Texas Holdem Advice & Tips

Texas holdem is a very popular game these days, and is, in fact, the most popular form of poker both online and offline. There’s a lot of luck involved in the game, and wild swings can and do happen all the time. And no limit holdem is an incredibly popular and exciting version of the game. Here are some very basic tips on holdem poker strategy that will get you started:

• Texas holdem seems simple but good strategy is a lot more complicated than you probably think.
• Learn how to evaluate your hand and the other players. Both are incredibly important in this game.
• Be disciplined and only play premium starting hands.
• Understand that betting position is amazingly important. Play tighter in early position and looser in later positions. The reason for this is the later you bet, the more information you have both now and on future betting rounds.
• Learn how to identify the nuts, the best possibly hand that can be made with the shared cards on the table. You don’t want to fold the nuts because you’re intimidated, and you don’t want to make the mistake of thinking your straight is the nuts when someone else might have a flush.
• Strong starting cards mean raise to get people out of the pot.
• Drawing hands mean call to keep people in the pot so you get paid off when you do hit your hand.
• High pairs are excellent starting hands. Pairs of ten’s or better are considered high pairs, and should be played from just about any position, and usually mean you should raise preflop.
• Small pairs are drawing hands. You usually need to hit three of a kind on the flop to continue playing. So no raising, because you want to call and get money in the pot so you get paid off when you hit your hand.
• Suited connectors are good, but the higher in rank they are, the better off you are. Holdem is a game of high cards.
• Any two cards win is the most insipid thing anyone ever said about texas holdem. Once you understand why, you’re well on your way to being a winning player.
• You want to play tight, both before and after the flop. You should probably be folding 75% to 85% of the hands you get before the flop, and when you do see the flop, you’ll probably fold about 65% of the time then. If you’re a winning player, that is.
• Holdem is boring if you’re playing tight enough.

This is very much the beginning of poker wisdom, and the very beginning of texas holdem strategy. Good holdem players could probably argue with any of the points made above too.

If you’re interested in Texas holdem, you might also be interested in video poker, pai gow poker, three card poker, let it ride, and our general poker tips.

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