Texas Holdem Poker

Being in early position in Texas Holdem Poker is not necessarily a bad thing when you only have one or two players in the hand before you.  Ideally, the move we are going to talk about today is an isolation move, but you can pull this off with two players if you are watching the style of play and know that the other pre flop and flop caller has missed their hand. Whether you are playing in casino or online poker sites the strategy apply for both.

The first thing we want to address here is if it is three handed.  This is the more dangerous of the two, but watching will tell you what to do here.  Assume that you are in the BB and you have one limper behind you and late position raises.  Both you and the limper make the call to see the flop.  The flop hits and you either hit the middle pair or are holding a middle pair in your hand.  You check and the limper checks and the raiser makes a continuation bet that is called.

If you have a crafty player before the raiser, they may be looking to make a move and watching how they reacted in similar positions will help you with the size of their bet.  If you have seen them put in a turn bet to steal a pot, your bet is going to have to be enough to chase them off of their hand.  If they usually fold with a turn bet, you can get away with a value bet here to get them out and go up against the initial raiser.

When you have isolation, your move here is pretty straight forward.  You want them to make their continuation bet and then you are looking for something harmless to fall on the turn.  If that card hits, you immediately fire on the turn to give the raiser something to think about.  Unless they are sitting on a big hand, they will more than likely fold here.  If the board has put a draw out there, they may just call and go fishing for the river card to improve them.

This move is going to pick you up a lot of pots as when the stakes get a little higher, players tend to get out versus risking losing a chunk of their stack. The successes that you have with this move should more than make up for those times that you get caught by an actual hand.  If you are successful, this will eventually pay off in a big way when you are lucky enough to have a monster hand and the raiser misreads you as doing the same play and that is what this game is all about.

Texas Holdem players that start at low limits usually begin their play with Limit Holdem. Many begin at the $2-$4 and $3-$6 level. These are the lowest levels both in term of competition and profit potential. It is also a level that the most mistakes are made and certain mistakes are repeated in almost every hand. Today, I would like to take a look at a couple of mistakes that low limit Holdem players make.

First, low Limit players will come into a pot calling several bets cold. I don’t care how loose a game is, coming into a pot that has been 3 bet with a substandard hand is a long term losing proposition. There are exceptions to this obviously. If you have two players that raise and reraise every hand, then you can widen your calling standards. However, I was at a table recently where the tightest player raised and was reraised. The reraise was called by three players. Of course, the three players that called three bets cold lost their money.

Next, another mistake that I see made often is players playing too tight at a super passive table. I personally have been guilty of this mistake in the past. I would sit at a table that would have 6 to 8 players stay in for the blinds and I would sit there and wait for hands. As I gained more experience, I would start to speculate with reasonable hands etc. Eventually, I would find a good balance. However, I see players that will sit and play like a rock when just a little bit of belt loosening would garner them a profit.

Another common mistake I see made is not raising at all preflop. If you have a strong hand, then raise it. While it is true that in some games you will not thin out the field, raising puts players on notice that you have a hand. Sometimes you can take the pot with a continuation bet. Sometimes you will hit the flop or have a big pair and still be able to take the pot with resistance. By not raising, you allow more people the chance to see a flop. I was in a hand about a year ago with a man that never raised preflop, even with hands such as pocket kings. His lack of raising cost him bets and saved me money. Don’t cost yourself bets. Raise your hands.

The next mistake is one that is primarily a live cash game mistake. In most games, if only the blinds are left in a hand, many times these players will chop the pot and just take back their blinds. Sometimes you will get a player that is stubborn and will go ahead and want to play their hand. Unless you can get another raise in the pot preflop, this move is usually a bad one. The main reason I say this is due to the rake. If a hand goes to the flop, most casinos go ahead and take their drop. If the pot is chopped, they don’t get a drop. If you just call preflop and don’t chop, you will usually end up losing money. Unless you think that you can get some money out the other player, just chop the blinds. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but it saves on the rake.

