button) and play less hands in early table positions and in the blinds.

4. 3-bet light more often

By adding a few bluffing hands into your 3-betting range, you will always keep your opponents guessing at your hand strength.

This will make you more difficult to play against, and it will be easier for you to get action once you actually do wake up with pocket Aces.

The best hands to 3-bet bluff with are (small) suited Aces, due to their great nuts potential, as well as their blocker power.

---

This article was written by Fran Ferlan

Poker player, writer and coach

Specializing in live and online cash games

For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at email@franferlan.com

Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here

Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

5 Preflop Poker Tips For Beginners (Just Do This!)

This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.

If you want to quickly improve your poker game, preflop is usually a good starting point.

However, with so much information to consider, it can be hard to know where to even start.

In this article, we’ll go over all the important aspects of preflop play you need to know to become a winning poker player.

If you’re a beginner poker player looking to take your game to the next level, this is a post for you.

Let’s get right into it.

Preflop Poker Tip #1: Enter the Pot With a Raise

If you are the first player to enter the pot, you should do so with an open-raise.

Raise This Amount:

I would recommend raising it to 3 times the size of the big blind, as a default strategy in all poker games.

Example:

You have A♥️K♥️ in a $1/$2 game. You should raise it to $6 as a bare minimum.

Entering the pot with a raise is statistically proven to be more profitable over the long run than open-limping.

Open-limping means paying the big blind instead of open-raising, and is usually a sign of recreational poker players.

There are multiple reasons why open-raising is preferable to open limping.

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Why Raising Beats Limping in Poker

A) You will play the hand with the initiative

The player who open-raises is perceived to have a stronger hand than the player who calls or limps preflop. 

This gives them the initiative post flop, i.e. the opportunity to continue with the aggression with a continuation bet (or a c-bet for short) on the flop.

C-bets are usually profitable, and you should be inclined to make a c-bet on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to.

When you open-limp, however, you have no initiative, so you don’t have the opportunity to make a c-bet on the flop. 

This means that you automatically put yourself at a disadvantage through the rest of the hand.

B) You can win the pot outright preflop

When you open-raise, you can win the pot right away if all of the other players fold their hands.

If you open-limp, on the other hand, you’re giving your opponents zero reasons to fold their hand, and you are letting them realize their hand equity for cheap.

Worse yet, you will often get raised yourself, so you often won’t be able to see a cheap flop, either.

C) You are building up the pot with your strong hands

If you want to win big in poker, you need to win big pots. 

And the best way to go about it is to try and build up the pot yourself, preferably as early on in the hand as possible.

The bigger the pot preflop, the easier it is to ship the rest of your money later in the middle later on in the hand.

This has to do with pot geometry; seemingly small adjustments in your initial open-raise size can lead to dramatically bigger pots on future streets.

So if you are dealt a strong starting hand, your best bet is to build up the pot with it as soon as possible.

Unlike open-limping, limping behind can sometimes be a viable strategy, especially if you’re playing in passive games with a lot of recreational players around.

To limp behind means to limp in after one or more players have already limped into the pot.

Limping behind can work if you have a speculative hand that wants to see a cheap flop and potentially flop a strong hand or a strong draw.

Speculative hands are starting hands that aren’t strong in and of themselves, but have the potential of making strong combinations post flop.

Hands like small pocket pairs and suited connectors are considered speculative hands.

Small pocket pairs have the potential of making sets post flop, while suited connectors have the potential of making straights and flushes.

By the way, check out my recent video on the 5 easy poker strategies every beginner must know.

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Preflop Poker Tip #2: Punish the Open-limpers With an Isolation Raise

As mentioned, open-limping is a telltale sign of recreational poker players 99% of the time.

So when you see a player open-limping, you can try to isolate them with an isolation-raise (or an iso-raise for short).

An iso-raise is an open-raise when one or more players have open-limped into the pot.

As the name suggests, the goal of an iso-raise is to isolate the recreational player and hopefully play a heads-up pot against them post flop (heads-up pot means a pot with only two players involved).

If you also manage to make an iso-raise while playing in position, all the better.

Playing a heads-up pot in position as a preflop aggressor against a single opponent (preferably a recreational player) is just about the most profitable money-making spot in no-limit hold’em, period.

That’s because it gives you the opportunity to take advantage of numerous mistakes recreational players are bound to make in their post flop play.

