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Starting Hands in Middle Position

In a middle position, you can add some of the stronger speculative hands to your playlist.  You can limp in with pocket pairs down to about 66. You can also play any two face cards (KT, QT, AJ, etc).

Suited connectors start to become playable from a middle position. A suited connector is a hand like 9s 8s. They are connected (i.e. right next to each other) and they are of the same suit. In holdem, you want to give yourself as many ways to win as you can. Suited connectors give you numerous ways to win a pot because you can make hands like two-pair, straights, flushes, and straight-flushes. From a mid position, you can limp in with suited connectors down to about 87s.

One thing you must be aware of from a middle position is whether or not a person in an early position has raised. If somebody has raised from an early position, you must remember what kinds of hands this person should be raising with. Do not call raises from an early position raiser with small suited connectors and middle pairs. At best you will be a coin-flip to win the hand. If you have one of the hands that are playable from an early position, then go ahead and throw in a raise if there has not been one already. Always reraise with pocket Aces to narrow the field.