There are a range of factors that you should consider before automatically making a play with a starting hand in Texas Hold ‘em. These can differ between whether you are playing cash games, multi table tournaments or short handed sit n go’s.

Try to commit these to memory and before long these considerations will become second nature to you.

Cash Game Starting Hand Factors to Consider

There are 5 main considerations when deciding what to do with your hand when you are playing in a cash game.

Table position

This is arguably as important as the cards you have been dealt in many instances. Considering your position in relation to the other players is critical because if you are in late position it can give you the opportunity to view what the other players do before you make any commitment to the pot. Position is important both pre and post flop and you will need to alter your hand ranges depending on what position you are dealt on the table. For example, if you are in early position you will want to play hands with a higher range than you would if you were in late position when you have information on what the other players plan to do on the hand pre-flop.

Cards dealt

This is probably the first consideration that will pop into your head. The cards you play will depend on the factors listed here and the hand ranges you are prepared to play.

Number of players

The number of players on the table is a factor that should be considered in conjunction with your table position and consequently what cards you are prepared to play. A very simple fact to remember is that the more people playing around a table, the more chance there is of a player having stronger cards than you so bear this in mind when playing on full tables.

Playing style

This can both relate to yourself and your opponents. It is important that you do become predictable to the other players so it is your interests to mix up your play a little so that your opponents have to second guess you. This could be a conscious decision you make in terms of playing in a certain style when you are in late position or you are playing against a particular opponent.

If you study the playing style of your opponents it is sometimes possible to pick up a “tell”. Clearly this is more difficult playing online than in a real cash poker table in a casino but if you are able to spot a weakness in an opponent it will increase the chances of you being able to bluff the player out of chips or lay a trap that will maximise your chances of being paid off in a hand.

Pot odds

Finally when all other factors have been taken into account you should consider the pot odds in playing a given hand. You need to work out whether the number of “outs” you have in terms of making your desired hand is favourable when compared with the size of the pot and the amount of chips you will need to add to see a showdown, etc.

Multi Table Tournament Starting Hand Factors to Consider

Certainly take into account the cash game starting hand principles mentioned above when you are playing in an MTT (multi table tournament) but also consider the following 3 factors.

Prize money offered

When playing in an MTT the prize money will be split down the field to a varying degree based on what type of MTT you are playing. A rule of thumb can be that the top 10% to 20% of the field will receive a payout. You need to consider the prize structure continuously because players’ styles will invariably alter depending on what stage they are at in the tournament. If you simply want to get in the money first and take it from there, you will likely want to play a quite tight game and loosen up once the “bubble” has passed and you are guaranteed a paid place in the tournament. However, take into account that more experienced players will take advantage of tight players in these circumstances and will attempt to steal blinds where they can.

Monitor the blinds

The blinds (and antes) will increase over set periods of time during an MTT so you need to consider the size of your stack of chip relative to the size of the blinds. You don’t want to become short stacked because this will lessen your options when in a pot and will reduce any fold equity.

Your chip stack size

Your decision making process will be informed by number of chips you hold in relation to others around the table, their positions and to some extent the average number of chips held by all the other players in the whole tournament. For example, if you are entering a pot against multiple players who all have chip stacks larger than yours you should be aware that any one of them could potentially knock you out of the tournament if you are playing no limit hold ‘em and one of them decides to go all in against you. Try to only enter pots with players with equivalent or small stacks compared to yours unless you hold premium hands.

On the other hand if you hold a chip lead over others on your table you will be able to bully them by making large raises and stealing blinds against tight players.

If the number of chips you hold is ten times the size of the big blind (or less) you will be short stacked in most tournament schedules. Try not to allow your chips to become reduced to this level if at all possible.

If you’re a cash game player over at PokerStars you’ve likely come across their “milestone hands” promotion which is part of their main 50 billion hands milestone promotion. Basically for every millionth hand dealt, PokerStars are selecting a table and for each player with cards at that table they will win a cash prize (with the winner of the pot having their prize doubled).

Quite a nice promotion and one that’s bound to increase cash game participation particularly when PokerStars have a countdown of hands played in the lobby and even display a popup during existing games (such as tourneys that aren’t even applicable to the promo) when a millionth hand is nearly there. No doubt punters are rushing to multi table cash games when a milestone hand is imminent in the hope that their table is the lucky one.

The part that struck me about this milestone hand promotion though is not the players that are in the hand but the players that aren’t. Let me explain. When a table is selected as being a milestone hand table it is publicised in the PokerStars lobby and the hand is paused for a minute or two until a moderator explains how things work, etc. This is the time when the vultures start to circle.

Due to the fact that everyone logged into PokerStars knows which table is the milestone table literally a couple of hundred observers descend onto that table waiting in the wings. Now some of the observers might be bloody stupid enough to think that they can sneak onto the table somehow and grab some of the spoils, but most of them are there to basically offer their critique, ahem, on how the players played the hand. In other words post a stream of vitriolic abuse at how the players should have done this and that – not folded, etc.

What makes me laugh about this situation is that there seems to be a band of milestone hand observer “groupies”. Basically people that are just constantly following milestone hands around so they can wait until the hand has been played to add in their pathetic comments and abuse the players on the table. This can go on for hours. A whole sub culture of the same observers who bring up stories of bad plays (in their opinion) from hands played several hours ago. Nothing to do with jealousy of course, I’m sure they just want to share their knowledge with the other players. However, based on the level of grammar, wit, articulation and knowledge displayed by the observers sending in comments I wouldn’t trust them to sit the right way round on a toilet seat let alone offer poker schooling. A radical idea for these “observers” may be for them to actually play poker themselves, rather than spending hours abusing the play of others.

Lets hope that PokerStars get a hold of this situation becasue they have themselves a nice little promotion in the form of the milestone hands promo. Cash game players get precious few promos as it is so it would be a shame to have it soured by the actions of a couple of hundred morons.

The position that you sit at a cash game poker table is of immense importance. If you’ve gone through the routine we have suggested in order to select the best cash game table to maximise your chance of profit, but choose to sit in the wrong position at the table you will often be in a worse situation than if you were seated at a totally unsuitable table. This is the reason why you will see full tables that have several players waiting for the chance to join them in correct seat position whilst there are hundreds of other tables with free spaces available.

Why Is Seat Position Important At the Poker Table?

When you are playing Texas Hold ‘em it is important to have the aggressive players that have a habit of raising to your right hand side and the looser players that will simply call and check to your left.

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When playing Texas Hold ‘em online you can play games that have a pre-determined number of players at the table. The number of players around a table is an important factor to take into account because depending on the number of players present you will need to adopt your strategy accordingly.

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