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Texas holdem players who hope to improve their game have
questions. We’ve collected the top 10 questions we’ve seen and
provided in depth answers below. We offer them to you here so
you can learn from them, just like the original players who
asked them did.

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We recommend reading them all, even if you think you already
know the answer to one or more questions. You never know when
you learn something new or have an answer spark a new thought in
your mind that leads to a winning breakthrough in your game.

I see other players bluff all the time and win, but
it seems like every time I bluff I get called. How can I get my
bluffs to work better?

One thing that jumps out right away is you say it
seems like you get called every time. Any time you find yourself
saying something seems like it’s happening you should instantly
start tracking your results. Keep a small notebook and start
making a mark each time you bluff and then record if the bluff
was successful or not.

How do you know other players are bluffing? Are they showing
you their bluffs or are you assuming that they’re bluffing?
Never assume an opponent is bluffing unless you see the actual
cards.

Finally, it’s almost certain that you’re bluffing too much.
The reason we can say it’s almost sure is because almost every
player bluffs too often. If you want to be a successful bluffer
you need to pick your spots carefully and not bluff very often.

If you turn over a winning hand most of the time when an
opponent calls you’ll find that many of them will start
respecting your bets more. When they start folding too much to
your bets is when you need to start working in some bluffs. Once
they start calling more you need to tighten up more and stop
bluffing for a while.

It’s also important to know your opponent’s playing
tendencies. Some players simply won’t fold for a single or small
bet. Once you learn this about an opponent you know to never
bluff them, but you also know they’ll pay off your better hands
every time.

On the other hand, some players are so scared that the fold
to any sign of aggression unless they have a strong hand.
Against these players you know you can bluff them with a weak
hand, but you also know you need to let them lead the betting if
possible when you have a strong hand.

One last thing that is especially important in no limit Texas
holdem is that a larger than normal bet in a bluffing situation
often doesn’t work as well as a smaller bet.

A smaller bet looks like you’re trying to get just a little
more form your opponent with a strong hand where an over bet
often looks like a bluff. Of course you still need to know your
opponents because some don’t think deep enough about the game
for this to work.

I’m a cash game player and am getting ready to
enter my first big multi table Texas Holdem tournament. Do you
have any advice that can help me?

The first thing you need to understand is the
difference between your edge on a series of hands in a cash game
and in a tournament. This is best shown using a couple examples.

In a cash game you’re able to get all in on a
series of four hands. You have a statistical edge of 70%, 60%,
65%, and 55% in these four hands. You know from experience that
if you can consistently put yourself in these situations that
you make money. But for a tournament player you don’t have the
luxury of buying back in the three out of 10 times you lose the
first situation like you do in a cash game.

In a tournament if you get all in with the same
four hands and same four chances of winning you’ll be knocked
out of the tournament a high percentage of the time. You’ll be
eliminated from the tournament almost 85% of the time. The way
to quickly determine your chances is convert the percentages to
decimals and multiplying them. .70 X .60 X .65 X .55 = .15015.
Convert this back to a percentage, 15.015%, and subtract from
100. This gives you the percent of time you’ll be knocked out,
which is 84.985%.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t play your hands with high
winning percentages, but you need to try to play them without
getting all in. Sometimes you have to pick up enough small pots
to give you enough chips so you can still have chips left over
when you lose the hands where you’re a favorite.

As you get deeper and deeper into the tournament it becomes
harder to avoid all in confrontations unless you’re among the
chip leaders. All you can do is play your best hands and
understand that sometimes you’re going to bust out. But the good
news is you can find plenty of tournaments to play and if you
consistently play well you’ll break through and win more than
you lose in the long run.

The next thing you need to decide is if you’re going to play
to get into the money or to win. Most players state they play
tournaments to win, but when it gets close to the money bubble
they start folding good hands in order to sneak into the money.

You’re playing in a big tournament and the final 100 players
get paid. The buy in was $100 and the lowest paying place pays
$150. But the real money is at the final table. 110 players
remain in the tournament and you have an average chip stack.
This means you can easily fold every hand until you reach the
money.

Two players at your table have bigger stacks than you and
they are taking turns raising and bullying the table. Most
players are folding to their aggression because they want to
make the money. You face a raise from one of the big stacks and
have pocket kings. If you get all in against them and lose you
miss the money.

How are you going to play the hand? What if you have pocket
queens, or pocket jacks, or ace king?

If you’re truly playing to win you need to try to get all in
with pocket kings. Only one hand I a favorite against you and if
you can double up your average chip stack it puts you in a good
position to have the chips needed to win the tournament.

It’s not for us to tell you how to play and there’s not a
right or wrong answer when it comes down to deciding if you want
to play for the money or to win. But you do need to think about
it before you start playing in tournaments.

If you’re first goal is to get into the money you might even
fold pocket aces in the example above. You also need to think
about where you cut off your starting hands in a situation like
this one if you’re playing strictly to give yourself the best
chance to win. Pocket jacks and ace king are somewhat weak in
most cases if you have to risk your tournament life, but only
you can make this decision based on what you know about your
opponents and the situation.

