Playing Position

The top 3 most important things in hold’em is position, position, and postition. Position can take 2 cards that are bad in early position
and use them to raise with and possibly win in late position.

In a typical nine-handed game, early position is considered to include the small blind, big blind, and the two players to their left.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh players to act are in middle position, and the eighth and ninth players are in late position.

Position is so important because the later you are to act, the more information and knowledge you have from the other players in the hand.
This is key to know what and when to play. You must only call and raise from early position with primium hands, middle position you can
play more starting hands, and in late position you can play more. This is all depending on what players have done before you. See our other in depth articles on position play.

Hold’em or Fold’em

You may hear that any two cards can win. This is true, but will get you in trouble pulling stunts like that if your not very experienced.
It is very important to have great starting hand standards. Players who lack starting standards take the worst of it far too often.

After the flop, 71% of your entire hand is in front of you. If you do not have a great hand on the flop or the potiential for a really great hand with great hand odds,
You should probably fold. The turn and river finish your hand. If you still did not catch the cards you need and feel another player has you beat, you do not have
to call the final bet for the “showdown” (remaining players show their hand).

Betting

If you are going to be the first to enter the pot with a stronge hand, you want to consider making a raise 3 to 4 times the amount of the big blind.
This is done so players with weaker hands such as maybe A 2 or K 8 can get out of the hand and will not get lucky and catch something.
You only want to call with your hand if you have enough information from the table that no one else is going to raise. You can also call if you have an extremely good
hand and know for a fact that someone is going to bet behind you. Then you can raise again when it comes to you.