Texas Holdem Best Strategy
Any post with an ambitious title claiming that the concepts in the post are the most important is bound to generate controversy. Texas holdem is a complex enough game with enough levels of thinking that there are probably hundreds of concepts you could discuss in a blog post. Just thoroughly covering 7 concepts takes more space than most blog posts do.
At any rate, I’m going to give it a shot. These are Texas Holdem concepts that are less related to the play of individual hands and have more to do with your overall approach to the game.
One of my favorite poker writers, Steve Badger, often points out that poker isn’t a game where you should slavishly follow a cookbook recipe. He told me once that it’s more like making a stew—the exact amounts of each ingredient are open for negotiation, but you want a reasonable balance of those ingredients.
Know Your Position. The best position in Texas Hold 'Em is 'on the button.' When you're on the.
That’s what I’ve tried to do with my blog posts related to Texas Holdem ideas.
1- Game Selection Is Important
Being able to choose the most profitable game for your skill-set might be the most important poker concept to learn. It’s also probably one of the lease talked about skills, too. In fact, you can be a relatively poor player and make more money than a better player if you’re better at choosing the appropriate game.
This skill comes in most handy when you’re dealing with online poker because you have such a large number of games to choose from at any time.
But game selection comes up and is important in live play at brick and mortar poker rooms, too. Your goal is to find a game with more players who call a lot and play a lot of hands. (These are called “loose passive” players.) You want to avoid games with a lot of players who only play a few hands but bet and raise with them when they play them. (These are called “tight aggressive” players.)
You can read more about categorizing poker players in the section on concept #5, below. For now, just know that your goal is to find a table where you’re at least one of the best players at the table, if not THE best. You can make money if there are better players than you at the table, but you’ll probably avoid confrontations with them. If you’re good, they’ll avoid confrontations with you, too.
- One of the most challenging forms of poker in the world is, without a doubt, heads-up No-Limit Texas Hold’em. Besides a little luck, it demands players to have a set of skills that are different from those seen when playing a table full of opponents. Typically, the best poker players in the world are experts in heads-up play.
- 5 Best Texas Holdem Strategy Tips are: Choose an opening hands that can make you money in any given situation. Follow what's happening at your table to correctly size your bet. Limping is bad for you.
- Good Texas Hold'em Strategy Although it's possible to talk about Texas Hold'em strategy indefinitely, due to the game's subtle complexities, we've compiled three of the most salient pieces of poker advice every aspiring pro should know. Pulling off fancy bluffs and check-raising the river with a small value bet may be enticing propositions.
- Three strategies for Texas Hold'em Poker are most important and more influential than all others. Combining discipline, patience and anticipation is the greatest Texas Hold'em Strategy, capable of launching you beyond the opponents at your table and giving you a real chance of winning.Each of these strategies for Texas Hold'em poker can be implemented individually, but it is in their.
Finally, unless you have a big bankroll, stay away from games where there’s a lot of loose, aggressive action. Even if you have an edge, you might not be able to withstand the swings of luck that are part and parcel of playing at such a table.
2- Attention Is an Important Prerequisite Skill for Learning to Read Hands
One of my biggest leaks as a new poker player was my tendency to not pay attention to any hand I wasn’t involved in. You’ll see plenty of players who do this. They’re often wearing earbuds. Sometimes they’re watching TV or just gabbing away with the other guys at the table.
When I learned to start watching what was going on more closely, my game improved dramatically. Paying attention gives you a better idea of your opponents’ playing tendencies (see concept #5 below). It will also help you figure out which hands are likelier to win in various situations.
I know from reading that big pairs win more often against smaller fields, but I need stronger hands to win against larger fields. Some of this depends on the texture of the overcards but getting a real feel for what wins in which situations requires attention and experience.
