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Before you Start
The first thing that you are going to want to do before you even sit at a texas holdem table is to get some type of pad or note book that you will use to track your play and things that you learn and don't want to forget. This is one of the single most important things a player can do to improve his/her game and make more money. It will not only help you find out what you need to learn and when you have problems it will help you correct them quickly. EVERY pro keeps track of their play. But don't cheat, keep track of everything and be honest.
You are going to want to write down the current date, when you start,
when you finish and the outcome of your cash. Once you have enough
information you can track your stats and analyze the information.
Also if you win a lot of money and ever get audited by the government
you need these records to get out of trouble. But mostly it's for
self-improvement.
Serious players should also invest in a number of Books. The amount
of information out there and the number of concepts needed to be
a good player wont fit on this web page but I will try to touch on
as many as I can. The price of each book will quickly be made up
in the improvement in your game. If you are a complete beginner to
the game and need to learn the Rules of Poker you should do that
first. You can also find a list of poker terms in our Poker Dictionary
if you need to look something up later.
Rules of Texas Holdem
The Holdem table is set up with up to ten players. On a table you will see a puck like button, which is called the dealer button. This is to determine whose turn it is to ante. In holdem the ante is split each hand by two players called the big blind ante and the small blind ante. The small blind is directly to the left of the player with the dealer button, and the large blind ante is left of that. If a player wishes to join the game they must post their ante at least once, either by waiting for the big blind to come around to them (The Natural Blind) or if they wish they may post a big blind at any time to join the game. There are a few types of holdem. The rules of the game are the same but the betting structures are different. These are Limit Holdem, Pot-Limit Holdem or No-Limit Holdem. In a pot-limit or no-limit game the blinds are both the same. But in a Limit game the small blind is 1/2 the big blind. Each player is dealt two cards face down starting with the small blind and ending with the dealer. The first round of betting then starts with the person left of the big blind ante. They must either call the large blind or raise it. This will continue around until everyone has called every bet. The top card of the deck is then put face down (called the burn card) and the next three are face up in the middle of the table to be used by all as community cards. The betting round from then on begins with the small blind. This time a player may either check (Not bet, but not fold ) if there isn't a previous bet, or bet. Before each card on the board (community cards in the middle) a burn card will be dealt and following the flop is the Turn (Fourth card on the board) and River (Fifth card on the board). After each card is dealt there is another round of betting, a total of 4 rounds.
Betting amounts in holdem is pre-determined in a limit game with
the first two rounds of betting the same, and the second two rounds
of betting are twice that of the first. An example is 5-10 holdem
would be $5 - $5 - $10 - $10. In a pot-limit game a player can bet from the size of the big blind up to the value of all the chips in the pot, as long as you have that value in front of you. During a no-limit game the betting is only limited by the number of chips in front of you.
Beginner Texas Holdem Strategy
If you want to sum up what cards to play in beginner texas holdem
its very simple. To stay out of trouble before the flop don't play
any cards below 10. You may play any small pair but only if one person
in the pot in front of you. The third thing is don't worry about
the suit of your cards until the flop. A2 suited is NOT a good hand.
If your able to follow these rules your going to fold a few winners
but your also going to fold a lot of losers. YOU WILL BE A WINNER
IN THE LONG RUN!
Don't Play Texas Holdem Distracted
Poker has been around for a long time and there is lots of information out there to read about the game. Online is relatively new and so there are some concepts that people didn't have to deal with when playing in a brick and mortar game. One of my strongest urges when playing online is to be doing other things when I'am not in a hand. Now I believe that this is ok in moderation scaled to your skill level. If you are a good player and have been playing for a long time, many poker plays become second nature and the correct play is clearer. If your new to the game, may be good, but haven't played the number of hands to make the game second nature, your going to want all the information you can get to make the most informed decision. Online every little pause a player makes gives information about their hand. If your watching a TV show or checking your email your going to miss some of these tips and your decisions will be lacking all available information. Remember poker is a game where the players who can acquire the most information usually make the most money.
