Texas Holdem Poker

Texas Holdem is the most popular form of poker game in the world. It is enjoyed by millions of poker players and is the game that has turned unknown players into household names. Since 2003, the number of Texas Holdem players has increased 1000 fold and many players find themselves wanting to play Holdem, but don’t want to embarrass themselves at the table. Below are a few tips for players just getting started in Texas Holdem.

Position is a key consideration in any Holdem game that you play; your position is relative to the dealer button. In a nine handed game, the first three players to the left of the dealer button are in early position. The next three players are considered to be in middle position, while the last three players are late position. Players that are in late position have an advantage over other players in a hand due to the fact that they are last to act on any hand. Normally, you need very strong hands to make an initial raise from early position. Later position players that open with a raise typically do not need as strong of a hand.

Stick with strong hands while you’re learning the game. When you are in early position, you really only want to raise with pocket aces, kings, or queens. Ace-king suited can also be raised with from early position. Middle position raising hands should be pocket eights through pocket jacks. Ace queen suited and ace king offsuit are also potential raising hands. Late position raising hands are pocket deuces through pocket sevens, ace jack suited, and ace queen offsuit.

Next, many beginning players are confused about how much to raise when it comes their turn to raise. There are really two answers here. First there is the typical textbook play, and then there is the standard raise according to the table. The normal textbook play for raising in No Limit Holdem is 3 ½ times the big blind. If the big blind is $2, then the raise would be to $7. In many games, this type of raise is sufficient to earn the respect of other players at the table. In other games, you will get 6 callers to a textbook raise. For those types of games, you will need to pay close attention to what the other pots have been raised to in prior hands, and adjust you play accordingly. Sometime, a modified raise is five times the big blind. In some cases it can be nine or even ten times the blind. For those types of games, playing strong hands are crucial.

Play your hands aggressively. To put this in layman’s terms, put your money in the pot if you think you have a winning hand. A lot of beginning players play too timidly and allow other players to take free cards and draw out on them. Others will bet, but they will bet the minimum or bet an amount too small to force a player fold. As you become more experience, you will find that varying your bet sizes is important, but as a beginning player, when you bet you hand, you typically want to make a bet of around ¾ of the pot size to keep other players from having the proper odds to call your bet.

Pay attention to your other opponents. Watching the way the other opponents at you table play is just as important as deciding what hand to play and what amount to raise. There are times at a poker table where a player will make certain movements or react certain ways to hands that tip off what they are going to do. These are known as tells. For example, if a flop comes and your opponent takes a look at his chips before he makes a bet, then chances are that he connected well with the flop, or has a superior starting hand to begin with. If two cards of one suit come on a flop and your opponent takes a look at his hand, he is checking to see if he has cards of that suit.

In addition to tells, another thing to watch is your opponents betting patterns. When your opponent shows a hand, take note of how he bet. How much did he bet when he flopped a set? Is he prone to call any bet when he holds a flush draw? Does the opponent overvalue one pair? Paying attention to players betting patterns will help you over time to determine the type of hands that they are holding, and also what they have when they raise pre-flop.

Lastly, have the courage to fold your hand when you know you’re beaten. Many players will stay in a hand with a big pocket pair when it is apparent that they may be beaten by a superior hand. Some players will make calls on the river due to the fact that they have money in the pot, regardless of the pot odds or the size of the pot. These types of moves create large swings in the amount of money in your stack. Pay attention to straight and flush possibilities. Many people overvalue one pair and lose a lot of money when someone catches a draw. Over time, as you learn to pick up on other players range of hands, you will be able to sniff out more accurately when your big pair has been outdrawn or when maybe your pocket jacks were outdrawn when someone holding ace-queen caught their river queen.

The above tips are a beginning guide to help you get started. Now you will need to go to the tables and put some of these tips to practice. With the above tips, you should be able to go into most games and hold you own. Be warned, poker is one part skill and one part luck. The best hand will not always hold up. Do not let that discourage you. Poker is a game where long term skill will overcome short term luck. Now, go out there and put you new poker skills to use and make some money.

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