The First Two Cards: Early Position

Hold 'em is a positional game, perhaps more so than any other
form of poker. This is because the button determines the order in
which players act for all betting rounds. (The only exception to this
are the blinds, who act last on the first betting round, but act first on
all succeeding betting rounds.) Consequently, the number of hands
that can be safely played from an early position - which we will
define as the first three positions to the left of the big blind in a tenhanded
game - is quite limited. Since you are out of position on
all betting rounds, you need a superior starting hand to make it
worth ~p l a y i n g . ~
Specifically, in early position in a typical hold 'em game, if
you are the first one in, or if there is only a call to your right, be
prepared to play only those hands in the first four groups. In a loose
game, as long as the players are not too aggressive, you can add the
Group 5 hands, especially the suited connectors. In a tough game,
it is probably best to discard even the Group 4 hands. These
guidelines are very important. Playing too many hands up front is
one of the most costly errors that you can make.
Even though we just said that you can play the Group 5 hands
in non-aggressive loose games, notice that we said "especially the
suited connectors." The game would have to be almost perfect for
hands like



to be playable in an early position.
Furthermore, as the game gets more aggressive, you should
discard some of the weaker Group 4 hands such as AJ and KTs.
These can be difficult hands to play out of position, especially if
you find yourself isolated by an aggressive player.
When we refer to a game as loose, we mean a game without
much before-the-flop raising and with many players in most pots.
(This game would actually be loose and passive.) When we say
tough, we mean a game with a fair amount ofraising, but not many
large multiway pots. (This game would actually be tight and
aggressive.) There's alsaa type of game where several players play
very well, but only once the flop comes. If you are not sure which
of these types you are playing, it is best to assume that the game is
typical until you can determine otherwise. Remember that big pots
do not necessarily make a game good. If the big pots are created by
a lot of tactically sound raising, your best strategy might be to look
for a softer game.
We also want to point out that loose and passive are not the
same thing. If a game is loose, but still very aggressive, you should
not be in many pots. On the other hand, you could play a fair
number of hands in a tight but passive game.
20 Part One: The First Two Cards
Put another way, passive/aggressive should have a major
impact on the number of hands that you play, while looseltight
should impact the mix of hands that you play. There will be more
discussion of this throughout the text.
Sometimes you will need to add a few hands to those you play
up front to throw your opponents off. For example, you
occasionally should play a hand like



in an early position, even if the game is tough, to stop your more
observant opponents from stealing against you when "rags" flop.
Also, this is a good hand to occasionally raise with if you feel that
your early position raises are getting too much respect. (That is you
are not getting any action.) However, no matter what the reason for
playing a hand like this, make sure that your hand is suited, and
only do this occasionally.
If there is a raise to your right and the game is typical or tough,
you should limit your play to those hands in Groups 1 and 2.
Against an extremely tight player in a tough game, it may be
correct to throw away some of the Group 2 hands, such as:





(Remember that this chapter refers to early-position decisions.)
If there is a raise to your right and the game is loose, you
should be able to safely 'play Group 3 hands as well. However,
beware of AQ. Even in a loose game, this hand does not play well
against an early-position raiser if many players remain to act
behind you. (Of course, if the AQ is suited, you definitely would
play the hand.)
We want to pause and point out that you should not be calling
many raises if no one else (except the raiser) has voluntarily
entered the pot when playing hold 'em, no matter what your
position or what your two starting cards are. You should usually
either fold or occasionally reraise. We just mentioned that if the
game is loose it can be correct to play a Group 3 hand in a raised
pot. However, to call a raise with a hand like



