Nov

20

Texas Hold ‘Em Basic Strategy For Beginners

Filed Under Poker |

In poker like any other game the sophisticated players have a crucial edge over players who play by their emotions. If you are a beginner your fundamental strategy is to play tight, disciplined poker. This concept is extremely important when playing your starting cards. Although there is a chance that any two cards can win, too free of an attitude will turn to a costly habit. Especially beginners fall into this trap.

Your strategy should depend on your betting position in the round. The first bettor (the player who places his bet first in order) has the disadvantage to make his decision without any knowledge of the opponents’ hands, while the last man betting knows exactly how the others have acted and can play in relation to the others’ reactions. Therefore, the later in betting order you are sitting, the better your position is.

In a ten-handed game (a table with the maximum of 10 players), the first five players in betting order are considered sitting in early position, the next three in middle, and the last two in late position.

Below is a list of the appropriate starting hands in that you could play from different positions in a loose ten-handed game.

Bet/Raise pairs, Early position 99-66 AA-TT

Bet/Raise pairs, Middle position 66-22 AA-77

Bet/Raise pairs, Late position 66-22 AA-77

Bet/Raise Unsuited, Early position - AK-AT, KQ

Bet/Raise Unsuited, Middle position AT, KJ, QJ, JT AK-AJ, KQ

Bet/Raise Unsuited, Late position AT, KJ-KT, QJ-QT, JT AK-AJ, KQ

Bet/Raise Suited, Early position A9-A2, K9, QT-Q9 AK-A9, KQ-KT, QJ

Bet/Raise Suited,Middle position A9-A2, K9-K8, QT-Q8, JT, T9, 98, 87, 76 AK-A9, KQ-KT, QJ

Bet/Raise Suited, Late position A9-A2, K9-K5, QT-Q7, JT-J8, T9-T8, 98, 87, 76, 65, 54 AK-A9, KQ-KT, QJ

If you get raised, the big pairs (AA-JJ) are normally worthy of a reraise. If the game on your table tends to be very loose (players/flop>50%) all suited open-end drawing hands (QJs-65s) and pocket pairs are usually worth playing already in early position. Correspondingly, such hands as KTo (offsuit) and QTo and possibly ATo and KJo are almost worthless. Furthermore, AJo, ATs-A9s, KJs-KTs, QJs, middle pairs (JJ-88) and possibly even QQ are no longer raising hands.

The big money games on the other hand are tighter, and there is a lot of raising and reraising done. The value of drawing hands and smaller pairs does goes down, while the high cards and high pairs on the other hand increase their value.

No-limit games in Texas Hold’em are somewhat different from the limited ones. Because the pots used to be much bigger on the limited big money games, the real odds allow some more liberal playing before the flop. If you are in late position, all your suited connectors like 8-7 and possibly one-gap suited connectors like 8-6 are worth a single bet. Also, some marginally losing hands in fixed limit poker games like unsuited A-X, K9, Q8, J9, or T8 can be profitable in a loose no-limit game. They can pay sometimes, because they are improbable and the opponents can misread them.

After flop the strategy you use can depend on the nature of the game in the same way as before the flop. In looser low-limit games, a disciplined and mathematically calculated poker game is the winning strategy. You have to be able to accurately calculate the winning odds and the pot odds and play strictly according to them. Beating and winning in tight big-money games requires some sophisticated tactical moves: semi-bluffing, bluffing, check-reraising and slowplaying.

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