Texas Holdem is a wonderful game. It takes a few moments to learn, but forever to master. It comes in different flavors as well, like the freeze-out tournament, low-limit ring games, and the realm of the big dogs, high stakes no limit.
If you’re interested in bringing your game up to snuff at the low-limit tables online, or perhaps polishing it a bit and getting rid of some holes that you’re chips have been escaping through, this page should help.
The very first thing to understand about playing Texas Holdem and winning is that the most important decision is often made before the flop. The cards you choose to play and the cards you choose to fold can make a huge difference in how much you will win or lose. For a quick assessment of starting hands and their strengths and weaknesses, and suggestions on how to play them, see the starting hands page.
Which hands you play, and which hands you fold are influenced by where you sit at the table just as much as what the cards are. At a tournament recently, we were being seated randomly for the final table when a fellow player said to me, “What’s the difference, either you get the cards or you don’t. Why should I have to sit in a certain spot?”. He didn’t win. That’s not a surprise. Seat Position is a very important part of the game, read the seat position primer to find out more about how it affects your poker-playing decisions.
One basic skill all successful players need is the ability to read the table or the board. If you cannot tell what hands others may possibly have, you’ll be hard-pressed to maximize your winnings.
I was sitting at a limited table in Atlantic City, watching one woman re-raise and re-raise her opponent. After the pot, she said to me “What did he think I had?”. She knew what she had, the best hand possible, or the nuts. So she kept upping the bet and maximized her winnings.
That’s just the most recent example of being able to read the board properly and use it to your advantage that I’ve seen. It’s impossible to overemphasize the importance of this skill. For a short article, and a quick procedure you can use to read the board, here is an article on reading the table.
Math is an important part of the game of poker. One of the biggest holes in someone’s poker game comes from paying too much to see the next card in hopes that it will complete their straight (or flush, etc.). Closing holes like this in your game requires that you be familiar with the Odds of Drawing a Card. I have a Printout Ready Chart that you can, well, print out, and keep near your computer for quick reference when playing online.
Granted, poker is not all math, and making the mathematically correct decision all the time is no guaranteed road to success at the tables, but if you do not know the odds of catching an inside straight, you really do need to brush up on your poker knowledge.
