Texas Holdem Poker

Well, your just going to have to trust me with this one. No Limit Texas Holdem Poker is an easy game, with no perfect solution to becoming a winning player. Playing in a cash game or in a tournament are two very different things, but you can play similar games when approaching either. So I am going to try and walk some of you new players, or some old ones who are struggling through the easiest way to be a winner. Now this is important, this knowledge doesn’t guarantee you will win, but it should help you become more consistent. The irony of the whole thing is that you need to play a more boring, calculated game in order to help you get the success you are looking for. I am going to give you some basic knowledge on how to play out of the blinds, in early position, it late position and what might be the right times to make a bluff.

Playing out of the Blinds

When in a blind it is very easy to make mistakes, and commonly the worst position for all players at the table. Before you start calling pre flop bets from the big or small blind you need to realize that you will be the first to act after the flop. Therefore if you have a hand that will be tough to play post flop you might want to fold to aggressive raises pre flop. Some examples of tough hands to play are ace rag (ace with a low second card), small connecters and small pairs. Here is the deal with playing out of the blinds, sometimes you will be getting laid a good price to call a hand pre flop, this will happen when a lot players are in the hand maybe to a min raise or small raise, this will be the time for you to try and hit a big hand with your suited connectors or small pairs. As an example your playing $1/$2 and the person in first position makes a minimum raise to $4 and gets five callers before its your turn to act, the pot is $26 and you are in the big blind. It costs you $2 to makes the call and you have a pair of deuces, you are being laid a price of 13 – 1 (26 -2) to make the call, this is a perfect time to try and spike a set with the two’s. Basically pay close attention when you in the blinds, don’t let aggressive players in late position push around for to long and monitor the pot sizes to know when it is time to take a shot.

Playing in Early Position

Early position play is easy, you have nothing in the pot and there is no reason to step out and make big plays with mediocre cards when there are so many people to act behind you. No the range of cards you should playing, I will not give you that range, it varies from player to player. But you should be playing big pairs and high suited cards (AK or AQ), everything else should be an easy fold. If you like to get into pots well then I suggest you raise when playing less then stellar hands in early spots at the table and by this I mean a real raise not just a small min raise. When you do pick up a hand you want to play feel free to make a raise, in fact it is suggested. When rasing you need to put the pressure on all the players left to act behind you so raise a good amount, 4 – 5 or even 6 times the big blind. By doing this you will not allow other players, especially the blinds to sneak into the hand with lesser cards and beat you. So rule of thumb play tight in early position, make sizeable raises if you are going to play and don’t make unnecessary mistakes like big bluffs. The more you play the game the more creative you can get when playing in these positions.

Playing in Late Position

When playing this basic style, this is where you can make a lot of your money. When playing on the button (dealer) or in the cutoff (right of dealer), feel free to open up your game and take more chances. If the hand gets folded to you, feel free to raise with any two cards, the object might be to steal the blinds and quickly move on to the next hand. The stealing of blinds can be the difference between winning and losing especially if you are playing in a tournament. Here is where things can get a little more advanced, by raising often out of late positions, the players at the table will stop respecting the moves you make. By making these blind steals you can frustrate your opponent and when you do pick up a big starter, you have a better chance of getting action then if you don’t raise. When playing on the button you need to remember that you will be the last to act after every street, which can make it easier to pick up loose pots.

Bluffing

It’s a common thought, that you can not win at Texas Holdem Poker without bluffing. So here are a few basic pointers. It is a lot easier to bluff from late position, but always be aware of the slow players, and do what ever you can to not fall into there traps. The easiest boards (flops) to bluff are ones with high pairs, straight and flush possibilities. As an example your on the button and the flop comes A – A – 4, you have nothing, but the action gets checked to you. Feel free to make a bluff, your opponent will have no choice but to think there’s a chance you have that ace and might even fold the four thinking they might be drawing dead. If you make a sizeable bluff and get called, you will have to make the choice to bluff again after the turn or shut it down and give control back to your competitor.

This is not fool proof, but it is a basic strategy you can try out, have fun at the tables.

Many beginning players will take up Texas Holdem Poker and then wonder why they do not win. They see what looks like a simple game on television and then they try to play the game and find out that they are just donating money to the game. Let’s take a look today at a few leaks in a beginner’s game that can lead to frequent disaster.

First, many beginning players play too many hands. This sounds worn and cliché but many players don’t get what this means. Always playing two face cards or any ace is a sign of someone playing too many hands. You should be sticking to a tight aggressive strategy when you begin as a new player. Otherwise, your bankroll will take massive downswings.

Next, many poker players will overvalue their hand in Holdem. A great example would be someone that has pocket aces and the board has three spades on it. The player bets their hand big because they have aces and continues to push the hand when their opponent raises back at them. In this case, they are behind to a flush and will lose the hand. Another example is someone that commits a good sized stack with A-K. A-K is a good hand, but it is still a drawing hand. Sometimes a player will push and get called by an inferior hand. Most times they will be in a race situation.

