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Game Rules - Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is currently the most popular poker game in the world. The game is very easy to learn but incredibly difficult to master. You can find this game offered for all sorts of limits online and played in limit, no limit and pot limit form.
Rules
In Hold’em, each player is dealt two down cards. These cards are private and no one can see each other’s cards unless the hand goes to a showdown. When everyone receives these two down cards, there is a round of betting known as the preflop betting.
After this round of betting, three cards are placed on the board. This is known as the flop. These cards are community cards and can be used by all of the players. If I had AK down and Joe Bob had AJ down and the board came AK4, I would have a two pair (aces and kings) and Joe Bob would have a pair of aces. When the flop appears, there is another round of betting.
After the flop betting, a fourth community card is dealt. This is known as the turn. There is another round of betting. After this, the final community card is dealt: the river card. After this card is dealt, there is a final round of betting.
As you can see, each player has two personal cards and five cards that are shared with the other players. When one makes his best hand, he does so with any of the 7 cards. You can use one, two, or none of your own cards to make your hand (if you use none of your own cards, you can only hope for a tie as you are using only communal cards.) Thus, let’s say I have A8 and the board is 679TK. In this scenario, I have a straight, ten high. Let’s do another example. Suppose I have 34 and you have AJ. The board at the river is 34J99. In this example, you win. You have two pairs JJ99A (jacks and nines with an ace kicker) and I have two pairs 9944J (nines and fours with a J kicker). While I make two pairs with my down cards (threes and fours), my best hand is 4 communal cards and one of my down cards.
Limit Hold’em
The most common betting structure of hold’em is known as limit. When playing limit hold’em, there are set bets. In the first two rounds of betting (the flop and the preflop), the lower bet is used and on the turn/river the higher bet is used. Thus, if the game is $2-4 limit hold’em, all bets and raises preflop/flop are $2 and all bets/raises on the turn/river are $4.
Limit’s structure tends to reward strong hands at the expense of drawing hands. This means that having a strong hand that doesn’t need improvement, like AK with an Axx flop, does better than a flush draw. This is because even if the flush draw hits it cannot extract much value from the made hand. In other words, if you have two hearts and two hearts come out on the flop, you will not be able to make a huge bet and extract a lot of value if you hit that final heart.
Starting Hands
Perhaps the most important concept beginners need to learn when playing limit hold’em is which starting hands to play. In other words, which hands to call or raise with preflop and which hands to fold. Starting hands are not created equal and the skill differential at many low limit hold’em games often revolves around preflop decisions. These preflop decisions are critical in preventing you from being trapped with the second best hand post-flop.
Here are the starting hands you should consider playing:
High pairs and AK suited: AA,KK,QQ,JJ, AKs. These hands are playable in any position and you should generally go in with a raise. These hands are good on their own and can often hold up without any help from the board (with the exception of AKs which generally needs to hit an ace, king, or flush).
Big cards: AK (non suited), AQ, KQ. Again, these hands you can generally go in with a raise. The reason is these hands do well with few people in the pot. You want to win if you hit one pair, so you don’t want a lot of people in there drawing to all sorts of flushes and straights.
While you should generally raise with these hands, you should strongly consider folding them if there are two raises in front of you (i.e. the pot has been raised and reraised). This is because there is a very good likelihood that someone has KK or AA, making your hand a huge underdog.
Often, the problem with playing other big cards like AJ,KJ, AT, QJ, etc. is that they may be DOMINATED. I capitalized this word because this is a key concept in limit. Let’s say I have AK and you have AJ. If that’s the case and an ace hits, I am beating you and you have little chance to win. This is because my kicker is higher than yours. You must hit a jack to win (excluding the possibility of strange straights or flushes), which makes you a big underdog.
Thus, if you have two big cards (J or higher), play them very carefully in limit. Many low limit players make the fatal mistake of playing Ace or King-anything. These hands often have the bad luck of hitting an ace or king and losing to someone with a higher kicker.
If any of these big cards are suited or connecting (like QJ), that is a huge plus because it also opens yourself up to flush or straight opportunities. Often, this can help negate the negative expected value from the chance of being dominated.
