POKERTIPS 101
Tony Sun Texas Hold'em Sanctuary

Catagorizing Pockets Strength “1″ being strongest

Pockets

1: Aces/Kings

2: Queen/Jacks

3. 10′s/9′s

4. 6′s/7′s/8′s

5. Deuces to 5′s

 Pocket 7′s and 8′s Strategy Early/Middle/Late Positions

Early Positions

If it’s only between small blind and big blind. Being the small blind you’re gonna have to raise majority of the time. The idea is kind of like being heads-up except another 2-10,000 players around you.  But at this moment it’s only between you and this fag!

How much should you raise preflop??

In a real poker tournament or playing with friends (cause you wanna spank their ass),  about 3.5x to 5 times the big blind.  So if blind is 200 u’ll be raising it up to 700 to 1000 in a real life situation  We’re gonna be mainly focusing on real life than online poker, but the mindset of online poker is, you’ll always be raising 1x even more than real life. so 3.5x to 5x real life online u need at least 4.5 to 6x of blind size.

Why this much?

Because you don’t actually want them to call, you want to take their blind as focus. Since pocket 7′s and 8′s being the first to act is always hard to play. Anything on flop that’s higher than an 8 is going to scare you. Or a draw like 9 10 Jack, gives you a straight draw whereas the other guy has a queen high with a higher straight draw. With about a 43 percentage chance winning against your pocket 8′s. Since if 8 comes it gives u trips but gives him straight, or 4 queens that can save him and hit a bigger pair. So he literally has 12 outs alreaady, open ended straight draw with a Queen high. Whereas if you do see this flop, you won’t be that confident to bet, but you probably will since u have a straight draw. Or you might hit trip 8′s and he hits a straight whereas you can’t lay your hand down, so freaking GG? That’s why with pocket 8′s and 7′s you want to take down the pot preflop.

What if he does call my 3.5x to 5x raise?

If big blind does call. Flop comes out Ace 5 6, you have to bet, King 5 6, same. Anytime only one over card, at least 80 percent of the time your pocket 7′s or 8′s is then good. If he calls your bet, then from here on it does with experience, if you can get a good tell from him that he’s on a draw you then check the turn and he’ll most likely check too, if he bets you call. River you check again and he’ll mostly check too. If he tries to bluff since he’s got nothing he’ll try to usually overbet since he’s a noob/mediocre player, if he’s a pro player though he’s gonna value bet here to make you lay down your hands. All this does with experience though, more you play~ more reads youc an pick up and know when to lay down ur hand or call down a bluff.

Main idea of pocket 8′s and 7′s early position?

After you raise preflop and you see a flop, you always have to do a continuation bet if there’s only one overcard. If there’s two overcard, you’ll have to trust your instinct, but most likely you should still bet. If there’s 3 overcards, probably not a good idea. But absolutely bet if there’s only 1 over card. Since you raised preflop he’s gonna put “you” on Ace,King,Queen,Jack etc. If he does call your bet though, you have to consider instantly the possibility of him actually hitting a pair on the board. But 75 percent of the time if it’s only one overcard, ur opponent would actually hits the 2nd highest pair on board, which means you still have him dominated. Since you have pocket 7′s and 8′s in disguise. You then now also have to bet on the turn! Pocket 7′s and 8′s are probably the hardest two cards to play early position, because you have to play super aggressively while still feeling weak about your hand. Pocket 7′s and 8′s is a priority pockets for continuation bet. (Continuation Bet explained in Betting Strategy Category)

Why Continuation Bet Priority For Pocket 7′s 8′s?

It’s a hand you have to play aggressively preflop, flop, river. Sometimes even on the turn, but the turn is what usually confuses people. People have trouble reading most of the time on turn, but if your instinct tells you that ur up against ur opponent then you should definately bet again on turn. If he re raises you then you’ll understand where you stand better, etc.  A continuation bet is then a must, since u raised prelop and you can’t show weakness on the flop, u can’t just check it to them and let them see a free turn, it’d be like giving your opponent a free ticket to freedom/heaven/strength watever. Because he can now then bet and scare you with the overcards, or he can check and see a free turn and catch a straight where you then see u hit trip 8′s or 7′s. But since you don’t do a continuation bet how are you going to know he was actually on a draw or where he stands???

Continuation betting for pocket 7′s 8′s is very important because you have to show strength throughout the whole hand. Once you make your continuation bet you can then pick up a better tell, but 90 percent of the time if you raise preflop, and ONLY “1″ overcard comes out on the flop and you bet at it. At a real life tournament 90 percent of the time they are going to fold and you’ll win.

Finally~  suggestion for this mid strength pockets?

When flop comes out, just hope you actually hit trips, if you don’t, you play it out strong. Not necessarily saying you should slow play if you hit trip 8′s, since sometimes leading out and betting is the better move (Leading out betting nuts/strong hands will be discussed in later chapters) If you don’t hit trip 8′s, you bet strong, but if you do get called, play very very carefully if you’re unsure where your opponent stand. If you do get called to see the flop, you bet on the  flop and if big blind calls you down, when turn comes out, you got to remind yourself this is a hand you might have to let go and can’t really glue yourself to the hand. Turn is going to make you really feeling uneasy, but this is where experience come in. MOST IMPORTANTLY IS!! PLAY YOU’R POCKET 7′S AND 8′S LIKE IT’S Ace King/Queen, just play the board, play the players. Or this is actually gonna be the hand that will get you to lose a lot of your chips. It is the so called “un-sure, weary” hand.