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POKER CONFIDENTIALPOKER CONFIDENTIALPOKER CONFIDENTIAL

One Jack Off

17-March-2010

Las Vegas Dreamin'

12-February-2010

The House Always Wins

22-January-2010

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09-January-2010

Remembering Charlie Ho-Ho

19-December-2009

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TEXAS HOLD’EM

WHERE TO PLAY

TEXAS HOLD’EM

TEXAS HOLD’EM STRATEGY

Texas Holdem poker strategy is an essential part of the game primarily because Hold ‘em is no game of chance. Obviously, any poker player would love lady luck on his side, but results show time and time again that Hold ‘em is a game of skill. Though it’s true that an amateur can win the occasional hand, down the stretch the pro will always outplay the newbie – that is if the pro is given enough time.

No matter what level you’re playing on, playing Texas Hold ‘em requires at least some basic strategic understanding. You have a lifetime ahead of you to learn, but you gotta start somewhere, so why not here and now?

Online Versus Live Play Texas Holdem Strategies

When waging war, each terrain calls for its own strategy. The same holds true for Texas Hold 'em. Online play is not the same as a live game. The first step of any strategy is to understand your bearings and your surroundings. Read about online Texas Hold 'em versus live play strategy before you start playing on the internet. You should also read our Texas Hold ‘em software and download guide to get a better handle on how you can use the software to your advantage.

Basic Texas Hold ‘em Strategy – playing your position

Texas Holdem poker strategy is a broad subject that fills many bookcases, but a good place to start is by recognizing your position. Perhaps more than any other form of poker, Texas Hold ‘em is a positional game, meaning that your game should be strongly influenced by where you’re seated in relation to the dealer button. This is because the button determines the order of action for all betting rounds.

As explained in detail on our Texas Hold ‘em rules page, the dealer button rotates clockwise at the start of each hand. Though this button is a relic of a time long lost in which players used to take turns actually dealing the cards, it now signifies the position of the player who is ‘last to act’ during most of the betting rounds. The only exception is the first betting round, in which the blinds are last to act. However, the dealer is still in a good position during the first round, acting right before the blinds. During the 2nd, 3rd and 4th betting rounds, the blinds are first to act while the dealer acts last. As a general rule, in poker it’s best to act after other players have already made their calls.

Later is better

Acting last is an advantage simply because knowledge is power! The later you act, the more information you have about the other players around the table. Gathering this information and harnessing its power to your advantage is the basis to all positional Texas Hold ‘em strategies.

Texas Hold ‘em strategy: Position lingo and terminology

On the button – the player seated behind the dealer button.
Under the gun – the player who is first to act during a betting round.
The cutoff – the player seated directly to the left of the dealer. This position earned its name because placing a bet from this position can cut off the dealer’s ability to steal the blinds.
Early position - in a game of 10 players, the first three/four positions to the left of the dealer button are regarded as ‘early position.’
Late position – in a table of 10, ‘late position’ refers to the player on the button (AKA the dealer), and the two players to his right.
Middle position – all other players.

How to turn position into power

Your position determines the number of hands you can play. The later you act – the more hands you should get involved in. The first step to playing Texas Hold ‘em is understanding that your pocket cards aren’t all that matter. You should always take your position into consideration before placing a bet. A common beginner’s mistake is playing to many hands. After applying positional Texas Hold ‘em strategies to your game, you’ll notice that you’re playing significantly less. However, when you do play, you’ll be playing Texas Hold ‘em more aggressively.

This Texas Hold ‘em strategy is known as ‘tight-aggressive’ - tight since you’ll be folding many hands, yet aggressive since you’ll be betting and raising often with the hands you do choose to play. The only way to achieve this is by never playing weak or mediocre hands out of position.

Playing out of position means getting into a hand from an inferior position relative to other players that are still in the hand. Imagine the following scenario: You’re dealt AJ off-suit, and you’re seated to the right of the big blind, so you’re ‘under the gun’ (or first to act) during the first betting round. A naïve beginner will assume this hand is decent enough to risk the big blind on. However, in a no-limit game with 10 players, your position puts you at a great disadvantage.

Positional Texas Holdem strategy will have you realize that there are still nine players that haven’t expressed a thing about their cards to you. If you bet, you will be doing so without knowing anything about your opponents’ hands. Since everyone is still in the hand, any one of the other nine players can make an aggressive move that will force you to fold, thus losing the big blind.

Now suppose you have the same AJ off-suit, but you’re playing form the dealer button. This time you can sit patiently and observe your opponents’ actions and reactions. If someone decides to go all in, for example, your position alone will have saved you the big blind. If everyone else folds and you’re the only active player still standing other than the two blinds, this is a perfect hand to play aggressively, in an attempt to get them to fold and ‘steal the blinds’. From the button you may even decide to slow-play this hand by simply calling the big blind. When up against only two other players, your AJ off-suit has now become significantly stronger. Our example demonstrates that even the most basic Texas Holdem strategy, such as playing your position, will drastically improve your game.

Texas Holdem Tip No. 1 - Avoid the fishnet!

A common way to trap beginners is to spot them making passive moves out of position. For example, if all you did was call the big blind under the gun, a player acting in late position will attempt to knock you out of the hand with an aggressive raise. Unless he suspects a bluff, any player with a basic understanding of Texas Holdem strategy will sense your weakness and pounce, all because you acted weak and out of position.

Texas Holdem Tip No. 2 – Become the shark!

In time you will learn that all Texas Hold ‘em strategies are like double-edged swords. Texas Holdem tip No. 2 is the mirror image of tip No. 1. When you sense weak play, and you’re in line to act after it, use your position to dominate the table and scare the fish away; when you’re in the position to punish passive play, use it!

Texas Holdem Tip No. 3 – Call Smart!

One of the most timeless Texas Holdem strategies says you need a better hand to call a raise than you do to make a raise. Why? Well, simply put, you can raise just fine if you're seated early with a middling hand. Tons of people will read you for strong, experienced or both and fold. But say you're seated late and someone raises under the gun. Unless you know the raiser's tells, you could be walking into a trap by calling with something like a low pair. The moral of the story is, like Freud's cigar, sometimes a raise really is a sign of strength, and you need to take this into consideration. Only call early raises if you're pretty sure you can beat them no matter what comes on the river.

Texas Holdem Tip No. 4 – Know Your Own Strength (or Weakness)!

The last of our Texas Holdem strategies is that you should always know your hand. Yes, we realize this probably seems like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many (very bad) players overlook it. Also, when we say "know your hand" we aren't talking about knowing your standard poker hand rankings, but you odds of taking a hand for each set of hole cards you're dealt. People like to talk a lot about the skill of poker pros, but often this is one of the few things separating them from the fish. Now we realize, of course, that learning all these combinations can seem daunting, but there is hope: One way pro Mike Matusow suggests of getting a handle on starting hands is reading David Sklansky's "Hold'em Poker." If it worked for him likely it'll work for you too.

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