Pre-Flop Strategy
In this Article:
- Things to Consider.
- What is your strategy?
- Small Ball
- Flat Betting vs. 3 Betting
- Things to Consider.
- What is your strategy?
- Small Ball
- Flat Betting vs. 3 Betting
Things to Consider:
When you are playing a Hold'em game, there are many things to consider pre-flop. These include:
When you are playing a Hold'em game, there are many things to consider pre-flop. These include:
- The number of players at the table.
- Playing styles of you villains.
- Your Chip Stack.
- Your playing style.
- Your cards.
- The ranges villains play.
What is Your Pre-Flop Strategy?
Upon calling a hand, it is a good idea to ask yourself the following question: Do you have a general idea on how what you will do before the flop comes? Have you decided if you are going to play your cards OR play the person? Are you looking to trap a person OR are you looking to get players out of the hand and play it safely? Are you looking to just see what the flop looks like? Are you protecting your blinds? All of these are important things to ask yourself before you enter a hand. You should have a good idea about what you will do before you play that hand.
Upon calling a hand, it is a good idea to ask yourself the following question: Do you have a general idea on how what you will do before the flop comes? Have you decided if you are going to play your cards OR play the person? Are you looking to trap a person OR are you looking to get players out of the hand and play it safely? Are you looking to just see what the flop looks like? Are you protecting your blinds? All of these are important things to ask yourself before you enter a hand. You should have a good idea about what you will do before you play that hand.
Small Ball Strategy:
If you are playing low to medium sized cards, give small ball a try. With small ball you are looking to deceive the players on the table. If you can deceive the same player more than once, you are probably going to crush them. Small ball is great to use in your game especially when you have been dealt stuff you would normally fold if you are playing tight.
- Using small ball pre-flop is an excellent choice if you know how to use correctly. It is a great strategy geared at low-risk and high returns. How does it work? You raise pre-flop and play a lot more, hands things like suited connectors or Ace with a card. When the flop turns over, you make a small medium sized bet- if you a faced with a monster re-raise you just dump your cards unless you have huge cards.
- Basically, you are looking to push players around to make them thinking you are a 'maniac' player- but really you are looking for the right cards with the right opportunity. The chance to push a player to believe you have nothing and make them put up a huge bet when you have the nuts. Just remember if you are going to use small ball with low connected suits or medium cards, take a mental note that the most important decision comes post flop. You are looking to entice players to fold when you are not strong, and entice players when you have the monster hand. Here's a great video to check out on small ball poker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeeozbb2_FQ
Flatting vs. 3 Betting
Firstly, lets look at a flat bet and a 3 bet. A flat bet is where a raise has been made and a player has good cards and they could re-raise the villain (opponent) or just call. If a player re-raises 3 times the first initial raise, this is called a 3 bet. If you have a solid enough read that your villain plays tight, then a 3 bet may send them folding. If you have an awesome hand pre-flop, is this what you want to do? Or, would you prefer to flat call and try to make as much from them as you can?
Firstly, lets look at a flat bet and a 3 bet. A flat bet is where a raise has been made and a player has good cards and they could re-raise the villain (opponent) or just call. If a player re-raises 3 times the first initial raise, this is called a 3 bet. If you have a solid enough read that your villain plays tight, then a 3 bet may send them folding. If you have an awesome hand pre-flop, is this what you want to do? Or, would you prefer to flat call and try to make as much from them as you can?
- If you are faced with a small medium sized raise pre-flop it sometimes can be better to flat call rather than to 3 bet. Playing against a tight player will often get scared off with a 3 bet. Is this what you want? Flatting puts the first action onto them post flop and may save you chips. Usually, the villain will make the first move, leaving up a variety of options: the check/raise, slow playing the hand with a flat call; or, the option to pop a 3 bet.
- On the other hand, if you have slow played pocket Aces against a loose- aggressive player, than a 3 bet is a much better option to draw more chips into the hand rather than to flat call. This will shift the action onto you, so you will be leading the betting.
