Facebook, Free LeakBuster Pro, Hand Selection Article

Grinderschool in 2012

As 2011 winds down, the Grinderschool team is already pushing for great things in 2012. While the end of the world may happen, we feel that Grinderschool, and our subscribers, should finally have the perfect year.

2012 Podcast Season: Starting January 8th, the weekly Grinderschool Poker Podcasts return from a 3 week break to get back at the intense poker strategy discussion. Look forward to new guests and relevant topics each week!

Return of the GTS and GCS: The Grinderschool Cash Series returns January 21st with a $4nl full ring NLHE session on Lock Poker and the Grinderschool Tournament Series returns in February on Lock Poker. New GTS point scoring rules will provide for greater competition and players will have the ability to play at Lock Poker, Minted Poker, and Intertops Poker for the ultimate achievement: Player of the Year.

For the first time ever and starting in February, the GTS and GCS will be on the same day! The GCS will run from 12pm EST to 2pm EST usually on the 2nd Saturday of every month, and the GTS will follow shortly thereafter at 2pm EST. Grinderschool will still release two videos from these events and this change should increase participation significantly.

Many, Many More Articles: You should expect to see Grinderschool improve on the quantity and the quality of our poker articles available for free. Our free poker articles will continue to be written by our expert poker training staff and you will have the ability to comment on each one and recommend to all of your friends.

More Rakeback and Rewards: Grinderschool Rakeback and Rewards will continue to provide the best rakeback, rewards and free poker room gifts. Also expect to see new poker rooms as they become available and new, detailed rankings relevant to each new player.

Back to Basics: Article on Pre-flop Hand Selection

Regardless of which game you are currently playing, knowing the basic hands to raise pre-flop is a valuable first step to learning other advanced poker skills.

The biggest difference separating full ring and 6-max is the inclusion of early position, specifically Under-The-Gun (UTG), UTG + 1, and UTG + 2. These 3 early positions provide little opportunity for beginner poker players to raise as a bluff.

Most players should take this opportunity to raise only strong hands in early position. Marginal broadway hands provide little value when playing against tight players and many beginner poker players will lose money when raising small pocket pairs. If you are looking to grind up your bankroll then expect to raise only 77+ and AQ+ in the first three positions. More experienced players can start to add in 22-66 and other suited connectors like T9s to balance their range.

Middle position full ring and early position 6-max NLHE pre-flop raising ranges are very similar, specifically the positions MP and Hijack. Without any reads, players can raise more hands than in early position and should start to add in some of the higher value broadway cards. Hands like AJ and KQ have more value, hands like suited connectors allow you to hit a lot of boards post-flop and you should now be raising your small pairs as well.

Late position in full ring and 6-max NLHE plays very similar. Even without a read, players should be raising a wide variety of hands on the cut-off and button to steal the blinds and maxmize the number of hands played with positional advantage. All broadway cards, pocket pairs and most suited connectors are now hands to raise pre-flop. Also add most of your Ax hands and several one-gap and two-gap suited connectors, plus more hands if you have a read that blinds are tight.

Once you reach the small blind, you only have one player to get through to steal the blinds. Unfortunately you will be out of position and your opponent will likely expect you to blind steal a lot from the small blind. For this reason you need to raise less hands than you did in position. Your range should be similar to a hand range from middle position. If you have a read that our opponent is extremely tight, then you can raise nearly any two cards to show a profit.

This starting hand strategy will eventually become second nature to you and as you improve you will see many instances where you should deviate from this strategy.

For more information regarding pre-flop hand selection on how to play post-flop in all of the above scenarios, subscribe to Grinderschool and watch the video series Poker101 by CodeRedRulez. To download the hand chart to accompany this article, visit the Pre-flop Hand Selection Article. While you are there, do not forget to 'Like' the article on Facebook and share it with your friends.