Getting in a Texas Holdem Game
Players should make sure that they feel comfortable with the site or building they play at. This means you should like the look and feel of the place. If your not comfortable, your play will suffer. You should also pick a limit that you are comfortable playing. Only you can choose this, but keep in mind, you could lose up to 100 times the big blind, although that would be a really bad day.
Your first hand that you should play is one of your most important.
If you lose this hand you are going to need to win hands in order
to be even. If you win this hand you will be up already and therefore
more confident in your play. So because this hand is so important
you are going to want your first hand to be a good hand, NO marginal
hands. You may end up passing up some winners but in the long run
its going to focus the rest of your day toward good solid play. If
you start off playing weak hands its very difficult to tighten up
later, also others first impression of you would be weak and you
will then need to play stronger (sometimes costing money) later to
gain their respect.
Another important step you are going to want to adjust to is; winning
poker can be very boring. In a live game a person can go for two
hours or more without even playing a hand. A good player is expected
to win around 1-2 big bets per hour in a reasonable good game. (Few
losing players few winning players) Therefore mistakes where you
call a bet on the turn and river can cost you an hour of play/work
or more. Beginning players must realize that over an infinite number
of hands faced up everyone will win the same number of hands. Therefore
it is the skill of a player that gets him to fold one bet earlier
when losing and bet one bet more when winning. (These extra bets
are often called value bets) Folding is often the biggest money maker
in a good players bag of tricks. They are not always going to be
correct but when you count the value of all the money saved and compare
it to the size of the winner folded, the money saved should be larger.
The best way to accomplish this is not to get trapped into a hand where you are either drawing dead or have only a few outs. These trap hands are often the result of a poorly selected pre-flop hand. This could be the result of bad cards, cards played out of position or cards that don't have the proper pot odds to justify playing. One example of this which many beginning players make is 'K T' off suit under the gun. In a passive game this may be justified but in a game where the pot is usually raised it is the kiss of death. Very often your hand is going to miss the flop and because of your position your going to check to the people behind you and they can easily bed you out of the pot, with or without a winning hand. What would be even worse is if a player raises behind you with a hand like 'A K' or 'K Q' and you flop a King. This would result in you paying the player off to the river with only the hopes of hitting a ten or some other slim draw. Good hand selections before the flop is one of the most important concepts of poker. In the beginning you should learn the tighter path of play to avoid the traps.
Watching others playing at the table is important to learn their
patterns not necessarily for you to mimic. Most of the people you
are playing against have never read a book or studied poker in any
way. Following a bad example just because they seem to be getting
lucky or hitting cards can develop bad habits. Sticking to solid
play will rarely result it a 'crazy rush' but it will result in a slow constant winning cash flow. If a player has not worked hard to play solid when a bad streak of cards or a series of bad beats will put a person on tilt. Tilt is simply the result of loosening their pre-flop standards or drawing where pot odds are not positive.
Texas Holdem Position
Position is by definition the order in which people act during the hand. First position would be the small blind and last position would be the button. The later you act in a hand the better position a player is in. This will be explained more a little later. In smaller games position makes less of a difference than in larger games but when trying to learn the game knowing how to use position to your advantage will both save you money and make you extra money. For its most simple reasons acting last you will be able to have more information about what others have from the actions players take in front of you. During this hand you will have this advantage each of the 4 rounds of betting. Thus compounding your edge.