Right after the final player busts out who isn’t in the money
many of the short stacks start taking risks to either double up
or bust out. At this point you can play your best hands and
quickly increase your stack size many times.

Another thing to remember is that there’s no one right way to
play in order to win tournaments. Many good players play very
tight in the early rounds and look to double up with their very
best hands while others are able to play a loose / aggressive
game early and do well. You have to find the style that fits
with your abilities and work to improve it at all times.

It seems like when I watch Texas Holdem on
television that there’s a great deal of action, but when I play
I get bored because it takes so long between good hands. What’s
the deal with this?

Remember our advice from the first question when you
start saying that something seems to be happening? The problem
with this situation is you don’t get to see all of the hands
when watching Texas holdem tournaments on television. They film
a bunch of footage and then edit it all of the boring hands, so
you only see the action hands.

The ESPN coverage of the World Series of Poker only consists
of a few hours and the tournament lasts several days, with
hundreds of tables running at the same time during the early
rounds.

The next issue is you say you get bored. This is a dangerous
thing for a holdem player. When poker players get bored they
tend to play too many hands. This leads to playing hands that
are weaker than your opponents, reducing your overall chances of
winning.

You should never get bored while playing holdem. If you
aren’t involved in the hand you need to be watching and
collecting information about all of your opponents. Watch what
hands they end up showing down and how they play in every
situation.

Do they only raise with their best hands or do they mix it
up? Do they bluff too much? Are they tight or loose?

Every little bit you can learn about how someone plays is an
extra chance you have to make money from them in a later hand.
Winning Texas holdem players seek and use every little advantage
they can possibly find.

A single big hand can be the difference between a winning and
losing session, so knowing a single thing about and opponent can
be the difference between being a winning and losing player.

I want to be a professional poker player. What
advice can you offer me?

The jump from a recreational or part time poker
player to a full time pro is a huge one. It requires a change in
focus, dedication, time, mental attitude, and lifestyle. No
matter how good your results have been playing part time, if
you’re not completely ready you run a high risk of failure.

Let’s talk about the financial considerations of becoming a
professional Texas holdem player before moving on. You need to
have at least six months worth of living expenses in reserve
before making the jump, and a year’s worth is better. This needs
to be completely separate from your bankroll.

Your bankroll needs to be a minimum of 30 buy in’s if you
play no limit and 300 big blinds if you play limit. Twice this
amount is much better. This may seem like its overly cautious,
but when you’re a pro you have no life line of a job to replace
money when you have a bad streak. And never make the mistake of
thinking you won’t have a bad streak. Every poker player has ups
and downs.

You never should use your living expense fund for poker and
you should never use your bankroll for anything but poker. Set a
regular time to look at your progress and take profit from your
bankroll as it grows. The best system in our opinion is as
follows. We recommend this system because your goal should be to
grow both your living expense account and your bankroll.

At the ends of every month look at the amount of your
bankroll in comparison to the previous month. If you’re down
then do nothing except look for holes in your game and improve
them. If you’re up for the month split the amount you’re up and
put half in your living expenses account and leave half in your
bankroll. Over time you should be making enough to extend your
living expenses beyond a year and keep them there and steadily
increase your bankroll. Your bankroll is your life so you must
protect it in every way possible.

You start the month with $12,000 in your living expenses and
$30,000 in your bankroll. During the month you spend $2,000 out
of your living expenses and your bankroll grows to $36,000. You
put $3,000 in your living expenses and leave $3,000 in your
bankroll. Your new living expenses amount is $13,000 and your
bankroll is now $33,000.

The next month your bankroll is $35,000 at the end of the
month and you spend $2,000 on living expenses. Your new living
expense amount is $12,000 and your new bankroll amount is
$34,000 because you put $1,000 in each account.

The next month you break even playing so your bankroll is
still $34,000 and after spending $2,000 on living expenses your
living expenses account is at $10,000.

In the next month you have a strong showing and end the month
with $42,000 in your bankroll. You spend $2,000 on living
expenses, put $4,000 in your living expenses and leave $4,000 in
your bankroll. Your new living expense amount is $12,000 and
your new bankroll amount is $38,000.

Notice that even though you’ve had three winning months and a
break even month your living expense account hasn’t grown. Your
bankroll has increased by $8,000 so you’re doing well, but the
living expense account is stagnant. At this point you need to
decide if you continue with the current plan or start building
your expense account. It may be prudent to transfer another
$2,000 from your bankroll to your living expenses. But once you
do that the money is gone forever from your bankroll, so make
sure you think it through.

This system is designed so you never have to worry about
money while playing. If you worry about your finances while
playing you’re not going to be focused on what you need to do to
win.

Before making the switch you need to ask yourself a question.
Have you played enough, and tracked all of your play long
enough, to know for a fact that you’re a winning long term
player? Most players make assumptions instead of tracking
everything. Unless you know 100% that you’re a winning player
you need to get better before trying your hand as a pro.