You might think that being patient enough to fold until you get premium cards is the most important Texas Holdem skill you could have. If that’s the only trick you have up your sleeve, you’re in trouble. That will beat a lot of competition at the lower levels, but even at low stakes holdem, you’ll find opponents who are paying attention to how you play and are compensating accordingly.
I’d suggest that being able to put your opponents on a range of hands is a more important skill. In fact, it might be the most important skill. This isn’t something someone has an innate talent for, either. You have to work for it, and that requires paying attention and thinking.
If you’re having trouble concentrating at 1st, I suggest singling out one opponent and pay attention to his playing tendencies. How aggressive is he? Does he bluff? Is he a calling station? Does he defend his blinds?
These are all questions you can answer about opponents if you pay attention to them for a while. Some players are easy to evaluate in this way. I often tell a story about a guy who played every hand preflop, and he raised with all of them, too. Putting him on a range of hands preflop was easy—he could have anything. He tightened up a little bit after the flop, though.
Most players are going to have subtler playing tendencies than this, though. The only way you’ll be able to pick up on these tendencies and put them on a range of hands is by paying attention to what they’re doing, even when you’ve folded and aren’t involved in the hand.
3- Bluffing Is Part of the Game, but It’s a Smaller Part of the Game than Some Beginners Think
People who watch poker on television or in the movies think that bluffing and tells are the 2 biggest components of the game. Both of those skills matter, but neither of them are hugely important compared to things like hand selection, aggression, and calculating outs and pot odds. But you can’t succeed in Texas Holdem if you never bluff at all, either—not unless you’re playing at the lowest limits imaginable.
One rule of thumb I learned early is that you should never try to bluff more than 2 opponents at a time. To win a bluff, all your opponents must fold so that you can win the pot. The more opponents you’re trying to bluff, the less likely you are to succeed. Your best option is to bluff against a single opponent.
Look at it this way:
If you’re bluffing one opponent who you estimate will fold 50% of the time, you don’t need a huge amount of money in the pot to make this a profitable play. You only need even money to break even.
But if you’re bluffing 2 opponents, each of whom has a 50% probability of folding, your chance of succeeding drops to 25%. (To calculate the probability of multiple events happening, you multiply the probability of each of them.) You need 3 to 1 to break even.
If you’re bluffing 3 opponents like that, your probability drops to 12.5%. Now you need 7 to 1 to break even. You won’t usually be getting pot odds good enough to warrant bluffing in this situation.
The best times to bluff are when you see scare cards come up on the flop or the turn or when an otherwise strong player starts acting weak. If you can find a situation where both situations are true, then you’re well-positioned to win a bluff.
The worst times to bluff are when you’re dealing with calling stations. These are players who play passively but rarely fold. Often they’ll check in front of you, but then when you bet into them, they call you down.
4- Don’t Tilt
Poker players are said to go “on tilt” when they get upset about how a hand turns out. They start betting and raising aggressively with lousy cards. Or sometimes they’ll start calling bets with hands they should fold. Players on tilt are trying to force an outcome.
If you’re going to play winning Texas Holdem, you absolutely must learn how to avoid going on tilt.
If you’re new to the game, you might think you’re immune to going on tilt. That’s a common beginner mistake, too. Until you’ve experienced getting your aces or kings cracked several times in a single session, you don’t know how you’re going to react emotionally. It’s easy to get discouraged and think that short-term variance means that everything you know about poker is meaningless in the face of random chance.
The best thing to do if you go on tilt is to quit playing temporarily. You can lose tremendous amounts of money while you’re on tilt. The money you save by getting away from the table when you’re upset is worth just as much as that same amount of money in a pot.
Learning to keep calm and handle the swings of the game is a skill like any other and takes practice. It’s also easy to tilt and not realize you’ve tilted. Recognizing when you’re not playing your best game because of your emotions is a critical skill.
One way to develop this skill is by practicing meditation, by the way. People who meditate pay better attention. They’re more easily able to recognize what’s going on, both inside and outside. I’m not sure about other benefits of meditation, but I’m convinced that poker players who meditate on a regular basis have better luck than those who don’t.