To give an example of how position plays apart of a hand ill use
two players who both have AK suited. This is one of the best hands
you can have in holdem. If the first person (player 1) raises and
the second person (player 2) re-raises (3-bets) and everyone else
folds and player 1 just calls the 3 bets. The flop is all small cards
2 2 7 and player 1 checks and player 2 bets this puts the player
1 in a very bad position because he has no idea what the other person
has and if he decides to call he may be drawing very slim against
KK or AA. Because of a strong possibility that a player may have
a medium pair (88-JJ) the correct play is to call the flop. Now the
player 2 seeing that player 1 has only called he can assume that
player 1 doesn't have a pair, thus his AK is the best hand. The turn
then comes out a 9 and player again checks as player 2 then bets
what he thinks is still the winner. Player 1 is then forced to fold
because the pot odds wont allow him to call the larger bet. That's
one example of how position plays a part when two people have the
same hand. One of the most common moves in holdem is raising with
position to 'get a free card'. Example: 5 people are in the hand and you are on the button with KQ of hearts and nobody has raised the pot pre-flop. The flop comes down 9-10-2 two hearts. The first person has bet into the field and one person has called. Because you act last during the hand you can raise, hoping its enough to scare others into just calling. If they do just call and not raise then your move has worked. If they re-raise then its failed but you will still have outs to win the hand. Assuming that both players have only called your raise you see the turn card. If it is not one of your outs; a heart, Jack which both give you the nuts or second NUTS ( the best possible hand with the board cards) even a King or a Queen would give you a strong hand, and both players check to you then you can check. This is your free card because if you had only called the flop the same player would usually bet the turn as well. Costing you 1 bet on the flop and 2 bets on the turn = 3bets. By raising the hand it has only cost you 2 bets. It becomes even more profitable when you hit your outs. Because you will then be holding the best hand and would earn one more bet during the hand.
Three Things to think about at the Beginning of every poker hand
As soon as your dealt your first two cards in holdem you should either decide to fold or if your thinking of playing you should plan from the beginning what am I going to do when the action gets to me, then what if i am raised. The second area your going to want to plot before getting there is the flop. What am I going to do if I hit the flop and what if i Miss. You should really be thinking about the consequences of; if you get a caller behind you and you miss the flop with all small cards but still bet it and he calls, what do you do now? This is where the third part comes in; Position. Will position allow me to check the flop for a free card? or will i be forced to bet. A good poker player is just like a good Chess player he's not thinking about only the move he is making he's thinking about the affects of that move and making adjustments for all possibilities. Once you are able to plan the entire hand in your head before you even see the flop all your actions will appear confident later.
When Playing Poker Think Poker, Poker, Poker...
When your playing Poker you should be thinking about poker. Now don't just think about the current hand that your playing you should be thinking about everything all the time. You should be thinking about what you do with your mouth when you are looking at your cards. Keep track of it. You should know all your gestures when you see the flop, turn river. Every one has some form of tell. The name of the game is to figure out your tells before others do.
Now this is much more important than you think. Its not just to
make sure that others cant figure out what you have but its a way
to figure out what others have. People really are not all that different.
If you have a tell then its a good chance that someone else might
have the same tell. I like to write things down. That's why I write these blogs not only for others to learn the game but so I can look back on my thoughts and remember them.
At the end of every session you play you should review either on
the drive home or in your room. Think about the hands where you lost
the most money. If you are with another player tell them the action
of the hand and ask what they would do before you tell them what
you did. If there are any differences have a discussion. it's a great way to improve your game. If you are alone just write down the action and result of the hand and come back later and see if you could have saved a bet somewhere or made an extra bet. Write down a few things you learned, either mistakes or positive things. If you figured out a tell of yours that's another good thing to write down.
One of the most common forms of information a player can revile
is through their hands. Hands have a way of doing things that your
not thinking about. Weather its tapping when your nervous or shuffling
chips to pass time. The differences between when a player is in a
hand and when he is not is often a tell. An example is if a player
is shuffling chips a lot but at an average pace for the last ten
hands he has not played. Suddenly he raises and is shuffling quickly.
That usually means that adrenaline is running through his/her body
making him go faster. This usually means he has got absolutely nothing
or a really good hand. If its pre-flop I would be watching out for
aces or other big pairs. Anything that you find useful for your poker
game should be written down in some form of log for you to review
them later. Writing things down and putting them on a computer would
help you organize them later. Put them into categories so that you
can review them.
Constantly thinking about the little things in poker, things other
then what you have for cards, is an area of expertise that will set
you above the others at your table. I find that it becomes a fun
game anytime a player is doing something regularly I try to figure
out a way that it relates to his poker game. Lots of times I don't find any connection but the more you practice the better you will get.