This includes playing too passively, calling too much, chasing bad draws, making bad bluffs and so on.

Check out my other article by the way, for the 5 most common amateur poker mistakes all beginners make.

As for which iso-raise size you should use, this depends a lot on the situation.

But as a general rule, the “standard” iso-raise size is 3 big blinds plus an additional big blind per limper.

So a "standard" iso-raise size is 4 big blinds for a single limper, 5 for two limpers and so on.

Also, you can add an additional big blind if you are playing the hand out of position.

If there are aggressive 3-bettors left to act behind you, you can decrease your iso-raise size to 3 big blinds.

A 3-bet preflop is a re-raise against another player’s open-raise.

If you’re up against skilled, observant opponents, they may notice your iso-raising attempts against fish, and can punish you by 3-bettling liberally when you iso-raise.

To counteract this, you can either decrease your iso-raise size to 3 big blinds, or iso-raise with a stronger range of hands.

Preflop Poker Example Hand #1

You are dealt A♦Q♦ in the SB (small blind). 

A loose and passive player open-limps from the MP (middle position).

Another player limps behind on the BU (button).

You: ??? 

You should iso-raise to 6 BB.

This is a good spot to make your iso-raise bigger.

You are dealt a strong hand that is likely to get action against a lot of weaker hands, namely other Ax hands.

There are two limpers in front of you, so you open raise to 3 BB plus 2 BB for each limper.

Finally, you can add an additional BB because you are playing in the small blind, and you will play the rest of the hand out of position.

Important note: if you are up against particularly awful players that can’t fold anything, you can bump up your iso-raise size even more.

This is especially the case if you have a strong value hand (like a premium pocket pair) and your opponent is a giant calling station.

A calling station refers to a recreational, passive player who has a very hard time folding anything, and will continue to play the hand if they catch any remote piece of the board.

These players are ideal candidates for iso-raising and value betting post flop with your strong hands.

This is discussed in much more detail in Crushing the Microstakes.

Learn to All My Best Preflop Poker Tips With My Free Poker "Cheat Sheet" 

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Preflop Poker Tip #3: Play More Hands in Late Positions

One of the easiest ways to quickly improve your poker results is to simply play more hands in late positions, namely the cutoff and the button.

By being more selective with the hands you play from earlier table positions, and playing more hand in the cutoff and the button, you will often play in position post flop.

Playing in position means being the last player to act in a betting round, and it is just about the biggest edge you can have in no-limit hold’em, period.

There are multiple advantages of playing in position:

A) You have an informational advantage

Poker is a game of incomplete information, and the player with the informational advantage will come out on top more often than not. 

If you are the last player to act in a betting round, you get to see what your opponents did, while they have no idea what you are going to do.

B) You can dictate the price of the pot

By being the last player to act, you get a final say at the price of the pot. If you have a strong value hand, you can bet if your opponent checks to you, or you can raise if your opponent bets first.

Conversely, if you have a mediocre or a drawing hand, you can exercise pot control by checking back or flat calling your opponent's bet.

C) You can bluff more effectively

Due to the informational disadvantage, your opponents won’t be as willing to fight back against you. 

This means you can often push them out of the pot with a well timed bluff.

However, you should be careful when trying to bluff recreational players, because they usually have a hard time folding and tend to overcall.

Against recreational players, it’s usually better to keep it simple and stick with value betting your strong hands.

So how does playing more hands in position look like in practice?

It simply means open-raising (or 3-betting) more hands in the cutoff and the button.

When you are playing on the button, you will ALWAYS have a positional advantage post flop.



This is why the button will be your most profitable seat by far.

If you’re using a hand tracking program like PokerTracker 4, you can check these stats yourself.

Chances are, you’d be surprised by just how much more money you earn on the button compared to other table positions.

Conversely, when you are playing in the blinds, you will actually lose money over the long run, no matter how well you’re playing from these positions.

This is simply how the game is structured: the money always flows from the players out of position to the players playing in position.

So when playing in the blinds, your goal is not winning money, but losing as little as possible, and making it up when you are playing in position.

Of course, that’s not to say that you should fold almost every hand that’s dealt to you in the blinds.

If you do that, your opponents may notice this and punish you by trying to steal your blinds with impunity.

That’s why it’s crucial to learn the optimal blind defense strategy, especially once you start climbing up the stakes and encountering tougher opponents.