As you start to play more and more Texas Holdem you will realize that poker players tend to have there own language. If you don’t understand the terms and ethics of the game it will make it uncomfortable for you at the tables. Holdem players will make up there own language and some lingo is used commonly by all players. There are also some ethical things you need to understand in order to be successful at Texas Holdem poker tables. I will try and help you understand some of these ethical and poker languages.

Slow Play - Slow playing in Texas Holdem is when you make a hand and decide to “lay in the weeds” and hide the strength of your hand. By doing this you can allow your competitors to put money into pots with lesser hands, and sometimes can get more value for your hands. Caution when slow playing, you may allow the other players to catch up with you and they might beat you in the end. Basically slow playing is when you check with a great hand and allow your competitors to bet into you, and it is a common strategy in No Limit Texas Holdem.

Slow Role - Slow rolling is an ethical problem that exists in Texas Holdem. If you get called out for slow rolling, you are being criticized for showing up your opponents. Slow rolling is when the hand is over and you delay in flipping up your hole cards when you have a great hand, winning hand. Don’t do this, showing up your opponents will give you a negative image at the table. If you have the best hand, turn it up and let the players know that you won the pot, to avoid embarrassing your opponents. In my opinion slow rolling should be a penalty in Texas Holdem and I suggest no one should do it.

The Nuts – When you have the nuts, you have the best hand possible at that time. Making the nuts, will make Texas Holdem a lot easier, there is no better feeling then knowing you can’t be beat. The nuts can change on every street, you might have the nuts on the flop, but the turn could make it possible for someone else to have a better hand. An example : The community cards are Ad – Ah – 10d – 5d- Qd, What is the nuts? You would have the nuts if you had a King – Jack of diamonds for a Royal Flush.

Card Rush - Card Rushes are when every time you look down at your hand you seem to have a big cards. Card rushes can last for a few hands or on great days can last for hours.  Ride out these card rushes and make some money when you can. Don’t get married to your card rushes they will come to an end and there is such a thing as a negative card rush. A negative card rush is when you are getting big pre flop hands, but can never seem to make a hand. An example of negative card rushes are when you pick up pocket kings and raise and on the flop there is always an ace that beats you.

Family Pot – When all players at the table are playing in the same hand.

Limping In - Calling pre flop instead of folding or raising the big blind.

Rail Birds – A rail bird is a person watching the game and is usually used as a negative comment. A lot of times rail birds will make inappropriate comments and might effect the game when they have no business getting involved.

Sharks and Fish - These are terms that you will hear people called at a poker table. A fish is a person that is leaking money a weaker player that other players will pick on. Obviously the shark is a strong player who will feast on the fish at the table. Basically don’t be the fish, play in games where you are a Shark instead. If you get called one of these terms use it to your advantage and exploit the table image that you have created for yourself.

Under the Gun - When you are under the gun, you are the first person to act pre flop. This player will be to the left of the big blind and is commonly the worst position at a poker table. Playing under the gun can be tricky, but you can get control of the pot immediately if you raise.

Coolers and Cold Decks – These are ways to complain about the cards and your luck. If the deck is cold or you hit a cooler, it seems as if “the poker gods” are against you. You could be making big hands and losing or starting big and getting no where in the hand. An Example: You start the hand with pocket aces (Ad – Ah) and the flop comes Ac – 10c – Jh, perfect you flopped your set bet out and get one caller. The turn isn’t a problem a 5d, and you bet and get another call. When the river comes Kc you have hit your cooler now your opponent might have made a flush or straight and you are probably beat. This can have one of two effects, one it could just slow the action and you still win with the best hand. Two your opponent made there hand and you will be forced to make a decision at the showdown.

This is hardly scratching the surface of language you might hear at a Texas Holdem table. Of course there is the common language like call, check, raise and fold that you need to know if you want to play. Certain hands have names of there own you get the “dead mans hand” (A – 8), you can make a wheel (A-2-3-4-5) or you could get sucked out on. Learning some of these terms can make your time at the poker table more comfortable and show the other players that you know what you are doing.