before anyone else is in you need to be very sure that several other
players are coming. If you are consistently wrong it can prove to be
quite costly to your overall strategy. (The exception is if you are in
the blind. This will be addressed later in the text.)
While we are on the subject we also want to address loose
raisers. That is players who have weak raising standards and thus
frequently are first to put two bets in the pot. If you follow the
above guidelines, you will mainly be playing only Group 1 and 2
hands against an early position raiser. However, against the
aforementioned loose raiser you should go ahead and play AQ, 99,
and 88, and probably reraise with them. (You should also be
reraising with the Group 1 and Group 2 hands with the exception
of AJs and KQs which are still best to just call with.) Again, for this
play to be correct your judgment must be accurate. If you are not
sure it is probably best to throw these additional hands away. (Also
note that we are making a distinction between a loose raiser and a
loose game.)
If no one has yet called, almost always raise with AA, KK,
QQ, AK, and AQ. Part of the reason to raise with these hands is
that they lose value as the pot gets more multiway (especially if
your opponents see the flop for one bet rather than two). If there
have already been callers, usually raise with hands in Groups 1 and
2, AQ, and perhaps some other hands at random. (Again, these
random raises should be made only occasionally.)
Also, if no one has voluntarily put money in the pot, you
should raise approxin~atelytw o-thirds of the time with AKs, AQs,
AJs, and KQs. The reason for sometimes calling with these hands
is not only for deception purposes, but also because they play well
in multiway pots. However, because of the large blind structure in
today's game, it is not necessary to just call with these hands very
often. In fact, against weak opposition, it is best to almost always
raise with them, since the deception you are trying to gain by just
calling won't do you much good anyway. On the other hand, if the
game is tight and most players respect your raise, be more inclined
to limp with the big suited connectors. Again, these hands play well
in multiway pots.
You may also occasionally limp with AA or KK. The time to
do this would be when your early position raises are not getting any
callers. If raised, you would frequently, but not always reraise.
(However, if you are heads-up and are raised we suggest that you
usually just call with aces or kings to add deception against your
one opponent. Then plan to raise on fourth street.) In addition, be
less inclined to limp with two kings as opposed to two aces. This
is because with a pair of kings, an overcard - the ace - can come
on the flop, while no overcards can come to a pair of aces.

Finally, ifno one has yet called, raise approximately one-third
of the time with a hand like



as long as the game is typical or tough. This is mainly for deception
purposes. Again, keep in mind how strong your competition is. If
you are in a game full of extremely weak opponents, it is generally
best to simply call with these hands. That is, in a game where most
of your opponents are going to come anyway, this play will lose its
value.
By the way, if you call with a large suited connector and are
raised, go ahead and reraise with AKs and possibly with AQs. In
addition, if a lot of people are in the pot, you sometimes can reraise
with a hand like:



The reason for this last raise requires some explanation and
will be better understood after you get further into the book.
Basically, you are making the pot larger so that if you get a flop
you like, such as two flush cards of the appropriate suit, then more
of your opponents will be encouraged to stay for one or two more
cards with as little as one overcard.
Let's return to loose games. Keep in mind that some hands,
such as



play well against many opponents. If there are usually a lot of
callers but not much raising, these types of hands become playable
in early position. However, overplaying these hands up front - and
most players do just that - can get you into trouble. Make sure
that the requirement of loose and passive is met. Again, if you are
not sure, it is usually best to pass on th'ese hands in an early
position.
The same is true of small pairs such as:



They can be played from an early position providing that you are
sure that you will get a multiway pot. However, they can stand a
little more action than the suited connectors. But if many pots are
going to three bets or more, they are probably never worth playing,
even if you can usually anticipate several opponents.
One criteria to keep in mind when deciding to play a small pair
or a medium to small suited connector is how passive/aggressive
the game is, in addition to its being loose. Specifically, as just
mentioned, small pairs play well in loose aggressive games
providing that they are not too aggressive. This is because if you
flop a set you can anticipate many bets going into the pot. If the
game is too aggressive and you hold a small pair you will
frequently be forced to play for several bets, and now your hand
will not achieve the implied odds that it needs to be profitable.