If you want to know more about blind defence and other advanced poker strategies, enroll in Blackrain79 Elite Poker University.

To be a winning poker player these days, it takes a lot more than knowing which hands to play in which position. 

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Preflop Poker Tip #4: Master the Art of the Light 3-Bet

Being the preflop aggressor is statistically more profitable over the long run than being the preflop caller.

If another player open-raises before you, you have the option to either call the open-raise or re-raise (i.e. make a 3-bet).

If you have a strong hand, you should make a 3-bet for value, and build up the pot as soon as possible.

However, if you only 3-bet your strong value hands, you run the risk of your 3-betting range becoming too predictable.

Observant opponents will figure out you’re only 3-betting for value, and may adjust by simply folding to your 3-bets unless they happen to have a strong hand themselves.

When you’re first starting out, it’s usually best to make your 3-betting range value heavy, i.e. 3 bet mainly with strong starting hands.

However, against more skilled opponents, it’s a good idea to mix up your game and balance your 3-betting range with a couple of 3-bet bluffs as well.

When you are 3-betting with the expectation of getting your opponent to fold (i.e. 3-bet bluffing), this is known as a light 3-bet.

There are a few reasons why you should adopt a light 3-bet in your arsenal.

First of all, as mentioned, strong value hands don’t come around too often in no-limit hold’em. 

So by the time you actually do get a strong hand, there’s no guarantee you’re going to get any action with it, because it may be too obvious that you have a strong hand.

By throwing out an occasional light 3-bet, you will always keep your opponents guessing at your hand strength.

This means you’ll be more likely to get paid off once you actually wake up with pocket Aces or pocket Kings.

Another reason to throw out an occasional light 3-bet is that it makes you much harder to play against.

Your opponent will have to think twice before trying to get involved in a pot with you.

You will also deter them from stealing your blinds with impunity.

Now let’s talk about 3-bet sizing.

As a general rule, you should make your 3-bet 3 times the size of the open raise when playing in position, and 4 times the size of the open raise when you are playing out of position.

The reason to go for a bigger 3-bet size out of position is to charge your opponents a premium if they want the privilege of having a positional advantage during the hand.

Also, by increasing the 3-bet size, you’re creating a smaller effective stack size, which makes your post flop play easier as well.

Check out my ultimate preflop bet sizing cheat sheet for more information on preflop bet sizing.

Finally, let’s discuss the actual hands you want to 3-bet light with.

You obviously don’t want to 3-bet with just about any random hand just for the sake of it.

You want to choose hands that have decent equity in case your 3-bet bluff gets called.

But by far the best light 3-betting hands are suited Aces, especially small suited Aces (A2s through A5s).

Small suited Aces make for great light 3-betting candidates for multiple reasons.

First of all, they have great playability postflop. Suited Aces have an insane nuts potential, with the ability to make a nuts flush.

Small suited Aces have the ability to make straights, as well.

For Example: 

A♥5♥ on 2♣3♥4♣

Second, suited Aces have blocker power.

A blocker is a card in your hand that reduces the number of strong combinations from your opponent’s range.

For example, if you have A5s, it’s less likely for your opponent to have strong Ax combinations like pocket Aces, Ace-King, Ace-Queen and so on.

Preflop Poker Example Hand #2

You are dealt A♠3♠ in the (SB) small blind.

A tight and aggressive (TAG) player open-raises to 2.5 BB from the CO (cutoff).

You: ???

You should light 3-bet to 10 BB.

This is a textbook spot to attempt a light 3-bet.

Let’s first consider the type of opponent you are up against and try to figure out their range. 

Tight and aggressive opponents usually open-raise with a wider range from the late table positions (i.e. the cutoff and the button).

This means that a lot of hands in their range won’t be able to stand the pressure of a 3-bet, so they are likely to fold quite often in similar spots.

You have a decent speculative hand, and you have a ton of equity to fall back on in case your 3-bet gets called.

You make your 3-bet 4 times the open-raise size to offset your positional disadvantage.

For more advanced poker strategies like light 3-betting and 4-betting, check out my latest book, The Microstakes Playbook.

Preflop Poker Tip #5: Flat Call With Speculative Hands

We’ve already discussed how being the preflop aggressor is more profitable than being the preflop caller.

This means that you want to enter the pot by open-raising or 3-betting most of the time.

However, this doesn’t mean you should have no calling range preflop whatsoever.

