Poker Strategy Before The Flop
Given that modern poker strategy prescribes aggressive pre-flop play from the blinds, raising too many hands on the button can cause you to be exploitatively 3-bet by players in blinds. A leak such as this one can slowly but continuously damage your win rate, so be cautious to not over-raise from the button. The most important thing to remember with your preflop poker strategy is that your position at the poker tables is literally everything. You should be playing the majority of your hands in the late position seats (cutoff and button), because these are the most profitable positions at the poker table. Poker articles Fundamental poker strategies. Tips for the beginner; Basic poker strategy; Flop, turn and river; Playing styles in poker; Shorthanded and longhanded; Limit, No limit and Pot limit; Starting hands; The art of cash game; Sit n go strategy; Tournaments strategy; Heads up strategy concepts; EV (expected value) The prospects of.
Domination is a familiar concept for Texas Holdem players – this occurs when one players hand is a 70% or more favorite before the flop, and usually involves hands with Aces and different strength kickers or a pair vs a higher pair.
Domination is a familiar concept for Texas Holdem players – this occurs when one players hand is a 70% or more favorite before the flop, and usually involves hands with Aces and different strength kickers or a pair vs a higher pair.
This article looks at the subject of Domination in Omaha Poker – looking at whether we get similar situations involving domination either before or after the flop, and then asking whether we can make use of this knowledge in terms of the way we play hands. One of the key factors, especially at the lower to mid-limits is that assuming our premium hand is against another strong holding is often an incorrect assumption – opponents tending to play all sorts of semi-coordinated hands alongside their real monsters, the match-ups below can thus be considered ‘worst case’ at a lot of tables.
Premium Pair Hands
Everyone knows that Omaha Starting Hands are closer in value before the flop. However, this does not preclude dominating situations from occurring. Here is one of the most extreme examples of a dominated pre-flop PLO hand match-up.
Player #1: A-A-10-10 (2 suits) = 80.51%
Player #2: K-K-10-10 (4 suits) = 19.30% (plus a small chance of a tie with broadway straights)
Of course having the same kickers and dominating suits for the aces would be very unusual – yet making both hands 4-suited and choosing random low cards for kickers does not actually make a huge difference to the pre-flop equity.
Player #1: A-A-5-8 (4 suits) = 72.61%
Player #2: K-K-4-9 (4 suits) = 27.39%
In fact we can swing things into balance for the kings quite easily by making this into a ‘quality’ hand and giving the aces junk kickers. Imagine that the Kings had position in this last example – there are actually many more flops this hand would like than the aces, which would you rather have after the flop?
Player #1 – A-A-2-8 (4 suits) = 55.36%
Player #2 – K-K-10-J (2 suits) = 44.64%
Comparing those same junky aces to a medium rundown hand will highlight just how dangerous it is to assume that your hand is a large favorite:
Player #1 – A-A-2-8 (4 suits) = 51.34%
Player #2 – 8-9-10-J (2 suits) = 48.66%
And in a 3 way pot with both opponent’s holding quality hands:
Player #1 – A-A-2-8 (4 suits) = 28.66%
Player #2 – 8-9-10-J (2 suits) = 39.45%
Player #3 – K-K-A-Q (2 suits) = 31.88%
These percentages show that before the flop with premium pairs the quality of your hand is a major determinant of whether it is likely to dominate the holdings of your opponents. However, premium pairs are only a small part of a balanced PLO starting hands range, there are many other holdings you will play including pairs with help, rundowns and double suited hands with gaps. Next we will look at the pre-flop matchups for these hands against each other and against premium pairs.
Rundowns
The next question is whether one rundown can dominate another – depending on the highest cards and gaps. We exclude suits for the time being by making all of the hands 4 suited.
Player #1 – 5-6-7-8 (4 suits) = 22.51%
Player #2 – 6-7-8-9 (4 suits) = 62.71%
Tie = 14.79%
Even with the tie potential included in the calculation we can see that player #2 is in a dominating position here. Making this hand double suited increases this further to 68% favorite before the flop. Again, this is an extreme (though plausible) example, with most rundown vs rundown hands we will see a larger spread – for example:
Player #1 – 5-6-7-8 (4 suits) = 37.35%
Player #2 – 8-9-10-J (4 suits) = 62.43%
Here the difference in equity is narrowed and the potential ties made almost negligible. This highlights an important aspect of PLO poker – those small rundowns are very rarely in terrible shape against the range of hands your opponent could be holding. In the above example we only need to make player #1 hold a double-suited hand and the matchup comes 45% / 55% – a coin-flip in common poker parlance.
Coordinated Middle Pair Hands
We would all love our starting hands to be made up of quality premium pairs and rundown hands… however real life is more complicated. Often we will be playing those pair + help combinations which are the ‘bread and butter’ of PLO games – think J-J-10-8 single suited and you will not be too far off. Here we will look at whether these hands easily dominate each other – and then compare them to the premium pair hands (quality and not) and the rundowns.
Player #1 – J-J-10-8 (single suited) = 68.65%
Player #2 – 7-7-5-6 (4 suits) = 31.35%
While the answer is yes to the domination question for these bread and butter hands the information is only useful when we ‘know’ our opponents hand. The best way to illustrate this is to compare the same hand to a broadway rundown hand, a premium pair with help and a small rundown – then compare the results.
