Poker Strategy Guide: Tactics & Theory of Texas Hold'em - PokerStrategy.com Learn profitable Texas Hold'em strategy and understand the theory behind winning poker play with strategy articles, columns, quizzes and hand discussions. More educational offers can be found on our poker practice page. Poker tournament strategy is usually to attack short stacks. Screw that, 3 bet bluff the bigger stacks. I find that the big stacks are just as protective as the shorter stacks, if not more. It also means you can potentially get the last bet in if they decide to 4 bet.

1. Casino Holdem Poker Strategy
2. Holdem Poker Strategy Guide
3. Texas Holdem Poker Strategy Advanced
4. How To Play Texas Hold'em Poker Strategy

If I were teaching a new player to play no-limit hold’em, and my goal were to get this player up to a professional level of play, how would I do it? What would my lessons look like?

Welcome to PokerStrategy.com's strategy section. In the next few minutes you will learn how to play texas hold'em poker with a winning style. Our authors have prepared articles and video presentations which will not only teach you how to play Texas Hold'em, but will enable you to use the correct game strategies to play and win on the tables. In Short-Deck Hold’em the standard 52-card deck that is used in all poker games is culled down to 36 cards by removing all deuces, treys, fours and fives. Short-Deck Poker is also known as Six Plus Poker because the lowest card in the deck is the six. The game can be played with anywhere from 2-10 players but is usually played with six players. Play Great Poker - Poker Strategy and Free Poker Game. Play Great Poker is a Free Online Resource dedicated to helping players play great poker along with a Free Texas Holdem Poker Game to Practice. At Play Great Poker, learn the strategy required to become a winning poker player at Texas Holdem Poker for both live and online poker.

Let’s say I had only three months to do it. With most people, I will admit, it would be a tall order. The learning curve is steep these days, and I don’t think everyone could make it from zero to pro in that short a time.

I’d have to make compromises. I couldn’t try to cover every possible situation. I’d have to find the important bits and skip the rest.

I’d also have to tailor the lessons a bit to a specific type of game. The most important skills in some game types are not as important in others. With this in mind, here are what I think my top five lessons would be for a new player trying to beat the $2-$5 no-limit hold’em games in Las Vegas.

Lesson No. 1. Don’t limp into pots ever. And don’t call preflop three-bets unless you are trapping with an ultra-premium hand.

Limping into pots, calling the preflop raise, and then check/folding the flop when you miss is an enormous leak. It’s also one that nearly every player who hasn’t been specifically coached out of it exhibits.

In my opinion, most players would see an immediate improvement in their winrates if they simply refused to limp in with any hand, especially if they chose to instead fold most of these hands.

For most players, refusing ever to limp means playing much tighter, particularly from out of position. Until you’re already an established pro player, tighter is better.

Lesson No. 2. Don’t pay off big turn and river bets.

This lesson might be different in some types of games, but in the Las Vegas $2-$5 games, it’s easily a candidate for the single most important piece of advice. Do not pay anyone off. When someone makes a big turn or river bet or raise, your one pair hand (or whatever other hand you’re thinking about calling with) is a bluff-catcher. That means, in the great majority of cases, your opponent won’t be trying to make a value bet with a worse hand. Either you’re beat or your opponent is bluffing. And players in these $2-$5 games do not bluff often enough to make calling worthwhile.

So you don’t pay off. I know it can be frustrating to feel like you’re getting muscled out of a huge pot, but the fact is, most players in these games do very little muscling. They try to make hands, and then they bet the hands they make. A big bet usually means a big hand. You don’t need to call to find out for certain.

Lesson No. 3. Your opponents will limp into pots, call raises, and check/fold flops. Take advantage of this weakness by raising lots of hands with position, betting the flop, and often also betting the turn.

It’s a simple play, but it’s one that generates a very consistent profit in these games. Players play too loosely preflop, are too willing to call preflop raises after limping in, and are too willing to check/fold the flop or turn if they miss. With many players, you can ignore your cards and raise the limps, bet nearly all flops, and bet most turn cards as well.

Say two typical players limp in a $2-$5 game. You raise to $25 on the button. Both limpers call.

The flop comes 10 8 2. They check, and you bet $50. One player calls.

The turn is the 5. Your opponent checks, you bet $120, and he folds.

In this scenario, and in many like it, it doesn’t matter what you have. Your opponents are beating themselves by playing call/call/fold so often. All you have to do is put the bets out there and let your opponents run repeatedly into the brick wall.

Casino Holdem Poker Strategy

Yes, there is some nuance to this, and some boards are better bets than others. But against many opponents at the $2-$5 level, most flops, turns, and even rivers are good bets. Keep betting until your opponents prove to you that they won’t beat themselves by folding too much.

Lesson No. 4. With value hands, don’t try to blow opponents out of pots. Instead, play most value hands with the goal of keeping a player in through the river.

Holdem Poker Strategy Guide

Value hands — hands like top pair, two pair, or any other hand you think is a favorite to be best — lose their value when all your opponents fold. If you win without a showdown, you might as well have been holding 7-2. (See Lesson No. 3.) With your value hands, you generally want opponents to get to the river.

