Free Poker Lessons Strategy Guide On Table Position, Playable Pockets And Limping

How and what hole cards to play and from what tables positions is what you’ll learn about in this free poker online games training article. Limping, a topic not often looked at will also be covered at the end.

Before we get into that we must understand the term “hand range” which means “the range of hands it’s possible for my opponent to have”.

Understanding ranges is the most important SKILL a poker player has.

For example, an opponent is super tight and reraises you big preflop. An example range for them to have is (QQ,KK,AA). You know they must have one of these hands, though not which one exactly.

When writing a range, though, don’t write out every possible hand in the range. The range of (QQ, KK, AA) is shortened to (QQ+), meaning any pocket pair QQ or above.

KT, KJ, KQ offsuit would be written KTo+ to mean offsuit king KT or better. Offsuit is designated “o” and suited with an “s”, so, K8o+ is any offsuit king K8 or above.

Playable hole cards

There are 3 factors to consider:

1) The action before our turn to act.
2) Your Table Position
3) The opponents’ tendencies

The first is self explanatory. For example, you fold your pocket 9s if there has been a raise, 3 bet or 4 bet before your go. Basically just understand that when your opponents open you need to be tighter.

Table Position –
You should be opening progressively wider the get closer you get to the button.

1) There is a lower chance of other players getting a playable hand and better chance of folds as there are fewer players left to act after you.

2) Your postflop position is superior. For example, you’re on the button, your opponents have to act before you meaning you get to act with more information than them at every point in the hand. They do not know what you have but you know they elected to play preflop AND their reaction to the flop.

Opponents’ tendencies examples –
> If the big blind is going allin every hand, don’t open wide from the button as you’ll have to fold to his shove with weaker holdings.
> Loosen up if the players still to act are tight, it gives you a better chance of stealing the blinds.

Make these 2 tweaks if the players behind are loose aggressive:.
> Play tighter..
> Play more high card hands and less suited connector hands.

Against loose aggressive opponents you can play hands like KJo, flop top pair, and move All in OK. But with lesser hands such as 87s if you miss and continue bet the flop asggression may result and few folds. So high-card hands go up in value while middle connectors go down.

Some hands you nearly always play, for example, JJ+, AQ+. Some hands we’ll never play like 52o, but for tons of others the answer is “it depends on the situation”.

Typically:
- Play tight early position, looser late position
- Play tighter against loose players, looser against tight players (preflop)
- Play tighter against aggressive players, looser against passive players (preflop)
- Play tighter if there has been action before you
- Nearly never play trash and nearly always play premiums.

Here are some examples to illustrate.

- UTG (first position) 10 handed example range: (TT+, AQo+, AJs+)
- Button range vs tight blinds: (22+, A2o+, A2s+, K6o+, K5s+, Q9o+, Q8s+, JTo, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s)
- Button range vs loose blinds: (22+, A7o+, A2s+, K8o+, K8s+, QTo+, Q9s+, JTs)
- Button range readless: (22+, A7o+, A2s+, K8o+, K7s+, Q9o+, Q9s+, JTs, T9s, 98s)

Now a relatively uncovered topic – limping.

Should you limp preflop? The answer is almost never, apart from:

> When against a loose passive opponent with a marginal hand.

> More common, especially in free poker games, a limpede. Where several players limp preflop (limp+stampede = limpede!)

If you have low pockets or suited connectors join the Limpede as there is a good chance to flop good very cheaply. Your only goal is to flop a very strong hand – if you don’t you should give up and check/fold the flop.

This is not a simple subject but it is fundamental to poker success so to get comfortable with all this practice hard on free poker sites such as NoPayPOKER until you are happy, play with ranges and the way of thinking and different scenarios and so on. with absolutely no monetary loss.

So experiment away! It is a deep subject and in this article I have only touched on many areas. there is another longer version of this lesson, see it at the NoPayPOKER.com free poker education blog (where you can also play free poker games online for fun and practice)