1) How strong are my cards?
A) strictly hand strength
I. Top ten hands
You can play these hands from any position. I.E., even with a raise, re-raise, and re-re raise in front of you you will play Pocket Rockets. The Cowboys...well, that depends on the players in front of you but they would be tough to lay down.
So pocket 10s through Aces, A/K suited, A/k off, K/Q, A/Q suited suited is a pretty good foundation. With these you do not need to be too advanced about thinking about what type of hands your opponents have/play.
II. Middle Position
Hands you can add from middle position. Here you add hands like middle pairs (down to say...7s), Ace/x suited where x=10 or higher, off suit hands with both cards paint
III. Late Position
Widen the range of hands you play from late position. Mix in your suited connectors, stuff like that. If facing a weak raise and you have a couple callers you can play literally any 2 cards. For example, Under the gun makes a minimum raise, 2 people call, small blind folds and you have the dreaded 2/7 off. Do you call? Let's say for ease of numbers the blinds are 100/200. The pot has 1500 in it. You need to call 200 to win that 1500 but of course you would get your 200 back so you are getting 1700/200 or 8.5-1 on your chips. That should be an easy call. If you hit the flop hard...2 pair or trips...you keep going. If not, get out. Small investment, big payoff. If you are the bluffing sort you can make a stab at the pot even if you miss, though generally against a large number of callers that is ill-advised. Sure, you will lose your 400 chips most of the time. But as long as you get out cheaply and then maximize the value when you DO hit the flop it is a winning proposition in the long run.
IV. Why position matters
If you are playing 8 handed and open with an Ace/rag, what are the odds someone behind you will pick up a stronger hand; say, A/10 or better, or else a big pocket pair? Let's say they merely call your raise with an A/Q, a not uncommon occurrence. The flop comes A/10/2 and you have an A/4. Barring running cards that pair the board make a straight or a 4 hitting you cannot run down the A/Q as their kicker will give them the pot. Thus you are likely to lose a large number of chips with your weak Ace. It is even possible to have the board provide your kicker. However, if you are in late position and nobody has shown strength your Ace is more likely to be the best hand at the moment.
You can also afford to play hands from late position you cannot play early. Say you pick up Pocket 3s. You are almost guaranteed to have 3 over cards to your pair on the board when the flop comes and the only way you will gain chips off this hand is to hit a set (have a third trey hit the board). As a result, since you will only hit a set 1 in about 9 tries you want to see the flop cheap. If you enter the pot from early position you will probably have to fold if someone raises. However, from late position you can often see a flop cheaply which is the only way you can realistically play this hand unless you plan to bluff with it.
Third, if you are in late position and people have folded or limped to you, showing weakness, you can often raise with any two cards and potentially take down the pot right there. Making the same raise from early position is vastly more dangerous as you are far more likely to have someone wake up behind you with a big hand when there are 6 or 7 hands that haven't shown their strength than if you have just 1 or 2 hands left to get through.
B) Comparative hand strengths
Under the gun raises to 3 times the blind, 2 people call, and you are in the big blind with A/6. Should you call?
The first thing we established was starting hands. So you put your opponent on a range of hands. Here is where knowing your opponents comes into play. For arguments sake we will say you know the UTG raiser is a fairly tight player who pretty much only plays the top 10 hands, the first caller is a somewhat loose player who will play any Ace, any paint, any pair, and any suited connectors, and the third player is also a bit loose.
4 of the hands the open raiser might hold contain an Ace: Pocket Aces, A/Ks, A/Qs, A/K. To be honest, I have never seen anyone that tight in real life, you can pretty much figure in local type games they will have A/10 or better.
The other two are even less likely to hold an Ace as their range of hands is much broader. Let's be mean to ourselves, though, and say the open raiser exposed his cards and has A/K. You KNOW you are a 3-1 underdog to him. Would you call, KNOWING you are behind?
Surprisingly...yes, you should. Let's keep our 1/200 blind structure. He raised to 600, 2 players called, so you need to call 600 to make 2400, not counting the blinds. You are getting 4-1 on your chips and are only a 3-1 underdog. Now, take the same situation where you are the raiser with your A/6. You limp in for 200, everyone folds to the big blind who shows A/K and raises to 600 ...now you need to call 600 to make 1400 (your 200, his 600, your 600) or 2.33-1 and you are a 3-1 underdog...you fold. Same cards, different positions, different potential return on investment. Which leads us to
C) Position
Assuming 8 handed game, early position will be the first 2-3 people, depending on their aggression; middle position, again 2 - 3 people and late position 2 - 3 people. Note that late position pre-flop is, except for the dealer button, early position after the flop. For example, if you are the big blind, you are late position pre-flop because you are last to act. After the flop, however, only the small blind will ever act BEFORE you. So you have become early position.
The primary reason this matters is for information. Let's assume you pick up a mediocre hand, say...pocket 9s. High enough to have under cards on the flop but still likely to see a flop where at least one over card hits the board. If you are in early position you face a risky proposition; if you limp someone is likely to raise it which will give you a tough decision; are they sensing weakness in you and making a move or do they have a monster? If it is just 2 high cards...say, A/J...you are "in a race" where it is so close to 50/50% to win or lose that you can play it. But if they have a higher pair...say, Jacks...you are now crushed, a 4-1 underdog, and likely to lose a large percentage of your stack. If you are in middle position you already have a sense of the strength of hands of the first 6 people and are more likely to know whether you should play the hand or not. If you are in late position it becomes an easy decision; if there is light action you can play them cheap and hope for a favorable flop, if there is heavy action you can fold. In late position, judging by who folded, limped, called, or raised you should be able to put people on a range of hands and thus can decide whether to play your mediocre hand or not.