Against A Broadway Hand
Player #1 – J-J-10-8 (single suited) = 48.44%
Player #2 – 10-J-K-Q (single suited) = 45.55%
Against A Premium Pair With Kickers
Player #1 – J-J-10-8 (single suited) = 30.88%
Player #2 – A-A-Q-K (double suited) = 69.11%
Against A Small Double Suited Rundown
Player #1 – J-J-10-8 (single suited) = 61.17%
Player #2 – 5-6-7-8 (double suited) = 38.68%
Here we are dominated by the premiums and broadway rundowns, and a small favorite over the small rundown and smaller combo – looks like one of those way-ahead / way-behind situations.
This sums up the article nicely, domination is possible in PLO – however the types of hands and ranges that your opponents will play will often make it unclear whether you are the one dominated or dominating. We now need to take into account the most important aspect of Pot Limit Omaha – the flop – while bearing in mind that your opponents could well be raising a semi-coordinated holding that you are crushing. The great thing about raising premium hands in PLO is not necessarily that you will always have the best of it – it is knowing that you are very unlikely to have the worst of it!
The Most Common Texas Holdem Poker Mistake
There are many strategy plays you can make in a poker games, but which one keeps you in the game the longest? What’s the action that most good players take more often than any other?
It’s not extraordinary, it’s not unforgettable, but it’s a basic poker play – fold. You might not see it on the edited clips from WSOP where every hand has something happeningt, but the reality is that even the poker pros fold most of the time. So in reverse of that, what is the biggest mistake the average player makes? These poker players make the mistake of calling when they should’ve folded, costing them loads of chips.
They do this without any consideration of the number of opponents, the number of previous bets, or their position on the table, they somehow manage to get involved in pots with weak hands. This is especially common when they have an ace in their hand and don’t pay any attention to the other factors. For some players an ace is a guaranteed winning card. They never realise its not.
There are even players that will cold-call a raise, putting out two bets where they should’ve got out of the hand. That’s not how betting in poker works, especially if you’re looking to get poker winning hands.
Why Does This Happen In Texas Holdem?
Poker Strategy Before The Flop Season
The reason for this is that the player becomes aggravated that someone has taken the initiative from under their nose. So, instead of being thankful that the opponent before them revealed their plan, they become angry and go on a mini tilt.
All of this stubbornness results in money lost, all because they couldn’t get away from a good hand, even when all the signs point toward the opponent having a better hand. You can see this kind of betting in poker tournaments all the time – a player slamming down a hand of A-T in anger, just because another player raised before them. If all this was avoided, they could have saved money, which is just as good as winning money, especially with a not-so-good hand.
Remember, if your hand is a long shot and against the pot odds, it’s best to fold, especially when you don’t lose any money in the process. Don’t understand pot odds? Check out this post.
Fold, Call Or Raise In Texas Holdem Poker?
When a player before you raises, your hand can quickly turn from a good one to a folding one. It can sometimes be a strong hand, in which case you can re-raise, but it will rarely be a calling hand.
Poker Strategy Before The Flop Game
If you’re playing in the cutoff seat (right next to the button) or on the button, and you have a player raising before you, it’s best to fold most of the times, even when you planned on raising.
Let’s take this scenario as an example.
If you have a big pair, you can re-raise to a three-bet in hopes of playing against the initial raiser. In that case, you’ll have a huge advantage when the flop comes. Not only will you have the last raise in, but you’ll also have the upper position over your opponent during the entire hand.
Poker Strategy Before The Flop Show
But that doesn’t mean that you’ll play the hand all the way to the river. If you make it three-bets with J-J and the flop has an A and a K, you’d be making a bad move to keep playing when others make any action. But if there are no overcards in the flop, you’ll be the favourite over anyone raising with a pair of nines through a pair of aces, as well as A-K, A-Q, A-J, and K-Q. And yes, you’d probably think that a pair of jacks doesn’t stand a chance over a pair of aces, but everything is not so simple in a poker game. That pair of jacks is favoured over the range of his raising hands. If he raises with any hand, ranging from a 9-9 or A-A, as well as A-K, A-Q, A-J, or K-Q, here’s the math.
The Maths Of Playing Jacks
There are 6 ways to make a pair and 16 ways to combine two cards like A-K or A-Q. If your opponent will raise with 9-9 through A-A, that’s five pairs with a total of 30 different combinations. But you’re holding two out of four jacks, so only two will remain.
He’s also likely to raise with A-K, A-Q, A-J, or K-Q, which make an additional 16 combinations. Minus the 8 combinations due to your pair of jacks, that’s another 56 hands he’s likely to raise with, totaling 87 hands – 56 big card combinations, plus 31 combinations for a pair.
At this point, your JJ is ahead of 69 of these 87 combinations, meaning you’re the favourite when compared to the possible hands of your opponent.
Conclusion
To sum it up, there are a couple of lessons to be learned here – and this might be the most profitable advice you ever get on poker – a bet saved is as good as a bet won, raise more than you call and fold more than you raise. As with all the poker strategies we have discussed, how when and why you fold pre-flop needs to be thought about and used together in many different combinations and situations in order to get poker winning hands.