ARTICLE 3 of 5 So you know the hand ranking, and you have a decent idea of what hands to be playing. Now how should you use this knowledge in the first round of betting you will face, Pre-Flop?

Pre-Flop is the action before the first three community cards ( the flop) are dealt. You will have two cards in front of you and will only be able to see those two cards.

Probably one of the most important concepts in Poker is the concept of Position. However, this is not so important against an AI player but still has some relevance. as the dealer button moves every turn, and all play is conducted starting on the dealer’s left, the dealer is last to act all the time. This makes him have the most powerful position at the table for that hand, and you should use it well.

In Situs Slot Deposit Pulsa Tanpa Potongan this usually means raising a lot of hands if everybody has folded around to you and you are a dealer. Similarly, if everybody has limped, i.e Just called the Big Blind’s initial forced bet you can raise most of your hands we discussed in the previous article. The position is an intermediate concept though and will be covered in more detail another time

When you are entering play you will want to be raising almost all the hands that you are choosing to play and that fall in line with your basic starting hand selection. Calling is weak and is not likely to win you the pot. Calling with big hands such as Aces or Kings to trap an opponent is a terrible move against an AI opponent.

Premium Hands first. Your really good hands should be played for maximum value at all times. If you have any pair above Nines, plus AK suited and unsuited and AQ or AJsuited you will be raising these hands no matter what action has already happened. If some other desperado has raised, you will be reraising. Usually around 3/4 times their raise. If there haven’t been any raises so far, you should raise3-4 times the big blind, for example, if the blind is $6 and the pot is unraised a raise to between $18 and $24 should be enough.

If someone has already bet to make it $24, and you hold KK or AA or another premium hand you are going to want to re-raise ( or 3-bet as is the internet lingo) that bet to somewhere around the region of $60 to $110. While just calling to trap here is fine in real poker, there’s just no point in Red Dead Redemption because the computer will pay you off anyway probably.

Now if this bet is reraised by the AI, or (4-bet in internet-speak) then you are going to have a decision. Your next move will either be All-In, Call or Fold. You may consider folding hands like 99 and TT here, but I think JJ and above would probably warrant an All-in here. Similarly, AK should probably be pushed as well and sometimes AQsuited, if you are bored, or think the computer is on some crazy bluff, which I have seen.

Now your medium hands, which includes pocket pairs lower than 99, hands like QJ, KJ, and your lower suited connectors should usually be bet into an unopened pot, one in which no one else has made a bet. You can win the pot right here with this bet, you may get callers and see a flop, or you may face a re-raise. (3-bet)

Facing a re-raise with hands like QJ and KJ, AT isn’t the end of the world. You should call some of the time, and fold most of the time. If the other player has a lot of chips it can be worth calling just to see if you can hit a miracle flop, as you are getting good odds, but really you don’t want to be getting into these situations. Just let your hand go and wait for a better spot.

For example, you call with KJ and the flop comes KT4. You bet the flop, and the initial raiser then goes all in. You have top pair with an ok kicker, but your opponent showed he had a good hand preflop by 3-betting. You are beaten by AK, KQ, KT, AA, KK, TT.

That doesn’t leave you much that you are actually beating, that he may have 3 bets with. he may have QQ and JJ which you beat, a pair lower than TT or he could have a complete bluff, which you also beat, but if he has played his hand correctly and in a straightforward manner then it is likely you are well behind. Which is where your gun comes in.

To recap then, your big hands should be played quickly, and for maximum value, although you are looking to build the pot, as opposed to just going all-in before anyone else has acted, which will just scare off any potential victims.

Your medium-strength hands are obviously played with more caution, but still with a degree of aggressiveness. You do not want to be giving away free cards. You also want to avoid sticky situations post-flop.

Weak holdings can be played in late position if there are not many left to act and the pot has not been raised. Mostly from the Dealer position and the Small Blind position.