Small and medium pairs: Hands like 22,55,99, etc. are also playable. However, you generally will need to hit a set (three of a kind) in order to win the hand. Because you have only about a 12.5% chance of hitting a set at the flop, you generally want there to be many people in the pot with you. This way you have good pot odds and chances are someone will call you all the way down to the river with an inferior hand. Thus, play these hands but only if you think there will be four or more players at the flop.
Suited connectors: These are hands like 78s, 9Ts, JTs, QJs, etc. These hands have great drawing potential because they can draw to both straights and flushes. Because these hands will generally be very strong when they hit but will hit rarely, you want to play them when there are many people in the pot. Thus, fold these without hesitation if there is a raise/reraise preflop but certainly call if 5 people limp in ahead of you. Note: Axs should be treated like a suited connector.
Post-Flop Play
If you are a beginner to limit hold’em, play on the flop is often simpler than it seems. There are two guiding principles low limit hold’em players should follow post-flop- value betting and pot odds. Bluffing is not a tool to be employed in low limit hold’em- almost every hand goes to a showdown so chances are you will lose money on your bluffs. Only consider bluffing if it is a heads up situation and a small pot.
Value Betting:
Value betting is simply jamming the pot when you think you have the best hand. Now I obviously can’t tell you when you have this best hand, it is something you will have to learn to figure out. However, in general, you should value bet when you have top pair, an overpair, or a very good hand like two pair or better. Again, a ‘good’ hand is relative to what is out on the board and the number of people in the pot. Generally, top pair is good at the flop, but if 5 people stay in to the river, chances are it’s going to be beaten.
Starting hand selection helps ease value betting. Suppose you have K9 and the flop comes KT3. You have top pair, but you are a huge underdog to someone who has a K and a higher kicker. Thus, exercising patience and only choosing big cards with a good kicker will allow you to confidently bet top pair most of the time at the flop.
Pot Odds:
When you probably don’t have the best hand at the time and therefore can’t value bet, you should sometimes still call bets so you can draw to the winning hand. Cards that will help you are called ‘outs.’ Thus, if you have 89 of spades, and the flop comes AK4, with AK of spades, you have a flush draw (9 outs).
When you figure out how many outs you have, you then multiply that number by two and that is approximately what percentage chance you have of hitting one of your outs on the next card. If you have a flush draw, you have about an 18% of hitting a flush draw on the next card (the actual percentage is a little higher, but for the sake of simplicity, just multiply outs by two).
When you figure out the percentage chance of hitting, then compare this to the bet size relative to the pot. In other words, compare chance of hitting to Bet/Pot. If you have a flush draw, the bet is 5 and the pot is 40, you should clearly call. You are investing 11% in the pot with an 18% chance of hitting. However, if you only have 4 outs (an inside straight draw), the bet is 10 and the pot is 10, you should probably fold. You would be investing 33% into the total pot (10 in the pot plus 20 between yours and his bet), while you have about an 8% chance of winning.
When calculating for pot odds, you should also count in ‘implied odds,’ which are future bets. If you have a flush draw, and you hit on turn, you will probably win a bet on the turn and the river. So the odds for chasing are even better than in the example given.
Nevertheless, don’t count your outs too liberally. If you have TJ and the board is TQK, a jack is clearly not an out. You have a straight draw, you may still lose even if you hit another ten (someone may have KT or the straight already made). Again, use your head and try to be as rational as possible when using pot odds.
Game Selection
One of the most critical concepts in limit hold’em is game selection. Since you will win most of your money due to your opponents’ mistakes rather than any great plays made by yourself, you should look for a game where people are making many, basic mistakes. An easy way to check for this is to pay attention to how many people see the flop and how many people go to a showdown. If a lot of people are seeing flops, chances are they are not exercising good starting hand selection. If there are routinely several people at the showdown, the people at the table are probably exercising poor judgment in regards to pot odds and reading their opponents’ hands.
If you master pot odds, value betting, starting hand selection, and game selection, you could be on your way to being a winning poker player. These concepts are not difficult to grasp, but they are the fundamental aspects to winning at limit hold’em, especially at the lower limits.
No Limit/Pot Limit Hold’em
Since no limit and pot limit holdem are very similar games, this article will be written to encompass both of them. No limit is much, much more popular on the internet than pot limit holdem, but you can find some low stakes pot limit hold’em games.
