Here is a
compilation of good stuff from the web.
No-Limit Texas
Hold'em Common Mistakes
•
Not releasing a decent hand when beat, thus losing the whole
stack on one hand.
• Calling
with weak holdings when facing a bet.
• Playing
too many starting hands.
• Not
raising pre-flop with premium hands (putting pressure on limpers
holding drawing hands) and then going too far with them after
the flop.
• Over/under
betting the pot (risking a lot to win small/not protecting
hand).
Basic Pre-flop
Strategy
•
Most of the time you should raise/re-raise with top-pairs
(AA-QQ) and top connectors (AK, AQs) in order to make low-pairs
and various connectors pay to see flops against you. Remember,
they will often have the opportunity to double up on you if
they hit (although many beginners do not realize this and
fold too often pre-flop).
• Stick
to the premium hands. You will pay dearly to "chase"
with second-best hands in NL.
• Keep
most raises down to between 70% and 100% (making it 3 times
the big blind to go typically equals an 80% pot bet) in order
to save money when you get re-raised or called by stronger
holdings. If there are limpers in front of you, raise to about
4-6 times the big blind.
• Have
respect for strong tight players (for example, you should
drop AQ if a strong player raises under the gun).
• When
very weak players have entered the pot, be inclined to call
and take flops with them.
ADVICE ON STARTING
HANDS by John Vorhaus
•
BIG POCKET PAIRS, A-A through J-J. You're probably going to
play these hands no matter what, even though there are times
when you should throw them away, especially pocket jacks,
but I don't expect a saint's patience from you, so there you
go. But here's the thing about your big pocket pairs in poker:
they play best against few opponents. That's because their
high card strength is their primary asset. If your pocket
kings encounters a flop like 9-8-7, it's probably still the
best hand, but the more foes it faces, the higher the chance
that someone is sitting on a straight draw and getting the
right odds to go for it. So if you have big pocket pairs,
would you please do me one little favor and raise? Raise!
Drive out the ribbon clerks. This is imperative.
•
Don't get cute and try to trap. You're not that cute, and
the baby rabbit with his foot in the trap is most likely to
be you.
•
MEDIUM POCKET PAIRS lose a lot of potential to win without
help because they're so easily dominated by the flop. Your
dogballs (8-8) look like happy warriors preflop, but when
the flop comes A-K-T, you have to figure you're beat. What,
then, to do with middle pairs? Fold before the flop? Oh, I
wish you would, just for the discipline you'd demonstrate.
Failing that, treat your medium pocket pairs as the drawing
hands they are. They're really not going anywhere for you
unless you hit a set on the flop, and that proposition, in
Texas Hold'em, is 7.5-1 against. So try to sneak in late in
an unraised pot with lots of callers, recognizing that your
post-flop strategy is fit or fold: Either you'll get help
from the flop or you'll get gone.
• Yes,
there are times when you'll raise with middle pairs in an
attempt to isolate against the A-Ks and A-Js of this world.
Just don't try to force the issue by overplaying your middle
pairs in early or middle position. You're inviting too much
loving attention from all the overcards (or, zounds, overpairs!)
behind you.
•
LITTLE POCKET PAIRS are a great, chip-sucking vacuum. We look
at them and our eyes go glassy. We do some rudimentary math
and realize that we're better than even money against any
unpaired hand. Against any single unpaired hand, yes, but
not against even one more than one. (You want math? Oh, I
got math. Against Ad-Kc and Qh-Jc , your frisky 4h-4c will
lose 70% of the time! Sobering, ain't it, Bunky?) Little pairs,
even more than medium pairs, then, demand large, soft fields
and unraised pots. Don't even think about playing them in
early position, because you won't know if you're going to
get the soft field and unraised pot you need. Limp late into
large fields or chuck 'em in the muck.
• Sure,
sure, sure, every now and then you'll flop a set - and confirmation
bias will tell you that it happens much more often than not.
But the bottom line is that little pairs are little poison,
a disastrous leak in most people's play. If you're paying
any attention at all to the notion of starting requirements,
pay attention to this: Most players can't get away from any
little pair. If you can, you'll be so far ahead of them they'll
never catch up.
