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The beginners guide is focused on helping you understand the Texas Holdem game and give you some tips on how to become a better player. To find detailed information on how Texas Hold'em is played please visit Texas Hold'em.
Texas Holdem is the king of all poker games, and it requires a ton of skill. But still the most skilled player in the world can't beat a lucky strike, so anything can happen. But we thought we'd guide you through the most essential strategy assessments.
Even if you turn out to be the biggest poker talent the world has ever seen, you are best off starting at the bottom. Playing low stakes limit games or tournaments is a good way to get a lot of hands under your belt without taking too big a risk.
Sure limit games can be tricky and lacks the element of bluffing, but as a newcomer bluffing is probably not the thing to try. Limit games are much more controlled and less risky to experiment with. And as in all things, experimentation is a good way to learn fast.
Don't trust your $100,000.00 play money stack! If you've won a ton of money playing with play money you probably got what it takes to become a good real money player. But the games a lot differ, so don't jump into a high stakes real money game expecting to kick butt. But you are probably set to take on a low stakes games, because sometimes they are even wilder than play money games!
Starting Hand Value
Your two pocket cards, or hole cards, are the only factors that separate your hand from the other players' hands. So learning how to play them is vital. An AA (ace-ace) combo known as (Rockets) simply has a much greater chance of winning than say a 7-3 combo. Play the good starting hands. Fold the bad.
Position Play
Being seated in "late position" in a poker game is a huge advantage since you then get to see your opponents make their moves before you have to act yourself. To become a good player, one must understand, and learn to take advantage of this advantage. A good starting hand in an early position may actually be a worse hand to play than a bad hand in late position.
Fold
No matter the betting round, if you have nothing and can't draw to anything, fold fast and save your chips. It's as simple as that.
Hand Nicknames
- AA Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines
- KK Cowboys, King Kong
- QQ Double date, Canadian Aces, Siegfried and Roy
- JJ Fish hooks
- 99 German virgin
- 88 Snowmen
- 77 Sunset strip
- 66 Route 66
- 55 Speed limit
- 44 Magnum, Sail boat
- 33 Crabs
- 22 Ducks
- AK Big slick
- AQ Big chick
- AJ Black Jack, Jack-ass
- KQ Royalty, Marriage
- KJ Kojak
- J5 Jackson five
- Q3 Gay waiter
- 95 Dolly Parton
- A8 Dead man's hand (A player named Wild Bill Hickok was shot in 1876 after winning with it!)
- K9 Canine
- J4 Flat tyre
By following these simple guidelines you'll be better prepared for the thrill, rush and excitement of online poker!
Playing poker for real money is fundamentally different compared to playing with play money. The rules may be the same, but the difference is in the way people bet. When winning and losing start making a difference, people are much more considered when they actually put money into the pot. We call this playing "tighter".
The higher the stakes, the tighter the game. When moving from play money to real money, you will have to tighten up your game as well, or you will lose alot of money. The aim is to play a slightly tighter game than your opponents. On low limit tables however, this is no problem, the game is still pretty loose anyway.
Selecting Tables
The first decision to be made before playing poker is the size of the table. The strategy required for playing on a ten player table is completely different to that of a two player "heads up" game. Pick a type of table and stick to it to make sure you learn it properly.
In general one can say it's more difficult to play No-Limit than Limit Games and it is more difficult to play short handed than at a full 10-player table.
Opponents
Choosing your opponents is a powerful ploy to successful poker. By selecting the right opponents, you maximise your chance of profitable success. You don't have to be the best player in the world to be profitable at poker, you just have to be better than the players at your table. (Actually, you don't have to be the best player at the table either, as long as you know who the good players are!).
Find players that you are better than. The first and most obvious piece of advice relating to your opponents is to find, and play at, your own level. Secondly there is some statistical information in the lobby you can use.
Limit
Here we refering to low-limit we're talking about tables with $0.50-$1 and $1-$2. The information here should be sufficient for you to play on this level. To play at $2-$4 and $3-$6 you need to understand the concepts described here on a slightly deeper level and gain some experience of playing.
Statistics
To assist you in finding the right table, you can use the statistics in the lobby.
Flop Percentage The flop percentage is the most important figure in determining the quality of players at the table. It shows how many players are paying to see the flop. It will give a good indication as to how loose a game is. On a ten-seat table 25% would be very tight and 40% pretty loose.
Pot Size Average
Another useful figure is the pot size average. It will also give an indication on how loose the game is. If the pots are large, more players are likely to be contributing.