My favorite word for poker is 'Why'. I always want to know why did someone do or say that. Say a person at the table after sitting at the table for a few hours takes out a piece of paper and starts reading jokes to others. I like to know why he did that. My first impression is that he's a nice guy that likes to entertain. He probably a weekend player or someone who plays often enough to remember to prepare and bring a list of jokes. But he's not a very serious player because he is thinking about jokes when he's coming to the table and not about poker. Now I am also going to assume that he has taken the time to learn the game of poker well but just doesn't have the 'guts' to back up all his actions. Often he would play many hands weak because he was protecting his bankroll and not trying to win hands. Sometimes this got me into trouble because I would play him very aggressively to get him to fold winners but I scared him so much that he would just check and call everything I did. I then had to change my game to capitalize on this and bet every time I thought I had the winner - fold every time he re-raised me and I didn't have a strong hand - and make many position bets and raises for free cards.
Every little thing a person does at the game should be observed
and then figure out why it was done. Almost everything has a meaning,
even if they don't know what it is. so figure out why and try to use it for your advantage.
Don't Miss Bets in Texas Holdem
In texas holdem everyone knows how to win with aces, also with a lot of patients and solid play a player can be a winning player. The next step on the way to being a great player is to get the absolute maximum amount of money out of every hand. That means betting when you think your winning by only a little. If you think the person has AQ and you have AK you want to bet your hand for the value of the hand, his call is what you would call an extra bet. The bet is Extra because most people would check the river. There are many different types of Extra Bets. Its important that you remember that your betting for value on hands that your winning by only a small amount. That means if you bet you need to be able to think of a few hands that they can call that you beat. If there is no hand they can call the river that you beat, and all hands that beat you they would call the river then its very important that you check, because there is no value in the bet. You are either winning the hand, or they are going to call and your going to lose an extra bet.
Another way to get an extra bet is by checking when you are in front
of your other player. Here's the situation: you have a hand like AQ and raised the pot pre-flop with one cold caller behind you and the blinds have folded. If the flop is small like 2-3-7 with two hearts there is a good chance you are winning the hand but don't want them to out draw you. So you bet the flop and they call the bet. The turn is a 7 so 2-3-7-7 your hand is probably still good so you can bet again the turn we will say the river is a 4 not the flush card, so You have A Q with the flop 2-3-7-7-4 If you are going to bet the worst hand he would call you with is ace high. Because you raised before the flop the hands he is going to call you with are usually at worst A-9 or A-10 but if you bet that river usually they wont call with those hands. So you are betting hopping that they have A-J and that they call you. If they have AK they will usually call the river with that flop, AK if they were going to fold it would usually be on the turn. If they have flopped a pair or have a small pocket pair there is no way their going to fold. So as a result the river bet is a waste of your money. If you check the hand on the river they are going to bet if they have a pair, AK but they might also bet if they had missed their flush. They might also bet because they think you have nothing and plan to fold. So by checking you are off setting the losing hands with the chance they are going to bluff at the pot. Any time you find that if you bet they will only call with a hand better than yours. And they wont fold any hand that is better than yours. You should always check and possibly call to catch them in their bluff. Be very careful you don't get in the habit of calling the river with weak hands.
Value of the River Bet vs. Value of a River Check
Before you bet the river you want to consider how many poker hands your opponents can call with that beat your poker hand. The second thing you should consider is how many poker hands will you make fold that you are losing to. If the answer to both of these questions it 0 then you should always check the river. One of the most common mistakes a player can make in Texas holdem is to bet a hand that the only people that will call beat you , and every hand that beats you WILL call you. There for there is no value in betting. However there may be some value in checking. If you are in early position and you check the hand that you believe to be a winner but by only a little, a check may convince others that nobody has anything and then they may toss out a bet to try to steal the hand. Especially if they have missed a draw and have no other way of winning the hand.
So on the river of every poker hand you want to make sure that you
analyze the situation and try to think of possible hands your opponents
may have and make the most valuable choice. This will prevent you
form losing extra bets and be a more profitable player.
Texas Holdem Poker Tells
A tell is only useful if it either allows you to bluff the player out of the pot. Or makes you call with a weak hand than you otherwise wouldn't. I will try to rate each tell on their risk level (amount of money you must invest to make the bluff), Level of game they occur in (one tell in a 15-30 game may mean something completely different in a 3-6 game.) Percentage of time the tell is correct. This section is going to help you find what to look for its going to be your job to analyze them in your own games and see which ones are most relevant for you.
