Poker News & Strategies

Professional Poker Players Don’t Play Every Hand

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 , Tom Wilkinson Send page to friend Bookmark page Smaller font Larger font Printer friendly

The biggest mistake most online poker players make is playing too many hands. You need to know what starting hands to play and you also need to understand that position determines what those hands will be. Professional poker players understand this. You need to understand the same things if you want to play as a poker pro.

Early position is considered the spots to the left of the big blind. Middle positions are the next three while the last three are in late position. In the first round the blinds actually act last, since they are already in the hand, but in later rounds they have to act first. In early position you want strong starting hands like AA, KK, QQ or possibly JJ, 1010, AK or AQ. In middle position you can open it up a little bit more and play mid pairs and hands like A10, AJ, etc. In late position you have much more flexibility and can play small pairs, most suited hands, and suited connectors. Late position gives you the chance to play a lot more hands.

Another thing that professional poker players remember is that they don’t have to defend their blinds. A lot of online poker players believe that since they already have money in the pot that they have to play everything. They don’t. You don’t need to always call when you have nothing. Saving that bet will pay off later, and not getting involved in losing situations will definitely keep you out of trouble. Professionals have learned this.

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