Most players like to see showdowns if they feel like they can see them without losing too much money. No one likes to fold and think, “What if I was good?” If your opponents get to the river, often it’s an easy sell to get them to call a final value bet (as long as you don’t make it too big).

Calling these value bets is one of the biggest mistakes that $2-$5 players make. (See Lesson No. 2.) Allow your opponents to make this mistake.

Most players try to end hands early when they feel like they have the best hand. “Don’t want to get drawn out on,” they think. But this is backward thinking. End hands early with strong bets when you have nothing but a weak draw. Allow hands to reach showdown when you actually have something to show down! (Makes sense when I put it that way, doesn’t it?)

If I have top pair, I’d much rather get called for $30, $50, and $80 on flop, turn, and river than get called for $30 and then blow my opponent out of the hand with a $100 bet on the turn. The chance to win $160 with the hand instead of $30 outweighs the risk that I’ll get outdrawn.

Lesson No. 5. Think every hand about what strategies your opponents are using and how they’re thinking, and (almost) ignore the two cards in your hand.

I’ll put it bluntly. Most $2-$5 players beat themselves. They tend to play strategies that are extremely transparent, overly simplistic, and inflexible. You can beat some of these players simply by betting every time it’s your action (See Lesson No. 3.) You can beat other of these players simply by waiting for hands that beat top pair/no kicker and then making value bets. (See Lesson No. 4.)

Your job as a poker player is to identify the strategy each opponent is using and deploy a counter strategy. In many cases, the two cards in your hand become irrelevant. My experience is that the players that are always thinking about their hands never figure it out. It’s the players who are thinking on the next level that do. ♠

Ed’s newest book, Playing The Player: Moving Beyond ABC Poker To Dominate Your Opponents, is on sale at notedpokerauthority.com. Find Ed on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.

Pre-Flop Texas Holdem Strategy is the key for you to having any kind of success when it comes to Texas Holdem. Your chances of winning the hand begin and end here. If you have troubles here you may wish to find think long and hard about playing poker online.

Before the flop everyone has two cards which have to be judged in isolation. After all one person may be holding A-A and another 2-3 preflop but who has the better hand with the flop comes 2-2-2? Not that you no this in advance but nobody does which is why online poker is so tricky.

Texas Holdem Poker Strategy Advanced

Obviously flopping four of a kind doesn’t happen every hard of online poker and given this you need to honor the percentages of Pre-Flop Texas Holdem Poker Strategy and in turn be quite conservative in your Starting Hand selection. You are going to throw away 4-8 and the flop will come 8-8-4 but that’s poker. You just have to deal with it. Or you can call with your 4-8 and find that the next 99 you have absolutely nothing.

Playing well pre-flop separates you from your opponents and is probably the hardest thing to master in online poker and Texas Holdem strategy.

Let’s divide up your Starting Hands into sections.

Big Guns - AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AK, JJ.
No question at all. You should be raising with these hands. Without taking the flop into consideration these are better than anything your opponent would have so you would win the hand if the flop is neutral or in your favor. Only a negative flop will unhinge you such as on a straight draw when they become absolutely useless. The more people in the pot the less chance you have of winning so be aggressive with these pre-flop to knock your opponents out of the pot. The biggest pitfall with these hands is that after getting junk hand after hand after hand people are so wedded to them that they refuse to fold with them even if it’s obvious that are going to lose the hand.

Good Hands - AQs, AQ, AJs, KQs, KJs, JTs
These starters have potential to be great with a good flop. With an ordinary flop you should fold without a second thought. Playing these weakly is fine especially as it may appear you are bluffing if a good flop comes. Be wary of trap-hands though which is playing with something despite it being the second best hand.

Middle Men - AJ, KQ, KJ, KTs, QTs, J9s, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
Better to play these when long-handed as your potential windfall is ever greater. If heads-up fold if the flop isn’t receptive as not good hands to chase with. If you hit your set you are set, if not get out.

How To Play Texas Hold'em Poker Strategy

Well Connected - 89s, 78s, 67s, 56s, 45s, 34s
Here you are look for a straight or flush. Again you want more people in the hand to maximize your winnings.

Bottom of the Barrel - A5-ATs, A5-A2s, K9s-K5s, Q9s-Q5s, J8s, T8s, 97s, 86s, 75s, 64s, 53s, 42s
You should probably muck these hands unless you are in late position or have a huge chip stack.

Other influences to your Pre-Flop Texas Holdem Strategy

Position - The earlier you are the tighter you should be and vice versa.

Game Flavor - In a loose game you could play just about anything and the more people in the hand the weaker your starting hand can be. If someone is being a cowboy and raising all the time pre-flop you will want something strong before you take him on.

Think Small - One thing that doesn't happen enough of in online poker is that players are content with collecting lots of small pots. The desire to win a massive won can be the same thing which sends you packing.

Numbers Game - The more people in the hand the better your hand has to be. Similarly the more people in the hand the less you should slow play.

Chip Stack - The bigger you stack is the more adventurous you can afford to be.

Pauline Davis - Poker Expert