The most common leak that you will see in new beginning players is tilting. The player picks up pocket kings and then gets outdrawn by A-5 or some other marginal hand. They then out of frustration or anger start playing any garbage hand. This spells disaster and devastates more beginner bankrolls that players would like to admit.

Another leak that is seen way too often is known as “playing TV poker.” This partially goes along with playing too many hands, but it involves a little more. There are players that will watch TV and then try to imitate the same moves or play the same types of hands they see players such as Gus Hansen play. They don’t understand the strategy behind the moves that they have seen or even the hands that led up to the play.

Sometimes players will be hyper-aggressive with their betting because they see other players bully players around. They then get a rude awakening when someone wakes up with a hand or someone with a decent hand decides to look them up. These same players will also make ill-timed bluffs or will frequently bluff just for the sake of bluffing.

While some of the above leaks seem elementary in nature, so many players make them that it bear mentioning. If you are a new player, take note and try to keep from making these mistakes when you sit down to play your next game of Holdem.

One common problem that Holdem Poker players experience is not being able to get away from the table when they are in a losing session. Players will leave a table early to preserve a win but will stick around for hours to try and chase lost money. As a result they end up losing more money than was necessary for a session.

Recently a friend of mine was having this problem and one solution that I suggested to him to help to keep losses down is to institute a stop loss. A stop loss is a system that a poker player sets up to limit the amount of money the player loses in a day. The way it works is simple. If you reach the limit that you set, you leave the game or quit for the day.

Stop losses come in two types. The first is a session stop loss. This sets a limit for the player for each individual session. Let’s say you play No Limit and you set a stop loss at 3 buy-ins per session. If you lose, you leave the game. This is a simple plan but it does come with a potential pitfall. Let’s say that you play a session and go on a bad streak and leave the session. You could just as easily buy-in to another table or at a later time in the day.

The type of stop loss that I personally recommend is a daily stop loss. This type of stop loss sets a limit relative to the limits that you are playing. If you reach your stop loss for the day, you are done for the day. For example, many players will set their stop loss at 30 big bets. If you are playing $5-$10 Limit Holdem, 30 big bets is $300. If you lose $300 in a day, you leave the game and come back another day. The main reason that most stop losses are 30 big bets is that it is very hard to win more than 30 big bets in a day in a typical Limit game. Five buy-ins to a NL game is about the equivalent.

Stop losses are great tools, but a player must have the discipline to follow their stop loss regardless of the game. There are some players that will stay in a “good game” and lose more money just because the game is good. Seldom will you be able to recover 30 big bets or 5 buy-ins in a single session once it is lost. What you risk is putting yourself further in the red.

A big key to managing ones bankroll is to keep loses at a minimum. Tools such as the stop loss will allow you to get away from a game when you are running bad. This in turn will help to preserve your bankroll and allow you to come back and fight another day. Good luck to you at the tables.

As you start to play more and more Texas Holdem there are a few things that you shouldn’t do in live games. Playing online poker eliminates a lot of ethical things that you might run in to whether you play in home games or at casinos. The more you play, most of these things will become second nature to you and won’t be a problem. I am going to explain a few things to you that you shouldn’t do a poker table.

Slow Role - Slow rolling your opponents will serve only one purpose and that is make them upset. Slow rolling is when you delay flipping over your winning hand, forcing your competitor to role there hand over thinking they have a chance to win the pot. At the showdown, show your winning hands and do not embarrass your opponents. This will only make players angry and serve to make your experience at the table less fun. Slow rolling is a problem because it is eliminated in online games, when you make a transition to live games, just treat people the way you hope you are treated.

String Betting - A string bet is when you make more then one motion at the pot, and is another thing you cannot do when playing online. You will not be able to make one of these bets at a casino and I suggest you don’t allow them in your home games. String betting can force reads from your opponents and is against the rules in all poker games. To avoid string betting use verbal declarations of your bet sizes or simply count your chips out before you make a motion toward the pot. Enforcing string betting at home games will make it second nature to you and help you in more structured games.

Hit and Run – More of a home game rule, you should never show up at a game win money and leave immediately. This is not a good way to get yourself invited to play in games. Doing this in a casino or online is one thing, but when playing in home games this will upset your hosts. Poker is more then just winning and losing, it is a social game. I am not saying you have to sit and play as long as the rest of the table, but if you can only play for a short period of time you should tell the other players ahead of time. If you hit and run a game you can be assured, you won’t be on the top of the invite list the next time.

Soft Play - Soft play can ruin a Texas Holdem game faster then anything else. Soft play is when you take it easy on another player at the table usually because of a previous relationship. Whether you are at a table with a friend or spouse or whatever, poker is not a team game and each player should be looked at as equals at the table. We have all seen this before, but might not have noticed, friends who never seem to play pots against one another. Trust me there no better feeling then beating someone you are close to in a Texas Holdem hand, you will have bragging rights for the time being. If this is a problem for you maybe you should play at opposite tables, soft play makes the game less legit and more importantly less fun.

