Today we’re going to go over some Texas Holdem poker tips that will help you keep your chips where they belong, in your stack. While these are written mostly for the cash game grinder they may also be applied to tournaments or sit n go’s as well. For those of you just getting started in poker, in a cash game you can get up and leave whenever you want whereas a tournament is played until one player has all the chips. Let’s get to it.
1. Avoid trying to throw out a late round bluff against an opponent on the short stack. If your short stacked opponent has made it to the turn, he’s holding something. You can throw out raises pre-flop or on the flop but if they’ve made it that far chances are they aren’t going away and you’re just giving them more ammunition for future hands. If you’re getting into the habit of bullying the short stack pre-flop, be prepared for them to make an all in raise on you at some point. They will get frustrated and push on you. Unless they’re holding a high pocket pair, they’re at best 60 40 to beat you. Calling an all in raise pre-flop is a much wiser decision than trying to bluff a short stack out when they have a made hand.
1.1 You can apply a similar strategy to the very tight player at the table. A tight player typically only plays premium hands so you want to avoid playing against them if they’re in the hand. You wouldn’t want to bet at someone holding aces with rags right? You can almost guarantee the tight player has something better than you if they’re betting. If they’re in the hand, fold. It’s much easier to let the blinds slice them away then try to recover chips you lost to them. A tight player cannot win pots if opponents won’t play against them. Very simple strategy.
2. Always be on the lookout for the player who loves to trap or slowplay. They take advantage of aggressive players and check call away the aggressors chips. If you notice your opponent is check calling, then more than likely they’re slowplaying you. If the flop came ace ace king and you’re holding the king with an opponent calling your bet you can rest assured they have the ace and want you to keep giving them more chips. Slow down. Stop betting against them. That’s the simplest way to play against them. If you don’t bet they have to bet, or check letting you get away cheap.
3. Players who are on a straight or flush draw that enjoy the art of semi-bluffing will have a betting pattern that looks something like this – check (someone bets) raise or bet (someone raises) re-raise, then they check the turn when the straight or flush card doesn’t show up. If you check the turn as well your giving this hand away. You don’t want to give them a free look at the river. You want to bet and make them pay for their draw. Hitting the flush will only happen about 18% of the time and an open ended straight will only happen about 16% of the time. If you bet the turn with a decent sized bet (at least half the size of the pot, but ¾ to the entire pot is better) you’re messing up their odds. If they call they’re making a bad lifetime poker decision and you’re playing winning poker. Your chip stack will thank you for this in the years to come.
3.1 An opponent using the same betting pattern in the above example may also be holding something like middle pair hoping to catch two pair or trips or they holding a face card and are looking to make top pair. Again you don’t want to give them that free look at the river. Bet the turn, make them pay to see another card.
Stay tuned for future Texas Holdem poker tips.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Poker for beginners
The game of poker takes only a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. For all you poker beginners out there, this article should take you through the basics of what you need to know to get you playing.
Hand ranking is the most important aspect of the game of poker. In a regular poker deck you have a total of fifty two cards broken up into four suits – spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs. There are a total of thirteen cards per suit – Ace, King, Queen, Jack, then ten through two. In hand ranking the Ace ranks the highest. One pair will beat an ace high. If you are holding two of the same card you have a pair. If you’re holding the ace of spades and the ace of hearts you have one pair. Another example of a pair would be the six of diamonds and the six of clubs. Two pair is better than one pair. As the name implies you would be holding something like the nine of diamonds, the nine of spades, the four of clubs, and the four of hearts for two pair. Three of a kind comes next. An example of three of a kind would be the king of spades, diamonds, and clubs. Three of a kind loses to a straight. Next up is the straight, which is five cards in a row of varying suits. Ace, king, queen, jack, ten of various suits is the best straight. The ace plays as a low card as well. The lowest straight is nicknamed “the wheel” and consists of the ace, two, three, four, and five. Straights must be in order! Queen, King, Ace, Two, Three does not count as a straight, the ace is either high or low, not both.A flush will beat a straight. If you have five cards of the same suit you have a flush. Five clubs is a flush, five diamonds is a flush, five hearts is a flush, and five spades is a flush. This brings us to the full house. Three of a kind and a pair is a full house with our example here bearing the ace of clubs, diamonds, and spades and the king of clubs and diamonds. Four of a kind will beat a full house. The best four of a kind would be the ace of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. The straight flush is the best hand in the game of poker. If you have five cards in a row in the same suit you have a straight flush. An example of this would be 3,4,5,6,7 of spades. The royal flush is the best straight flush in the game and consists of the 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.
