What is Preflop? 5 Tips for Playing the Pre-Flop Round in Poker (Must-See)

To understand what Preflop is in Poker, you need to study in more detail the betting rounds as well as the basic rules of this legendary card game.

Accordingly, this is the name of one of the betting rounds that any player must go through if they want to compete against their opponents.

In addition to the definition, there are also some important notes that will help you easily achieve the desired results when participating in the game of Texas Hold’em in this round that need to be understood and remembered.

What is Preflop?

Preflop Poker is understood as the first betting round that takes place when starting a hand at a traditional casino or on reputable online poker sites.

Accordingly, players are dealt 2 hole cards with varying strengths by the dealer.

The first player who must act in this round is the one in the UTG position, which stands for Under the Gun.

If you don’t know, this is the position to the left of the BB, which stands for Big Blind, in a basic Poker table.

Important notes for beginners playing Pre Flop

To play Preflop correctly, players need to pay attention to many factors and details.

However, to ensure that any player can easily get acquainted, here are the 5 most basic conditions that every player must monitor and check before placing a bet.

1. Analyze the strength of your hole cards

First, we must mention the strength of the hole cards you are dealt by the dealer.

Depending on the combinations, they are categorized as follows:

• Super strong hands: AA, KK, QQ, or AK of the same suit with a very high chance of winning
• Very strong hands: JJ, 10 – 10, AK of different suits, AQ of the same suit
• Potential hands: Any pairs, an Ace and any card of the same suit, two cards of the same suit, two consecutive cards of the same suit, or suited connectors.
• Trash hands: The remaining cases with low chances of winning.

2. Calculate the pros & cons of betting positions

We have the following positions at the Poker table:

• SB – Small Blind
• BB – Big Blind
• UTG – Under The Gun, the first bettor in preflop
• EP – The first position at the table
• MP – The middle position
• HJ – The near-end position
• CO – Cut off position
• Button – The last action position, which is very advantageous

Accordingly, positions like UTG and EP are considered bad seats because they must bet before knowing the actions of their opponents.

To make it easier to understand and make more accurate decisions, players can refer to the following table:

3. Recognizing the playing style of the player before you

There are 4 common Poker playing styles encountered throughout games around the world as well as in Vietnam: Tight passive, tight aggressive, loose passive, loose aggressive.

Depending on each person’s playing style, you should build a changing betting strategy.

For example, when facing a tight passive player, you should raise or bet more to apply pressure.

Meanwhile, with loose passive players, you absolutely should not bluff if you don’t want to incur losses.

See more: What is Downswing Poker? How to handle the Downswing phenomenon

4. Observe the betting actions of your opponents

Depending on the actions of the players before you, your decision to play or not, and how to play, will change.

In a situation where all previous players have folded, even if you call, you still cannot win the big pot.

In cases where there are 1 to 2 players limping, you can definitely raise more if you have a good hand or even to eliminate some opponents.

Finally, when someone opens with a raise preflop before you, you should only play if your hand is strong enough or decisively fold to avoid large losses.

5. Pay attention to your chips and stacks as well as your opponents’

To play more effectively, monitoring and observing the number of chips and stacks of yourself and your opponents is very important.

• If you have 20 to 40BB: Poker short stack
• 50BB chips: Poker mid stack
• High chips around 100BB: Poker big stack
• Large chips from 200BB: Poker deep stack.

See more: Poker Rankings: Ranking the strongest hands in Poker

Conclusion

Thus, I have shared with you specifically about what Preflop is and the basic way to play from A – Z.

It can be affirmed that this is the basic betting round that any player must go through if they decide to participate in betting.

And of course, you absolutely cannot be complacent and need to equip yourself with effective experiences and tips.

If you are a new player and are not yet clear on the rules of the game and many other professional tricks, please refer to some Vietnamese Poker teaching books below.