•
Recap:
· With BIG
PAIRS, raise to isolate.
· With MEDIUM
PAIRS, limp late into large fields.
· With SMALL
PAIRS, look for an excuse to fold.
•
GOOD ACES. Good aces are position dependent. An A-T is not
a good ace in early position. You probably need to hit the
flop twice (with two aces, two tens, or an ace and a ten)
to feel confident, and you just can't count on that. The same
A-T may be considered a good ace in late position. Thus, give
yourself a sliding scale. A-K is always a good ace, A-Q likes
a little position, A-J likes a little more position and so
on. A-T is a bad "good ace." I wouldn't get all
that worked up about it.
• Don't
get all drippy about suited big aces, either, because they're
not much stronger than unsuited big aces. In general they
add about 3% of value. 3%! That's less than I tip! And yet
you'll encounter players who consider big suited aces to be
magically endowed. Don't fall into that trap. Here's a useful
rule of thumb:
• If
you wouldn't play an unsuited ace in a certain situation,
don't play a suited one either.
•
MEDIOCRE ACES. I call them mediocre aces on purpose because
I want you to think of these cards (A-9, A-8, A-7) with abiding
disdain. They're not good hands, and you shouldn't treat them
as such, even if everyone else at the poker table has other
ideas. In fact, the more excited your foes are about aces,
the less enthusiastic you should get about your middling ones.
If everyone plays any ace (in a game that's said to be below
the anyace line) then there's no way someone makes a sensible
laydown with an out-of-position A-T or A-J. Your promiscuously
played A-9 or A-8 will end up being dominated and crushed.
• Sure,
you'll hold dominance over the nitwits playing baby aces,
but you'll only be able to exploit that dominance if you know
your opponents very well and can put them on worse aces than
your own. And look at the bind that gets you into! If the
flop comes A-big-big, you're heading for a split pot situation,
but if it comes A-little-little, you could be staring down
the barrel of a flopped two-pair.
•
Again I would repeat: The hand you don't play is the hand
you can't lose. With your mediocre aces, you should either
be staying out of trouble or raising with intent to clear
the field and capture the blinds either before or after the
flop. At this point, you're playing the naked strength of
your ace. You're looking either for folds all around or for
calls from hands like K-J or 7-8, followed by a ragged flop
you can bet. But that's running a bluff, not betting a strong
ace.
•
BAD ACES. Like any other hand containing a little card, bad
aces are contaminated by little poison. I can see no rational
reason for playing A-6, A-5, A-4, A-3 or A-2, even suited,
except in unraised blinds. Especially in the aforementioned
anyace games (the kind you're likely to encounter at the low
limits you now play) any little ace you play is likely to
be dominated and crushed by the slightly less cheesy aces
your opponents opt to play. They can't stay out of trouble.
Can you?
•
Talking points:
· Good aces
are position-dependent. The later the ace, the better it is.
· Mediocre
aces are trouble hands. Only play them if you're in late position
with excellent reads.
· Bad aces
are bad hands. For your profit and your peace of mind, learn
to muck bad aces.
•
WHEELHOUSE
HANDS. In my nomenclature, wheelhouse cards are cards between
ten and ace-in most players' wheelhouse, so to speak. A wheelhouse
hand, then, is one containing two unpaired, unaced cards:
K-Q, K-J, K-T, Q-J, and Q-T. Those are some pretty hands,
right? Erk. Well, maybe.
• K-Q
probably gets more players into more trouble than any other
hand in the history of Texas Hold'em. It flops a top pair,
good kicker, only to get crushed by top pair, ace kicker.
Remember, most people will play K-Q, but virtually everyone
plays A-K and A-Q, so if you get heat in this situation, it's
probably from a better hand.
• This
whole class of hands, though, represents a slippery poker
slope. If you can convince yourself that K-Q is playable,
how much argument could K-J require? And if K-J is good, what
could possibly be wrong with Q-J? Q-T? Before you know it,
you're considering any wheelhouse hand to be playable, even
for raises.