5- Categorizing Your Opponents Is a Crucial Skill
One of the 1st things I learned about poker strategy had to do with playing styles. I’d never given the concept of playing style much thought until I read Andy Bellin’s book, Poker Nation—which was my 1st poker book, by the way.
The different styles of play make poker so interesting. Luckily, the number of styles can be categorized into a handful of groups. How you should play against opponents of a specific style varies based on how they play.
If you pay attention to your opponents’ general tendencies, you can put them into 1 of 4 categories:
Texas Hold'em Best Strategy
- Tight and aggressive
- Tight and passive
- Loose and aggressive
- Loose and passive
Think of these as being 2 continuums. One—the tight-loose continuum—describes how often a player participates in a hand. Tight players fold a lot and only play premium hands. Loose players don’t fold often, so they might have any kind of cards.
The other continuum—the aggressive and passive continuum—describes how often a player bets and raises versus checking and calling. Aggressive players drive the action by betting and raising. Passive players, on the other hand, check and call more often.
But these aren’t binary categories, either. You can face a tight player who folds 90% of his hands preflop, or a tight player who folds 80% of his hands preflop. You can face a loose player who only folds 50% of his hands preflop, or you could even face a player so loose that he plays 100% of his hands preflop. (I played a guy like this at the Winstar in Oklahoma not long ago.)
Also, some players play looser from the blinds even if they play tight the rest of the time. Other players might play loose before the flop but tighten up considerably on the flop and the turn.
That’s why I suggested that these categories are continuums.
The consensus is that tight aggressive is the best playing style, so that’s the style you should emulate. Don’t play many hands, but when you do, bet and raise with those hands. Go big or go home.
The 2nd best approach is loose aggressive. If you’re facing the right opponents, being willing to bet and raise a lot is enough to get you an edge at the poker table. You get extra equity if you’re facing tight players because you win a certain percentage of pots just because your opponents fold. And even if you have 2nd best cards, you’ll occasionally hit your draw.
A passive poker player is always the worst. Rocks (tight-passive players) tend to lose their money in the face of aggression. Calling stations (loose-passive players) tend to pay off their tighter opponents. Passive players of either persuasion never (or rarely) give their opponents an opportunity to fold.
When you categorize your opponents, you can make better-educated guesses about what kinds of cards they might be playing. If you get good enough at that, it’s like playing poker with someone whose hole cards are always exposed.
6- Learn When to Play for Higher Stakes
If you’re a winning player at the $2/$4 tables, you might also be a winner at the $5/$10 tables. You won’t know until you take a shot at that level. If you ARE able to win at the higher limits, you should be able to make more money just because there are larger amounts of money in play in those situations.
One thing to think about is how big your bankroll is. Even if you have an edge, short-term variance (i.e. bad luck) can cause you to lose all your money and go broke. You should have about 300 big bets at a given level if you want to avoid risking going broke. Of course, if you’re a bad player, it won’t matter how big your bankroll is. The size of your bankroll only starts to matter when you’re a winning player.
That’s only one aspect of moving up in stakes, though. You also need to be skilled enough to win at that next level. You might be ready; you might not.
My suggestion is to start with a bankroll that will get you through to the lowest limit game in the cardroom. If you’re playing $2/$4, then you should have a $1200 bankroll.
Set yourself a goal of winning enough money to move up to the $3/$6 tables. That means you have to win $600 at that level before moving up.
If you lose that $600 and get back down to $1200, you go back to the $2/$4 tables.
Texas Holdem Strategy Chart
But if you’re winning, you move up in stakes to the $4/$8 tables once your bankroll has increased to $2400.
This kind of approach guarantees that your skills are improving, because it’s almost impossible to grow your bankroll like that without being able to win at the higher stakes, too.
In other words, you’ll know when you’re ready to move up because your bankroll will tell you.