After you understand hand rankings you graduate up to understanding betting. If you are playing texas holdem, there will be two players at the table who have to place what are known as blinds before the cards are dealt. Blinds are forced bets made by the two players sitting directly to the left of the dealer. The player directly to the left of the dealer has to place ½ the size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards. This is known as the small blind. The player directly to the left of the small blind is known as the big blind, and has to place the full size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards.
After each player has two cards face down in front of them the player directly to the left of the big blind is the first player to act. There are three options available. The player can fold, meaning he surrenders his cards and risks nothing, call, meaning he places the minimum bet in the middle of the table, or raise meaning he places a minimum of 2 times the minimum bet in the middle of the table. This continues in a clockwise fashion until the small blind is up to decide. If no one has raised the pot, the small blind only has to put the other ½ of the bet into the middle to make it to the next round of betting. Once that is complete the big blind has the option to check to see the next round of betting if no one has raised the pot.
The second round of betting now begins with three cards being placed face up in the middle of the table, which is known as the flop. Players use the cards in the middle of the table with the cards in front of them to make up their poker hand. The small blind is the first to act on the flop. If the small blind has folded, the big blind would be first to act. Play moves about in a clockwise fashion until all players have either folded or matched the bet. Now we have the turn, which is one card face up in the middle of the table. The small blind is again the first to act. Once all the bets have been placed we have one final card placed face up in the middle of the table known as the river. After bets have been placed the players turn over their hands in a clockwise fashion to see who has the highest hand ranking. The winner receives all the chips in the pot.
The easiest way to learn betting order is to play online where the computer takes care of this order, as well as placing the blinds for you. This is the best option available for poker beginners, and can be enjoyed for free from the comfort of your home.
Hand ranking is the most important aspect of the game of poker. In a regular poker deck you have a total of fifty two cards broken up into four suits – spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs. There are a total of thirteen cards per suit – Ace, King, Queen, Jack, then ten through two. In hand ranking the Ace ranks the highest. One pair will beat an ace high. If you are holding two of the same card you have a pair. If you’re holding the ace of spades and the ace of hearts you have one pair. Another example of a pair would be the six of diamonds and the six of clubs. Two pair is better than one pair. As the name implies you would be holding something like the nine of diamonds, the nine of spades, the four of clubs, and the four of hearts for two pair. Three of a kind comes next. An example of three of a kind would be the king of spades, diamonds, and clubs. Three of a kind loses to a straight. Next up is the straight, which is five cards in a row of varying suits. Ace, king, queen, jack, ten of various suits is the best straight. The ace plays as a low card as well. The lowest straight is nicknamed “the wheel” and consists of the ace, two, three, four, and five. Straights must be in order! Queen, King, Ace, Two, Three does not count as a straight, the ace is either high or low, not both.A flush will beat a straight. If you have five cards of the same suit you have a flush. Five clubs is a flush, five diamonds is a flush, five hearts is a flush, and five spades is a flush. This brings us to the full house. Three of a kind and a pair is a full house with our example here bearing the ace of clubs, diamonds, and spades and the king of clubs and diamonds. Four of a kind will beat a full house. The best four of a kind would be the ace of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. The straight flush is the best hand in the game of poker. If you have five cards in a row in the same suit you have a straight flush. An example of this would be 3,4,5,6,7 of spades. The royal flush is the best straight flush in the game and consists of the 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.
After you understand hand rankings you graduate up to understanding betting. If you are playing texas holdem, there will be two players at the table who have to place what are known as blinds before the cards are dealt. Blinds are forced bets made by the two players sitting directly to the left of the dealer. The player directly to the left of the dealer has to place ½ the size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards. This is known as the small blind. The player directly to the left of the small blind is known as the big blind, and has to place the full size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards.
