Early Position Pre-Flop Strategy

[holdemtyro]

I'm still pretty green, and I've decided to try to work on my game in a bit of a two dimensional fashion. One way is to go through each street, and try to categorize the types of decisions that need to be made. The other is to look at those decisions and their surrounding circumstances.

I decided to start with pre-flop strategy, which is also by far the simplest. I thought I'd share my EP pre-flop strategy and see what criticism it drew. I came up with this by first looking at all the guidelines given in the books I've bought, then checking my pokertracker statistics to try to determine what works in the games I've been playing (partypoker 2/4 to 10/20).

Here's my first-pass at pre-flop EP logic:

Unraised or unopened pots:
Raise
AA KK QQ JJ TT AKs AQs AJs AKo AQo
Call
99 88 77 ATs AJo KQs KJs
Raised Pots
Raise
AA KK QQ JJ AKs AKo AQs
Cold-call
AQo AJs ATs

I've read enough posts bashing cold-calling to know that it's frowned upon, but some of my books advocate it on occasion, and my results with it seem reasonable.

I appreciate any criticism.
-HT

[BaronVonCP]

I didn't really look at your list very much. I'm sure its fine.

I just wanna discuss one thing.

It is my opinion that PF play is not the easiest, and might be the most complicated. General guidelines like that one that you have here are fine, but they ignore a lot of what's important in preflop play.

Position, number of players, opponents raising standards, general texture of the game, etc. all have to be takin into consideration when considering preflop plays.

That is all.

[Bob T.]

I don't think you can use the same strategy at 2-4 as you would at 10-20. I play a lot more aggressively in the 5-10 game, than I would in the 2-4 game preflop.

Good luck,
play well,

Bob T.

[bisonbison]

You'll get better responses if you post this in the micro forum.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

I'd raise KQs, 99, sometimes 88.

I'd rather fold than coldcall with AQo.

[holdemtyro]

Thank you for the feedback, I was really interested in seeing if my post generated a string of responses all saying 'this is awful and wrong'. If it's reasonably close to typically correct, my question is answered perfectly.

I guess I wasn't particularly clear about how I intend to develop this document. It's not meant to be a 'If (this) then (that)' guide. Trying to make such a guide for poker would be fairly insane.

My goal, in this exercise, is to force myself to identify the types of changes I need to make in different situations, and actually write them down. Not so I can play like a complete robot, but so I can force myself to pay attention to all the details. My thought is that I'll start with basics, and then start working out issues like 'What changes do I need to make to my thinking when _____ is not typical." I figured I'd post asking if my basics were in order first, since last time I posted multiple questions in one post, I got told not to do that.

If you're wondering why I'd go about this task this way, rather than just "read the books", the problem is that I cannot learn effectively by reading. As such, I've always been forced to find alternate ways to study the information, since I can read a book a dozen times, and only absorb one tenth of the content.

My apologies for my string of posts that were in the incorrect format, or forum.

[sthief09]

PF strategy is all about comfort level. I didn't used to raise 99 in EP, because it's not an easy hand to play. Now I'm a lot more comfortable with it, and I think it's more profitable to raise.

I don't think it would be too wrong to say that in EP, you should never cold-call a raise. You are likely dominated, and if it gets raised again behind you, you're not in a good spot. Personally, I'd muck AJs and KQs for an EP raise, and AQo depending on the player, but again, as I said, it's a matter of personal comfort level. I'm not comfortable playing a hand after cold-calling a raise in EP.

Here is my list, off the top of my head. I'm only writing this for the sake of comparison, because it should be different for every person.

Unraised
Raise
<ul type="square">[*]AA-99[*]AK-AJ (suited or offsuit)[*]KQ (suited or offsuit)[*]88, ATs, KJs (in very tight games)[/list]Limp
<ul type="square">[*]88-22 (except in tight games where there's a lot of PF raising)[*]Axs (except in tight games where there's a lot of PF raising)[*]Any suited broadway (except in tight games where there's a lot of raising)[*]88, 77, A9s, KJs, ATs (always)[/list]

Raised
Raise
<ul type="square">[*]AA-TT (I'll muck TT against a tight raiser)[*]AK (suited or offsuit)[*]AQo (against a light raiser)[*]AQs (against and unknown or a known light raiser)[/list]
I also think cold-calling an EP raise in EP with ATs is a mistake.