7- Tells Can Take Your Profits to the Next Level
If you watch TV or movies about poker, you might think that picking up tells is the #1 most important skill in poker.
It’s not.
But learning to read your opponents’ tells can help you win more money than you might win otherwise. It won’t make up for a lack of ability to fold or a lack of ability to read other players. But if you’ve mastered the basics, looking for and finding tells can take your game and profits to the next level.
Not all tells are individual, either. Some players fall into predictable categories. You can read Caro’s Book of Tells by Mike Caro or Read ‘Em and Reap by Joe Navarro to learn about some common tells that apply to most players.
Here are some tells you can look for without reading an entire book on the subject, though:
Shaking hands – A player whose hands are shaking when he goes to bet or raise isn’t bluffing, usually. That’s a release of subconscious excitement about how strong is hand is. Keep this in mind when putting that opponent on a range of hands.
Are they going to play the hand? – Most players learn pretty quickly that they’re not supposed to act out of turn. But if you watch the players to your left, you can often see clues to what they’re planning to do before they do it. It’s obvious when a player puts his chips on top of his cards that he’s planning to play his hand. If he’s picking up his chips even though it isn’t his turn to act, he’s getting ready to call, bet, or raise. Paying attention to this tell can help you avoid some of the disadvantages of playing out of position.
Weak is strong, and strong is weak. – Players who act one way are usually representing the opposite. A player who’s trying to stare you down when he’s betting or raising into you often has a weak hand and is hoping you’ll bluff. A player who’s staring at the television and calling in a disinterested manner probably has a monster and is hoping to get some action with it. Most of the time, players try to be deceptive and act in the manner opposite of their hand strength.
It’s easier to pick up on your opponents’ tells when you’re not involved in a hand. See concepts #2 and #5 above.
Conclusion
I mentioned at the beginning of this post that “most important Texas Holdem concepts” is a highly subjective idea. These are the concepts I think are most important, especially if you’re just getting started. I’ve tried to focus on concepts that apply to the game as a whole and your overall approach to it.
You’ll find other blog posts with specific details about how to play hands of certain types from certain positions at certain levels. There’s nothing wrong with those posts, either. I just think you need to grasp some of these other elements of poker first, or at least concurrently, with those tactics.
When I play Texas Hold’em poker I feel like James Bond in one of his movies. It’s no coincidence that this is my favorite game; any person of reasonable intelligence can become a good player through training. Psychology plays a major factor in this game. You can have a great hand but when someone puts all his chips on the table in a ‘no-limit” game, you always have a hard choice to make. Lucky for us there are “limit” tournaments to practice. I also recommend using software to find the fish (bad players). I have a great strategy for you, if you use a little common sense you can become a very good player and make a lot of money.
How To Play Texas Holdem
Learning how to play Texas Holdem takes study, practice, and persistence to become a world-class player.
It is a poker game that uses community cards. These are cards that can be used by all players at the table to make the best possible 5 card hand.
There are other forms of poker that you can play online, such as Omaha, 3 card Poker, 5 card draw, 7 card stud and Omaha Hi-Lo, but by far and away though the most popular game is Texas Hold’em.
Some online poker tournaments can have prize pools of hundreds of thousands or even millions. This sees a large number of people enter for the same buy-in and start with the same number of chips.
The last player remaining wins the tournament and the largest prize, with around 10% of the total entrants normally getting paid some amount.
You can also play in smaller tournaments with the same aim to be the last remaining player. These sit and go tournaments normally have just 1 table as opposed to bigger tournaments that can have hundreds running at the same time.
Texas Holdem Strategy Pdf
You can also play on cash tables which allow you to take your own money to the table, the main difference between the three is that in tournaments you only win money at the end of the tournament whereas with cash games the money you play with is yours and you can walk away with your winnings any time you want.
Texas Hold’em Rules
- A single deck of 52 cards is used in Texas Hold’em poker. All cards count as its respective value, although Aces can be high or low.
