January 15th, 2010 
poker buddy 
Preflop strategy from Early Position is probably the most straight forward and easy to play position in texas holdem. Basically if you don’t have an excellent hand (A big pocket pair, or ace king suited or offsuit) then you fold. Ace Jack is even a questionable hand in early position, at least at full tables, because someone may have you beaten in middle or late position with something along the lines of Ace Ace, Ace King, or Ace Queen. If you’re playing at a table full of folders then you definitely want to raise pre flop with any of the hands above to ensure that no one sees a cheap flop to out draw you. If the table is looser then you can add a few hands to the list such as Ace Jack or Ace Ten to, hopefully, eliminate a few of the players from seeing the flop.
The problem with being in early position is you’re first to act on every round of betting. If you raised preflop and didn’t hit its typically safe to bet unless you have a lot of loose players at the table who will call with just about anything. Your preflop raise and bet at the flop will leave opponents believing you had a big pair pre-flop and are continuing to bet at it. Of course if you wind up re-raised and didn’t hit anything on the flop its best to fold your hand.
Before betting or folding out of any position always remember what kind of opponent you are up against. Loose players may be calling you all the way to the river with something along the lines of Ace seven offsuit thinking their ace is good. Others may be making a play at you after they pick up on a betting pattern or tell.
As long as you don’t play many hands out of early position you should be able to pick up a good amount of pots on the Button (in late position) or from free flops in the blinds. Early position is always a troublesome spot to be in unless you have an incredibly powerful hand that can stand being raised or re-raised throughout the betting rounds. If you start playing poor hands out of early position opponents will drain your stack by raising the pot, forcing you to muck. Avoid anything that (at worst) isn’t Ace Ten suited or above. Ace Ten suited, Ace Jack, Ace Jack suited, Ace Queen, Ace Queen suited, Ace King, Ace King suited, Jack Jack (which can land you in a world of hurt if the flop has a Queen, King, and / or Ace on it), Queen Queen, King King, Ace Ace or even King Queen suited. Even hands like Queen Jack suited can be trouble in early position when faced with a large raise from an opponent in late position if you missed the flop (or worse you make a pair but are up against King Queen or Ace Queen if the Queen hit.)
Fold, fold, and fold again in early position unless you have one of the best starting hands in texas holdem otherwise your bankroll will start to shrink and your head will hurt from all the “bad beats” you took.
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