The next area you need to think about is your goals. You need
to have a goal beyond growing your expense account and bankroll.
You need to have specific goals every month and year for how
much you want to win. When you combine your goals with tracking
your results you learn how much you need to play and at what
level.

You play limit Texas holdem and are able to win on average
one big blind per hour. Your goal is to win $6,000 per month and
you’ve been playing 20 / 40. At this rate you need to play 150
hours during the month. This works out to roughly 35 hours per
week.

This also tells you that if you want to make more you either
need to win more per hour or play more hours. Winning more per
hour can be accomplished by increasing your rate of big blind
wins per hour or play a higher limit with the same big blind
wins per hour.

Playing this way becomes a grind, which many players realize
is as bad as or worse than having a regular job. This requires a
mental toughness and dedication that many players simply don’t
have for the long term. Consider this before making the switch
to full time play.

Finally you need the support of your family and everyone else
in your life. This is often overlooked, but if you have
relationships of any kind with a non-poker player they have to
understand how you make money.

One way to still have a relationship and be a professional
player is to schedule a day or two completely off every week.
This is good for both your relationship and your mental health.
Playing poker seven days a week is a form of torture for most
players.

Winning players travel to where the best games are located
and play when these games are available. This means if a game
you can beat is two hours away and starts at midnight and runs
for 18 hours you need to be able to be rested before the game,
be in good enough health to play, and have the understanding and
support from everyone in your life to be able to do it on a
regular basis.

My friends all play No Limit Texas Holdem, but
Limit Holdem seems like a simpler game to win. What’s your
opinion on this?

You should play the game that lets you win the most
per hour. This goes beyond choosing between limit and no limit
play. This also includes being willing to play at the limits the
offer the most return. The most profitable limit may not be the
highest limit your bankroll can afford.

You have a large enough bankroll to play $1,000 buy in no
limit Texas holdem or 50 / 100 limit. You’re an overall winner
at both, but your results are better as a limit player. At 50 /
100 limit you win a half a big bet per hour, but at 30 / 60
you’re able to win a full big bet per hour.

This means at 50 / 100 you win $50 per hour, but at 30 / 60
you win $60 per hour. You clearly should be playing 30 /60. If
you can win two big bets per hour playing 20 / 40 you should be
playing 20 / 40.

No limit Texas holdem offers the chance to win large amounts
when you win, but it also has a bigger variance than limit
holdem. The amount you can win per hour over the long run is
better for some players in no limit, but not for all players.
And even if you can win more per hour playing no limit you may
be more comfortable with the lower variance of playing limit.

Both games are mathematical in nature, but often limit Texas
holdem seems more straightforward. If you’re able to remain
patient, only play your best hands, use position to your
advantage, and understand odds, outs, and pot odds completely,
then you can follow a fairly simple script and grind out profits
playing limit holdem.

But the same can be said for no limit Texas holdem. So the
answer to your question is really which one do you feel more
comfortable playing, or which one shows you the best results?

We hate to give answers that aren’t specific, but in this
case you really need to decide which offers the best options for
you. One solid piece of advice we can offer is it doesn’t matter
what your friends or others think or say. The only things that
matters are your results.

I want to start hosting a weekly Texas Holdem game.
What do I need to get started?

The only things you must have to start are a place to
play, enough playing cards, tables, and chairs to run the game.
Of course having a few other things can be helpful.

In addition to having the things mentioned above, having a
unique set of chips players can use and a software package to
track the blinds and levels are the next two things we
recommend. You can find free and low cost software packages for
Texas holdem tournaments by doing a quick search online.

Chips are available in many places, but you need to be
careful about what you buy. The best chips are ones that are
unique to your game. If you use common chips how are you going
to stop a dishonest player from sneaking chips in from outside
the game? Custom chips are expensive, but you can also buy
stickers to print and place on inexpensive chips.

It’s also nice to have quality playing cards, but the higher
quality cards can be expensive. And you need to examine the
cards after every tournament to see if any have been damages or
marked.

The last thing to consider is whether or not you’re going to
provide dealers for the tournament. Dealers add more expense to
the game but they also help reduce cheating. If the players have
to deal some of them may cheat.

The problem with running a Texas holdem tournament is it can
be expensive, and if you charge an entry fee to cover your
expenses you’re breaking the law in many places. In most
jurisdictions if you’re charging any type of fee for entry to
the game you’re running an illegal gambling operation.

We’ve seen some creative ways that organizers have tried to
get around this, but we’d hate to have to fight in court using
them. Here are a couple that we’ve seen used.

One of our editors played in a weekly tournament where the
buy in was $100 and you paid a $20 fee. The organizers prepared
a nice meal for every player and claimed the $20 was for the
meal, not the game. But the problem was you couldn’t just play
for $100, you had to pay for the food.

Another ploy is to call the place a club or organization and
the extra money on top of the buy in is a membership fee. In our
non-legal opinion, the courts are probably not going to look
kindly on these types of things if you get caught.

We realize that poker tournaments are being run all over the
place and most of them are never bothered by the cops, but that
doesn’t mean you can’t be arrested and charged. This is
especially true if a player feels they’ve been cheated and
complain to the authorities.