- One player is designated as the dealer, this will be shown online by a small disc and is moved around the table after each hand. Obviously online this person does not physically deal the game, it is simply to show where the first cards are dealt from.
- The player to the dealer’s left makes a bet known as the “small blind”. In a cash game, this bet will be the same each hand depending on the type of table you are sitting at. In a tournament, the blind bets raise at equal intervals, normally 8 or 10 minutes. The player to the left of the small blind – so 2 seats to the left of the dealer – makes a bet known as the “big blind”. These bets are compulsory and are designed to ensure there is money to be won in every hand and to ensure players can’t just sit waiting for one of the best starting hands to be dealt whilst not risking any money.
- Two cards are now dealt to each player face down, starting to the player on the dealers left, the small blind.
- As the first 2 players to the left of the dealer have already placed a bet before the cards we’re dealt, the player to the left of the big blind – 3 to the left of the dealer – gets to play first. They can either call the big blind bet (place a bet equal to it), Raise (place a bet that is more than the big blind), or Fold (not put a bet in and end their participation in the hand). The play then continues around the table in the same direction until all players have either Folded or Called the highest bet. If the play goes back round to the big blind and no one has raised, the big blind player can Check (effectively Call the largest bet but not put any funds in as their bet is already equal to the highest bet).
- Once the first betting round is finished, 3 cards are dealt in the middle of the table. These are Community cards (cards that can be used by any player) and is known most commonly as the Flop. These are dealt face up so all players can see them.
- Another round of betting now takes place, starting with the player to the dealers left (the player in the small blind position). If this player folded in the first round of betting, it will be the next player who starts the betting and so on until all players who are still in the hand have either Folded or placed a bet the same as all other players. As there is no forced bet in this round, all players can Check if they wish which means no further bets are made, although if one player does decide to bet, all other players will need to either match this bet by Calling or Fold.
- A community card is now dealt face up, this is known as the turn and means all players now have 6 cards they can use, their own 2 that only they can see and the 4 community cards that any player can see and use. This card is known as the Turn.
- Another round of betting now takes place following the same procedure as after the Flop. There are rules on some tables as to the minimum amount that can be bet at this point, this is normally double the minimum of the last 2 rounds, so double the big blind.
- Once this round of betting has finished, a 5th and final community card are dealt. This is known as the River and means players now have the 7 cards available to them in order to make the best possible 5 card hand.
- A final round of betting now takes place, the same format as after the Turn.
- Once this betting round has been completed, the first player remaining in the hand to the left of the dealer will show their cards. It will then continue around the table with each player showing their hand to determine who wins. Please note that whereas the first player to show needs to do so if the next player cannot match that hand, they can Muck their hand which means they agree they have lost but don’t show the other players what they had. If their hand is better, they need to show their hand to this effect. The hand needs to be made up of 5 of the 7 cards available, a player can use all 5 community cards, 1 of his/her own cards and 4 of the community cards, or both of his/her own cards and 3 of the community cards. The player with the highest-ranking hand wins the pot.
Texas Holdem Strategy
When playing Texas Holdem poker your best friends are patience and a detailed understanding of Texas Holdem Strategy. The best players flop 80% of the time in a 10 player game. The dealer is the best spot you can have whilst the small blind spot is the worst. This means when you are in the dealer position, you can play looser to see the flop and in the small blind position, you have to play tight. The closer you are to the dealer’s right side the better because you can see the actions taken by other players.
Best Texas Holdem Hands
The first two cards (your starting hand) that are dealt to you are the most important. If you are new to Texas Holdem I suggest you only play the following hands until you have more experience. Here are the best Texas Holdem Hands to start with.
