Low Limit Preflop Strategy: Middle Position

Middle position in fixed limit Holdem requires a bit more thinking than early position, believe it or not. In early position, you have a pretty small list of hands that you can play, and those hands can be played strongly. In middle position, you can play more hands but the decision to play a hand isn’t always as clear-cut.

First of all, you have a wider range of hands that you can play for a profit. Some of these hands should be capped while others are only good for a single raise. Secondly, a part of your decision needs to be based on how the players in first position play. The hands you can play in middle position change drastically if one of the first position players make a raise.

Middle Position After a Raise

This is the easiest situation to play in. If there is a raise in early position, you should fold 90% of your hands in middle position. The only hands you should play are hands that warrant capping the pot. If you can’t reraise an early position raiser, you should fold. Stick with hands such as AA, KK and AK. Almost all others should be folded unless you know the early position raiser is extra loose. In that case, you can raise with a slightly wider range of hands and attempt to get it heads-up against that player.

You should not call early position raisers from middle position. The problem is that you don’t yet know how all the other players behind you will act. The worst thing you can do is call an early position raise with a mediocre hand and then risk someone else re-raising it behind you. Next thing you know, you’re stuck in between two raisers with a mediocre hand.

Middle Position After Folds

If everyone folds in front of you, your job is pretty easy: either raise or fold. As the first person in the pot, you should never open the pot with a limp. Come in with a raise and take control of the pot. Sometimes you’ll take the pot down without any trouble from anyone else.

You should still stick with strong hands in this situation because you are essentially acting from early position. You can open your range a little bit, though, because there are fewer people to act behind you and there is less risk of running into a monster hand. But remember – if you can’t come in with a raise, the hand shouldn’t be played.

It also helps to have a read on the players who have yet to act behind you. If the players behind you are passive or extra tight, you can get away with raising a wider range of hands. If the players are aggressive, you should tighten your range and be prepared to deal with reraises.

Middle Position After Limps

If one of the early position players limps in, you have several options. An open limp from an early position raiser is almost always a sign of a weak player. In that case, you may want to raise with a slightly wider range of hands and isolate that player. The best case scenario is that you get everyone else to fold and get the pot heads up against a weak player.

You should still be selective with your starting hands in this situation. There’s still a chance someone else will join in for the fun so you don’t want to have a weak hand. On top of that, the early position limper is likely to be the type of player who doesn’t like to fold. You need to have some sort of hand with showdown value. I would recommend playing hands such as all the powerhouses plus KQs, KQo, AJo, AJs and AJo.

Once again it helps to have a read on the rest of the table. If you think you can fold out the rest of the players, you can isolate the weak limpers with a wider range of hands. If there’s a good chance other players will come along for the ride, you will have to play a more straightforward game.

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