If the game is passive, you prefer the suited connector to the
small pair. This is because a "set" will have trouble collecting a lot
of bets. On the other hand, if the suited connector flops something
like a gut shot draw it won't necessarily be bet out of the pot.
Here's an example of this last idea. Suppose you start with the
8 7 mentioned above and the flop comes:


If the game is passive you may still be around on fourth or fifth
street to catch a six if it slides off. If the game is aggressive you
may find yourself out of the hand.
Sometimes the game will be moderately aggressive but will
feature two or three players who will play virtually any ace. In
games like this, (and they are very common even at limits as high
as $20-$40), we recommend that you play A9s, A8s, 77, and 66 as
long as the pot is not yet raised. Now if you hit your ace someone
may have aces with you, but with a worse kicker, or if you flop
your set someone may call a bet trying to catch that elusive ace.
One hand that we have not yet addressed is a pair of jacks in
the pocket. If no one has opened and you are in an early position,
it is usually best to raise with JJ in a tight game and to just call with
it in a loose game. With two jacks you would prefer either to have
no more than one or two opponents in the hope that your hand
holds up without improvement, or to have as many opponents as
possible when the majority of your profits come from flopping
three-of-a-kind. The worst scenario is when exactly three or four
opponents see the flop with you. This most likely would occur if
you called in a tight game or raised in a loose game.
If you hold JJ and the pot has been raised and reraised before
the action gets to you, you should fold. This is correct even when
you are in a middle or late position. However, if you have already
opened with JJ and the pot has been raised and reraised behind you,
then it is correct to go ahead and call because of the pot odds. What
you are hoping to do in this situation is to flop trips. If you do not
make a set, be prepared to fold (although folding is not necessarily
automatic).

Hand Rankings

To simplify the presentation of some of the strategies that
follow, the starting hands have been placed in appropriate
groupings. The reason for this is that most of the hands in each
grouping can be played roughly the same before the flop in many,
but not all, situations. However, there are many exceptions, which
will be discussed in the text. In fact, the starting hands actually
move up and down the hand rankings depending on the
circumstance. Because of this, it can be a mistake to rigidly
adhere to the hand rankings. Again, make sure that you
understand all the discussion concerning how the individual hands
play.
These hand rankings (with some modifications) first appeared
in David Sklansky's book Essays on ~ 0 k e r .Tl hey are slightly
different from the rankings that appear in the original version (pre
1997) of Sklansky's book Hold 'em Poker. The alterations reflect
the structure change from one small blind to two blinds which
causes more multiway pots and higher pot odds - especially on
the flop. Also reflected is the fact that the players have become
tougher and generally more aggressive as the years have gone by.
This has raised the value of suited hands, especially suited
connectors. Medium pairs also have gone up in value because you 1 no longer should automatically give up when an overcard flops,
especially if the pot is being contested short-handed.
The rankings are as follows, with an "s" indicating suited and
an "x" indicating a small card. Note that a 10 is represented as
"T." Also, if no "s" appears, then the hand is not suited. (These
notations will be used throughout this book.)

Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, KQs, AK
Group 3: 99, JTs, QJs, KJs, ATs, AQ
Group 4: T9s, KQ, 88, QTs, 98s, J9s, AJ, KTs
Group 5: 77, 87s, Q9s, T8s, KJ, QJ, JT, 76s, 97s, Axs, 65s
Group 6: 66, AT, 55,86s, KT, QT, 54s, K9s, J8s, 75s
Group 7: 44, J9, 64s, T9, 53s, 33, 98,43s, 22, Kxs, T7s, Q8s 1
Group 8: 87, A9, Q9, 76,42s, 32s, 96s, 85s, 58, J7s, 65, 54, 74s,
K9, T8
These rankings reflect not only which group each starting
hand belongs to, but its approximate order in that group as well.
In reality, it's usually only necessary to know in which group a
starting hand belongs. Consequently, Tables I and I1 provide an
easier scheme for memorizing the group for each starting hand.
Any hand not listed in the tables is ranked below Group 8.