Ace-Ace when you have a double ace as a starting hand you need to raise, call a raise or re-raise. This is the best starting hand you can get. |
King-King The double king is the second best starting hand. Your strategy should be to raise, call a raise or re-raise depending on your table position, the risk you’re willing to take and the strength of your opponents. You need to study your opponents; are they loose? Is the one that just raised a good player or a bad? You need to get the edge, and the edges you get by knowing your opponents better than they know themselves. |
Queen-Queen The double queen is the third best starting hand. Your strategy should be to raise or call a raise depending on your table position, the risk you’re willing to take and the strength of your opponents. I wouldn’t re-raise with this hand, be a bit more careful with this hand. |
Jack-Jack The double jack is a good hand but you should play more careful here. Your strategy should be to call the big blind or to call one small raise. If a big raise is done by a fish you could take your chances. |
Ace-King Suited The ace-king suited hand is a good starting hand but you still need to wait for the flop before you start betting big. Your strategy should be to call the big blind or to call one small raise. |
Ace-Queen Suited Same strategy as the ace king suited. |
King-Queen Suited Same strategy as the ace queen suited. |
Ace-Jack Suited Your strategy should be to call or call one small raise against a loose player and wait for the flop. |
King-Jack Suited Your strategy should be to call or call one small raise against a loose player and wait for the flop. |
Queen-Jack Suited Your strategy should be to call or call one small raise against a loose player and wait for the flop. |
Ten-Ten Your strategy should be to call or call one small raise against a loose player and wait for the flop. |
Nine-Nine Your strategy should be to call or call one small raise against a loose player and wait for the flop. Your following move depends on the flop. If you get a bad hand after the flop, folding is usually a wise decision. Sometimes you can still get a nice hand with the turn and the river; you will get a better feel at this as you get more experienced. I suggest you play tournaments at first. |
Unsuited High Cards
See Full List On Wikihow.com
Sometimes you will get unsuited high cards like this:
King TenYou can have other variations like a king with a ten or an ace with a queen. If you get cards like this don’t fold, you should wait for the flop, you should fold only if someone makes a raise. Again I have to say as you get more experienced you will get a better feeling for this. This is why I never recommend poker calculators, the only thing poker calculators do is turn you into a poker bot. You will never develop your own game like this. |
Starting Hand Probability
The odds of obtaining good cards with your starting hand in Texas Holdem.
A | K | Q | J | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | 85% | 68% | 67% | 66% | 66% | 64% | 63% | 63% | 62% | 62% | 61% | 60% | 59% |
K | 66% | 83% | 64% | 64% | 63% | 61% | 60% | 59% | 58% | 58% | 57% | 56% | 55% |
Q | 65% | 62% | 80% | 61% | 61% | 59% | 58% | 56% | 55% | 55% | 54% | 53% | 52% |
J | 65% | 62% | 59% | 78% | 59% | 57% | 56% | 54% | 53% | 52% | 51% | 50% | 50% |
10 | 64% | 61% | 59% | 57% | 75% | 56% | 54% | 53% | 51% | 49% | 49% | 48% | 47% |
9 | 62% | 59% | 57% | 55% | 53% | 72% | 53% | 51% | 50% | 48% | 46% | 46% | 45% |
8 | 61% | 58% | 55% | 53% | 52% | 50% | 69% | 50% | 49% | 47% | 45% | 43% | 43% |
7 | 60% | 57% | 54% | 52% | 50% | 48% | 47% | 67% | 48% | 46% | 45% | 43% | 41% |
6 | 59% | 56% | 53% | 50% | 48% | 47% | 46% | 45% | 64% | 46% | 44% | 42% | 40% |
5 | 60% | 55% | 52% | 49% | 47% | 45% | 44% | 43% | 43% | 61% | 44% | 43% | 41% |
4 | 59% | 54% | 51% | 48% | 46% | 43% | 42% | 41% | 41% | 41% | 58% | 42% | 40% |
3 | 58% | 54% | 50% | 48% | 45% | 43% | 40% | 39% | 39% | 39% | 38% | 55% | 39% |
2 | 57% | 53% | 49% | 47% | 44% | 42% | 40% | 37% | 37% | 37% | 36% | 35% | 51% |
Post Flop Strategy
Although it is the same game, and the same hand, the strategy you play pre-flop and post-flop can often be totally different.
