learn · preflop
Preflop.
Preflop is everything before the first three shared cards fall. You have two cards and a seat at the table, and with only those two facts you make the decision that steers the rest of the hand. If you improve one thing about your game, improve this: it takes no talent, only the discipline to stick to a list.
the two things that count
How many people decide after you
Every player still behind you can raise. From the first seat that is five of them, from the button only two, and both of those have already been forced to put money in. That is why you play about three times as many hands from the button as from the first seat, without your cards having improved at all.
Whether your hand can still grow
Two cards of the same suit, and cards that sit next to each other, make a big hand more often than loose high cards do. That is the difference between a hand that sometimes wins a pot and a hand that sometimes wins a stack. is not a strong hand, but it does finish things.
The first of those two matters most by far, and it gets its own page: why your seat weighs more than your cards. The second shows up in the table below, where suited hands keep appearing earlier in the list than the same cards in two suits. What the glossary calls position is the shorthand for the whole idea.
what you open, per seat
A guideline for a six handed table when nobody has raised in front of you. The percentages are approximate and differ between sources; the pattern behind them is what you should remember.
| Seat | Share of hands | Roughly what |
|---|---|---|
| First to act | about 15 percent | Pairs from 77 up, suited ace ten and better, offsuit AJ and better, KQ Five players behind you can still raise. Every hand you open here has to be able to face one. |
| Middle position | about 20 percent | Pairs from 55 up, suited ace nine and better, suited KT and QT, AT and better One fewer player behind you, so slightly wider. Still aimed at hands that make value. |
| Cutoff | about 28 percent | All pairs, all suited aces, suited connectors, KJ and better Only the button and the two blinds are left behind you. You play with position more often and you take the blinds uncontested on a regular basis. |
| Button | about 45 percent | Almost anything that is not hopeless: every pair, everything suited, plenty of loose high cards The best seat at the table. You act last for the whole hand, and only two players are left behind you, both of whom have already been forced to put money in. |
| Small blind | raise or fold | Raise a solid range, throw the rest away After the flop you act first for the whole hand, and that is the worst seat there is. Calling along mostly punishes yourself. |
A collection of hands like that is called a range, and it is easier to remember when you can see it. The free range visualizer turns such a list into a thirteen by thirteen grid with the combination count alongside, so you can see at a glance how many hands you are actually playing. The same lists laid out per seat sit in the starting hand charts.
the second raise
If someone raises in front of you and you raise over the top, that is a three-bet. You do it for two reasons. With a strong hand you want a bigger pot and you would rather play against one opponent than three. And with a smaller set of hands that are just too weak to call, you raise because they play well when you do get called.
While you do it, watch how strong your hand really is rather than how strong it feels. against wins 42.84 percent of the time when all five cards are dealt out; with both cards in the same suit that is 46.21 percent. Ace king is a hand that still needs to improve, and that is exactly why you would rather play it against one opponent than two. Just matching the raise instead is called limping when nobody has raised, and it costs you in the same way.
what costs the most
Playing the same hands everywhere
This is the most expensive habit there is. Offsuit AJ is an easy raise on the button and an easy fold from the first seat. The cards do not change, but what they earn does.
Calling along instead of raising
Merely matching the big blind gives away two things at once: you build no pot with your good hands, and you remove the chance that everyone folds immediately. Raise or fold, and nothing in between.
Overrating loose high cards
Offsuit KJ plays noticeably worse than suited KJ: fewer flushes, fewer straights, and you complete your hand less often when you continue. The same two ranks, a different kind of hand.
Calling where raising or folding is clearer
Calling a raise often produces a three way pot in which you act first. Raising yourself or folding gives you a clearer plan for the rest of the hand.
All four come down to the same thing: you play too many hands, and you play them the same way everywhere. What you choose preflop also decides which hands you see the flop with, and therefore how easy your decisions on the flop turn out to be.
next step
The practice: one real decision a day.
You memorise a starting hand list by using it, not by reading it. The hand of the day archive holds one hand for every past day where something is genuinely at stake, with the solution alongside it and with what each option costs in big blinds.
questions about preflop
What does preflop mean in poker?
Preflop is everything that happens before the first three shared cards arrive. All you have to decide on is your two cards and your seat, and yet this is where the most profit and the most losses sit.
How many hands should you play preflop?
It depends on where you sit. From the earliest seat at a six handed table about fifteen percent of your hands, from the button roughly three times as many. Across all seats that averages out to about one hand in four or five; anything above that is nearly always too many.
What is a 3-bet?
The second raise in the same round. Someone raises and you raise over the top. You do it with strong hands to build a bigger pot, and with a smaller set of hands that are just too weak to call but play well when someone does call.
Is AK a good hand?
Yes, but it is less unbeatable than it feels. Against a pair of queens, offsuit ace king wins 42.84 percent of the time when all five cards are dealt out; suited it is 46.21 percent. So it is a strong hand that still needs to improve, not a certainty.
Why is calling along preflop almost always wrong?
Because it gives away two things. You build no pot with your strong hands, and you remove the possibility that everyone behind you folds. On top of that you invite more players in, and the more players see the flop, the smaller the chance that your hand is the best one at the end.
How large should you raise preflop?
Online, two to three times the big blind is standard, plus about one more blind for every player who has already called. At a live table more people call, so slightly larger works better there. More important than the exact size is that it does not depend on how strong your hand is.
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