2) How do my cards compare to those of my opponents?
A) put opponents on a range
It is a great feeling to be able to tell your opponent what cards he held while those cards are face down. It is also very difficult. Usually you don't need to know the exact cards they have...just a range of hands they might play to see if you should continue in the hand or not. Example: You have pocket 10s and raise from late position. The big blind calls, everyone else folds. The flop comes Kd/Qd/2c. You raise and he re raises. Do you fold, call, re-raise, or move all in?
The answer is "it depends".
If you are playing someone "tight" they have a narrow range of hands at this point; they are representing a hand that can beat either the King or Queen or they have a draw. That means they have Pocket Aces, they have the King or Queen (or both), 2 diamonds, or something like J/10.
If you are playing someone a bit looser then you can add any pocket pair, hands like A/10, A/J where they are praying for that miracle straight, or even something like A/rag where the Ace is a diamond and they want the runner runner for a flush.
Against the tight player you fold. Against some loose players you call, against others you re-raise, maybe even all-in if you put them on a bluff or a weak hand. It just depends on what range of hands you believe they will A) call you pre-flop and then B) re-raise you with. How do you figure that out?
I. What types of hands have they played?
Even when not involved in a hand, watch every hand. Your goal is to see as many hands shown as possible. If you watch a guy play 20 hands, 10 he does not show and the other 10 are only shown at a showdown, he wins 9 of those...you can assume he is a tight player and seldom has anything but a monster when he plays. In the example above you would fold.
Conversely, if you see him show everything from pocket Aces to a pair of deuces you can assume he is much, much looser and now you either call or re-raise. Whenever possible, reconstruct the hand to see when he likes to call, when he likes to raise or re-raise, and what it takes to get him to fold.
II. How do they play them? I.E. top pair, set, draw...do they raise or call?
3) Raising, calling, or folding
Should you raise, call, or fold? A lot of people tend to just call. This can work if you know when to get out of hands but it really limits your options. If you just call your opponent controls the size of the bet, when there is a bet, and thus will win a lot of pots that he shouldn't. If you just raise you risk running into someone who is slow-playing the nuts. In short, you need to mix up your play.
A) Standard raise theory
A good standard raise is 3 times the blind. If the blinds are 25/50, you are first to act, you typically want to raise to 150. Many people adjust this a bit. For example, 2 people limp in, then you raise, some people add 1 blind per person who has entered it so in this case you would raise to 250.
B) When to limp, when to raise, when to fold
It depends on the types of players seated at the table with you. If you are in with action oriented players who like to see a lot of flops cheaply you can limp with a lot of hands you would typically fold. Conversely, if they only ever enter for a raise then you should raise more, call less. Here is an example of why.
You limp in, the opponent raises strong, you look at your 3s and release your hand. The next time you limp in he is likely to raise no matter what cards you have. Conversely, if you are the one who raises, your opponent folds, the next time he limps you do not even need to look at your cards, just raise.
C) Few folds are bad folds but sometimes you have to play back; defending your blind
Sometimes you need to defend your blind. Pay attention to the table. If someone raises every time you are in the blinds it does not mean he has a hand. He might sense weakness in you and be trying to steal your blinds. If you see someone doing this, "play back" at them. The next time they raise, come over the top and re-raise them. If you do not have the courage for that, at least pay to see the flop and if there is anything to work with, take a stab at that. If you do not, they will raise your flop every time no matter what cards they have.
4) Basic odds
Sometimes you think you are behind and need to decide whether to call or not. All you need are basic math skills and a general sense of how much is in the pot.
"The Rule of 2" allows you to quickly figure your percentage chance of hitting a needed card. Say you have an 8/10 and the flop comes A/J/9. At the moment you have nothing but a straight draw. Someone you put on an Ace raises. Should you call? The first thing you do is count your outs. In this case there are 8: if any 7 or Queen falls, you figure to hit your straight and that figures to be the best hand. 8x2 = 16 so you have roughly a 16% chance to hit your card. If this is a flop your actual percentage chance is 34.24% so you are close enough. You will win about 32% of the time, or roughly a third, so if you are getting 2-1 or better on your chips then you can call. If you are getting less then you should fold.
However, don't forget "counterfeited odds". Example:
I had K/10 diamonds, the villain had pocket Jacks. The flop came K/J/2, 2 diamonds. In theory I have 9 outs to make a flush; however, the Jack on the board is a diamond leaving me 8 outs. But not so fast; if another King or deuce falls, he makes a boat. I have the king but the 2 is his, so now I have 7 outs. Regardless of what falls on the turn, if it is not a diamond it takes away one more out since it will also give him a full house and thus a higher hand so you can say that 2 of my theoretical 8 outs are "counterfeited" and in truth I have just 6 outs. Now I need to get 8-1 on my chips to make the call.
That will get you started. More next time, mostly on flop, turn and river play, though some of that was covered here.
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