POT LIMIT

Pot Limit has much more in common with No Limit Texas Holdem. These two variants offer players more excitement as the amounts at stake on a single hand of cards can rise considerably. In Pot Limit raises, as the name suggests are limited by the size of the pot. In reality this can equate to very significant pots and/or all in situations very quickly. The essential difference then is that with Pot Limit Holdem you will see more flops than you otherwise would in a No-Limit game because the price of seeing the flop is often lower or capped by the pot itself.

NO LIMIT

No Limit Texas Holdem Poker is the most popular version of poker played today. It is an exciting game of skill which takes time and experience to master. Far more complicated and intellectually challenging than the 5 from 7 cards would suggest this is the version as seen on television and played as the Main Event at the World Series of Poker.

In the No Limit game your betting level is only dictated by your confidence in your hand, your ability to bluff and the number of chips in front of you. This most common of all poker games is difficult to master and a dangerous place for new players to be. So much so that new players are often referred to as fish due to their inexperience and the ease with which experienced players will win.

New players usually believe poker is a game of chance, that a lot of luck is involved and that the cards you hold are all important. In reality poker, particularly the No Limit variant of Texas Holdem is a skill game with only a small element of chance involved in each hand. Cards are not the most important element of this game, how you play them and how you read your opponents being more important than the cards you hold.

Texas Holdem is the only card game where you can win with the losing hand so the issue is more how you play not what you play. This is most graphically demonstrated by the televised competitions where fields in excess of a thousand begin and yet the final tables usually comprise a range of familiar faces that we see time and again on our television screens such as Daniel Negrano, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey or Doyle Brunson.

TEXAS HOLDEM STRATEGY

Texas Holdem Poker Strategy is all about situational reading and adjusting to cir*****stances. A mix of table position, bluffing, betting strategy, and just occasionally the cards you hold. There are differences between land based and internet play which are primarily to do with the nature of tells being different (you do get tells in internet play) and rake is usually more expensive in a land based card game due to higher overheads.

At the end of the day not everyone can be a good poker player, but all new players will benefit from understanding the game and various strategies in order to improve their play. Different people have different levels of perception so it follows that some play well and others cannot, and never will. Strategy cannot be covered in a short write up so I’ll break this down into bite sized chunks covering different game types.

General Strategy

Texas Holdem the most aggressive of all poker games, the best chance a player has is to be dealt a pair of high hole cards. Before the flop, bet aggressively to eliminate weaker players from the round to build the pot and increase the ratio of your chances. If the flop in conjunction with your hole cards gives you three of a kind, that’s what you’re looking for and you can continue to bet aggressively. If you have two high hole cards that aren’t paired, it is also a good hand, and you can bet in the same way as long as it’s before the flop.

If the flop gives you three of a kind, it is possible that another player has the same hand since the pair now belongs to every player. Beware of the flop that has consecutive denominations or three of the same suit since it is likely that a flush or straight will develop for another player.

Watch how your opponents are betting and if a player who doesn’t usually bluff is betting for a straight or flush, then it’s only worth your while to stay in if the investment is affordable or the odds of a superior hand are good.

If you haven’t made a full house or better on the turn of this type of hand, then fold since the odds of someone having a straight or flush are good. It is generally accepted that if the flop disposes to a flush or straight, the good player won’t play for the low end of either, since an opponent will probably be playing to the high end. Again, watch the betting. Keep in mind that betting for a straight or flush is usually characterised by more cautious passive play.

Only draw to a straight if your hole cards don’t sit on either end of the hand, but sit together or close at the high end. If the flop leaves you with two options, one of a high straight and another good hand, maybe a flush or three of a kind, then you have a good hand and can quite comfortably bet and raise to increase the pot and eliminate players who didn’t receive useful community cards.

With the understanding that high pairs or two high hole cards will make a player who is not bluffing bet aggressively, it is sometimes worth your while to stay in if you have a mixed bag. If you’re dealt a high card and a low card or maybe two consecutive low cards for a straight, then judge the betting of the other players. It is much easier to do this if your betting position is last or close to last. If you are first to bet and are unsure, then a check might be the best play and you can always fold if you find other players are betting aggressively.

It is always wise to gauge your potential hand against the players proposed hands which should be suggested in their approach to betting. Of course, the longer you play an opponent the more informed you become about their style of play, how often they bluff or if they do at all. Always use bluffing sparingly, as it doesn’t work if players expect it of you.

Table Position

One of the most important, arguably the most important element of Texas Holdem Strategy is the concept of Table Position and how to use it. Texas Holdem Rules state blinds and the button must pass from one person to the next each hand in a clockwise direction. The person who acts first is known as being under the gun because they have to bet first with no knowledge of anyone elses hand. The player last to act (the Big Blind) has a great advantage in that they see everyone’s bet and also their expressions, mannerisms and other tells before betting themselves.

Poker and No Limit Texas Holdem in particular is an informational game where position provides many opportunities to pick up pots. A variety of situations will occur where you are in late position and the pot receives only one or two blind sized calling bets. These are opportunities to raise on a bluff and pick up blinds and called bets, especially where there are no early position callers and if you have been playing solidly (i.e not bluffing often).

There are 169 possible starting hand combinations so it stands to reason that a top 10 hand will appear once every 17 hands on average. As such there will often be no really good hands in play (every other round in a ten handed game) so bluffs from tight players in late position often work.

Texas Holdem Poker Tells

The land based game is well know for poker tells as many people are unable to keep body language under control in certain situations, particularly high starting hand combinations such as a pair of aces or kings. Online Texas Holdem Poker also has tells, they are just more subtle. Tells online usually take the form of time delay and bet size in relation to normal behaviour. At any poker table a good poker player will always size up and classify the competition prior to playing. This is easy to do online because you can watch tables before sitting down to play. It is important to watch people in order to work out their playing styles which will fit into one of the following categories:

• Rock
• Calling Station
• Loose
• Aggressive
• Very Aggressive, otherwise known as Maniacs