If you are new to hold'em we feel that it is very important to
memorize these groupings. There is no way around this, and the
tables make the task much easier. Once the tables are memorized,
this system will facilitate applying many of the concepts that
follow. (For those of you who are interested in the rationale behind
these rankings, see Hold 'em Poker by David Sklansky.)
However, we want to state that by the time you reach expert
status you shouldn't be thinking in terms of hand groups. At this
point in your playing career your starting hand decisions should be
based on the intrinsic v.alue of each hand in each particular
situation. But if you are just getting started playing, we know of no
better approach.

The First Two Cards

The one area of hold 'em play where many strict guidelines
can be given is on the first two cards. This is because the number
ofpossible combinations is not that great. However, this does not
mean that every hand should be played the same way every time,
or that playing the first two cards is easy. You occasionally should
play a hand differently not only for the sake of variation, but also
depending on whether the game is loose or tight, or passive or
aggressive. Expert players must be fooled more often than poor
ones. But even if poor players always have a good idea of exactly
where you are, you will lose some of your edge.
Also, how loose and passive the game is can make a
significant difference. Some hands that are not usually profitable
to play become significant money winners if your opponents are
non-aggressive. The opposite is also true. Hands that are normally
worth a play should be discarded if a couple of very aggressive
players are in the game, particularly if these players know what
they are doing.
In addition, how well you play is very important. As your
judgment improves, you should be able to play a few more hands
than these guidelines suggest. But don't go overboard with this
concept. Always remember tight, aggressive play will get the
money. This is true no matter what you may observe in the short
run. Sometimes you will see bad players taking down pot after
pot. In the short run their play can look teriific, but in the long run
this type of play does not get the money.
And finally, before we get started, keep in mind that hold 'em
is a game that can easily cause you to go "on tilt." For instance, a
hand like



can be very tempting to play, even from an early position,
especially if you are losing.
A unique aspect of hold 'em is that hands you don't play can
sometimes be frustrating because the board is always the same
whether you play or not. There will be occasions when you would
have made a strong hand had you not thrown away your cards. Do
not let this affect you. Even though any two cards can win,
random holdings don't win often enough to be profitable.

A Note on the English

Neither one of us claim to be professional writers.
We are professional poker players. Furthermore, the ideas and concepts
presented in this book originally came from tape recorded
conversations between the authors. These tape recordings were
not necessarily formatted exactly the same way a book would be
and the language was not always grammatically perfect. This is
occasionally reflected in the wording of this text.
But the purpose of this book is not to get an "A7' from our
English teacher. Rather it is to show you how to make a lot of
money in all but the toughest hold 'em games. So if we end a
sentence with a preposition or use a few too many words or even
introduce a new subject in a slightly inappropriate place, you can
take solace from the fact that you can buy lots more books by
Hemingway with the money we make you.

Why Play Texas Hold 'em?

There are many forms of poker, and you can win money at
virtually all of them if you develop the right set of skills. So why
play Texas hold 'em? Why is this the game of the present and
future? And why, of all poker games, is this complex form your
best bet?
The answer is easy.. By playing hold 'em, the expert player
can win the most money with only a reasonable amount of risk.
You win money at poker because of two important factors.
First, some of your opponents play badly, and in extreme cases,
literally give their money away. This seems to happen frequently
in Texas hold 'em since any two cards can win. However, random
hands do not win often enough to show a profit, and when they do
win, they frequently must be played cautiously, which also
minimizes their profitability. In addition, hands that appear similar
in strength to the non-skilled player are often quite different from
each other. For example, holding just an ace does not make your
hand very strong. Yet players who do not understand these basic
ideas seem to flock to hold 'em games. (If you want to verify this
statement, just look at the hold 'em explosion that took place in
California when the game became legal in 1987.)
The second reason you can win money when playing hold
'em is that this form of poker offers numerous opportunities for
the expert player to make expert plays that extract additional
money from unsuspecting opponents. This is less true of most
other forms of poker.
We mentioned earlier that the risk factor in hold 'em is
reasonable. The correct way to assess risk in a poker game is
through a statistical measure known as the standard deviation. We
won't discuss the standard deviation in detail here (see Gambling
Theory and Other Topics by Mason Malmuth), but will reiterate
that it is a measure of the amount of short-term luck in a game.

