“It’s All About Position”

Position,Position,Position is everything in Texas Holdem. It’s definitely one of the most important parts of the game. The importance of position cannot be emphasized enough. You need to play very tight in early position and then loosen your hand range when you get closer to the button. Not only will you put yourself in a bad spot to get raised when you open early but you will have the same bad position for all betting rounds including the more expensive later rounds.

By having position, your opponent(s) will have to act first and you’ll then get to react to their plays, making it easier for you to read their hands. Overall, you will win more and lose less on the hands that you play from better position. The benefits of position will allow you to play increasingly weaker starting hands profitably from better position. Remember that Texas Holdem is a situational game. There are many factors and variables that go into a decision before entering a pot.

So with that in mind, here are my pre-flop starting hand requirement based on position:

Early Position: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, AKs-AJs, AKo, AQo

Middle Position: 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, AJs-A9s, KQs, QJs, AJo-A10

Late Position: 44, 33, 22, A8s-A2s, KJs-K9s, Q10s-Q9s, J10s-J9s, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, A9, KQ-KT, QJ-Q9, JT, T9,98

Blinds: Any pair, AXs, KXs, QJ-QT, JT,T9, 98, 87, 76, 65, 54

The above hand recommendations are for a typical (somewhat loose) game. You need to make adjustments if you are playing in a loose or tight game. In a very loose game without much preflop raising you can get involved with raising more hands from early and middle position, but if the game is tight with few players in each pot, and pots often being raised preflop, you must therefore play even tighter from each position. Tight aggressive play in a loose passive game should be the most profitable approach.

So just remember, tight is always right.

Good luck and good variance to you all! : )