On Preflop Play in Limit Hold 'em - Part I

By B. A. Winterhalter
8-14-06

General:

A Note about Notation:

To represent the first two cards you are dealt in texas hold 'em, these articles will use some standard notational conventions. Cards are written in pairs, and referred to by number, with T used for a ten, J used for a jack, Q used for a queen, and so on. Any starting hand in which the cards are not of the same suit is designated by the letter 'o' (for off-suit) afterward, and any starting hand in which the cards are of the same suit is designated by the letter 's' afterward. Thus K8o means any king and 8 not of the same suit, and AJs means any ace and jack of the same suit. A card of a specific suit is referred to by placing a lower case letter indicating the suit directly after it: 's' for spades, 'c' for clubs, 'h' for hearts, and 'd' for diamonds. Thus the 9 of diamonds is written, '9d.'

Anyone who has played a goodly number of poker hands of hold 'em has almost certainly noticed that the game is much easier when you have good cards in your hand to begin with. The first experience of being dealt pocket aces, for instance, can be a thrill: most people know that these two cards--rockets, bullets, American Airlines, call them what you will--are very likely to hold up even against a large number of opponents. Their reputation precedes them, and playing them (when they hold up) feels like taking part in a self-fulfilling prophecy: you know they are a big favorite, and then they do win most of the time. If, at the beginning of playing poker, we were to be able to learn from that experience rather than merely being in awe of it, being overwhelmed by the joy of winning a large pot, we might observe that this wonderful feeling is precisely due to the strength of those aces. In this chapter, thus, I hope to thoroughly analyze what it is that makes a strong starting hand--to give some intellectual weight to the stupendous feeling of winning with strong cards, a feeling likely familiar to any beginner (it's just this feeling that keeps one playing poker, isn't it?). And in turn I hope to make it evident why certain hands ought not to be played. For the phenomenon of being uncertain whether or not the two cards glaring back at you merit a call afflicts many beginners (not that this question is irrelevant for intermediate players or experts--in fact it is precisely their understanding of the reasons for playing or not playing certain cards (at least in part) that makes these players more skillful).

While it is doubtlessly true that game conditions have a substantial impact on preflop play, I want to try to outline some general considerations for what makes a strong hand. I'll return to the indubitably important idea of the character of a game, and how that should change your preflop play later.

Unless otherwise stated, these guidelines assume you are playing in a full ring game (9 or 10 players) of limit hold 'em.

One general concept that must be gone over before describing the characteristics of a good staring hand is expected value. This is a fundamental gambling concept that dictates what actions are potentially profitable and which are not. Let us suppose you and a friend are betting on the outcome of a dice roll. If the die shows 1 – 5, you pay him $1, but if the die shows 6, he pays you $6. You can find your expected value in this situation by taking a weighing each outcome by its likelihood and then subtracting your losses from your wins. So, in this case:

(1/6 * 6) - (5/6 * 1)

1 – 5/6

1/6

Thus we see that overall, this bet gains you 1/6 of a dollar per roll. It is thus a favorable proposition that you should gladly accept. The same applies for starting hold 'em hands. The strongest ones are those with the best average expected value.

In applying this concept, it is important to remember that your expected value changes based on the strength of your opponents hands. If your opponents are raising, indicating that they have a decent holding (or probably indicating this), you should be less inclined to play your hand unless it is very strong, because you may the be accepting a proposition where, on average, you figure to lose money.