• Again,
in all of this I don't put much more value on suited hands
than unsuited ones. All "suited" seems to do is
beguile the mind, and make us think that our hands are much,
much stronger than they are. Remember my rule of thumb: If
you wouldn't play it unsuited, don't play it suited either.
Speaking of suited...
•
MIDDLE SUITED CONNECTORS. These hands have value in one particular
way: If everyone else is playing wheelhouse hands, and you
play something like 9-8 suited, the hand that hits you is
unlikely to hit anybody else. So I say, yeah, go ahead and
play your middle suited connectors, with the following big
caveats:
•
If there are raises in front of you, don't call, not ever.
Respect the declared strength of those hands, and recognize
that they're likely to bet again after the flop.
•
If you're in late position with many callers, just call. You
want to play this holding like the drawing hand it is.
•
If you're in middle to late position and no one has entered
the pot... raise! Yes, it's a substandard hand, but you're
raising for deception here, and if you hit your hand, you'll
get paid off well.
• If
you miss the flop, you're done with it. Don't chase.
• This
last point is crucial. If you can't get away from suited connectors
(or any hand) on the flop, you shouldn't play them in the
first place. We are our own worst enemy sometimes, and never
is this more evident than when we chase, chase, chase with
little or no piece of the flop.
Okay, other Texas
Hold'em hands.
•
LITTLE SUITED CONNECTORS. Little poison. Don't play.
•
UP-DOWNS. An up-down is something like K-6 or Q-5 or J-7.
Don't play 'em.
•
UP-DOWN SUITEDS. Don't play 'em either.
•
GAPPED HANDS. T-8, 9-7, 8-6, etc. These forlorn ragamuffins
are looking to hit the flop twice for two pair, trips or an
open-ended straight draw. It's delusional madness. Don't play.
•
UGGOS. An uggo is an ugly hand with absolutely nothing going
for it. 8-3, T-2, 9-4. Don't play. Not ever. I mean, seriously,
get real.
•
Here's the deal with starting requirements: Either you have
them or you don't, and either you respect them or you don't.
There are plenty of players out there content to play any
hand they hold. "Any two will do," they believe,
and God love them for their cherished beliefs. Over time,
they'll give you all their money... so long as you don't sink
to their level.
•
Every poker hand is a horse race, you know. If every race
were equal, everyone would win the same amount over time.
But the races aren't equal - not when you have the choice
of racing or not racing. When you enter the pot with good
cards, it's like starting with a big head start. When you
go in with bad cards, it's like starting with a big, fat handicap.
•
Having - and sticking to - a starting requirements strategy,
ensures that you usually start with the lead. Either a big
lead, as with big pocket pairs, or a small lead, as with A-big.
Start with a hand like 7-6, though, and you're back, back,
back in the pack. Yeah, you might win, but you inevitably
have some catching up to do, and most of the time you'll finish
exactly where you start: behind.
•
How about skipping that part? If you're not the favorite,
scratch yourself from the race! There'll be another one along
in a minute.
Winning Tips
on Texas Hold’em by Bill Burton
Before the Flop:
Starting Hands:
Position, Patience and Power are the key to winning in Texas
Hold’em. The most important decision you will make is
choosing to play a starting hand. The biggest mistake a player
makes is playing too many hands. Being aware of your Position
in relationhip to the dealer is important in Texas Hold’em.
You need a stronger hand to act from early position because
you have more players acting after you who may raise or re-raise
the pot. It is important that you are Patient and wait for
Powerful starting hands to play from the correct position.
The player to the
left of the big blind acts first before the flop. He along
with the other two players to his left are in early position.
The next three players are middle position and the ones after
that are in late position. The blinds act last before the
flop and first after it. Here are some guidelines for stating
hands that I recommend you play when you are starting out.
They are fairly tight but will give you a good foundation
to work with until you learn a little more about the game.
In Early position
Raise with A-A, K-K and A-Ks from any position. (s denotes
suited cards) Call with A-K, A-Qs, K-Qs and Q-Q J-J, T-T and
fold everything else.
In Middle position
Call with, 9-9, 8-8, A-Js, A-Ts, Q-Js, A-Q, K-Q
In Late position
Call with A-Xs, K-Ts, Q-Ts, J-Ts, A-J, A-T and small pairs.
