First one to enter the pot
When you are first one to enter the pot, NEVER limp. I could babble about this for another 10 articles, but it hardly ever makes sense to limp instead of a raise. By raising you gain huge advantage over your opponents, first of all you might just take the pot down without seeing a flop, also you have the betting lead and your opponent can never be sure wheter you have pocket aces this time or just 5 high. Having the betting lead will also make your post flop play easier and more profitable, but I'll cover that later in my article series.
So be the puppet master, have the betting lead and control of the pot.
Limpers in the pot
When theres 1 or more limpers before you, you can also limp with your hands that plays good in multiway pots and have potential flopping big hands. Hands like small pairs and suited connectors are ideal for this.
But know this, these guys who limp are likely to have weak hands that cant stand the heat, so it also makes very much sense still to raise it big and take the pot without seeing the flop. In some games, this strategy is almost like printing money.
Someone raised
When someone has raised the pot, you generaly want to 3bet with your strong hands and monsters to get more money in when you are most likely to have the best hand and also to avoid giving your opponents drawing hands good odds to flop big. When you have a drawing hand such as small pair or suited connector, you can just call and try to outflop your opponent.
Raise and 3bet before you
These situations are pretty tough, its propably good idea only to proceed here with your monster hands and fold the rest, unless you or your opponents have short stacks. Dont get fooled to call with small pocket pairs in order to try to hit a set (three of a kind), the odds usually arent quite there and the original raiser has still the option of 4betting and therefore forcing you to fold your hand without seeing the flop!
Position play
Position is one of the most valuable things in no limit hold em to have. It means having position over your opponent, for example player A raises in cut off and you are sitting on the button, therefore acting last on each street after the flop.
In position everything gets so much easier for you. Your opponent has to act before you, providing you with information about his hand. Because the advantage of position is so huge, you can call with more hands when you are in position. When you are out of position, you should generaly tighten it up. Hands like suited connectors for example doesnt play that well without position, because its just so much easier to get the odds to draw for flushes and straights etc. when you are in position. In fact, most players play 3 or 4 times more hands when they are on the button, than when they are under the gun (first to act).
Bet sizing
When you are first one to enter the pot, standard raise amount is 3-4bb. I like to raise it 3.5 big blinds, just to look cool. When there are limpers before you, you should raise a bit more. Good rule of thumb is to add +1 big blind to your raise per each limper. For example, 2 players limp before you, you should raise it to 5-6bb.
If someone else raises before you, good 3bet size is approx 3 times his raise, if hes raising the standard amount. So when your opponent raises 4bb, you should raise it to 12bb.
If someone 3bets you, good 4bet size is just a bit over his 3bet size. For example your opponents 3bets to 12bb, you should 3bet to approx 25bb. Even by 4betting so small, your opponent does not have the correct odds to call with any hand worse than yours, but you are inducing him to make big mistakes like that.
Afterall
This preflop tutorial should give you good guidelines to work with, for any questions drop a topic in our forum and I will be happy to help you.
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