Before the Flop, you only have your 2 Hole cards to consider, just 2 of the 7 cards that will be available to you come the end of the hand.
After the Flop, you will know 5 of the 7 cards and will have a much better idea of whether you are likely to win the hand on a Showdown or whether you need to try and bet other players off the pot.
The real money is made after the Flop too since there are still 3 of the 4 betting rounds left to play. Therefore, although the pre Flop strategy is important, it is the Post Flop strategy that could potentially either make you a lot of money or see you lose a lot.
Playing the odds, bluffing your hand, picking up on any tells from your opponents, and mixing up your game are just a few of the strategies to consider at this point.
Post Flop play is, therefore, more advanced and involved than a pre Flop strategy.
Reading Your Opponents
Whether you’ve called, raised, or checked your way pre Flop, the first thing you need to think about after the Flop is your opponents and how they react. This is harder to do in an online game as you cannot physically see your opponents, but it is still worth making notes on players if the facility is available as these can help you in future hands when you are up against the same player.
An example would be if a player is aggressive pre Flop and continues betting, only to lose a Showdown with a weak hand. Make a note of this as in a future hand he or she may well try the same trick again, having this information available to you can help.
You also need to remember who did what before the Flop. If someone Raised but then Checked the Flop, they could have missed, or hit a good hand and are changing their tactics to slow play, hoping others will put more chips in. Equally, if there was no action and the Big Blind simply Checked, beware if they bet on a low board after the Flop as you have no real idea what they may hold.
Proceeding After a Pre-Flop Raise
One of the most common and discussed techniques in post Flop Texas Holdem strategy is the follow-through bet. This comes into play if you Raise before the Flop and are either first to act or the action gets checked to you. Many people would argue that almost every time you are in that position you should follow through with an attempt to take the hand down, irrespective of whether you have hit a hand or not.
The downside to this is that it has become so common that you rarely see players Fold to it anymore, and instead use it as a way to Bluff by Checking and then Raising any bet. There will also be a place in poker for this kind of technique, but try and gauge your opponents and their characteristics as much as possible before you try it when missing the Flop.
If you Raised pre Flop and hit a good hand, you will need to consider the possibilities that are on the board.
If there are 2 or 3 of the same suit and therefore the possibility of a player hitting a Flush later in the hand, it may be worth trying to take down the pot on the Flop with a larger bet rather than allowing a player to see the Turn and River on the cheap.
If you hit a monster such as a Full House, you may consider letting other players do the betting in the hope that they do hit their Flush or Straight giving them the confidence to bet big.
You will also need to consider that even though you may have hit a good hand, another player may also have hit, such as you holding AK on a board showing A J 3 of different suits. In this case, you are well set but anyone that called a pre Flop Raise with AJ or 33 will be doing better and you could be in for a big loss if you are not careful.
It is worth varying your strategies, for this reason, as if players are making notes on you just as you are on them, they may think they have got you sussed. A variation of big pocket pairs or suited connectors, for example, can confuse your opponent and allow you to take advantage of their uncertainty.
Proceeding After a Pre – Flop Call or Check
If you entered the pot pre Flop in late position and have a less thank premium starting hand, the strategy post Flop is less complicated. Players won’t be expecting you to have much compared to those in an early position that is still in the hand, and therefore won’t be looking to you to lead.
10 Essential Texas Holdem Strategy Moves: The Check-Raise
It is, therefore, possible to make a decision simply on whether or not you hit the Flop. If you made a hand, you can decide whether to come out all guns blazing and put a bet in or slow play waiting to see what others do. However, slow playing with anything less than a Full House can often lead to disaster if a player hits a Flush or Straight on the Turn or River. Giving them a cheap option to view these cards can often lead to them hitting their hand which will put them ahead of yours.
