Pre flop play is the easiest area of Texas Hold’em to “master.” The reality, however, is that no poker game can truly be mastered. Poker players have learned how to play as close to perfectly as possible when it comes to pre flop play. It wasn’t always like this, online poker has allowed players to develop their skill sets much more quickly than was previously possible. There are certain tactics that are now commonly accepted and need to be understood. One of the most basic concepts in pre flop play is never open limping. Open limping is when a player simply calls the required blind in order to see a cheap flop. This is a terrible strategy that is both a waste of time and money. If there was one fatal flaw for the standard Hold’em player it would be the notorious open limp, but there is more on that later.

Hand selection is an extremely important part of pre flop play, and many players would argue that it is the most important aspect of pre flop play. Check out this article on pre flop hand selection for a basic rundown on the basic logistics of pre flop hand selection. Determining what hands you want to play is only the first step. Once you narrow down a solid range of hands that you want to play you must then decide how you are going to play them. There are many poker players out there who practice great hand selection, but a large portion of these players have absolutely no clue what to do when they have a playable hand. There is no use in waiting for a strong hand if you have no way of extracting some money from it when you have the chance to get involved.

Aggression, Aggression, Aggression

Before worrying about proper bet sizing you must understand that aggression is the foundation for success in Texas Hold’em. Weak Hold’em players are going to regularly be punished for their mistakes, however small they might seem. At the surface it would look like making one occasional bad call in a big pot is worse than numerous bad calls in small pots, but this is fundamentally incorrect. Poker players have a tendency to remember the big pots they play while completely disregarding the hundreds or thousands of small pots that they took down. This isn’t to say that it would make any sense to harp on some miniscule pots that you won, but keep them in mind. Texas Hold’em is a game where steady aggression and consistency is going to be repeatedly rewarded.

The absolute most important rule about pre flop play is NEVER OPEN LIMP. Never, ever. An open limp is the weakest move you could possibly make. More than this is the fact that it is the most boneheaded move you could ever make. Not only does it not work towards building a pot, but it also makes you dead money. If you want to play a hand, fine, play a hand. Make a raise, don’t limp into a pot to see a cheap flop. When you see cheap flops you build cheap flops, what good is it when you connect if there is no money to be made? It is a wonder that so many players will justify open limping with the “I want to see a cheap flop argument.” Just don’t do it. Put pressure on your opponents with a raise if you have a hand that you want to play, otherwise throw your hand and move onto the next one. There will be spots where calling another player’s open raise will be ideal, but this is completely different from open limping. A limping person won’t win a race in real life, and a poker player who limps will also get burned.

Bet Sizing

Stick to a set rule when making standard raises. There is always room for adjustments, but this doesn’t mean that your bet sizes should be changing with each and every hand that you play. A solid raise size is around 4x BB. This means a raise to four times the big blind at your table. If you wanted to make an open raise with As Qs in middle position at a .50/1 game the correct raise size would be $4. What do you do when someone limps into the pot? Simple solution, tack on one big blind per additional player in the pot. If one player limps into the same pot as above you would raise to $5 (4x BB+1 BB for the limper).

Raise sizes in 3 betting situations will be extremely player dependent. Loose players will allow room for larger raises, but tight players might only call small 3 bets. Don’t make re raises that are so small that they fail to serve a purpose. Players who make tiny re raises pre flop with strong hands will get burned when they let their opponent catch up on the flop. The general rule of thumb is “3 bet large, 4 bet small,” but feel free to cater your re raises to your specific opponent’s playing style.