We’re not offering legal advice, but make sure you consider
all of the possible ramifications before you start hosting a
game.

I have a hard time figuring my odds, percentages,
and pot odds during a game. Are there any shortcuts you can
recommend to make it easier?

The easiest way to make a close guess to your chances
of winning hand after the flop is to use the following trick.
Learn how to count your outs first. This is easy and most
players can learn this quickly.

Texas Hold'em Agame

If you have four to a flush you know the deck has nine other
cards of your suit. So you have nine outs.

Once you know how many outs you have if you still have the
turn and river you multiply your outs by four. If you just have
the river to come you multiply you routs by two. This gives you
roughly the percentage chance you have of winning the hand.

In the example above of a flush draw and nine outs, the
estimated chances with both the turn and river to come are 36%
and with just the river to come is 18%. The true odds are 35%
and 19.6% so you can see that this quick trick gives you a
strong estimate of your chances.

The next trick is to learn the most common situation and
memorize them. The flush draw in the example above is a common
one, as well as an open ended straight draw, two pair or three
of a kind improving to a full house, and having two over cards
with hopes of pairing one of them.

You also need to have an idea of how your percentage chances
of winning or hitting your hand relate to the pot odds. Pot odds
are simply the comparison of the amount of money in the pot and
the amount you have to call in order to stay in the hand. When
you compare your chances of winning with the pot odds you can
determine if it’s profitable or not to stay in the hand.

If the pot has $100 in it and you have to call $20 and you
have the flush draw mentioned above after the flop, the pot odds
are favorable to call. You’re going to hit your flush a little
over one out of every three times based on the 36% chance. We
now know that your actual chance is 35%, but the estimate is
close enough.

This means that every three times you win once and lose
twice. So if the pot has more than two times the amount you have
to put in then the pot odds are in your favor.

If you’re in the same situation but on the river instead of
before the turn you have a 18% chance, really 19.6%, so this is
roughly one out of every five times.

This means that you’ll win once and lose four times out of
every five. In other words your pot chances are four to one. The
pot is offering five to one odds, with $100 in it and you have
to call $20, so the pot is offering a better return than your
odds of making the hand. This means you need to call.

Pot odds can be intimidating, but if you start with the
simple steps we just covered you’ll quickly learn to determine
your chances of winning and if you should play or fold in most
situations.

I play No Limit Texas Holdem recreationally and do
pretty good overall. I track my play and win a little more than
I lose and am considering playing more. But I have a good job
and don’t plan to ever play full time or professionally. Should
I try to invest more time and effort into poker or just be happy
with my current results?

First of all, let us say congratulations on being a
winning Texas holdem player. It’s not as easy as many make it
seem, so you’re ahead of the majority of players.

Concerning the rest of your question, this is getting
dangerously close to letting someone else tell you what to do
with your life. We can offer advice on what you can do to
improve your game, but it sounds like you’re somewhat happy with
your current situation.

In order to get better at Texas holdem you’re going to need
to dedicate more time and effort to the game and that time has
to be taken away from something else. Only you can decide if
you’re going to be happier making these changes or if improving
your poker results will make you happier.

Being a good recreational player and having a good job you
enjoy is a good thing. But having a full time job and being a
really good poker player are rarely found together.

If you want to try to improve your results start by taking an
extra 30 minutes a day and dedicate it to improving your holdem
skills. This can be spent reading about how to be a better
player, studying other players, or researching articles online
designed to improve the weak spots in your game.

Do this for a month and then try to judge your results and if
you’re happier than before. Let us warn you about trying to
judge your happiness though. This evaluation can be somewhat
subjective and change based on other things in your life.

You should also realize that many people who are good holdem
players have quit their jobs to play full time and found they
hated the grind. Even some winning players have went back to
doing something else for a living and playing as a hobby. Being
a full time poker player isn’t easy and it isn’t always fun.

I play in a weekly No Limit Texas Holdem tournament
and many players move all in every time they have Ace King. I
try to never get all in with Ace King, but I’m not very
experienced and am beginning to think I might be playing wrong.
Can you help me?

Don’t worry, just because everyone else seems to be
doing something it doesn’t mean you’re wrong. In this case
you’re the one who’s playing correctly, not your opponents.

In most situations the best you can hope for with ace king is
a roughly 50 / 50 chance of winning. When you hold ace kin
against a player with a pair lower than kings it’s basically a
toss-up. But if you hold ace kin against a pair of aces or kings
you’re dominated.

You don’t win Texas holdem tournaments by getting all in with
50 / 50 hands. If you play only four 50 / 50 hands during a
tournament all in you only have a 6.25% chance of still being
alive.

Focus on hands that give you a much higher percentage chance
of winning and winning smaller pots to build your chip stack so
you don’t have to get all in often.

You also need to understand that most Texas holdem players
lose over the long term. This means that just because everyone
seems to be doing it, it doesn’t mean it’s going to win in the
long run. Learn how to determine if a situation is profitable of
not so you don’t have to rely on what others are doing.

