Preflop

The term preflop is used in community card games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha to describe all the action happening before the flop is dealt.

Preflop is the first betting round in Hold’em, which starts with the player seated in the Under the Gun position and ends once all bets have been settled, and the flop is dealt.

The preflop betting round is very important in terms of strategy as it sets up foundations for the rest of the hand, narrowing players’ ranges and defining how things will likely go on future betting streets.

For example, let’s say everyone folds to you on the BTN, and you decide to open the pot. The SB then 3-bets, BB folds, and you decide to 4-bet only to see SB folding to this bet. In this particular case, the entire hand went down preflop. If SB had called your 4-bet, then you would go into the postflop betting round, and the dealer would open the first three community cards, known as the flop.

‍