Texas Hold-’em has become one of the most popularly played games of poker. No one can account for it’s success over other types of poker, but the televising of games on ESPN and the travel channel certainly played a pretty big role in making the game so popular. Like other types of poker games, you can win with a combination of luck and skill. Of course you ultimately need the right cards, but you can’t get those every hand. However, you can still get ahead, if you follow these simple tips…
Know the nuts. “The nuts” refers to the best possible hand. In general, a royal flush would be the nuts. But with hold’em, the nuts can change with every round of betting. In hold’em, after the blinds are posted, everyone is dealt 2 cards. The nuts at this time would be pocket Aces, because those are the best 2 cards you can get. The term “pocket” refers to the two cards you are dealt. There is a round of betting and 3 more cards, the flop, are dealt. Let’s say these cards are low cards, like a 2 of hearts, a 5 of spades, and a 9 of hearts. At this point, pocket Aces are no longer the nuts. Now, it would be pocket 9’s, because that would give you three of a kind with the top card out there. There’s another round of betting and then the next card, the turn card, is laid out on the table. Let’s say this card is an even higher card, like the Queen of diamonds. Now the nuts have changed again. The nuts would now be pocket Queens because that would give you 3 of a kind with the highest card out on the table. After another round of betting, the final card, the river card, is laid out. Let’s say this is another low card, like a 4 of diamonds. All the cards are out on the table now and the nuts have again changed. Now the nuts would be a 3 and a 6 of any suit. This would give you a straight (to go with the 2, 4 and 5 already out there) and a straight is higher than three of a kind. An Ace and a 3 would also give you a straight, but the 3, 6 hand would be a higher straight and would win.
Know the odds. It’s very rare to have the nuts. And even if you would have the nuts in the above example, chances are you would have folded a hand with a 3 and a 6 before you discovered they were the nuts. Since you can’t always have the nuts, you need to estimate how close you are to the nuts. Every time a card is laid out, think what the nuts are and how close you are to them. Also, estimate how good your opponents’ hands are based on how they bet. Even if your hand is mediocre, you might win if they have bad hands. And finally consider the number of people playing the game. The more people who are in the hand, the better your hand will probably have to be for you to win. You have a better chance of winning with a pair with there are only 3 people playing than if there are 9 people.
Watch other players. You can learn a lot about other players by watching them, unless they’re really skilled. Some people will take longer to bet the worse their hand is. Or they’ll bet with smaller chips if they think they might not win. Watch their behavior too. If they act overly confident, or bet big when something little like a 3 comes out, they might actually have a bad hand. Everyone’s different, so watch the hands they play and the cards when and if they show them at the end of the hand to see if you can find a pattern to their betting.
Other players are watching you. Theyll be looking for these same behaviors in you, so try to mix it up a little. Play with your chips and act like you’re trying to decide if you want to raise, then fold. Try not to act or appear too excited when you get a good hand, or see a good card turn up on the table. Some experienced players notice subtle changes, like raising your eyebrows or pursing your lips. If you tend to this without realizing it, or don’t know if you might be making subtle responses to the cards, there’s still something you can do. Consciously make subtle gestures opposite your intended reaction. For example, if you have a 9, 10 in your hand, and 2 Aces show up on the board, smirk, cough, squirm, or something. To the other players, this will look like you are poorly trying to cover up the fact that you are happy to see those Aces show up, even though you know you’re actually not happy about it. Other player will get intimidated and may fold, or at least be resistant to raise. Of course, if someone did raise after this, they would probably have a third Ace and you’d want to fold. But if no one raises, probably no one has a Ace and you can stay in the game longer. If you’re really lucky, everyone else may fold to you and you would win that hand.