Texas Holdem Poker is a great game and has been popularized on television by showing a lot of great tournaments. Times have changed these days you can turn on the television and find great cash games to watch. The game is the same, but the way you play it will change. When playing poker tournaments you can get a lot of praise and acknowledgment for your accomplishments. You play cash games for a different reason, to make money and to make money only. There are subtle differences between the style of play and both have there advantages and disadvantages.

Tournaments

When playing poker tournaments you buy in for a specific amount of money and get a specific amount of chips to play with. The amount of chips doesn’t necessarily correspond with amount of money you bought in for, for example you can play a $5 tournament and get $1500 worth of chips. The main goal of a tournament is to move yourself up the pay scale and make as much money as possible. Winning isn’t everything you can make money for finishing near the top of the leader board.

The Check Down

When playing in poker tournaments sometimes you need to team up with other players to eliminate a competitor. A check down is when a player is all in and gets multiple calls, the players who called would check to the showdown to increase the chances of eliminating the all in player. The reason you should do this is to move yourself up the pay scale, eliminating players increase your chances of winning.

Bad Example

player #1 moves all in and gets called by player #2 (A – K)  and player #3 (9 -9), when the flop comes 9 – 10 – 2 player #3 bets and forces player #2 to fold. When the cards are flipped up the all in player has 8 -7 and the turn comes Q and the river comes J meaning the all in player makes a straight and stays alive. If player #3 had checked down, the player who folded would have made a bigger straight and eliminated the player.

Eliminate players when you have the chance in Poker tournaments, the less players in the event the better chances of you having a good pay day. You never know if that player you allowed to stay alive by not checking down, will hit a card rush and eliminate you later on. Stack size is also very important when playing in a tournament, each players needs to control there chips because that is all they get. You need to manage your risk, and make sure your playing in pots you have no business playing in. Tournament players need to pay close attention to pot sizes and bet amounts. You need to stay ahead of the blinds when playing in tournaments, they will increase consistently throughout the event. If the blinds are high and you are getting low on chips you may have to go all in with a weaker hand.

Cash Games
When playing cash games you buy in for an amount of money and that is the amount of money you will play with. You can always top up your money and insure you have the most money possible for when you pick up a monster. Blinds don’t increase in a cash game, for example if you play $1/$2 holdem, the blinds will remain there for the whole game. A check is not necessary in a cash game, the only thing you have to worry about is making the most money possible for yourself. It doesn’t matter what other players are doing, your goal is not to eliminate other players it is maximize your winnings.

The Straddle Bet

A straddle bet in a cash game in essentially buying the big blind. To player under the gun (left of BB) will have the chance every hand to increase the stakes to play. For example playing $1/$2, the player under the gun can put in $4 before they receive there cards to buy the big blind and act last pre flop. When this happens the stakes are increased for that hand and you will have to put in the straddle amount to call. Its important to know that you can also double straddle, the person next of the straddle can re-straddle and so on. The reason to straddle is to create action in the game, there will be more people in the pot and the standard raises will increase.

Hand strengths change when playing for cash, basically you want to make monster hands and get paid for them. Suited connectors are good hands, you can disguise your hand strength and hopefully stack your opponents (make them go broke). If you go broke in a cash game, you can simply go into your pocket and take out money to continue playing. You can play for as long or as short as you wish, there is no schedule or specific rules. You will also find the in game rules to be a little loser during side games, you may be able to show a card to your opponent or leave and return any time you wish without having to post blinds.

Tournaments and cash games are different, but they are both Texas Holdem. You won’t get a lot of glory for playing in side action games. You will not win a bracelet, people won’t clap for you and you probably won’t end up on television. You play for yourself, you can get personal satisfaction for good plays and winning sessions. The nice thing about tournament is you know how much you will lose when you start, you play a $10 tournament you know at worst you will lose $10. When sitting at cash table there are more questions about money, if you have a bad session you could lose a lot of money. My suggestion is play holdem for cash and in tournaments, you can be successful at both.