I’m a Texas Holdem player and often get frustrated
when players make bad plays but end up winning. I know in the
long run I make money when I play hands as a favorite, but I’m
considering switching to Omaha 8. Is this a good idea?

While it’s true that Omaha 8 is a more predictable
and straightforward mathematical game, you’re still going to
face the same irritations because players are still going to
make bad plays and sometimes they’ll still win.

The key in Texas holdem, or Omaha, or any other game of poker
is to put yourself in a positive expectation position as often
as possible and then let the long term percentages play in your
favor. If you do this you’ll suffer some ups and downs, but in
the long run you’re going to win more than you lose.

The reason Omaha 8 is more predictable than Texas holdem is
because of the amount of information you have during each hand.
In Texas holdem you know the identity of two cards before the
flop, your hole cards, and five cards after the flop, your two
hole cards and the three on the flop.

In Omaha you know the identity of four cards before the flop
and seven cards after the flop. The added cards reduce the
possibilities for the rest of the hand and after the flop you
have five of the seven cards you’re going to be able to use to
make your hand.

All of this means that for players who have a deep
understanding f the mathematics behind poker Omaha is somewhat
easier. But the same player can use the same math to be a
winning Texas holdem player also.

The only reason you should consider switching from Texas
holdem to Omaha 8 is if you can make more money in the long run
playing Omaha than holdem. You need to learn to deal with the
frustration of playing against bad players, because the only way
you make money at the poker table is by playing against players
who are worse than you.

You say you know that you make money by playing hands as a
favorite, but this doesn’t seem to be satisfactory to you. We
suggest stepping back and trying to look at poker as a way to
make short term investments instead of as a game. Short term
investments can increase or decrease, but if you make the smart
investment more often than not they make a positive return over
time.

Being the best Texas holdem player you can be requires
dedication and constant study. One of the best ways to learn new
things is by reading the questions and answers of other players.

Take a few moments to write down the things you learned from
the questions and answers above. By writing them down while
they’re fresh in your mind you won’t forget anything important
and it helps ingrain the lessons in your mind.

Up until the 2000s, seven card stud was the dominant form of poker throughout many parts of the world. But this changed during the poker boom of the mid 2000s, when Texas holdem became the preferred game for every major tournament.

Thanks to this popularity, millions of people now play Texas holdem on a daily basis. And no matter whether you’re just playing with friends or grinding in online casino cash games, the goal is always to win money.

But how do you win if you’re a beginner and / or not very good at poker?

Find out in this comprehensive guide, where we take you from the basics to the techniques that’ll help you beat Texas holdem.

The Basics of Winning at Texas Holdem Poker

Texas holdem is often described as taking 5 minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. This is even truer today with strategy being so readily available, giving more players the opportunity to become experts.

Nevertheless, everybody has to start somewhere with the game, and that somewhere should not immediately be real money poker tables.

247 Free Poker Games Texas Holdem

If you’re new to the game or just looking for a solid strategy base, here are the basic concepts that you should know.

Table Position

One of the most overlooked concepts among poker beginners is table position, meaning you act after opponents.

Position is measured by where you sit in relation to the big blind. The dealer button is the latest position, while the small blind is the earliest.

The reason why position is so important is because it allows you to gain more information based on your opponents’ decisions. Additionally, having position on most or all of your opponents helps you control the pot size and better read your opponents’ hand strength.

On a 9 seat table, here’s how table position looks:

Early Position

Small blind, big blind, seat to the big blind’s left. You generally want to play strong hands from these spots because you don’t have as much information.

Middle Position

The next three seats. Middle position gives you an idea of what a few players are doing. But you still want to be cautious about what hands you play in this area.

Late Position

Dealer button, best, and the two seats to its right. Late position gives you a good opportunity to steal blinds, small pots, and judge opponents’ hand strength on later streets.

While it’s entirely possible to win from any position on the table, the majority of your Texas holdem winnings will come from late position, while most losses will come from early position.

Limit the Number of Hands You Play

The single biggest Texas holdem mistake bar none is playing too many hands.

Many new players think that they can play a wide range of hands on speculation. But the truth is that most of the 169 possible starting hands are complete garbage.

Before we continue, here’s a look at the top 10 starting Texas holdem hands:

These are premium hands that are playable in many situations, regardless of your table position.

As you can see, popular hands like A Q, K J, and 9 9 are not on this list. Yet many players treat these cards like they’re premium hands, playing them in any situation.

The majority of beginners also have trouble understanding how their hand strength relates to position.

If you have QQ through A A, table position won’t be a factor because these are premium hands. But when you play hands like K J, Q J, 8 8, and A T from early position, you can be put into a difficult situation if somebody raises.

Another mistake that players make is overvaluing speculative hands like suited connectors, or consecutive cards of the same suit, i.e. 6d 7d. While there are certainly times where these hands are valuable, you’ll be better off folding these cards the vast majority of the time.

In fact, you should be folding 80 to 85% of your hands until you develop a better understanding of poker. As you gain more experience, you’ll develop a better idea on when to play certain hands based on opponents, table position, and previous bets.

