Before the flop (pre-flop) is where a lot of the action occurs in no-limit Texas Holdem. It’s where you should concentrate your betting poker strategy. Without a good strategy pre-flop, your post-flop betting is going to, well, flop.

Gauging what you have pre-flop, and betting accordingly, is going to go a long way in ensuring that you’ll be able to pull in a decent pot. This means recognizing good pre-flop cards and betting effectively without scaring away the opposition.

There are a couple of things to consider before you just go betting the same amount every time out. You could have two situations where you and your opponents get the exact same cards (not exactly likely, but for the sake of argument let's go with it). You may want to bet different amounts in each situation. It is important to read your opponents before deciding on a bet. Do your opponents fold quickly on high raise of the big blind? If so, you want to bet high on a good pre-flop, but not so high that the game comes to a close prematurely.

Generally, you’re going to want to bet three or four times the big blind. One tactic is to bet the same amount every time out, regardless of what you have. The thinking here is that opponents won’t be able to read if your holding strong or weak. This can work in weak poker games but it also means you won’t be able to maximize your winnings on a very strong hand—you’ll be locked to your set betting amount.

An amateur method is to continually bet low and then bet high when you’re holding strong. The problem here is that your opponents will be able to read this if they’re at all savvy. It’s almost the equivalent of showing all your cards. It shows giddiness that you’re holding strong. The answer is that you want to vary your bets to throw your opponents off—throwing in a few bluffs so he or she won’t know exactly when you’re really holding strong. They won’t fold as early and pots can build.

What this all means is that your pre-flop betting strategy is going to depend a lot on the table where you’re playing. This means either playing hands and studying the competition, or even just letting a number of hands play out and just watch as an observer. Part of the attraction of no-limit Texas holdem is that no two games are alike. No two tables are alike either, so to maximize what you can get out of a good hand, you need to bet according to the style of the table.