After each player has two cards face down in front of them the player directly to the left of the big blind is the first player to act. There are three options available. The player can fold, meaning he surrenders his cards and risks nothing, call, meaning he places the minimum bet in the middle of the table, or raise meaning he places a minimum of 2 times the minimum bet in the middle of the table. This continues in a clockwise fashion until the small blind is up to decide. If no one has raised the pot, the small blind only has to put the other ½ of the bet into the middle to make it to the next round of betting. Once that is complete the big blind has the option to check to see the next round of betting if no one has raised the pot.
The second round of betting now begins with three cards being placed face up in the middle of the table, which is known as the flop. Players use the cards in the middle of the table with the cards in front of them to make up their poker hand. The small blind is the first to act on the flop. If the small blind has folded, the big blind would be first to act. Play moves about in a clockwise fashion until all players have either folded or matched the bet. Now we have the turn, which is one card face up in the middle of the table. The small blind is again the first to act. Once all the bets have been placed we have one final card placed face up in the middle of the table known as the river. After bets have been placed the players turn over their hands in a clockwise fashion to see who has the highest hand ranking. The winner receives all the chips in the pot.
The easiest way to learn betting order is to play online where the computer takes care of this order, as well as placing the blinds for you. This is the best option available for poker beginners, and can be enjoyed for free from the comfort of your home.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Texas hold em strategies
There are many texas hold em strategies a new player must learn when becoming a master of the game. I refer to three different levels of player, the fish, the piranha, and the shark. I myself am by no means a shark, I rank somewhere in the piranha level. The piranha level is by far the hardest to graduate from as the level of skill required to become a shark takes years of practice. Thanks to internet poker players are able to learn much more quickly, but without playing in live games as well, skills such as controlling your adrenaline while in a live game will be non-existent.
The most important part in any strategy is to learn what beats what. If you think a flush loses to a straight you’ll be folding winners and will have no chance of ever coming out ahead. After you’ve learned hand rankings you graduate up to hand selection. At first it’s important to learn how to fold the majority of the hands you see. Why? Because hand selection is very important, especially when you’re first learning. If you’re playing a lot of 7 3 offsuits in the beginning you’ll develop bad playing habits that will be harder to break in the future. Just because you are winning a few times with a bad hand from early position doesn’t mean you’ll always be winning with those hands. The odds are against you.
So once you learn how to fold you’ll start to learn about position at the table. Position has to do with where you are sitting in relation to the dealer button. Those who have to decide if they want to play or fold first are in what is known as “early position.” This is a bad place to be as you will have to bet first throughout each betting round. You do not want to play many hands out of early position because you have no idea what everyone else is holding. They can make moves and plays on you leaving you at the disadvantage of having to call away chips in hopes of making hands.
After early position we have what is known as “middle position.” Here you can start to play a few more hands but still want to make sure you are playing quality hands. Finally we have what is known as “late position.” Here you can play more hands, especially if you are “on the button.” On the button means the dealer button is right in front of you and you are last to act on every round of betting. This is a powerful position because you can make raises to force other weaker hands to fold, as well as see cheap flops or turns if no one else has bet. From late position you can play more hands because you can fold if someone bets large and you didn’t make a hand or you can check your straight draw if no one else has bet leaving you with more free cards. There is no wondering what other players will do from late position because they’ve all already made their decision. You can see who is weak and make a play on them or you can take free cards if you so wish if no one else has bet.
After learning position different playing styles can be learned. Do you want to be aggressive, tight, tight aggressive, see lots of flops, chase straights and flushes, or just play like a maniac raising a lot of pots? You’ll learn your table image the more you play and you’ll learn how to adjust based on how other players at the table are playing. If a lot of people are trying to see cheap flops why not make it cost them more to see the flop? If someone is raising every flop start playing tight then when you pick up a good hand re-raise them. Learning how to play in different scenarios and with different players is key to becoming a great hold em player.
Once you’ve mastered these texas hold em strategies you’ll be ready to move on to bigger pots and against better opponents.