Reading Opponents

Reading Texas holdem opponents is less about identifying a nervous ticks than it is about paying attention.

When you first come onto a table with new opponents, you have no information about what range of hands they like to play or the type of bets they make in specific situations. The best that you can do in these situations is pay attention and take mental notes.

The good news is that if you’re folding 80 to 85% of the time like we suggested before, you’ll have plenty of hands to observe opponents. You can then use this information when you’re faced with difficult decisions against the same opponents whom you’ve been watching.

You’ll find no shortage of things to look for when observing other players. But key factors to look for include what range of hands they play in each position, when they bet, the size of their raises / re raises, and how often they bluff.

As you play more Texas holdem, you’ll eventually begin seeing patterns in less skilled opponents that you can exploit.

Limit Your Bluffing, Look for the Right Opportunities

Aside from playing too many hands, another mistake that new players make is bluffing too often. We can blame Hollywood for this, but the key is that you understand the reality behind bluffing.

Before we continue, the main types of bluff include: small bluffs, semi bluffs, and naked bluffs.

Small Bluff

Small bluffs are bets that are normally made in late position to steal blinds and small pots. The idea is to keep your bet low so that you risk very little to earn a small profit.

The flop is Js Jh 4c, and everybody checks to you on the dealer button.

Either somebody has a jack in this situation and they’re slow playing it, or nobody has a jack and they don’t like the board.

Odds are that it’s the latter, and you can steal this pot with a small bet that represents strength.

Texas Hold'em Rules

Semi Bluff

A semi bluff is a bet / raise where you don’t have a made hand, but you could possibly still win the pot later.

You raise pre flop with Ac Kc and draw two callers. The flop is dealt 10c 2h 8c.

The first player checks, and the second makes a two thirds, pot sized bet. You make a pot sized raise in late position in hopes of pushing them out of the hand.

Assuming they have any pair, then they currently have you beat. But the fact that you can still win with your over cards or flush draw makes this a semi bluff.

Naked Bluff

The naked bluff, a.k.a. stone cold bluff, is the type that you see in poker movies, where somebody goes all in with 2 7 off suit and forces a fold.

These are the worst possible bluffs because they leave you totally exposed and out your money if the opponent calls.

You raise with 8s 7s in late position to steal blinds, but the small blind calls. You then see a flop of Kc 4d 2c.

The opponent makes a two thirds pot sized bet to open, and you come back with a 1.5x pot sized raise.

You have absolutely nothing in this situation because both your flush and straight draws were killed on the flop. Your only hope is that the opponent doesn’t have kings, or another made hand, and folds.

Naked bluffs can be useful in the right situations, for the right player. But you need to have experience and good reads on opponents before you can turn these plays into long term profits.

A good rule of thumb is to completely avoid naked bluffs until you’re adept at small bluffs, semi bluffs, and reading opponents.

Understand Basic Poker Math

Poker is often miscast as a game where you need to make great reads and incredible bluffs to win. While these aspects can help you gain an edge, it’s far more important that you understand the math behind playing certain hands rather than when to bluff with 3 9 off suit.

Below are the most important Texas holdem math concepts in the order that you should learn them.

Counting Outs

The best place to begin is with counting your outs, or the number of cards needed to make your desired hand.

You have an open ended straight draw, meaning there are four cards on either end that will complete your straight, giving you 8 total outs.

In order to calculate your outs, you need to know how to read the board, which shouldn’t be hard as long as you understand poker hand rankings.

Also note that you can’t count outs that will give your opponent / s a better hand.

You have an open ended straight draw, but two diamonds on the flop. Anybody with two diamonds in their starting hand will form a flush if another one lands on the turn or river.

That said, you can’t count the two diamonds that will complete your straight on either end, thus reducing your outs to 6.

Pot Odds

Pot odds help you decide when to make a tough call based on the amount of money in the pot compared to how much you must contribute to see the next card / showdown.

$20 is in the pot and your opponent bets $10, making the total pot $30. You now need to call $10 to play for the $30 pot, making your pot odds 30 to 10 or 3 to 1.

This alone doesn’t tell you anything, which is why you must figure out your chances of getting the card you need to win the hand.

An easy way to do this is by taking your outs, then multiplying this number by 4, which puts your chances of winning the hand into a percentage.

You have a flush draw, which gives you 9 outs to make your flush. Multiplying this by 4, you have a 36% chance of making your hand, or a ratio of 64 to 36.

The final step is to compare your ratio of winning the hand 64 to 36 to your 3 to 1 pot odds.

Since it’s hard comparing 64 to 36 to 3 to 1, let’s simplify 64 to 36 by dividing 64 by 36, making the ratio roughly 1.8 to 1.

Now, you can compare your 3 to 1 pot odds to 1.8 to 1 hand odds.

The idea is that you want to call if your pot odds are higher than your hand odds. Since they’re higher, you would make the call in this instance.

Implied Odds

Once you’re adept with pot odds, you can start factoring in implied odds, which take into account whether calls are worth making based on future betting action.

