Texas Holdem Poker Tips

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.