Gambling
Guide: Texas Hold 'Em
from Guys Night Online
Staff
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Introduction:
Thanks to the internet, the game of Texas Holdem has
become one of the most popular poker games to date.
Players from around the world can compete online in
the comfort of their own homes and enjoy playing poker
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But with the increasing
number of players comes an increasing amount of competition
thus making it more difficult to win on a consistent
basis…until now. With the information provided
here you can become a better online Texas Holdem poker
player regardless of your experience. Beginners and
veterans alike will benefit from the table tested
techniques presented in this document.
Each section of this strategy guide
eBook deals with a specific situation that can be
encountered during any typical online Texas Holdem
game.
Starting Hands:
A good starting hand is the first and foremost key
to winning at online Texas Holdem poker, period. The
majority of the online poker community tends to overlook
this crucial element essential for winning consistently.
Sure, anyone will get lucky every now and then with
a 7-2 off suit, but to win consistently you must condition
yourself to play only hole cards with the best possible
winning percentages.
So what is a good starting hand? Ace/Ace
- Ace/King Suited -
King/King?
There are numerous books and resources
on the internet that will give you an ANTICIPATED
good starting hand along with the win percentages
for each, but here is what they don't tell you:
The strength of a good starting hand
depends greatly on the number of players left in the
game AND the number of callers. If there are 10 people
seated at the table, then a good starting hand will
be quite different from a good starting hand with
only 3 players sitting at the table.
David "Einstein" Sklansky
was the first author to have both ranked every 2-card
starting hand and group them along with recommendations
on how to play them. The top 16 ranked starting hole
cards are fundamental to solid play. They constitute
about 7% of all hands you will be dealt.
Table 1 - Sklansky's Group
1 hands
AA KK QQ JJ AKs
Ace/Ace and King/King are substantially
more powerful than the Queen/Queen.
Table 2 - Sklansky's Group 2 hands
TT AQs AJs KQs AK
The overall power of Ace/King is actually
slightly greater than that of King/Queens, so I would
reverse the order of these two hands within this Group.
Out of the 10 hands in these two groups
your decision to raise should not be treated equally
based upon the following:
Always consider the fact that your starting hand
strength also depends on our table position, or how
many people bet before and after you do. As a general
rule, you should stick to the conventional best starting
hand percentages when there are 8 to 10 players with
2 to 3 callers.
When the field is narrowed down to 5 players or less,
you should play your starting hands more aggressively.
For example, the Ace/King suited is often considered
to be the second best starting hand with a full table.
If there are less than 5 players left, any Ace hole
card with a decent kicker can give you the same winning
percentages as the Ace/King suited would have. The
concept is very simple, you are playing the mathematical
odds implied via the 52 cards in the deck along with
the probability that fewer players will equal less
chances that someone will draw an Ace. In short, the
fewer number of players holding cards at a table,
the greater your chances of winning are.
If you are in a late position at a full table and
have seen one player wager a large bet, and there
are one or two callers, most often you can bet at
the very least ONE of them is holding a strong starting
hand with high win percentages (such as an Ace with
a high kicker, suited sequence cards, or heavy pocket
pairs, etc).
If, at any given point of the game, you have five
or more players seeing the flop, then a good starting
hand can often times change to small sequence cards
such as a five/six or a small suited pairs. Reason?
When over half of the players at a table call a hand,
the high cards such as Aces, Kings, and Queens are
usually tied up as hole cards thus not showing up
on the flop, turn or river. This is an excellent opportunity
for small pairs, lower straights, or any flush draw
to win a big pot.
As a general rule, you should never bet the minimum
when you have an excellent starting hand unless you
intend to "limp in" and get more callers
for the hand. There are times when limping in can
win you some big pots, but you shouldn't let slow
playing become a dominant strategy. It is good to
bet at least 3 to 4 times the minimum in order to
run out any possible draw hands or players who rely
on luck and chance to win a big pot early in the tournament.
Once you have mastered the basic concept of good
starting hands for every scenario, you will become
a better Texas Holdem player regardless of when, where,
or who you play. Ready for some more?
Pairs
Pairs are always good hole cards, but you should play
them wisely. Everyone loves to see a pair in the hole.
One of the most anticipated pocket pairs are the pocket
Aces which tend to cause amateurs to bet the whole
farm thinking they cannot loose. If you do not comprehend
anything else in this guide, comprehend this...pocket
Aces are not ALWAYS a winner. Yes, they are indeed
the best starting hand you can theoretically be dealt,
but I have seen way too many players lose all of their
chips with the "all-in" pocket Aces.
Having said that, let's start with the idea of "slow
playing" your pocket Aces. There are a few things
that you should consider before doing so. If you choose
to slow play the Aces you should be at a table that
has players who are unlikely to call a pre-flop raise
from an early position, very loose players, or one
or more players who are frequently stealing the blinds.
Keep in mind that slow playing with any hand should
not become a dominating strategy but rather a technique
used sparingly.
Now suppose that you come out strong with your betting
and you get multiple callers or even a raise. If it
comes to the turn or river card and you do not improve
your hand you should typically lay down. More often
than not, you will lose a substantial amount of chips
- especially if there is a possible straight or flush
hand showing on the board. Remember, it is better
to save your stack and live to play another hand than
to foolishly take chances.
Other pocket pairs such as the Deuce/Deuce is not
as strong as many would think at ANY point during
the game. I would recommend never holding this small
pair (unless you are a blind and can check through
to the next card). All it takes is someone holding
a single Three card and then seeing another Three
show up on the flop or turn to win the hand. In general,
the Five to Nine pair are usually not good pocket
pairs to bet on - but can be a good hand to see the
flop on if the betting is not beyond your comfort
level or if you are a blind and have the option to
check.
If you don't hit at least three of a kind on the
flop, it is best not to hold these low pairs unless
you can continue to check the hand. The best advice
I can give for playing pocket pairs on the Internet
is to watch which pairs have recently won, and which
ones have recently lost. Keep a mental record of the
“wins” verses “losses”. I
say this for the simple fact that if King/King in
the hole has won three times during the tournament,
odds become favorable that they will not win the fourth
time BEFORE at least one bad beat. This one observation
alone can save you a lot of money - especially in
large multiplayer tournaments. Many online casinos
state that they use random number generators when
dealing or determining cards (I’m not saying
they don’t) but after countless hours of real
game time, one will begin to wonder just how “random”
anything can be.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS be aware that when any pair is showing
on the board, a full house is possible. A full house
Threes full of Twos will beat Ace/Ace or trip Aces
every time. Whenever you see someone betting hard
on board pairs, you should at the very least be holding
an Ace or King with the pair, and it is recommended
not to play against a high wager unless you already
have trips with the possibility of hitting the full
boat yourself.
Sequence cards:
Sequence cards can sometimes be better than pocket
pairs as long as they are Eight/Nine or better. I
would recommend that you not play any lower straight
unless you are a blind and have no choice - or unless
you have established yourself early in the game. Which
brings me to mention, blinds usually end up winning
big pots by playing low straights. Beware of a big
or small blind betting on a possible straight flop.
More often that not, they actually have it.
A Jack/Ten is one of the best possible straight hands
to hold due to the odds of making the straight on
a draw, as well as having a no loose straight hand
if it hits. I usually play open ended straights with
a high probability to win more often than I do pairs.
Straights win more times than you would think when
playing online Texas Holdem!
Continue
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