The most important part in any strategy is to learn what beats what. If you think a flush loses to a straight you’ll be folding winners and will have no chance of ever coming out ahead. After you’ve learned hand rankings you graduate up to hand selection. At first it’s important to learn how to fold the majority of the hands you see. Why? Because hand selection is very important, especially when you’re first learning. If you’re playing a lot of 7 3 offsuits in the beginning you’ll develop bad playing habits that will be harder to break in the future. Just because you are winning a few times with a bad hand from early position doesn’t mean you’ll always be winning with those hands. The odds are against you.
So once you learn how to fold you’ll start to learn about position at the table. Position has to do with where you are sitting in relation to the dealer button. Those who have to decide if they want to play or fold first are in what is known as “early position.” This is a bad place to be as you will have to bet first throughout each betting round. You do not want to play many hands out of early position because you have no idea what everyone else is holding. They can make moves and plays on you leaving you at the disadvantage of having to call away chips in hopes of making hands.
After early position we have what is known as “middle position.” Here you can start to play a few more hands but still want to make sure you are playing quality hands. Finally we have what is known as “late position.” Here you can play more hands, especially if you are “on the button.” On the button means the dealer button is right in front of you and you are last to act on every round of betting. This is a powerful position because you can make raises to force other weaker hands to fold, as well as see cheap flops or turns if no one else has bet. From late position you can play more hands because you can fold if someone bets large and you didn’t make a hand or you can check your straight draw if no one else has bet leaving you with more free cards. There is no wondering what other players will do from late position because they’ve all already made their decision. You can see who is weak and make a play on them or you can take free cards if you so wish if no one else has bet.
After learning position different playing styles can be learned. Do you want to be aggressive, tight, tight aggressive, see lots of flops, chase straights and flushes, or just play like a maniac raising a lot of pots? You’ll learn your table image the more you play and you’ll learn how to adjust based on how other players at the table are playing. If a lot of people are trying to see cheap flops why not make it cost them more to see the flop? If someone is raising every flop start playing tight then when you pick up a good hand re-raise them. Learning how to play in different scenarios and with different players is key to becoming a great hold em player.
Once you’ve mastered these texas hold em strategies you’ll be ready to move on to bigger pots and against better opponents.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Texas hold em tips and tricks
There are many texas hold em tips and tricks but none more important than this – do not ever attempt to bluff a new player. There are thousands of books written on how to play texas hold em, many of which tell you to play the odds against the new players. My honest opinion is avoid them as much as possible. Play with the new players who play tight, you can figure out what they’re going to do quite easily, but avoid the new players who call every hand and will call on the river with a pair of twos. Well, don’t entirely avoid them, but don’t land yourself in a coin flip situation with them either. Wait until you pick up something they can’t beat then take all their chips.
As for beginning tight players, intermediate players and advanced players just don’t outthink yourself. If you think you have the winning hand, you probably do. If you’re playing with a group of intermediate players and you see a possible straight or flush on the board and there are more than two people in the hand betting, it’s safe to assume someone has the straight or the flush and you should fold immediately. The intermediate and beginners will play for straights or flushes more often than a great player. The great players know odds, outs, and what not so if you’re playing a numbers game you’re much safer against the good players than the bad.
Then again the good players will bluff you out of certain hands you could win, but if you think it’s a lost hand, well you already lost the hand. If you feel you have the hand won, then call or bet. Pick your spots to bluff, and know your opponents. You can study their habits, hand selection, etc while you’re not in the hand. Keep track of what they’re winning with. People have patterns about them. Professionals are professionals because they are good at switching up how they play depending on the situation and the opponent but they still have an underlying style to which they play. If you’re playing tight, they may switch to a more aggressive style to take advantage. Pick a spot to move in. Wait for your chances. This isn’t a game where you have to play every pot or win every battle. It’s a war. Take down the pots you can and throw away the ones you can’t. It’s that basic. You don’t have to bluff everyone every five hands to pick up chips. Pick your spots. Think football or hockey. When you’re on offense you want to win the pot. When you’re on defense you want to prevent your opponent from taking your chips. It’s basically that simple. Fold when you can’t win as you’re preventing your opponents from taking any more of your chips and bet when you have a good hand. You may not win every pot you’re betting, just like in football you don’t score a touchdown every time, but you’re going in with the intention of taking down the hand.