Poker Tournaments or Cash Games, Titan Poker offers plenty of holdem tournaments or cash games.

How are you viewed when you are sitting at the table? What are your opponents thinking about you? Answering these questions can help you understand how to win playing Texas Holdem. Whether you play online or in live games you need to create a table image or have a specific way you want to play. You can create an image that is crazy / loose or you can go the other way and create a solid / tight image. You need to realize what your competitors think of you and use it to your advantage. I am going to show you a few simple ways to create a table image and how to take advantage of it.

The main goal when you play poker is to win, and you win by exploiting your opponents weakness’. Forcing your opponents to make mistakes and exploiting them is a major perk to creating a table image. Figure out what your competitors think about you and wait for them to fall into your trap.

Aggressive / Crazy Image – Well if you are a bluffer, if you like to raise a lot of pots pre flop, its safe to say that your image is probably that of an aggressive or loose player. To get this image is easy, if you get caught bluffing often at a table of experienced players they will assume you are a crazy player. When you play this way there area few ups and downs, you will find your raises will start getting less respect and people will start calling you with weaker hands. Ironically by bluffing a lot it makes it extremely more difficult to bluff. On the other side of the coin, when you have a big hand people won’t respect it and you can get action that a tighter player will not get. Playing aggressive for an extended period of time makes it harder to pick up loose pots, but will make it easier to get into big pots and make a lot of money.

Example – You’ve been playing at an online poker room for three hours, you have been playing well over 40% of hands and raising most of them pre flop. You start to notice that people aren’t respecting your raises and playing back at you. It’s official you have the table right where you want them, a couple hands later you pick up pocket aces, what should you do? Raise just as you have been all day, and you get two people to call you. The flop come with a ace high rainbow (no suited cards), you have made top set. It will be hard for your opponents to think you spiked a set, you bet out and get raised. The big pot you have been waiting for has arrived and you have the goods, keep the pressure on as if you were bluffing and you will take this pot down.

Experienced poker players hate being run over by aggressive players and you can force them to play back at you. Try to get them on tilt and they will start to make mistakes for you to take advantage of.

Tight / Solid Image – The exact opposite of the aggressive image, if you don’t play a lot of hands your image will be that of a tight player. If you are sitting back and waiting for huge hands and not getting into a lot of pots, it will surely be noticed by good players. If this is the way you play it will start to become difficult to get action with those big hands, but can open up opportunities to steal pots with weaker hands. Your competitors will start to respect the fact that you have big hands every time you are in a pot. Beware if you are getting action as a solid player there is a strong chance your opponent has a big hand, or else they would have folded to you. An experienced poker player may also see you as weak and try to run over you with weaker hands, they may feel like they can bluff you out of most pots.

Example #1 – You have been at a table for a couple of hours and have been extremely card dead, you have only showed down monster hands. Your playing competitors should have noticed, and you pick up pocket queens and limp in. Everybody folds except the big blind and you hit your queen on the flop for three of a kind and the blind an aggressive player bets out at you. Now if you play back at him he will have no choice, but to assume you have a big hand, so feel free to just call and see if the blind player will continue to fire bets at you.

Example #2 – Your on the button with a mediocre hand and everyone folds to you. It’s time to exploit your tight image raise a good amount and the blinds fold quickly without thought. Since you raise they have to assume you have a big hand and you won money with little or no effort.

As a solid player you will find it hard to get action and play big pots. You will be forced to slow play hands to get into big pots and risk being sucked out on. A tight player has to have faith that they will pick up a big hand and be able to exploit there opponents to make money.

It’s important to understand table imaging not just to understand what your opponents think of you, but understand what image your competitors are creating themselves. Your image doesn’t have to be the same every time you play, feel free to play tight one day and be the aggressor the next. This will confuse your opponents and can be a lot of fun. Play the way that you are most successful at, and exploit the image you worked hard to create. Force your opponents to make mistakes and take advantage of them.

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