Specifically, the poorer the relationship between the
expectation (win rate) and the standard deviation the larger the
fluctuations that you - the skilled player - can go through. Or,
put another way, the worse you can run. Consequently, you
usually should prefer a poker game where your bankroll
requirements when compared to the size of the game, are not too
steep.
There is no question that once you have achieved expert
status, hold 'em offers an excellent relationship between the
expectation and the standard deviation. The reasons for this are
that the best hand holds up more often in hold 'em than in any
other game, and that you have the advantage of being able to see
your opponent's last card which is yours as well. This means that
sometimes you can throw away a hand that you would have to call
with in other forms of poker, or you might be able to get in an
extra bet, whereas in other games you might be forced to check.
Of course, hold 'em can still be very frustrating - especially
when it seems as though your opponents are always making their
two- or three-out hands. However, with the tremendous growth of
hold 'em, along with what we have just stated, there is no question
that anyone who becomes an expert at this game will do very well
indeed.

Using This Book

As stated in the introduction, this book will require you to do
a great deal ofthinking. It is recommended that the whole book be
read first, then you can return to those sections that require more
study. Also, if you are new to hold 'em you should memorize the
hand rankings and how to play the first two cards. We see no
better way to master this area of play. However, after you have
gained the requisite experience, you will begin to see where it is
appropriate to deviate from "correct" strategy and you will begin
to think in terms of the actual hand itself rather than hand
"groups." Almost all top players do this, although you should not
get carried away. The text will supply plenty of discussion in this
area.
We also recommend that you not jump right into a $40-$80
or higher limit game. Even though the strategies in this book will
win their share at the $40-$80 limit, especially if your opposition
is not too tough, it is still better to start lower and work your way
up. In a game as complex as Texas hold 'em, there is no substitute
for experience.
Keep in mind, when trying to master hold 'em, that at times
many of the following concepts will seem to contradict each
other. For example, some concepts might recommend that you bet
your hand right out, while other concepts will advise you to go for
a check-raise. One of She keys to successful hold 'em play is to
balance these ideas, which will help you select the best strategy
the vast majority of the time.
Finally, the game that we address (unless otherwise noted) is
a structured-limit game. This game has two blinds, both to the
dealer's left, with the first (small) blind being either one-half or
two-thirds the size of the second (big) blind. All bets and raises
before the flop and on the flop are equal to the size of the big
blind, and all bets and raises on fourth street (known as the turn)
and fifth street (known as the river) are double the size of the big blind. If you play in a game with a different structure, some of the
ideas and concepts that this text discusses will not be totally
accurate and adjustments must be made. However, the section
titled "Non-standard Games" should help you in this area.