There are millions of texas hold em tips and tricks that can be given out. The most important one is protect your chips. Take from your opponents without letting them take from you. Don’t make bad calls and you’ll be fine.
As for beginning tight players, intermediate players and advanced players just don’t outthink yourself. If you think you have the winning hand, you probably do. If you’re playing with a group of intermediate players and you see a possible straight or flush on the board and there are more than two people in the hand betting, it’s safe to assume someone has the straight or the flush and you should fold immediately. The intermediate and beginners will play for straights or flushes more often than a great player. The great players know odds, outs, and what not so if you’re playing a numbers game you’re much safer against the good players than the bad.
Then again the good players will bluff you out of certain hands you could win, but if you think it’s a lost hand, well you already lost the hand. If you feel you have the hand won, then call or bet. Pick your spots to bluff, and know your opponents. You can study their habits, hand selection, etc while you’re not in the hand. Keep track of what they’re winning with. People have patterns about them. Professionals are professionals because they are good at switching up how they play depending on the situation and the opponent but they still have an underlying style to which they play. If you’re playing tight, they may switch to a more aggressive style to take advantage. Pick a spot to move in. Wait for your chances. This isn’t a game where you have to play every pot or win every battle. It’s a war. Take down the pots you can and throw away the ones you can’t. It’s that basic. You don’t have to bluff everyone every five hands to pick up chips. Pick your spots. Think football or hockey. When you’re on offense you want to win the pot. When you’re on defense you want to prevent your opponent from taking your chips. It’s basically that simple. Fold when you can’t win as you’re preventing your opponents from taking any more of your chips and bet when you have a good hand. You may not win every pot you’re betting, just like in football you don’t score a touchdown every time, but you’re going in with the intention of taking down the hand.
There are millions of texas hold em tips and tricks that can be given out. The most important one is protect your chips. Take from your opponents without letting them take from you. Don’t make bad calls and you’ll be fine.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Winning texas hold em
For those of you hoping that winning texas hold em will be easy, well think again. There is no real winning, as the game never ends. Granted you can win a tournament, but once you win, well you have to play again to prove that your victory was genuine. Look at Phil Hellmuth, he’s won quite a few bracelets, and yet he continues to play. He wins some tournaments, loses others. He may win a tournament here and there, he may win some money here and there, but he never has truly won the war.
The game can’t end. It’s just a series of battles. You can win the hand, you can win the tournament, you can win the sit n go, but you have to keep playing.
The secrets to winning tournaments
If you want to win a tournament, you have to play smart. Unlike cash games, you cannot buy back in during a tournament. Well, in rebuy tournaments you can but that’ll cost you more money, and well, you’ll be at a disadvantage in chip stack size because your opponents now have more chips than you.
In a rebuy tournament you can play more aggressively in the beginning because the stacks won’t be much larger than yours if you buy back in during the first or second round. In a no rebuy tournament you have to play smart, and pick your spots.
Being that the size of the blinds is small relative to your stack in the beginning it may be tempting to play a lot of hands. In a no rebuy tournament this is a terrible idea. You want to save your chips for when the pots get bigger. If you’re playing every flop at 10 / 20 well, after about 10 hands you just lost 200 chips, and that’s if you fold every time someone at the table bets. If your starting stack was 2,500 chips, you just lost about 1/12 of your stack just trying to see flops.
In tournaments where the blinds increase every 10 – 15 minutes, those 200 chips come in handy. You just want to pick up a good hand here and there and take down a nice sized pot. Typically the “bad” players are trying to amount a good amount of chips in the beginning, or bust themselves out. Let them. Don’t get involved. They’ll be playing hands they shouldn’t and the odds just go right out the window. Who knows, they may pick up a lucky flop against your good hand, and being that you can’t believe anyone would possibly call with such a bad hand, you ignore and bet, losing your chips.
