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2.5 Poker Starting Hands continued...
Starting Hand Examples
Lets take a look at some example starting hands and walk through what the charts are telling you to do and what thought process to follow.
Example hand 1
You are sitting in early position and are dealt A
J
. You are first to act and so nobody has bet before you.
What position am I in – Early Position
What group is my hand in - AJ is a Group E hand.
Has there been a Raise before me - No, I am first to act so it is UNRAISED
So from the answers to the above questions we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that none of the actions allow us to play a Group E hand in Early position and so we would fold this hand.
Example hand 2
You are sitting in early position and are dealt A
K
. You are first to act and so nobody has bet before you.
What position am I in – Early Position
What group is my hand in - AK is a Group B hand
Has there been a Raise before me - No, I am first to act so it is UNRAISED
So from the answers to the above questions we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that with a group B hand we are told to make an opening raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Raise (We will look at details of how much to raise in the next section).
Example hand 3
You are sitting in Mid Position and are dealt AA. A Player in early position has raised the pot up to 3 times the Big Blind.
What position am I in – Mid Position
What group is my hand in - AA is a Group A hand
Has there been a Raise before me - Yes, it has been RAISED
So from the answers to the above questions we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that with a group A hand we are told to make a Re-Raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Re-Raise. (We will look at details of how much to raise in the next section)
Example hand 4
You are sitting in Mid Position and are dealt 9 9. A Player in early position has raised the pot up to 3 times the Big Blind.
What position am I in – Mid Position
What group is my hand in - 99 is a Group D hand
Has there been a Raise before me - Yes, it has been RAISED
So from the answers to the above questions we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that we are not allowed to play an already RAISED pot in Mid Position with a group D hand. So we fold this hand.
Example hand 5
You are sitting in Late Position and are dealt 8 7. Two Players acting before you have limped in and called the big blind.
What position am I in – Late Position
What group is my hand in - 87s is a Group H hand
Has there been a Raise before me - No, it is UNRAISED
So from the answers to the above questions we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Late Position. You will see that we are allowed to Call a Multi-way pot with a group H hand (multiple players playing the hand). As two people have already called and the blinds will likely also call we can call the big blind and play the hand. So we would call the big blind on this hand.
How much should I Raise?
An opening Raise in general should be between 3 to 4 times the Big Blind. Anywhere in this range is ok, and as guide to start with I would raise the following amounts:
| When you are in EARLY POSITION | Raise 4 times the Big Blind |
| When you are in MID POSITION | Raise 3.5 times the Big Blind |
| When you are in LATE POSITION | Raise 3 times the Big Blind |
You should mix and match the size of your raises to prevent your opponents getting a reading your betting patterns, but the above can act as a general guide whilst you get used to your new strategy.
The reason to Raise more in Early position is because we are out of position and want to put as much pressure on our opponents as we can.
How much should I Re-Raise?
A Re-Raise should in general be between 2 – 4 times the original Raise, As a guide:
| When it has been Raised from EARLY POSITION | Raise 2 times the Raise |
| When it has been Raised from MID POSITION | Raise 3 times the Raise |
| When it has been Raised from LATE POSITION | Raise 4 times the Raise |
The reason for this is it is more likely that a player in late position has raised with a weaker hand than a player in Early position.
CONTINUE TO NEXT SECTION - 2.6 - Poker Challenge *Stage 1* $25 - $27