Betting Rounds
This section will give you an introduction in how to adopt your play from play money to real money in the different stages of the hand.
Pre-Flop
Play the right Hands, The first decision is to select the hands you play. A good rule of thumb is to play fewer hands than your opponents. In loose low limit games, the pots tend to get big which makes suited connectors (even low) better as you will win large pots making a flush or straight. Small pairs are good if there are many callers. High cards are sometimes not as good as you might immediately think. (E.g. QT unsuited is normally not a good hand at a 10 player table).
On the Flop
Abandon bad flops, if the flop doesn't fit, abandon it. It is very expensive to hope to make something from nothing at the flop. Chasing a hand is not a good idea.
Inside Straight Draws
An inside straight draw is normally not so good to bet with, unless there is a lot of money in the pot already and the risk of being raised is very small.
Flush and Straight Draws
A flush or outside straight draw at the flop is normally a good thing. If there are others in the pot, try to raise - if it doesn't scare people off - to get more money in, as you will win your fair share of the hands.
Pocket Pairs
Pocket pairs that haven't made trips on the flop and with over cards on the flop are not so good. The chance of improving on the turn is very small.
Scares
It is important to identify scares on the table. That is flops that can make draws for other players. When this happens, you will probably win less frequently than on a top pair Three consecutive or close cards might very well give someone a straight draw. Two consecutive cards may give a two pair (more connectors played than other cards), A two flush on the board significantly reduces the profit of a straight draw.
One in four of the cards you are waiting for could possibly give someone a flush! On the Turn Coming to the turn, the bet increases. Here's an opportunity for a lot of money to be won or lost. Managing to make it two bets on the turn when you'll win and no bets when you would have lost anyway, makes a winner in low limit Texas Holdem! (Easier said than done, though!)
Check Raise
Frequently go for a check raise on the turn with premium hands, as you're often check/folding less good hands on the turn anyway. This way, your opponent will not be able to read your hand effectively.
Acknowledge Bets and Raises, In low limit games, bluffing is not very common, which leads to another rule of thumb: A raise on the turn almost always means that the other player has a good hand. This is especially true when there are more than two players in the pot. Don't be surprised if the opponent has trips or a made flush/straight.
Don't bet on Draws At the turn, the probability for making your hand is substantially lower than on the flop, and the number of opponents calling is probably less. Checking and calling is often the right thing to do, while betting is mostly wrong. (Unless you think you can scare the opponent off) but this could cost you alot.
On the River
Checking a weak hand, normally you should bet out on the river if you feel you have a strong hand. There is one exception though. If you have a hand that was good at the flop but unimproved since, (like a top pair with a weak kicker) have continued betting and just been called throughout the hand, you should probably be checking.
The reason for this is you'll unlikely be called with a hand worse than yours (giving you no profit from betting) and you take the risk that someone has made a stronger hand on the river, (maybe a two pair) and will raise you (making you lose money). This is a typical no-profit-for-risk scenario.
Seeing it through, Frequently on the river there is enough money in the pots to make it worthwhile calling a bet, even if you are unsure if you have the best hand.
Other Concepts
Bankroll, poker is a game of edge. By playing better than the opponents, you gain an edge and win money. There is, however, a large element of short-term chance, which results in possible swings. To play consistently, you'll need to have a sufficient bankroll to survive. Even a very good poker player may have a bad day, a bad week, or a bad month!
In low limit poker you can handle the situation of losing your entire bankroll, as it is in small manageable amounts. Playing high stakes would require maybe $1,000,000 in bankroll, which is difficult to replace if lost.
A good starting bankroll would probably be 100 small bets. (On a $1-$2 table, this would require a $100 deposit.) Playing conservatively will give you a buffer for losing streaks. Depositing less money is of course possible, but you should be prepared to deposit more to cover an unlucky streak.
On winning, it's important to build your bankroll in order to be able to try a higher stakes table. This way you can move up the limits without any further deposits.
In large multi-way pots, the number of players going all the way to the river constitutes the number of Miracle Rivers thus making your opponents hands increase. It's all a question of probabilities.
On the other hand, the pot will be large, so by not betting on bad hands, you'll not have to win too many pots to end up a winner.
Be aware of made flushes and straights, as well as possible third pairs making trips, so you don't pay unnecessarily over the odds on the turn or river.
General on Bluffing
In loose low limit poker, bluffing is generally a bad thing and will not be profitable. Use bluffing scarcely to put people off. It can sometimes be good to be caught in a bluff early in the game to draw more callers when you have a good hand later in the game.
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