Texas Holdem Poker

Regardless of the type of poker that you are playing, be it tournament or cash, betting for information is extremely important in NL Hold’em. There are plenty of players that simply will not do this and it is more than likely the reason that they are not very successful at the game of hold’em. At times, you have to be willing to lose money to win money. Only the great players grasp this concept and use it to their advantage.

The problem with a lot of amateur card players is that they are scared to put money into the pot without the best hand. Once the flop has hit, you don’t necessarily have to have the best hand to hit. By merely checking it down, you find out nothing and invite everyone to beat you. In order to be a great tournament player , you are going to need to fire, even if you don’t have the best.

As an example, assume that you have been deal Q9s on the BB and someone in late position has doubled the blinds. Both you and the small blind make the call for the hand to be three handed. The flop comes out Ad9h2c. You have a rainbow flop and you have hit middle pair with a decent kicker. The small blind checks and you fire a $400 bet into a $600 pot. The initial raiser calls and the SB folds. What does his call tell you?

Since there is no flush draw or straight draw, you have no worries there. Since he raised in late position, he more than likely has an A, but it Is probably pretty weak or he would have come over top of you. He could also be sitting on a pocket pair like JJ or 1010. The only other real alternative is that he is setting you up for a re-raise on the turn. So now the turn card is dealt and it is a 6s. There is still no draw on the board unless he was going after a runner-runner pre-flop. With $1,400 in the pot, you fire a $1,000 bet.

This bet is going to give you a very good idea of where he stands. If he is setting you up, he will come over the top of your, but in most cases, if he only has a weak A he will just call or fold here. If he calls, you are going to have to make a decision on the river as to how you want to approach the hand. For this example, let’s assume he calls.

By just calling, he has more or less told you what his hand is. There is no draw so that is not even a question. His weak raise prior to the flop would indicate a mid pair or a weak A. You can still possibly be the winner here, but it is unlikely. Depending upon the type of player you are up against, you may have to back off at this point and take the loss if he makes a big bet on the river. Again, this is why it is so important to pay attention during the course of the tournament.

If he has shown a tendency to fold on the river with a weak hand, you can fire at the pot and hope he doesn’t come over top of you. If he is a calling station, you have no shot of chasing him out so check it down and hope he does the same. Your betting told you what he had, now it is up to you to make the right move.

There isn’t a poker player alive that participates in tournament poker that has not found themselves card dead in the early stages of a tournament. You go in with a plan that you are going to double up early on that one big hand, but it never seems to come. The next thing you know you are looking down at less than 1,000 in chips and you start to wonder how much longer you can wait.

When you make your move is going to depend on how fast the levels are and how many sets of blinds that you have left. While a lot of players will get concerned when they get below a certain level, it is not about how big your stack in as much as it is how effective that stack is going to be when you push it in the middle of the table.

For example, if you are down to 1,000 in chips and the blinds are only at 50/100, you still have 2 rounds before you need to get into panic mode. The reason is that you can still make a significant raise by pushing all in with 700 chips that will make someone think twice before calling you. However, once the blinds get to a point that your stack will only represent a standard 3x or 4x the bb raise, you need to be concerned. In fact, you need to make sure that you never allow it to get to that point.

While the saying ‘a chip and a chair’ sounds great, you are going to need some unbelievable luck in order to make that work. By staying aggressive with a stack that still represents a significant raise, you are fighting off those that will call you just for the sake of eliminating a player.

Another factor in this is going to be your position. You need to get those chips in the middle against players that have to worry about losing the amount of chips that you have remaining. Pushing them in there against someone that has a monster stack is only inviting a call. While this is great when you are sitting on AA or KK, you want to avoid giving the big stack at the table the opportunity to tangle with you.

Finally, it all comes down to your cards, or should I say card. Remember, you are looking to make a move against players that cannot afford to take the hit and when you are in position. Whether you like it or not, you are often going to have to get those chips in there on the strength of only one card in your hand. If you are not sitting on a pocket pair, you MUST be looking down at an Ace or King.

Being short stacked is never an enviable position, but you have to get those chips in there when they can do the most good. With any luck, you will be able to scoop up some blinds and manage to hang around until you see a good hand, but don’t wait too long. Once you get in the danger zone of 6-10x the big blind, you are going to have to take your chances when a decent hand comes around. Otherwise, you are doomed to seeing your last couple of chips go into the middle on the blinds where you have no choice in making a stand.

Poker games, not basketball or football, are the oldest, largest and most widely followed gaming competition in the world. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) began in 1970 as an exclusive match between the six legendary players of that time. Since then, its following has grown to massive numbers of people, amounting to thousands while its cash prize has grown to millions. Last 2006 its main event alone reached a record high of 8773 participants with a first place cash prize of $12,000,000.

The WSOP gaming season is made up of 55 televised poker competitions. It culminates with its main event, a $10,000 no-limit Texas Holdem poker competition between the best players in the world. Recently, Europe followed suit in 2004, coming out with its own European Poker Tour (EPT), also a series of televised poker competitions.

While only four years old, the value of EPT buy-ins have quickly caught up to the current standard. One difference however is that its final table is composed of eight players instead of the usual six.

This intense game of wits, luck and deceit has easily become a favorite among viewers. While many people are not able to participate in the WSOP or the EPT, amateur but passionate players can hone their skills through online poker tournaments. Avid fans are also able to satiate their hunger for the latest poker updates and commentaries through Littlewoods poker blog. If you’re interested in hearing more about the high rolling world of poker, you can go to Littlewoods poker for the latest poker action.