Middle Position Play in Texas Hold'em

You have some information to work with in middle position. The players that have gone before you have made some decisions that you can use to your advantage. For instance, if the under-the-gun (UTG) player raises, you need to take a look at your hand and evaluate its strength based the previous action. Even a hand like AQ may not be so strong after an early raise. If nobody before you makes a move, however, you can raise with the same hands that you'd play in early position.

Furthermore, if you're holding a very strong hand, such as AA, KK, AK, or QQ, you should re-raise if the pot has be raised before you. The meek go broke in poker. It's the strong, the aggressive, who make money. Of course you want to be selective with your aggression, but in a situation such as this, when isolating your opponent is the most profitable course of action, you absolutely want to re-raise. (For more about this, read the PokerSavvy Key Concept: Isolation.)

Notice that our advice for early and middle positions never recommends simply calling. Later we'll talk about situations where calling may be appropriate, but by and large you should be raising or folding (with folding being the best option the bulk of the time). Remember, your goal is to become a tight-aggressive player, and folding=tight, raising=aggressive.

Late position is next.