If there is nothing but Checking going on you have the opportunity to steal the pot with a relatively small bet, nice if you haven’t hit and there are still a few players in the hand.
Maybe the best part of playing after the Flop when in late position is that it gives you the chance to sneak up on the remaining players if you do hit your hand. Calling pre Flop with suited connectors, for example, gives you the chance of a Flush, Straight, or even Three of a Kind if the Flop shows a pair of one of your numbers. It is hard for the other players to read what you have and puts you in a position to either bet or Check-Raise and could lead to you getting chips from someone who has a high pocket pair and who believes you could be Bluffing.
When Obtaining a Full House
Don’t hesitate, don’t fear, the chances of you losing are very slim. When I see a full house like this after the flop in a no-limit game, I don’t just put all my chips on the table right away. I bet a high amount first, after the turn I bet an even higher amount and when the river comes I put all my chips on the table. I do this to make more money from my opponents because if you put all your chips on the table after the flop chances are all of them will fold. When playing a limit game you should start making raises. Some players play with a betting strategy such as Oscars Grind or the Oscars Grind-The Positive Grind, but I usually stay clear of these.
Playing the Turn and River
By the time you reach the Turn and River, there are likely to be only 2 or 3 players left in the hand. Whilst this does mean you have less to think about with regards to what your opponents hold, the rising amount of chips in the pot mean that a mistake at this point could prove costly.
Considering the bet size and pot odds are important throughout the hand, it is most important at the later stage. If you have a draw after the Flop, for example, a call would be easier to make when there are 2 cards left, however, if you miss the Turn and therefore only have 1 card left to play, you have to consider the risk of another player puts a bet in. If they only bet a small amount into a relatively large pot, it is easy enough to call, but with a large bet, you need to decide whether it is worth the risk with only 1 more card to come in order to complete your hand.
On the flip side, if you feel you are ahead, consider a large enough bet so that other players Fold as opposed to letting them see the River card cheaply and giving them a chance to hit their hand. Position and pressure are 2 of the most important aspects at the tail end of a hand as with fewer players involved acting first and forcing the play can give you a big advantage, even more so than at the start.
At the end of the day, these decisions get easier with experience so play as much as you can whilst learning.
If possible, you should play low-value tournaments as opposed to free play or free-rolls as you will often find these games become more like a lottery with people betting a lot more than they otherwise would if they use their own money.
Texas Holdem Tips
To summarise, here are some Texas Holdem Tips:
- Do not play with fear, your opponents can smell it
- Play with good money management and don’t bet all your money on a weak hand.
- Learn to bluff, but don’t bluff with garbage
- Learn how your opponents play, are they loose or tight? Do they bluff a lot?
- Enter tournaments, it’s a cheaper and much better way of improving your game.
Texas Holdem Terms
When first learning the game you will come across these Texas Holdem Terms:
- Muck Hand: When a player agrees they have lost, but doesn’t show the other players what they had.
- Small Blind: When the player to the dealer’s left makes a bit. This is known as a small blind
- Big Blind: The player to the left of the “small blind” – so when a player 2 seats to the left of the dealer makes a bet, this is known as the “big blind”.
- The Flop: These are Community cards dealt face up by the dealer (cards that can be used by any player) and is known most commonly as the Flop.
- The Turn: The 4th card of the community cards dealt is know as “The Turn”.
- The River: The 5th and final community card dealt is known as “The River”.
- All-In When a player commits all their chips to the active pot, they are “All-In” and cannot bet any further chips as they have none available to them.
- Ante A ‘forced’ pre-flop bet which is made by all players for an equal amount, normally 10% of the value of the Big Blind. This often occurs in the latter stages of a tournament to ensure it completes in a timely fashion and it increases the same time the Blinds increase.
For a complete list of Poker Terms you can visit our Poker Terms & Glossarypage.
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