Is Poker a Pre-Flop or a Post-Flop Game After All?

Reading around the poker strategy articles the internet has to offer and leaving aside my own experiences as a poker player, my general impression was that poker was supposed to be a post-flop betting game. Several experts stated this in their articles, pointing it out that your preflop decisions are only meant to make your post-flop ones easier.

I need to tell you though, as a poker player, I’ve seen games in which preflop action was dominant (and the post flop stage was seldom ever reached) and games that were definitely based on the post flop action. My conclusion was that depending on the nature of the game you play (stack sizes, betting structure, player numbers, player passivity or aggressiveness) the game can be a preflop or a post-flop one.

Take a deep stacked cash game for instance. This baby is definitely a post flop game. With all players sporting large stacks, hands are highly likely to go way past the flop. This is where your preflop decisions will come to make your post-flop ones easier or more difficult, depending on how good you are at making them.

In the late stages of a tourney, where the stack sizes are meager compared to the blinds, the preflop stage of the hand will take over, as there will be little to no post-flop action all through.

Depending on your playing style, you’ll find it easier to thrive in post-flop or pre-flop games. If you’re a guy who likes to create elaborate strategic settings, likes to generate complicated bluffs and who can maximize his winnings while minimizing his losses efficiently, you’re probably best suited for post flop poker. That means your place is at the deep-stacked cash tables.

If – on the other hand – you’re a player who enjoys small-ball, and who is adept at exploiting opponents’ weaknesses, you’re best suited for pre-flop poker, which means that you’ll find it the easiest to make money at the SNG tables.

Don’t listen to those who tell you that pre-flop poker is gambling while post-flop poker is where the real skills surface. Pre-flop poker takes skills too and if you’re good at it, it can be just as profitable as post-flop poker. The main thing here is that you recognize your strengths and that you try to completely eliminate your weaknesses, playing almost exclusively in games that suit your style.

Because of how it works, preflop poker is largely decided by the cards and not by the player’s actions. The skill part in this game style consists in knowing WHEN to make the move. If you always make the move when you’re a favorite, it is a mathematical certainty that you will walk away a winner in the long-run.

In post flop poker, mathematics takes a back seat to psychology, reading skills and actual poker know-how. Professional players will almost always be better at post flop play than at the pre-flop one. Therefore, whenever you’re faced with a player who you know is your superior when it comes to poker skill, you’d do better to make the game a preflop one and to force him to make his decisions at a stage where he is not 100% comfortable.

In such situations, you should play by the following rule: any starting hand that’s not worth raising or re-raising on, is not worth playing at all. Try to avoid limping as much as possible and stop hoping to outplay your opponent past the flop.

Whether you’re a better pre-flop player or a better post-flop one, you should never play without having signed up to a rakeback deal. A rake back setup like the Pacific Poker rakeback or the Full Tilt rakeback will give you back around 30% of the rake you generate. That alone will provide a huge boost and possibly raise your red line, as it brings in money that would’ve gone down the drain otherwise.