Improving your Texas Hold Em poker preflop decision-making is probably the easiest and fastest adjustment Amateur Poker players can make to maximize their expectations to make money playing online poker.  Every Hold Em poker preflop Action you take impacts the strength of your hand and your position, and ultimately your ability to make money playing online poker.  Every Hold Em poker preflop raise, Call, or Fold should be based on a combination of factors that lead you to surmise that the action you are taking is the best option in this situation.  To arrive at this conclusion, every amateur poker player should examine the answers to several questions.  While your personal Online Poker Tutor is referring to short-handed Hold Em poker preflop decisions, these questions will generally help you Preflop and post-Flop, and will help at a full table also, but the focus is short-handed Hold Em poker preflop for the sake of this online poker Strategy article.  Rather than revisit a hold em poker preflop starting hands chart, this online or Internet Poker Strategy article will center around some key considerations that should heavily influence your hold em poker preflop decisions, arming amateur poker sharks with the skills and analytical or critical thinking abilities that are essential to success in this game.  Since different circumstances require different actions, it is important to break away from a chart based strategy that dictates what hands to play from a given position, and start concentrating on what opportunities you have in this situation.  The charts are a good foundation for novice amateur poker players, but to make money playing online poker you will have to stay a step ahead, and asking yourself some pertinent questions can expand on a solid gameplan and make it a winning online poker strategy.

If you are in early position in an unraised Pot, your first question will be simple: how strong is my hand?  For many the decision-making process begins and ends with that query, but a good player must delve deeper.  IF the hand is playable, you next must assess what you would like to accomplish with this hand: to trap, to Steal, to isolate someone, or to build a sizeable multiway pot?  The type of holding you have will help you determine which route to go, and from there you must rely on these answers to decide what size bet is best.  Be consistent with your poker betting strategy in order to conceal the precise type of cards you have.  One additional consideration before putting chips in the middle should be: what is my table image currently, and what effect will this produce on my table image in later confrontations?  If you are not certain what perceptions others at your table hold of you, or how this action will impact their opinions of you, be inclined to play the hand in such a way that the outcome is somewhat more predictable to you.  You should be two steps ahead of rivals at all times, from poker preflop decisions to the river action, so try to steer players in a direction in which you feel you know what to expect.  Being able to do this is mostly what seperates amateur poker from professional poker.

If  facing a raise, the questions an amateur poker player aspiring to improve must ask are:  what does a preflop raise indicate coming from this player (what types of hands will he raise with), how good is my poker preflop hand (remember that short-handed one must relax his strating hand requirements somewhat), what portion of our stacks does this raise represent (what percentage of each of your stacks is this preflop bet), what odds am I being offered (what are my Pot Odds and implied odds), how likely is my call to entice calls behind me (due to improved pot odds), how many players are still to act (who may enter with position on me), and how strong do I think my position will be on each successive street, and what types of bets am I likely to face on the next round (what is his poker betting strategy - will he charge draws steeply or allow you to draw at an affordable price?)   Answering these queries will give you some good insight into the best way to play the hand.  Since playing poker preflop can be tricky, often your answers are really just a best guess given the information you have about a player.  Knowing what types of cards he likes to play, what his Poker Betting Strategy seems to be, and whether or not he plays position well and understands it are all critical concerns that must be examined in short-handed Hold Em poker preflop scenarios.

Considering these things may seem inane at times, especially when a certain action seems obvious, but, as your personal online poker tutor, I must insist that you ask yourself these questions each hand, and preferably aloud.  It may make you feel ridiculous at first, but asking and answering aloud will not only help new amateur poker players reason through a certain poker preflop action, but will also help you develop a habit of running through this hold em poker preflop checklist, and that is your main goal.  Once you get used to doing this checklist thoroughly every hand before every hold em poker preflop play, it will become ingrained in your analysis of the game, and heighten your awareness of the circumstances at your table.  All of these things help you become a better player.  I acknowledge that very often you will not have an absolutely accurate answer for each item on the list, but doing your best will make your best that much better!!!  Incorporating this technique into your poker preflop and poker betting strategy will significantly improve your game and help you achieve your ultimate goal: make money playing online poker!!!

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L337 NUB, your friendly online poker tutor!!!