Its very important that you play solid play the majority of the
game. If you don't have respect at the table or your opponents are
not going to fold their hands these or any bluffs success rates are
very low and not worth attempting in the long run. However used very
sparingly even if you get caught they will make you extra bets when
you have the stone cold nuts. The small number of pots that your
going to win because of your bluffs minus the number of times you
get caught should be profitable. But if you bluff to often you can
lose all the money in front of you.
The psychology behind many tells is that they are unconscious movements
or gestures. Those are the easy tells. The more frequent tells are
when they DONT do something. This could be that a player talks all
the time during a hand and now they have made a bet and they are
very quiet. This is usually the result of large amounts of adrenaline
going through their body. It also causes their hands to shake, face
or ears to turn red, blood vessels in throat to visibly pulse, large
amounts of saliva to be produced (player then must swallow), or as
a result when a person is talking they suddenly chock up because
of all the saliva. The problem with these tells is that the adrenaline
is caused sometimes when a player has a big bluff or sometimes when
they have a monster and don't want people to fold. These are things
that don't have a formula they will only become obvious when you've
played many hands of poker. But taking note of them every time they happen and remembering what the player had will help you to pick up on these things faster.
1) Dropping poker chips during a bet
My first and most favorite tell for a live game is; Dropping of
poker chips during a bet. If they are dropping chips during a call
its not useful information. I would rate this success rate at about
80%. This means they are very unconfident in their hand however they
wont always fold. Things that affect the accuracy of this bluff are
the limit of the game they are playing in. The higher the limit of
game the more accurate the tell. If a person is a beginner at using
chips they are going to drop chips often. What you are going to want
to do is quickly re-raise them and make sure you pay attention to
their reaction. they should look very angry but make sure they don't
look like they are making a crying call ( Call which they feel they
are losing but they are always going to call to the river-AKA if
you have aces and the flop is 9-K-K). Your going to want to make
sure that the flop has limited number of draws because if they improve
their hand they may still call you. Now this bluff is going to have
a high amount of risk. Even though it is correct a large percentage
of the time it's going to cost you several bets to win the hand.
2) Long pause before a river check
One of the most profitable tells is the long check before a river
check. This will mean two things they are scared of something that
came on the river or they want you to think they are scared of something.
Usually if they are really scared they quickly pause and then check
because they did have a good hand and are a good player then they
would have already have thought of what they are going to do if
a 'bad' card such as a 3rd flush card, comes out on the river. So what they are usually trying to do is to get you to check behind them to either save a bet or if on the turn get a free card. I would put the accuracy of this bluff at 70%. The information is usually correct but it doesn't mean that their going to fold. All it says is that they don't want you to bet. Then nice part about this bet is that its a small investment that will have a high success rate of winning the pot. It will also tell you that if you have a reasonably good hand and a scare card comes on the river and they pause long then check they are trying to say they made their hand. If they really did they would have either bet or checked quickly so they can check raise you. This is a perfect place to make a value bet. You are probably going to get called so if you bet you are marginally hand you will usually have them beat by just a little bit. That extra bet is pure profit through skill.
3) When someone does not use the auto raise buttons in late position
There is lots of tells with these buttons, but here is one thing
to help you in your blinds. The situation is for the people that
are on either the button or one away from it during your big blind.
Pay attention to those people and weather or not they use the auto
raise button. If they don't then this lesson won't apply. If they
do use them often your going to want to pay attention to the times
they don't. The less times they don't use the buttons the stronger
the confidence for the tell. If everyone has folded to them and it
pauses on them for just a second then they raise it usually means
that they have at best a marginal hand. If it goes to them and they
pause for a few seconds its to make you think they have nothing and
they may be very strong. This is a high-risk bluff because it calls
for you to 3 bet them either right away or to raise them on the flop
no matter what comes out. Also you are out of position during the
entire hand, which is never good. This may result in forcing bets
again on the turn and river as a result a high investment to win two small bets and stop the stealing of the blinds. I would never recommend this in a medium or low limit game, only games where the river is shown less than 75% of the time.
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