The goal of implied odds is to determine if your opponent will pay you off after your drawing hand is completed. In essence, implied odds can make what appears to be a non-profitable call based on pot odds turn into a profitable call.

The only problem with implied odds is that they don’t have a clean mathematical formula like pot odds. Instead, you’re estimating based on the board and an opponent’s previous betting patterns if they will pay you off.

You work your pot odds out to 3 to 1, and your odds of winning a hand to 3 to 2. Based on pot odds alone, you shouldn’t make this call.

But let’s also say that you hold 8s 9c on a board of Jh 10h 3s, and your opponent bets into the pot. Based on their previous betting patterns, you feel that the opponent will pay you off if you make the straight.

Based on the slim ratio that you’re already facing with 3 to 1 pot odds versus 3 to 2 hand odds, any future raise from the opponent will make this play worth calling.

Reverse Implied Odds

Continuing on the example above, you also have to consider that your opponent could have a flush draw based on the board. And if they hit this flush, you’ll lose regardless of whether you complete the straight.

This is where you should consider reverse implied odds, or the amount of money that you stand to lose based on an opponent making their hand.

Just like implied odds, this concept doesn’t have a clean mathematical formula that you can base your decision on.

But the basic idea is that you don’t want to call without pot odds if an opponent / s can form a better hand than you based on the board.

Essentially, reverse implied odds call on your to forget implied odd when opponents are drawing for a better hand.

Texas Holdem Tournaments vs Cash Games

In order to win in both Texas holdem cash games and tournaments, you need to understand that there are crucial strategy differences between the two. Here’s a closer look at the strategy nuances that you’ll see when moving from cash games to tournaments.

Texas Holdem Cash Game Strategy

One notable aspect about cash games is that you theoretically have unlimited chances to win. If you go all in and bust out, you can buy back in and continue playing.

This allows you to be more aggressive with your chips and play the odds to a T. Furthermore, you’ll find that it’s always correct to chase draws when you estimate good pot odds and implied odds.

Even if you fail to make your hand, which happens the majority of the time, you’re still making smart positive expected value +EV plays.

Another notable factor about tourneys is that you should always be playing with a full stack size. This allows you to get maximum benefit out of any +EV situations where you need to make large raises / re raises or go all in.

Any time that your chip stack is less than the max buy in, you should get more chips to build it to the max.

Texas Holdem Tournament Strategy

Chips gain more value in poker tournaments because, outside of rebuy events, you can’t replace them. This means that you need to be more conservative with your chips in certain spots.

You’re getting 4.2 to 1 pot odds and have a 4 to 1 chance to hit your drawing hand. In a cash game, the correct decision would be to call; in a tournament, this thin value isn’t worth the risk to your stack size.

Aside from representing your tournament life, your chip stack size also plays a role in the overall strength of your bets, raises, and bluffs. The larger your stack, the better you can intimidate smaller stacks that are fighting for their tournament lives.

On the reverse side, having a smaller stack forces you to be more aggressive in situations that you might not otherwise be.

Specifically, when your chip stack falls below 10 big blinds, you need to look for any chance you can to steal blinds and / or double up. Oftentimes, these won’t be your favorite time to go all in, but you can’t afford to let the blinds wither your chip stack to nothing.

Quality of Tournament Players vs. Cash Players

One more thing worth noting is that you’ll generally face weaker players in Texas holdem tournaments.

For starters, Texas Holdem is one of the simplest poker variations to learn, making it popular among beginners and recreational players.

Another element is that players can only lose as much as their tournament buy in. This is more comforting than cash games, where there’s no limit on the amount of money that you can lose.

Online Texas Holdem vs Live Texas Holdem

Another big division in Texas holdem strategy comes between the live and online format. That being said, let’s look at what you need to be aware of when transitioning between the two.

Hands Per Hour

The rate of hands that you play in online poker versus live poker isn’t even close.

At a standard online Texas holdem table, you’ll play anywhere from 60 80 hands per hour HPH on average. If you multi table, you could easily play hundreds of HPH.

Contrast this to live poker, where, even with an experienced dealer, you’ll only play 20 to 30 HPH.

This is both good and bad as far as online poker goes. On one side, you gain more experience through internet poker since you’ll see more hands. On the other hand, you stand to lose more money if you’re not very good.

Assuming you do become great at poker, the online version will provide you with a better hourly rate. You can also get over downswings quicker since you’ll be playing more HPH.

Online Poker Forces You into Quick Decisions

Internet poker sites feature timers that force you into quick decisions.

This is good from the perspective that other players can’t stall when thinking about decisions. But it’s also bad when you’re trying to improve and can’t make snap decisions.

If you start playing bad due to the faster pace, this can lead to tilt, or the mental state where you make bad decisions because you’re no longer in the optimal poker mind state.

This makes being aware of yourself and your mind state one of the most important factors in online poker success.

Live Texas Holdem Offers Physical Tells

The number of tells that you can gather from nervous facial expressions is overrated in live poker. But the fact is that you can gain physical information from live poker players through their facial expressions, hand movements, posture, and talkativeness.

When playing internet poker, the only tell that you have is your opponents’ betting patterns and range of playable hands.