This is why I refuse to play a lot of hands in the beginning. I let the bad players go out then take the chips of the decent players. Decent and great players are more predictable than bad players. Bad players don’t know how to play, so remember that. If you spot a bad player wait until you have the nuts then take them out. If you don’t have the nuts they may outdraw you. Outs go out the window when you’re only playing a few hands. I know some may not agree with me on that, but I’ve seen bad players hit straight flushes and win hands when they didn’t even know what they were going for.
Around round 3 or 4 most of the ‘bad” players should be out so you can start playing a typical game of poker at this point. Pick your spots, bluff, and play the way you would against someone who knows what they’re doing.
If there’s still bad players in the game, well, my suggestion is to avoid them. In tournaments you can’t afford a bad beat, just plain and simple. This is why Hellmuth rants and raves so much on TV. He knows you can’t take a bad beat in a tournament, especially early, if you want to survive and win. Remember, avoid the bad players early and you’ll be winning texas hold em tournaments in no time.
The game can’t end. It’s just a series of battles. You can win the hand, you can win the tournament, you can win the sit n go, but you have to keep playing.
The secrets to winning tournaments
If you want to win a tournament, you have to play smart. Unlike cash games, you cannot buy back in during a tournament. Well, in rebuy tournaments you can but that’ll cost you more money, and well, you’ll be at a disadvantage in chip stack size because your opponents now have more chips than you.
In a rebuy tournament you can play more aggressively in the beginning because the stacks won’t be much larger than yours if you buy back in during the first or second round. In a no rebuy tournament you have to play smart, and pick your spots.
Being that the size of the blinds is small relative to your stack in the beginning it may be tempting to play a lot of hands. In a no rebuy tournament this is a terrible idea. You want to save your chips for when the pots get bigger. If you’re playing every flop at 10 / 20 well, after about 10 hands you just lost 200 chips, and that’s if you fold every time someone at the table bets. If your starting stack was 2,500 chips, you just lost about 1/12 of your stack just trying to see flops.
In tournaments where the blinds increase every 10 – 15 minutes, those 200 chips come in handy. You just want to pick up a good hand here and there and take down a nice sized pot. Typically the “bad” players are trying to amount a good amount of chips in the beginning, or bust themselves out. Let them. Don’t get involved. They’ll be playing hands they shouldn’t and the odds just go right out the window. Who knows, they may pick up a lucky flop against your good hand, and being that you can’t believe anyone would possibly call with such a bad hand, you ignore and bet, losing your chips.
This is why I refuse to play a lot of hands in the beginning. I let the bad players go out then take the chips of the decent players. Decent and great players are more predictable than bad players. Bad players don’t know how to play, so remember that. If you spot a bad player wait until you have the nuts then take them out. If you don’t have the nuts they may outdraw you. Outs go out the window when you’re only playing a few hands. I know some may not agree with me on that, but I’ve seen bad players hit straight flushes and win hands when they didn’t even know what they were going for.
Around round 3 or 4 most of the ‘bad” players should be out so you can start playing a typical game of poker at this point. Pick your spots, bluff, and play the way you would against someone who knows what they’re doing.
If there’s still bad players in the game, well, my suggestion is to avoid them. In tournaments you can’t afford a bad beat, just plain and simple. This is why Hellmuth rants and raves so much on TV. He knows you can’t take a bad beat in a tournament, especially early, if you want to survive and win. Remember, avoid the bad players early and you’ll be winning texas hold em tournaments in no time.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Texas hold em hands
With 169 different texas hold em hands to start with its hard to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em in the game. A person has to ask themselves, should I play this 76 suited or should I fold? Should I raise with my pocket queens when there’s an ace king on the flop? Knowing which hands to play pre flop and how to play them once you get to the flop are two totally different skills.
Before the flop you have two cards in front of you. You have to decide whether or not you want to play your hand based on probability, the number of players at the table, your position to the dealer button at the table, and the previous hand selection of your opponents. In a loose game it may be safer to play 76 suited in middle position, whereas in a tight game you don’t even really want to play the hand in late position. A loose game consists of many people taking cheap flops to see who can wind up with the best hand on the flop. By cheap flop I mean no one is really raising the pot before the flop, or they’re simply doubling the blind. In loose games the pot odds are better for you to play different hands because there is so much money in the pot compared to what you are investing into it.
