When you sit down to a full-to-bursting online poker table, you may be excited at the possibilities presented, but you need to be aware of how the game changes when so many cooks are involved in the soup. When playing real money poker, it’s good to be aware of these things. There are four progressive categories of preflop hands that you should play in limit holdem games with many players and this piece will go into the reasoning behind each one.

Category One: The Generals
If you’re holding AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, go wild. Raise and reraise with them preflop. Have AA? Put as much money in the pot as you can and keep going. The Big Boys should always be played with the only exception being if you’re holding JJ or AK and someone is matching you beat for beat, especially if they’re normally a tight player.

Category Two: The Lieutenants
TT, 99, AQ, KQ are all stalwarts of the poker game, but they need help from the board. In general, these hands work better with fewer players in the pot, so you might have to raise to knock people out. Don’t go after these pots too aggressively, mind: jamming the pot can lead to your hemorrhaging chips that you can’t afford to lose, but you want to have an advantage going into the flop. Call one raise in late position unless you know the person who raised is a good player and is likely holding The Big Boys.

Category Three: Enlisted Men
88, AJ, AT, KJ, QJ, JT, QT are all good hands but you want to be careful when you deploy them in play. These are good cards, but you should play these hands more often when they are suited and you’re in a late position that allows you to read the board. If there’s been a lot of action before your turn, you should consider folding because there’s probably a better hand out there, but if everyone has holded to you or there’s just a limper or two sitting there? Don’t be afraid to raise.

Category Four: Back At Base
The fourth category of cards (Ax Suited, K7 Suited, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, and Suited Connectors like T9, 98, 87, 76, T8, 97, 86) are very different. You want to play these with a large multi-way pot because these hands are likely to miss the flop but these hands can lead to hitting a straight, flush, or trips and you want to get paid, right? With a lot of peep in these pots, you can limp in a bit and stick with them until the turn and river without losing a lot of your chips.

Hopefully, these notes about the different card categories will help you go into longhand tables with a clearer head! Playing in longhand games can help you a lot more than jumping straight to smaller, more intimate tables as you experience a lot of different playing styles and personalities. Now that you know what to look for and how to stay calm, check out some of the top poker sites out there like Big Poker Player and get to work.