Texas Holdem Poker

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.

Many players starting to play Texas Holdem since 2003 have begun their poker education with No Limit Holdem. For many players, this is the only type of Holdem that they have played. Whether it is due to bankroll considerations or due to wanting to improve their overall poker game, many players eventually take a look at playing Limit Holdem. For many, the transition from No Limit to Limit can be a difficult one. Let’s take a look at a few pointers to help make the transition smoother.

First, in Limit Holdem your objective is to win pots and bet, not stack. This concept is alone makes playing Limit a lot tougher than No Limit for some. In No Limit, one or two pots can erase a deficit and make you a winner for a session. The same is not true in Limit Holdem. Limit Holdem is more of a slow grind and building a profit is the end goal and not one that can be hit by sucking out on one big hand on the river.

Next, Limit Holdem is much more math driven than No Limit Holdem. You need to have a strong grasp on odds and statistics to become a successful Limit Holdem player. You don’t need to know the winning percentage of 10-9 vs. 7-8 for example but you do need to know what type of price the pot is laying to you and pot odds. There are many times that you will make a call in Limit Holdem based not on the fact that you are winning but due to the fact that a pot is laying huge odds. For example, if you hold bottom pair and the pot is laying 13 to 1 to you, you are likely going to call a bet on the river even if you know you are beat. About the only way you would fold here is if the player has flashed you his cards.

Bluffing is much more difficult to do in Limit Holdem. The main reason is that many players take the “oh it’s only one bet” mentality. Other times it is due to the fact that they are getting pot odds to call. One common complaint from No Limit players is that they “cannot push a person off a hand.” I am not saying that you cannot bluff in Limit Holdem, but I am saying that it will not work with nearly the same frequency as No Limit.

You will also draw more frequently in Limit Holdem than in No Limit due to the fact that you will have proper odds to draw. Again, the inability to push players off draws is another common complaint by No Limit players.

For those switching from No Limit to Limit, prepare for a bit of a challenge and prepare for a bit of frustration. Playing Limit takes a different skill set but it is a game that can be mastered with a bit of preparation and practice. Good luck to you at the tables.

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.

Texas Holdem and poker in general is all about making good decisions, money is just a way of keeping score. That is a good thought, but if you don’t have money, you can’t play. A problem that I see time and again with poker players, both online and live is playing games that are above their bankroll.

What does it mean to play above your bankroll? To play above your bankroll means that the limits you are playing do not allow for normal swings that you see in all poker games. For example, a person that decides to go to a casino with a $500 bankroll and play in $5-$10 Limit Texas Holdem, is playing way above his bankroll.

This fault isn’t exclusive to amateur poker players. I have a friend that I worked with this past summer at the World Series of Poker that decided that he was going to turn professional with a $10,000 bankroll. He started out playing levels that were reasonable to his bankroll, but then decided that he would sit in on games as high as $50-$100. He mostly hung around the $30-$60 range. Sadly, his bankroll was not big enough to take any losing streaks, and as a result, when the streak came, his bankroll was eliminated. This player is not an amateur player, but he made a poor decision with his bankroll and ended up paying the price for it.

Many poker players get it in their head that just because they have a few winning sessions at one level that they can move up and stay at a higher level. If your bankroll cannot support this, then you are committing professional suicide. A healthy bankroll for any level in Limit Poker is 200 to 300 big bets. If you are playing $5-$10 Limit Holdem, then you need $2,000 to $3,000 to be able to successfully handle swings in most cases.

I am not saying not to play at a higher limit if you do not have 200 to 300 big bets. Sometimes, a game is so good that it is worth taking a shot. About a year ago, there was a $5-$10 Limit Holdem game where I play. I knew several of the players at the table. The only decent players were rocks. I technically did not have the bankroll at the time to play $5-$10, but I decided that I would take the equivalent of a couple buy-ins at a lower level and take a shot. The game only lasted a couple of hours after I sat down, but I finished up $150. That’s about 7 ½ big bets an hour.

Another mistake I see made quite often are folks that take a shot at the next level and refuse to move back down. Some players will take the proper approach to build up their bankroll to play at the next level and when they don’t do well at that level, refuse to move back down. Sometimes it is a lack of overall skill, while at other times they have ran into a bad run of luck.