No limit/pot limit betting structure (also known as ‘big bet’ betting structure) lends games to be far less mechanical than fixed limit structure. Starting hand selection/pot odds are part of no limit hold’em, but this article will focus on the several key big bet poker concepts you should learn before playing no limit/pot limit hold’em.
Game Size
The amount of money at stake in a no limit game is of paramount importance when formulating your strategy. While in brick and mortar cardrooms the buyin is not capped, there is generally a limit on the amount one can buy into in an Internet no limit/pot limit game. This maximum buyin is determined by the size of the blinds. For example, currently at Empire Poker, the largest no limit game is a $1-2 blind, $100 max buyin no limit game. This is a relatively small game for no limit standards, but the largest Empire currently offers.
The game size determines how much bluffing and drawing you can do. Since you can bet any amount in front of you, bluffing is a formidable tool in no limit. Also, drawing hands go up in value because you can extract a huge bet when you hit them. Nevertheless, if there is not much money at the table, your implied odds for drawing go down since you can not extract as much money on the turn/river. It is also harder to bluff because the pot size is going to be larger in relation to people’s stacks and your bets will not represent “a lot of money at stake.”
Opponent Types
Adjusting to your opponents’ styles is also critical in no limit. In limit, you can generally play tight-aggressive against any opponent. However, in big bet poker, it is much more important to ‘play the man.’ Here are some general tips against certain playing styles:
Loose-passive: These opponents like to call. Almost always, this is going to be disastrous in no limit. In poker, especially big bet poker, betting is always better than calling because if you bet you can win if you have the better hand or if they fold. However, if you call, you can only win if you have the better hand. Thus, calling a lot at no limit will allow your opponent to control the action.
With these types of opponents, I suggest waiting to hit a good hand and then just zapping money bit by bit out of them. Make 2/3 size pot bets a lot. These people will generally call these bets with a subpar hand like top pair, little kicker.
Tight-Passive: These people don’t play many hands and don’t make much music when they do. These people are generally the easiest to bluff, so go ahead and knock them out if you can at the flop. If these people bet, get out! Chances are they have the nuts or the near nuts.
Tight-Aggressive: These people exercise good starting hand selection and will tend to bet their hands very strongly. Some of these types of players bluff more than others. If you suspect that a tight aggressive is not bluffing, fold when he bets (unless you have a very strong hand). Otherwise, I suggest raising these people to see where you are at the flop if you have a marginal hand and trapping them when you have a sneaky hand like a set. The one thing about these types of players that is nice is they generally will bet their hand.
Loose-Aggressive
The bets from these people often mean nothing. They will bluff, semi-bluff, and all-around try to bully people. This can often work at higher stakes games but will generally fail at the lower stakes no limit. Since there is not that much money at stake, people will just call these people down and they will lose because they simply don’t have the hands most of the time. With these types of players, just try to trap them with a strong hand and let them steal the small pots otherwise.
Starting Hands
Starting hand selection is not quite as important in no limit as it is in limit, but there are some key differences between good fixed limit hands and good no limit hands. Drawing hands and pocket pairs gain in value in no limit/pot limit because of their drawing potential. These hands can withstand a lot of heat when they hit (and are often sneaky), so they are able to rake in huge pots. Big cards, like AQ, go down in value because they often can not beat strong hands. Since huge pots are generally the contest between strong hands, hands that tend to be stronger when they are ‘strong,’ are better. AK/AQ tend to be a pair or two when they are strong, whereas suited connectors and pocket pairs tend to be trips/flushes/straights when they are strong.
Bet Size
Many newbies are often confused by how much to bet in big bet poker. The answer revolves around pot odds and trapping. Suppose you have AK and the board is A48, A4 are diamonds. You probably have the best hand, though you may be wary of someone with 44, 88, or A8. However, your main nemesis is probably the flush draw. In this situation, I would recommend pot-sized bets so the flush draw does not get good odds. In general, pot sized bets are the standard in low stakes no limit/pot limit hold’em when you have a made hand. Again, bet size really should revolve around the type of your opponent, what you think he has, how much each of you have in front of you, and what you think he thinks of you. Nonetheless, if you are bit clueless how to bet at no limit/pot limit, I suggest just trying pot si
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