Texas Hold'em strategy - Before the flop

Not the less important thing in poker run is your playing position. What is the most preferable position for a player? Definitely, it's the position on the button, which is in front of the Small Blind. The player will know what other players have done before his turn to act arrives. The worst position is early one, where players are 'under the gun', which means that they will have to act the first and will be more likely to make mistakes. Being careful in such position is what you should always keep in mind. For example, an AT off-suit could be a raising hand on the button, but never under the gun position. A regular beginner and an intermediate player tend to make the most common errors with starting hands. They might start to play two big cards and raise with the same type of cards. But those will be likely to become trap hands. Trap hands (marginal hands) are hands that seem to be good to start with, but have tendency to become second-best hands. The most common trap hands are AT, AJ, KQ, KJ, KT, QJ and QT. Nonetheless, under the right circumstances trap hands can cost you a lot of money. Tight or Loose game? A tight game is a game including 2-3 players seeing the flop. Basically a player doesn't happen to see the river card as everyone folds before. No matter whether you are a professional player or not, it's not reasonable to play in a tight game. In case you do want to try the game, be very selective about your starting hands. Better safe then sorry; think your act over properly. A loose game is quite different. There are far more than 3 players who can see the flop. In these games a player gets a chance to play more hands, but not more than 30% of the hands though. Anyway, you should be selective of your starting hand as well. Pre Flop Tips: - Be careful about your starting hands, select them deliberately. - Respect tight players - Do not call a raise of a hand that you wouldn't be able to raise yourself. - Raise with premium pairs like (AA-JJ) and top-connectors (AK, AQ) to exclude low pairs and build a pot.