Managing a bankroll is a key ingredient in being able to play poker long term. Those that fail to do so risk being stuck on the rail or having to find other sources to fund their poker career.

A question that I have run across lately from a lot of Texas Holdem poker players involves slow playing.  Some players are not sure when they should slow play a big hand and when they should not slow play.  If you flop a top set, a straight, or even a full house, you want to get maximum value, but is slow playing always a good option?  Let’s take a look at this issue in depth.

First, what type of hand do you want to slow play?  Nut hands clearly are hands you would want to slow play, but there are others that are a little trickier.  What about top two pair?  Do you want to slow play this hand?  How about a set when there is a straight or flush draw potential?

If there is a chance that your hand can be outdrawn, this is a time where you do not want to slow play.  You want to go ahead and start getting value and push out any potential draws.  For example, you limp in with pocket deuces and the flop comes 2-J-10.  You have a set of deuces.  How do you want to play this hand now?  If someone bets into me, I am going to raise, and usually a strong raise.  If I am first to act, I am going to make around a pot sized bet.  This may seem counter-intuitive for those of you that want to disguise your hand strength, but if you don’t bet your hand to push out the draws, then your may end up wasting your set.

Next, you are in a hand against a Poker player that is a rock.  This person will only raise with a big pair and A-K suited.  He will bet on the flop when he hits the flop hard.  You hold K-Q in your hand in late position.  The rock has raised preflop and you decide to speculate with this hand.  The flop falls K-K-Q.  You have hit the current nuts against the rock.  Now you must decide if you will slow play this hand.  If the rock bets into you, what will you do?  First, the rock bet into you which means that he probably hit this flop hard, probably with Q-Q.  Some people would try and raise him here.

Personally, if the rock feels comfortable enough to bet into me, then I am going to let him bet.  Granted, there is a chance he has A-K or Aces and could outdraw me, but if he had A-A, I don’t think he would bet here.  I’m going to put him on A-K or Q-Q’s and let him bet into me.  Also, if the rock decides to check to me, then I am going to probably put him on an under pair.  At this point, a lot of this depends on what you have seen him do with big hands.  If he is someone that will call a bet with an underpair, then bet.  Otherwise, you will want to slow play and hope he improves his underpair.

Now, let’s take the same scenario we just went over and instead of a rock, insert a calling station.  This would be a time where I think slow playing would be wrong.  Calling stations will likely call down your bets to the river, so you should put some money into the pot.  If you don’t bet, you risk losing out on money earned as most calling stations will check the flop unless they hit it.  Of course if they do bet into you, then raise them.

Aggressive Online Poker players are usually the easiest to slow play against.  They will bet into you and as a result, you can usually just call them down until the river.  At the river, it is time to raise your opponent and hopefully extract more money if they have hit a hand.

As you can probably guess, some of these concepts relate to No Limit Holdem.  For you Limit Holdem players, I will modify this a little.  First, when you are in a hand where you can be outdraw to a potential flush or straight, you usually will not be able to force anyone out with a single bet.  At this point, your decision to bet or slow play will rely entirely on your opponent.  If you think that you opponent will bet into you, then slow play.  If not, then go ahead and bet out.  A set is a hand that you are going to try and get the most amount of money in the pot that you can unless you have a serious reason not to, such as four of one suit on the board and you don’t have one of that suit in your hand.  Also, in Limit Holdem, even if you think that your opponent has outdrawn you, it is usually wrong to fold on the river to a bet because the pot is laying such a huge price.

In Limit Holdem, I am going to usually check call a bet on the flop against most players when I have a nut hand.  Calling stations I will bet into regardless as in Limit Holdem, calling stations will call down most every bet.  There is no need to wait for them to make a hand here.  If they raise you, three bet them etc.  Rocks I am going to probably bet into as many times rocks become calling stations when they have a decent but non nut hand on the flop.  Aggressive players I am going to bet into and hope they raise me.  The exception is if I have a tight image.  Otherwise, I will revert to check-calling the flop.

As you can see, a lot of the decision on whether you slow play depends on the board texture.  The rest depends on your opponent.  As always, poker is situational and the “recommended” moves sometimes don’t hold true.  Hopefully this article will help you in your future decisions to slow play a big hand or not.  Good luck to you at the tables.