When first glancing at your hole cards, it’s vital to quickly determine if your starting poker hand has the potential to become a powerhouse or should be folded pre-flop. Mastering proper hand valuation takes experience, but you can study optimal opening hand guidelines.
Hand Combos
Here’s a quick reference for which hole card combinations you should definitely play from the early position, middle position and late position at six-handed tables in UniBet Denmark rooms:
Early Position Hands
- Pairs of Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces
- Ace-King (AK)
Middle Position Hands
- Pairs of Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces
- Ace-Queen (AQ)
- Ace-Jack (AJ)
- King-Queen (KQ)
Late Position Hands
- Pairs of Nines, Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces
- Ace-Ten (AT)
- King-Jack (KJ)
- Queen-Jack (QJ)
Memorize this starting hand cheat sheet. Only enter pots pre-flop with these or stronger combinations given your table position. This ensures you won’t be dominated when the flop falls.
Continually Refine Your Bet-Sizing Tactics
Determining proper https://slotspeak.net/tomb-raider-demo/ sizing is an art form in itself. When out of position in early betting rounds, stick to 2.5-3x the big blind. When in position on the flop or turn, smaller continuation bets of 40-65% the pot size work well.
Pay attention to preflop action too. If facing just one limper, bump your raise up to 3x or 4x the big blind. If facing multiple limpers or a min-raise, pump it up to 5x or 6x the big blind. Punish passive play.
When value betting big hands for max extraction on the river, bet just under the pot size. Make villains pay the highest price to see your cards.
Mix in Overbets
Too While most bets should be just under the pot size, occasionally overbetting with very strong made hands disguises your holdings. When flopping huge hands like sets or two pairs on dry boards, lead out for 1.5-2x pot on the turn.
Say you hold pocket Queens and the board runs out Q♥3♦6♠4♣. Betting $150 into a $60 pot looks extremely strong, possibly inducing incorrect hero calls.
Master the Art of the Bluff
Expert bluffing separates winning players from losers. Select good bluff spots by studying opponents’ playing styles and past showdown history. Identify who overfolds when facing aggression. The best bluffing hands are complete air with good blocker effects. Blockers are cards that make it less likely your opponent holds strong hands.
For example, the Ace-Five (A5) hand blocks opponents from having Aces or Fives, letting you represent those holdings. Use these types of hands to run big triple barrel bluffs on scary boards like K♦T♠7♥4♣.
Continually Mix Up Your Play
Winning poker requires mixing up your play to keep opponents off balance. Switch gears by limping in early position with big pairs or suited connectors to set traps, making light continuation bets on boards you normally wouldn’t, underbluffing for a while, then blasting three streets when least expected.
The key is being unpredictable. Never let opponents easily read your hand strength based on past action. Disguise monster holdings as weak ones. Represent power when holding nothing. Keep the table guessing.
Master Position Play
Being in position (getting to act after opponents pre-flop and post-flop) conveys huge advantages. You gain valuable information about opponents’ holdings through their actions. You can leverage late position to steal more pots by betting when checked to. Position amplifies your edge.
When in early position, play only premium cards and tighten your ranges. When on the button, dealer, or cutoff seat, widen your playable hands. Loosen up with suited connectors, small pairs, etc. Aggressively steal more blinds by raising or 3-betting light.
In multi-way pots, isolate weaker players on your left coming out of the blinds. Continually capitalize on having position over them postflop. Value bet relentlessly when you connect with boards.
Crush Your Opponents By Studying Play Styles
Pay attention to opponents’ tendencies. Identify calling stations, habitual bluffers, nitty players, aggro-maniacs and so on. Formulate strategies to counter each profile:
- Against Calling Stations: Value bet thinner for max profit. Bluffs rarely work.
- Against Bluffers: Don’t pay off their relentless aggression without strong made hands. Hero call downs with second best holdings.
- Against Nits: Only continuation bet boards with strong equity. Give up with one street of aggression. Consider bluff raising rivers as they tend to fold.
- Against Maniacs: See a lot of flops cheaply and set mine. Stack off big when you hit strong hands. Hero fold otherwise.
In addition to studying individuals, look for global table dynamics. On very passive tables, play more hands and steal more. On hyper-aggressive tables, tighten up and let maniacs stack off.
Master Tell-Spotting
In live poker, master reading basic player tells. Notice when opponents:
- Take longer to act on very strong/weak hands
- Handle chips aggressively on bluffs
- Avoid eye contact or cover their mouth with monster hands
- Count their stub stack pushing all-in
- Gulp or waver decision making with marginal holdings
The tiniest reactions can expose information letting you make more profitable moves.
Keep Improving Through Review
Serious players constantly review past play to fix leaks. Download hand history replayers to study previous hands. Review interesting pots and analyze if your line was optimal.
Common leak areas to review include:
- Not playing optimal pre-flop hand ranges from each position
- Bad flop/turn continuation bet sizing tells too much
- Failure to double or triple barrel optimal boards against weaker opponents
- Paying off river bets with second best hands too often
By continually reviewing hands with software tools, you sharpen your instincts and progressively plug costly leaks. This translates to much bigger long-term win rates.
Master Patience, Discipline and Bankroll Management
Becoming a consistently winning poker player requires immense patience during inevitable downswings and discipline to stick to optimal strategies despite results. If you lack these traits, work cultivating them through mindfulness, meditation or therapy.
Bankroll management is equally key. Only play limits wherein you risk 1-5% of your bankroll during any one session. Conservative loss caps preserve your capital so you can play another day.