2 Introduction

hands, many of the sophisticated plays used to manipulate
standard opponents into making errors do not work. This is
because many of these players are not aware enough to be tricked.
Also, the structure of some smaller games is proportionately
different. In spite of this, many ideas in the book will help you in
smaller games while you work your way up to the bigger ones. In
addition, the discussion on how to play in loose games will be
crucial for your success. As for the bigger hold 'em games, where
players are capable of thinking at many different levels, an
understanding of the information in this book, combined with a
great deal of experience and some hard thinking about the game,
is the only way to guarantee success. .
Before the first edition of Hold 'em Poker for Advanced
Pluyers was published in 1988, we debated for a long time before
deciding to release the information it contained. We thought the
strategies presented would make many of the games we played in
much tougher, and we both derived much of our income from
playing poker. However, after considering the avalanche of hold
'em books - most of which were inaccurate - that were
reaching the market, we believed it was only right to go ahead and
produce the text.
Incidentally, Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Pluyers is not
meant to replace Hold 'em Poker by David Sklansky. In fact, we
still consider that book absolutely must reading for anyone
interested in learning the game. However, we intend to discuss
many areas of hold 'em which that text either only touches on or
does not address, and we intend to discuss these areas at a level of
significant sophistication.
Six years after the first edition 'of Hold 'em Poker for
Advanced Players appeared we put out an expanded edition. To
our amazement, poker - and hold 'em in particular - had
exploded across the country. This meant that if you became
proficient at Texas hold 'em, there would be many good games to
play in and lots of places where these games can be found.
But the games had also changed from the time this text first
appeared. Specifically, players who just played tight didn't seem
Introduction 3
to be as prevalent as they were in 1988. Moreover, there were now
many more players who played very aggressively (perhaps overly
so), and loose, action play became much more common. In fact,
hold 'em pots frequently become quite large, with a great deal of
money sometimes going into the center of the table before the
flop. This was very different from the way we remember hold 'em
when both of us first began to play it.
There were probably.many reasons why this happened, but it
was clear to us that this text had a lot to do with it. Many of the
plays that we explained - and that we only rarely saw before -
were now commonplace. On the other hand, with numerous new
players at the hold 'em tables, many of whom came to "gamble,"
it was not surprising that the pace of the games had accelerated.
This change didn't really affect the strategies that Hold 'em
Poker for Advanced Players provided, but it did affect when
certain concepts came into play. Again, as we pointed out in 1988,
there is no substitute for experience, and to ensure success, you
should be doing a great deal of thinking about the game. So in
1994 we produced the second edition of this book. We gave more
examples and offered more detailed explanations. But the basic
concepts from the first edition remained the same.
It is now a new century, and we have decided to continue the
process that we began in 1994. But we have taken it one step
further, we are going to cover much new territory. Many of you
have complained that while Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players
was the "advanced" text, it did not explain in enough detail how
to play in loose, low limit games. This has now been thoroughly
addressed and those of you who are familiar with the so called
"low limit" texts will see that our approach is very different and
much more profitable. In addition, some of you felt that the
section on short-handed play was not complete; this has also been
addressed. We have also added many new concepts into the
"body" of the manual. And, as we have said many times before,
if you study hard, get a proper amount of experience, and do a
great deal of thinking about the game, you should be well on the
road to success.

4 Introduction
Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to Irving
Sklansky for editing this work. Thanks to him our ideas are now
more clearly stated and thus should be more easily understood. In
addition, we would like to also thank Charmaine Dadian for her
typing, proof reading, and assistance in the overall production of
this text.

Introduction

Texas hold 'em is an extremely complicated form of poker.
This is because the exact manner in which a hand should be
played is often debatable. It is not uncommon to hear two expert
players argue the pros and cons of a certain strategy. This means
that even though you are about to read solid guidelines to
winning, the strategies given are not set in concrete, and under
certain conditions the best strategies may be different from those
that are recommended.
On the other hand, the strategies in this text definitely provide
a strong winning approach. If this were not the case neither author
would be in a position to write this book, simply because we
would both be broke and standing on the rail.
The "winning approach" we provide is a tight but aggressive
one. It is not a "fast" approach, which some experts use to win
slightly more money.' The reason for this is simply that most
players who attempt to play fast will fail, as they do not have the
judgment to handle the many situations that come up where they
have put themselves in jeopardy. In any case, becoming an expert
hold 'em player, even with the help of this book, will not be easy.
It will require not only a great deal of study, but also a great deal
of thinking, plus many hours of playing time at the hold 'em
tables.
Keep in mind that the following strategies are designed for
medium limit games, that is $10-$20 hold 'em up to (and
including) $40-$80 hold 'em. In smaller games, or games that
feature people who play too many hands and go too far with their

----------------------------------------------------------
1 Some experts deliberately play a few extra hands, and
then use their superior playing skills to catch up. They still lose
money on these additional hands, but these hands allow them to
make a little more on their legitimate hands due to the additional
deception that they create.