(note x denotes any card) It takes a stronger hand to call
a raise than it does to make with one, If there is a raise
before it is your turn to act you should fold. Why put in
two bets with marginal hands?
Note:
Many players will play any two suited cards from any position
and they will play an Ace with any small kicker. These hands
are losers in the long run and you should avoid getting into
the habit of playing them. They are traps that will cost you
money.
The Blinds
Once you post your blind the money no longer belongs to you.
Many players feel they must defend their blinds by calling
all raises even with marginal hands. Don’t waste additional
money on marginal hands. Also, don’t automatically call
with the small blind if you have nothing. Saving a half bet
will pay for your next small blind.
The Flop
Deciding whether to continue playing after seeing the flop
will be your second biggest decision. It can also be one of
the most costly decisions if you continue after the flop with
an inferior hand. It is said that the flop defines your hand.
That is because after the flop your hand will be 71 percent
complete. Where does this figure come from? Assuming you play
your hand out to the end, it will consist of seven cards.
After the flop you have seen five cards or 5/7 of the final
hand, which is equal to 71 percent. With this much of your
hand completed you should have enough information to determine
whether to continue. Poker Author Shane Smith coined the phrase
“Fit or Fold. If the flop does not fit your hand by
giving you top pair, or better or a straight or flush draw,
then you should fold if there is a bet in front of you. If
you played a small pair from late position and you do not
flop a third one to make a set you should throw the pair away
if there is a bet.
The Turn
If you think you have the best hand after seeing the Turn
card and are first to act, then go ahead and bet. Many players
will try to get fancy and attempt to check raise in this position.
If the other players also check, you have lost a bet or two.
In low limit games the straight forward approach is usually
the best as there are plenty of players who will call you.
Make them pay. Why give them a free card if you don’t
have to.
If another player
raises on the turn and you hold only one pair you are more
than likely beaten and should fold.
If you get to the
Turn and you hold only two unsuited overcards (two cards higher
that any cards on the board) with no flush or straight draws,
then you should fold if there is a bet in front of you. Too
much money is lost by players who hope to catch a miracle
card on the river. The best hand you can make with two unsuited
overcards is a pair which will probably lose anyways.
The River
If you have been playing properly you will not see the river
card unless you have a strong hand that is a favorite to win
or you have a draw to a winning hand. Once the river card
is turned over, you know exactly what you have. If you were
drawing to a hand, you know whether you were successful or
not. Obviously if you do not make your hand you will fold.
As with the Turn
you should bet your hand if you are first to act. If you bet
and the other player folds then they more than likely would
have just checked if you had checked in an attempt to check
raise.
When you get to
the river there are two mistakes that you can make. One is
to call a losing bet, which will cost you the price of a bet.
The other is to fold your hand, which will cost you all the
money in the pot. Obviously folding your hand will be a far
more costly mistake then merely calling a bet. If there is
a slight chance you may have the winning hand you should call.
I’m not advocating calling with nothing but you should
call if there is a chance to win.
Reading The Board
Your ability to read the board will help make you a winning
player and it is not hard to learn. Since Texas Hold’em
is played with community cards turned up for all to see, you
can easily determine the best possible hand that can be made
from the board cards and two unseen cards. It is extremely
important that you learn determine how your hand stacks up
against the other possible hands that your opponents may hold.
Two situations should send up a red flag when you see them.
If there are three
suited cards on the board someone can make a flush. If a player
raises when the third suited card is turned over you should
be wary of continuing. If there is a pair on the board a player
can make four of a kind or a full house.
Pay Attention
When you are not involved in a hand you should still pay attention
to the game. You can gain valuable information about your
opponents simply by observing what hands they play. It’s
easy to determine the players who plays and suited cards,
or single aces by watching the hands they turn over at the
end. That brings me to one final tip.
NEVER SHOW YOUR
HAND if you don’t have to. If you win the pot because
everyone else folded you are under no obligation to show your
cards. You don’t want to give away any information about
yourself if you don’t have to And player who turn over
their cards when they don’t have to are doing just that. |