Texas Holdem Strategy

Texas Holdem is considered the most popular online poker game. With the recent explosion of televised events, poker has grown enormously over the past 2 years. With this growth comes a wave of new and beginner players alike. With the strategy tips provided on this web site, you’ll be well on your way to beating the game. Our Texas Holdem strategy guide is designed to give you the basic tools to playing good poker.

The following are some of the basic Texas Holdem strategies to implement when playing poker online:

Starting Hands

As a beginner player, you’ll only want to play premium or strong hands. This ensures a high probability that you’ll be leading after the flop.

Premium Hands: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK suited.
Strong Hands: AQ – A10 suited, AK off suit, KQ suited, 1010

When entering the pot, you should raise and if necessary re-raise, this will make the players with marginal hands fold and leave you with only those with good hands. As a beginner, the less amount of players in a hand, the better.

After The Flop

Because you only play premium / strong hands, your after the flop play should be straight forward. Once the flop is shown, you should ask yourself a series of questions:

Did my hand get better with that flop?

Is it possible my opponents hand got better?

Are their cards that can better other premium / strong hands?

With this information you’ll know if you should continue to be in the hand. If the answer is no, simply check when it is your turn or fold if someone else makes a bet before you. If you are remaining in the hand, you’ll want to be aggressive by raising if possible.

After The Turn

The turn (or 4th street) is a crucial part of a Texas Holdem hand. You should know where you stand in the hand as either leading, or possibly behind. At this point there are 2 specific things to look for that is often missed by novice players:

Is there any possible Straight or Flush draws on the board?

Did the board pair giving someone a 3 of a kind / full house possibility?

If the answer is yes to any of the above questions, then you’ll really want to slow down, not betting high amounts or simply calling. If on the other hand the above does not exist and you have a strong hand, then a raise is a good bet. If the player before you makes a bet, calling it is also a good play.

After The River

With the river card (5th street) shown, there is all the information available that you need to know. Simply approach the betting decision similar to turn strategy looki9ng to see if the river could of helped your opponents hand.

NOTE: in a no-limit game you can bet ALL your chips at any time during a hand. For beginner players, we don’t suggest doing is unless you are absolutely sure you have the best possible hand (the nuts) or very close to it. The reason, always leave open the possibility that your are beat. There is a common phrase in poker “always leave yourself with outs”

Texas Holdem Advanced Strategy

Advanced Texas Holdem strategy involves dealing with the complexity of the game. Yes, on a surface level the game is pretty straight forward and actually quite simple to learn and play. But the following factors are what makes the difference between amateurs and the pros.

Pot Odds

In Texas Holdem, your decision to play a hand or fold should factor in pot odds. Basically pot odds are the cost to stay in the hand in relation to the size of the pot.

Example:

There are 4 people in the hand and the other 3 have bet and called $100. There is $300 in the pot and it costs you $100 to remain in the hand. Your pot odds in this case is 3 to 1, you can win $300 if you put $100 into the pot.

The other factor to consider is the odds of you bettering your hand if you make the bet.

Example:

The turn card is shown and you have 4 spades, that means there a 9 spades remaining in the deck of 46 cards (52 – your 2 hole cards – 4 community cards). So 9 cards help make you flush and 37 cards don’t.

Your odds of getting the flush are: 37 to 9 or to simplify 4.1 to 1.

Good poker involves calling a particular bet only if the pot odds are greater than your odds of bettering your hand.

Seat Position

Our basic strategy involves playing only premium / strong hands. Advanced Texas Holdem strategy is about loosening up your play by playing a wider range of starting hands. To decide which hands to play, seat position plays and important role. In general terms, the closer you are to the button (last person to act during a hand), the looser starting hand requirements become.

Table Image

Your table image when playing poker has a direct effect on your ability to win / lose a given hand. There are several types of playing styles that define your image; these include tight, loose, aggressive, passive, maniac, bluffer, and solid characteristics. Understanding your image at a table and the image you have of others allows you to make certain plays that deviate from basic Texas Holdem strategy.

Bluffs & Tells

Your ability to spot bluffs & tells puts you in whole other class of poker player. With this information, you can then make plays that specifically counter what the bluff and/or tell suggested.

Summary

Understanding the intricacies of the above elements will help you better your game. By implementing them, you’ll be in the territory of advanced / pro players. We suggest that you read all the information you can and practice the concepts in low limit environments.