After spending 5 minutes learning poker strategy, you should already know that it’s really important to play fewer hands in poker. Playing fewer hands allows you to save a lot of money by not taking garbage past the flop, and it makes your decisions on later streets easier. Of course, there are many things to understand in regards to playing tight.
For one thing, your tight play needs to come before the flop….not after. The reason for this is because you will be making a pre-flop decision on every single hand. And if you’re frequently playing poor hands before the flop, you are going to be losing a ton of money. For instance, K-7 suited might seem like a good hand to play because there is an over card and a flush possibility.
However, this is in fact a terrible hand to play because a pair of kings with a 7 kicker isn’t going to win many hands while a pair of 7’s isn’t going to even be top pair after the flop. As far as the flush goes, you don’t want to be taking a hand to the flop just because it’s suited since this only adds a 2% chance of winning by the river.
Playing poor hands past the flop makes the game so much tougher because you’ll have no idea where you stand. Holding K-7 leaves you in the dark as to where you’ll stand after the flop whereas having A-K gives you a shot at the two top pairs in addition to straight potential. By raising with A-K, you can go into the flop with confidence. You’re not left guessing with something like A-K and your plays after the flop will be much easier. Just remember: good pre-flop hands make good post-flop hands.
