Pre-Flop Strategy

Any thoughts on pre-flop been having some tough time with this and also concerning position. I usually go All-In with pocket AA or KK. Any Advice

To me pocket aces on pre flop is your best hand. But, going all in depends on acouple diffrent factors.If your playing someone in a heads up came and want to try and end it quick go for it.but remember pocket aces can be beat. If in a tournament or just in a game with more than one person in it, I usally wont go all in on the pre flop.i would bet strong but not all in.

Depends what kind of game you are playing.

Freeroll: Going in on AA or KK is a pretty good idea, especially because at least one or two suckers will call you. The downside is that these hands can be beat, like hair brain said.

Sit and Go: If you are incredibly short-stacked, or know someone will call you, you COULD go all in. In this situation, it might be better to just make a big bet and force out anyone trying to come in with an average hand.

Heads up: It depends on the type of player you are facing. If you are playing someone very tight who folds 90% of the time OR someone who is overly aggressive and bets big every hand, it might just be better to sit on them and let him bet if he has something.

Make sizeable raises and hope for some callers. Pay attention to the board, your opponents actions, and hope for some help with either pair. Remember that you want to maximize the amount of money you win always -- the #1 thing you should focus on when playing poker is winning the most amount of cash in each pot you get involved with. As the board develops, don't be afraid to lay the hand down if you really think you're beat. A lot of people will have aces and be looking at a board and facing an opponent who evidently has them beat and continually to pay that person off. Remember, AA is NOT invincible.

1.Most of the time you should raise/re-raise with top-pairs (AA-QQ) and top connectors (AK, AQs) in order to make low-pairs and various connectors pay to see flops against you. Remember, they will often have the opportunity to double up on you if they hit (although many beginners do not realize this and fold too often pre-flop).

2.Stick to the premium hands (see table of minimum required hands). You will pay dearly to "chase" with second-best hands in NL.

3.Keep most raises down to between 70% and 100% (making it 3 times the big blind to go typically equals an 80% pot bet) in order to save money when you get re-raised or called by stronger holdings. If there are limpers in front of you, raise to about 4-6 times the big blind.

4.Have respect for strong tight players (for example, you should drop AQ if a strong player raises under the gun).

5.When very weak players have entered the pot, be inclined to call and take flops with them.

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It really depends.... You have to think about the other players. How have they analyzed your game, do you only go in when you have a monster hand or do you go in when sometimes you don't. You have to think about what your players are going to think when you place a big bet. Because if they see you make a big bet and you are genrerally a conservative player they will know to fold. If you are a pretty conservative player I suggest a small raise or just call the pot.

If you are not generally a conservative player and are known for raising alot pre-flop I suggest just doing that. That way the players don't know if you really do have a hand or not. Raising 4x or 5x the BB and hope to get called

My advice is search the forum for previous posts there have been some strong posts on this matter and if you had read them you wouldn't have written this. They date back to end of February and my contribution got nominated for post of Feb but was far from the best or most conclusive.

Key thing when you are a beginner is to play less than 30% of hands. Your flop play will not be strong enough to make profit in the long run playing more than 30% of hands. If you play pairs 8 or lower you should fold them preflop if you are not prepared to lay them down if they dont make 3 of a kind on the flop or something like flop of 222 with you 66. Playing low hole pairs on a flop that doesnt give you three of a kind is really hard to play and should be left until you are more experienced.

Going all in on AA and KK is fine but there are other good ways of playing them. Dont try too hard to be deceptive but realise that playing hands ALWAYS the same way leads to a kind of staleness of thought that skilled players will exploit. (ie calling with borderline playable hands and always raising with Ax with a good kicker or other strong hands) Try to understand concept of position and realise that AJ is probably to be jetisoned if someone raises 100 early on in a tourney and that A3 is quite a good hand to raise 50-100 with if you are immediately right of the dealer and everyone has folded to you. As blinds get high even j8os is quite raiseable in dealer position or one or two spots to the right thereof

just keep in mind that ANY hand preflop can be beat. Normally if you slow play them you're in trouble also. I'd come in for a raise, and then see what my opponents do. If they give you the idea that they have you beat fold your cards quickly. That's a habit most people have, holding on to AA and KK too long, when it's likely they are beat.

my strategy is 2 raise preflop just a little to cut down the ppl in the pot so u have a better chance oon winning the hand with just a minimum raise