There will be times where either open-raising or 3-betting won’t be an option.

A lot of amateur poker players make the mistake of calling too much preflop. They also call too much postflop as well, but that is the topic for a whole other article! 

This is especially problematic when they call with weak or marginal hands that are easily dominated.

So when you are thinking about which line to take preflop, calling is usually the last option to consider.

As the old saying goes, if it’s good enough for a call, it’s good enough for a raise.

Take this with a grain of salt, of course, since there will certainly be times where calling will be the most +EV option.

For example, you can try to see a cheap flop by flat calling with speculative hands.

Speculative hands are not strong enough in and of themselves, but have the potential of making strong combinations post flop.

Speculative hands include small pairs and suited connectors (like 4♣4♦ or 7♥6♥, for example).

When you get dealt a small pocket pair, you can try to set mine and potentially take down a big pot post flop.

Set mining means calling with a small pocket pair with the intention of hitting a set post flop.

Similarly, suited connectors like JTs or 87s have the potential of making strong combinations like straights and flushes.

When you are dealt speculative hands, you want to have decent implied odds in order to play them profitably.

The implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially earn on future streets if you complete your hand combination.

You also want to consider the pot odds in order to figure out if your preflop call is profitable.

Pot odds are exact and precise, while implied odds require a bit of guesswork.

Check out my ultimate guide to poker odds by the way to learn all the basic math.

Your implied odds will depend on a number of factors, namely the effective stack size, the type of opponent you are up against, your hand strength, and your opponent’s hand strength, just to name a few.

You will also get better implied odds if your hand strength is well concealed.

As a general rule, straight draws have better implied odds than flush draws because straights are usually better concealed on a given board.

Completed flush draws, on the other hand, are fairly easier to spot. Even a recreational player can see a potential flush completing when a third heart comes on the turn, for example.

Let’s look at the two board runouts to illustrate this point

Let’s say you are dealt J♥T♥  

Board #1:

Q♥2♣9♦5♥8♠

Board #2:

K♥3♣6♥9♥2♠

All other things being equal, you will probably have better implied odds with a completed straight, because your hand strength is well concealed.

Moreover, you have the stone cold nuts on the board #1, while there are multiple stronger flushes on board #2 that potentially have you beat.

This means you need to take the reverse implied odds into account on board #2.

Reverse implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially lose if your draw completes, but your opponent ends up having an even stronger hand than you.

Bottom line: calling preflop is usually the last option to consider, but there will be times where it will be the most profitable play.

If you decide to call preflop, make sure you’re getting decent pot odds and implied odds on a call.

5 Simple Preflop Poker Tips for Beginners - Summary

You can’t learn any advanced poker strategy without a solid grasp of the preflop fundamentals first.

Mastering the fundamentals of the preflop strategy is a good starting point to improving your game, because you can see a positive impact on your results almost immediately.

With that said, here are 5 simple preflop poker tips every good poker player should know.

1. Enter the pot with a raise

Being the preflop aggressor is statistically way more profitable over the long run than being the preflop caller.

By entering the pot with a raise (or a 3-bet), you are building up the pot with your strong hands, you get the initiative to continue the aggression post flop, and can often take down the pot outright preflop.

2. Iso-raise against open-limpers

Open-limping is a telltale sign of a recreational poker player 99% of the time. 

When you see a player open-limping, you can isolate them with an open-raise and play a heads-up pot against them with the initiative and the range advantage. 

Bonus points if you also play the pot in position.

3. Play more hands in late positions

If you are the last player to act in a betting round, you have an informational advantage, you can build up the pot with your strong hands, and you can bluff more effectively.

To play more hands in position, try open-raising more hands when you are on the cutoff and the button, and be more selective with the hands you choose to play from earlier table positions and from the blinds.

4. Master the light 3-bet

If you only 3-bet with your strong premium hands, you might become too predictable to players who are paying attention to your betting patterns. 

To counteract that, try to add a few bluffing hands to your 3-betting range.

Some of the best hands to 3-bet light with are suited Aces due to their great playability post flop, insane nuts potential, and their blocker power.

5. Call with speculative hands preflop

Even though open-raising and 3-betting is preferable to flat calling preflop, there will be times where flat calling is the most +EV option.

One of these situations is when you are dealt a speculative hand and are getting decent odds on a call. In other words, you have the opportunity to see a cheap flop with a lot of upside potential.

Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.