Winning at Texas Holdem
This is what I discovered about winning at Texas Holdem. Let me say that I am not a professional, but have been pretty successful playing Holdem on line. This article will be directed to people who know the basics of the game. I don’t want to spend time talking about which hand is best, etc. This article also focuses on playing online more than playing at a table where many of the skills are focused on reading your opponents Since you can’t see your opponents, you will have to focus on how they are playing. We will focus more on that later.
My first advice is DON’T spend a bunch of money buying all of the experts’ books on how to win at Texas hold’em. Everyone else is buying and reading the same books. So when you make a continuation bet, everyone knows that is what you are doing. A continuation bet is the bet you make after your opening bet, usually after the flop. So if you don’t have a good hand don’t think you are going to scare the others out of the hand. The books are very useful in learning the percentages of how likely you are to improve your hand at the different stages of the game. You can also learn about the betting strategies at different positions on the table, but this is pretty much common sense. If you are one of the first few to bet, you have a different strategy than if you are the last to bet. How many times have you wasted a bet because you were hoping you could see the flop, so you bet in an early position. If you don’t have a hand , just fold and wait for a decent time. The only time I change this strategy is when I haven’t played a hand in 15-20 straight hands. You don’t want people to know that the ONLY time you bet is when you have a killer hand. So I will waste a bet to change up my pattern of betting.
The way you play online depends a lot on the game you are in. If you are in a large free roll tournament, you have to realize that early on there will be people who will go all in with any kind of hand. They do this to either hit it big early or get out early. Once you start getting a big chip count, the way you play the game should change. So they want to gamble that they can win big pots early. I have called an all in bet early when I had two aces and then lost to someone with a three, nine off suit and lucked out and drew two pairs. I would play that hand the same way, but you have to remember that all in bets at this stage don’t necessarily show that someone has a good hand. I usually play fairly conservative and wait till I have a hand worth betting. Too many people try to bet small with a good hand hoping they will suck everyone else in, only to have someone else stay in and hit a good hand on the turn or river. If you are dealt a good hand, a high pair or AK, bet it. Make the others have to pay to stay in with you. The amount you bet has to do with the average chip count the others at the table have. If you have the dominant chip count, you can bet more and scare the others away.
This article is getting too long so I will continue it in the follow-up article to this one. Be sure to subscribe so you will get it also.
About the Author
Charles has been writing aarticles for a couple of years. he loves to work around the house. check out two of his favorite gadgets: Fluke 62 and Fluke 115