Bluff. Of course, it’s important to bluff occasionally to keep others guessing. You can do this by raising after a card shows up, making everyone else think you have the nuts with that card. This works better when you’re in position, which I’ll discuss next. Don’t bluff often because you don’t want to push your luck. If someone else calls you, either they think you’re bluffing and they may still fold later, or they actually have a really good hand, and you’d be wise to fold. Just don’t risk too much money on a bluff. If you do end up bluffing everyone else to the point where they fold, DON’T SHOW YOUR CARDS. This can be very hard to do if you have either a very good hand or a very bad hand, because it’s fun to brag. But it is very important to not show you cards because it will give you an advantage later on. If you keep your cards a secret, more people will be more willing to play with you later, when you actually have something, and you’ll be able to win more games this way. And it keeps the other players guessing about you, which gives you an advantage.
Use your position. By this, I mean your position in the hand. The last person to bet has the biggest advantage because you can figure how good other people’s hands are by how they bet. If someone bets big, it generally means they have really good cards, especially if it’s early in the hand. This would be a good time for you to get out if your hand isn’t great. If everyone checks around the table with each betting round, then it likely that everyone else has a horrible hand and you have a very good chance of winning. You can safely bet and probably win if this happens. Even if you have a horrible hand and everyone else checks, check with them instead of folding. After all, you never know what the next card that comes out will be and you might just win with your mediocre hand.
Use your big money stack. Another way to push people around at the poker table is with your money. This only works if you’ve accumulated a lot, which can happen in just a few good hands. You can get a lot of people’s money a little at a time this way by bullying them with your money. When it comes time for you to bet, bet such a large amount that other players would have to risk everything they have just to stay in the game. Almost every time, the other players will fold and you will win this hand. Of course, other players don’t like this kind of playing on your part, but it does help your pile of chips to grow a little bit with each hand.
Don’t be afraid to fold. Sometimes it’s hard when you have a good hand, but they’re not the nuts. Some hands, like a gut-shot straight -this is when you have 4 cards to a straight (like a 8, 9, Jack and Queen) and all you’re missing is one of the middle cards of that straight (the 10)- are almost impossible to get and should be folded. Or if you have Ace and King of clubs, and 3 hearts show up, it’s likely someone else will get a flush. But if you probably can’t win, even if you’re really proud of your hand, it’s better to swallow your pride and fold. And everyone knows you can’t have good cards every hand. It will make you look like a novice if you never fold. After the hand is played, you can show everyone what a great hand you had. Don’t show them before the hand is over because this gives the remaining players an unfair advantage. By seeing your cards, they know of 2 more cards that are definitely not going to show up on the table. The players might then play the rest of this hand differently than that would have had they not seen your hand. This gives the players still in the hand more of an advantage over the players that folded, and more of an advantage over other hands that you have played together. Depending on the seriousness of the game and the other players, this oversight could have serious consequences.
More tricks. There are still more tricks you can use to confuse the other players. One tip is to bet really big, up to 10 times the blind, if you’re dealt a great pocket hand. This will get most, if not all the other players to fold, and you will win the blinds. You want to do this early, because, your nut hand now could change when the flop comes out and you don’t want to stick around long enough to find out if your hand will hold up; you just want to take what you can get and end this hand. If you have a really good hand and a lot of other players are in the game, slow play that hand. Check when you know you’re winning. The other players will think you have a bad hand and may raise you. You can call their raises and their bluffs after you’ve already checked without fear because you know you have a good hand. Another, even more confusing trick, is the check-raise. Since a check typically means you have a moderate-to-poor hand and a raise means you have a good hand, check when it’s first your turn to bet. Then, let someone else raise, and when it comes back around to you to either call the raise or fold. You re-raise over their raise. You can do this either if you have a great hand or as a bluff. This will either cause the other people at the table to fold or call, but it will baffle them all and they’ll eagerly watch to see what you do. Be careful though, because some players will stay in the hand until the end and risk a lot just to see what hand you could possibly have to do such a confusing thing as the check-raise.
Have fun. Most importantly remember that this is just a game and you should have fun. Poker is a game of bluffing and lying so don;t get angry if other people do this better than you. It takes practice just like anything else. Just have fun and enjoy the company, whether or not you win or lose.