For example, if there are 10 players at the table and eight or nine people are consistently calling pre flop with a $2 blind, that gives you between $16-$18 in the pot before seeing the flop. Being that you know the table isn’t going to raise preflop, or if they do the pot will be somewhere around $32 and you only have to invest in $4 to see that flop, you haven’t really put that much into the pot compared to what you can win. This would be known as investment or implied odds. You aren’t investing much into the pot for the chance at making a good chunk of change.
Now if the table is playing tight, and players are raising with good hands, then you really don’t want to be playing without having a great starting hand. Great starting hands would include pocket aces through pocket sevens, ace king, ace queen, ace jack, and ace ten. King queen all the way down to king nine suited would also fall into this category, as would jack ten and queen jack. The tighter the table, the less likely you should be playing a lot of different hands. Why you ask? Your investment and implied odds are worse when less players are playing. If four people are seeing the flop and they’ve tripled the blind you are now investing $6 into a pot for a chance at $24. Instead of being 1 out of 8 in the loose table example, you are now 1 of 4, therefore you want a better hand that has a better chance of winning.
If you’re in early position you don’t want to be playing bad hands because this also eliminates your chance at knowing what the rest of the table is holding. You come out with a feeler bet from early position on the flop, the guy next to you can quadruple your bet still leaving other players to act. If you play a weaker hand from late position you have a better gauge on what everyone else at the table is doing because you get to bet after them.
Pay attention to how the table is playing and adjust accordingly. You’re trying to have the best odds possible so when you do hit a hand it pays off. If you’re risking a lot of money on a hand that doesn’t have a very good chance of winning, your pocket book will feel it in the long run. If you risk a little to win a lot, your pocket book with thank you for it. Know your table, know your opponents and know your texas hold em hands and you’ll be winning in no time.
Before the flop you have two cards in front of you. You have to decide whether or not you want to play your hand based on probability, the number of players at the table, your position to the dealer button at the table, and the previous hand selection of your opponents. In a loose game it may be safer to play 76 suited in middle position, whereas in a tight game you don’t even really want to play the hand in late position. A loose game consists of many people taking cheap flops to see who can wind up with the best hand on the flop. By cheap flop I mean no one is really raising the pot before the flop, or they’re simply doubling the blind. In loose games the pot odds are better for you to play different hands because there is so much money in the pot compared to what you are investing into it.
For example, if there are 10 players at the table and eight or nine people are consistently calling pre flop with a $2 blind, that gives you between $16-$18 in the pot before seeing the flop. Being that you know the table isn’t going to raise preflop, or if they do the pot will be somewhere around $32 and you only have to invest in $4 to see that flop, you haven’t really put that much into the pot compared to what you can win. This would be known as investment or implied odds. You aren’t investing much into the pot for the chance at making a good chunk of change.
Now if the table is playing tight, and players are raising with good hands, then you really don’t want to be playing without having a great starting hand. Great starting hands would include pocket aces through pocket sevens, ace king, ace queen, ace jack, and ace ten. King queen all the way down to king nine suited would also fall into this category, as would jack ten and queen jack. The tighter the table, the less likely you should be playing a lot of different hands. Why you ask? Your investment and implied odds are worse when less players are playing. If four people are seeing the flop and they’ve tripled the blind you are now investing $6 into a pot for a chance at $24. Instead of being 1 out of 8 in the loose table example, you are now 1 of 4, therefore you want a better hand that has a better chance of winning.
If you’re in early position you don’t want to be playing bad hands because this also eliminates your chance at knowing what the rest of the table is holding. You come out with a feeler bet from early position on the flop, the guy next to you can quadruple your bet still leaving other players to act. If you play a weaker hand from late position you have a better gauge on what everyone else at the table is doing because you get to bet after them.
Pay attention to how the table is playing and adjust accordingly. You’re trying to have the best odds possible so when you do hit a hand it pays off. If you’re risking a lot of money on a hand that doesn’t have a very good chance of winning, your pocket book will feel it in the long run. If you risk a little to win a lot, your pocket book with thank you for it. Know your table, know your opponents and know your texas hold em hands and you’ll be winning in no time.
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