Teach – Made popular by World Series legend Phil Hellmuth, never berate your opponents for making mistakes. Telling people what they did wrong, when they did it wrong and how they should improve will not help you make money. Put there mistakes in your memory bank and use it against them at a later date, don’t let them use one of your tirades to figure out your style. If you want to help someone that’s fine, but do it when you are not at the table. Why would you ever want to give someone the tools and knowledge of how to beat you? You are going to run into bad players and they will beat you. Play your game and have a long memory and never help another player beat you.

Drinking - This ones up to you and it depends on the kind of game you are playing in. Drinking impairs your judgement and will not make your Holdem game better. It depends if you are playing in a big money game ( don’t drink ) or in a social nickle and dime game with friends. My suggestion is, if making money is your top priority you shouldn’t be drunk at the table.

Show Off - This applies to online poker as well, showing off your skills is a sure fire way to lose your money. The best way to prove you’re the best player at the table is to win, not to show off your skills with big plays. As a poker player you need to the right times to slow play, bluff ro move all in, but if you a looking to prove a point you will make mistakes. Confidence is fine, but don’t allow it to change your game.

Texas Holdem is an easy game, but if you follow some of these ethical do’s and don’ts is will be more fun and profitable to you. I suggest you enforce these things in home games, so that they become second nature to you. The last thing you want is to increase your stakes and play with new people or at a casino and to have these simple things be on your mind. Every players goals should be to win money and have fun at the tables.

Texas Holdem is an easy game to learn, but hard to master. We have all sat a table with a player who embodies the idea that if you play a straight forward simple game you can win. Playing tight is when a player sits and waits until the cards come, it might seem like a tight player only plays pocket aces. A super tight player can be difficult to beat, but it isn’t that difficult to not let them beat you. Depending on what kind of player you are, there are a few different ways to combat the tight player. A tight player can fly under the radar and when your session is over you will be surprised that they won money. A lot of inexperienced players play tight, sometimes too tight and you need to take advantage of that. If you are playing an experienced player who is not seeing a lot of flops, it probably means they know how to extract money when they are in a hand. Be aware of an experienced solid player, they might just be setting up a table image in order to exploit you later in the Holdem session. They are multiple ways to play a super tight player, I will help you with a few suggestions.

Pick on Them - If you are at a table with a player who isn’t playing pots, a player who is just waiting for aces you need to force them to make decisions pre flop. Steal this players blinds, your cards don’t matter get in there, if they are super tight they will lay down. If you are playing with tight players you need to pick up all the loose money, in tight games you might be able to win pots with limited risk. Basically what your doing is forcing the tight player to play back at you, you are trying to get them off there game. Don’t fool yourself a experienced solid player will know you are just stabbing at pots, but if you don’t they will take the pot from you eventually.

If you have been picking on a tight Poker player, raising there blinds and stabbing at loose pots you need to be careful. Watch out for the slow play, don’t get carried away or be to confident. You can win all those small pots you want, one big pot you loose will make all that effort wasted. To become a good Texas Holdem player you need to manage your risk, don’t commit to much money into pots, make value bets and force players off there hands.

Play Against the Grain - If you are at a whole table of super tight solid players, you could always just do the opposite. Especially in cash games, playing against the grain can be a good way to win session to session. Basically what I am saying is if you are at a table full of extremely tight players, you can play extremely loose. Make the tight players pay to play, raise a lot, raise big and put the pressure on. By doing this you will frustrate your opponents and force them to change there games. Its important to remember that all good No Limit Holdem players hate being run over, and hate losing money without putting up a fight.

If you are going to play this way, you need to pay close attention to the table. Watch for players, who might flip and change styles to combat your aggressiveness. As I said before you can win all the small pots you want, but one big pot loss can make it all a waste of time. If you want to beat tight players, this can be the most fun way to do it. Poker players can get a lot of satisfaction from completely running over there opponents. Only play this style if you are comfortable with it, if you are uneasy playing this way the other players will notice and exploit you.

Don’t Play - I am not saying don’t play in the game, I am saying don’t get into pots with a player you know has a stellar hands. Basically a tight player wants to play very few pots, but when they do they want to play big ones. To combat this is easy, don’t get involved. A tight player who cannot extract money, becomes extremely easy to play against, its as if there is just a guy sitting there who has no effect on you. So fold to any raise from the tight player, unless you have a really big hand. If you are facing a raise from the tight player and you look down at that really big hand, say pocket aces, play back at them immediately. If they have raised you there is a good chance they have a big hand as well and you might get a chance to put all your money in with the best hand.

If you want to become a good Texas Holdem player, you need to know how to beat the tight player. If you are that tight player, you need realize the ways people are going to try and beat you. When playing Texas Holdem the main goal is to make money, and the easiest way to this is to frustrate you opponents. Take away your fellow players strengths, and force them to change there game. My suggestion is be a flexible player, tight one session and loose the next. Your game should be ever evolving, every time you play you will learn something new, a new way to extract money or better ways to bluff. If you have been leaking money to tight players try some of these tactics and I know your game will improve. One more time I will mention that if you win ten $5 pots ($50) and loose one $75 pot, stealing all those small pots will have been a waste. There is no perfect science to winning at Holdem, find a style and have fun playing the game