This is still enough to gain crucial information that can help you win. But it also cuts out one weapon since you can’t physically observe how your opponents react in certain situations.

Texas Holdem Bankroll Management

Far too many beginning poker players jump into tournaments or cash games with only a few buy ins to their name.

We get it: the prospect of winning money through poker is exciting when you set your mind to it. But due to the variance / downswings of poker, you won’t last very long without a sizable number of buy ins.

Below, you can see what to plan for in terms of bankroll management.

What Stakes Should You Play?

The first step to poker bankroll management is figuring out how much money you can afford to play with. Look at your finances and bills, then come to a determination on a comfortable amount that you can put towards poker.

The next step is figuring out what stakes you should be playing based on this amount.

A good guideline for cash games is to never play stakes where you have to risk more than 5% of your bankroll at once. If you have $500 set aside, then you should never play a cash game where the max buy in is over $25.

Tournaments are different because there’s more variance involved due to only 10 15% of the field making money. This is why it’s good to play stakes where you can cover at least 100 buy ins.

If you want to play tourneys with $10 + $1 buy ins, you should have a bankroll of $1,100 or more.

Deal with Variance

Expanding on the previous topic, having a solid bankroll helps you survive downswings and variance that might otherwise wipe out your funds.

Given that poker has elements of chance, you’ll go through periods where nothing seems to go right no matter how well you’re playing. Bad beats, poor card runs, and tilt will all wreak havoc on your bankroll at some point.

Pulling out of these downswings not only requires patience and skill, but also enough money to cover the losses.

Focus on More Than Money

The primary reason why people play Texas holdem is to make profits. But if you’re only focusing on how much you win and lose each session, then you’ll do far more of the latter.

Instead, you should focus on goals that will improve your long term skills so that you can make money.

Examples of non monetary goals include:

• Playing x number of hands per month
• Studying poker strategy for x number of hours each week
• Playing sessions for x number of hours
• Spending x number of hours analyzing your own play

Drop Down in Stakes

What should you do when you can’t pull out of a rut and are questioning your poker skills?

The best answer is to drop down in stakes for two reasons: 1) you’ll facer weaker competition, and 2) you’ll be risking less money per buy in.

Nobody wants to work their way up to a certain level, only to have to drop down because they’re not playing well. But sometimes this is the best remedy when nothing else is going right.

Poker Tools to Help You Beat Texas Holdem

What we’ve covered so far only scratches the surface of how you can become a better Texas holdem player.

The best tip we can give you is to never stop in your quest to keep improving because there’s always something to learn. Here’s a closer look at some tools that’ll boost your poker skills.

Texas Holdem Articles

Since the mid 2000s, thousands of poker articles have sprang up on the internet covering every Texas holdem topic imaginable.

You can either visit major poker sites and browse through their strategy section or just perform simple Google searches to find the exact topics that you’re looking for.

Texas Holdem Books

Books were once the dominant way to learn poker strategy. After all, the internet didn’t exist and players had no way to quickly access Texas holdem information.

Poker books aren’t as popular as they once were, but you can still find a great deal of information through both ebooks and hardcover works.

One of the best things about Texas holdem books is that they allow you to dive deep into the mindset of pros and how they play their hands.

Coaching

You can hire professionals to teach you poker either in person or online. Regarding the latter, coaches can use screen sharing software to see how you play internet poker and offer suggestions over the course of your play.

This is perhaps the quickest way to improve if you find a good coach. But the downside is that you have to pay a high hourly rate to hire the best coaches.

Forums

Since the Poker Boom, forums have become populated with both Texas holdem tips and discussion groups.

This has archived a great deal of poker strategy information that you can use to improve your play. You can even pose your own questions, although forums are becoming a less popular today thanks to the spread of social media.

Poker Software

Third party companies sell software that you can use at poker sites to gain advanced statistics on opponents.

The most popular type of software is a Heads Up Display HUD, which offers numbers and percentages on players’ tendencies.

Some HUDs can even offer you statistics on players whom you’ve never even seen. For this reason, many online poker sites have banned HUDs to give recreational players who don’t use software a fighting chance.

Training Videos

For Texas holdem players on a budget, the best value in poker strategy is training videos.

These videos feature mostly skilled pros explaining different strategy concepts while playing online poker.

This not only gives you more insight into how pros think, but it’s also cheaper than coaching. Many sites allow you to access thousands of training videos for a $30 monthly subscription fee.

Conclusion

One final thought on becoming a better poker pro is to constantly think about and analyze your play.

This is made easier through the use of online hand histories. But when you don’t have access to these, then at least replay difficult situations in your head and try to come up with solutions on how to work through these problems.

You can also pose specific hand questions / problems on forums or ask coaches.

Additionally, you should spend at least one hour studying strategy for every 3 to 4 hours you spend playing. This might not sound like fun, but the improvement that you see in your play will be well worth it.

And once again, there’s no cap on the amount of time that you can spend improving as a player. If you truly want to become a profitable player, then keep fine tuning your strategy and working your way up the stakes.