The following are some tips to playing Texas Hold'em. (The section on Poker Strategy gives some general information on online poker strategy for all variations.)
Hole Cards:
Play the right Hands! The first decision is to select the hands you play.
- Large Pairs - Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks. Even pairs of tens and nines and eights are high quality starting hands.
- Aces with suited High Cards - When you get an Ace with a K, Q, J, or even a ten, many good things can happen. You already have high card. If a flush comes, you'll have the best possible one because of your ace. High straights and even a straight flush are possible with these cards. Play them.
- Suited Faces Cards and Tens - While it's nicer to have an ace in the hole, suited face cards are playable hands. They hold a lot of potential including high pair with a strong kicker, straights, and flushes.
- Aces with unsuited High Cards - Aces with an unsuited partner can still give you top pair with a high kicker, or a high straight. Because other players may also have an ace, the strength of the second card in your hand is important. If two players tie, that second card, or 'kicker' will decide the winner. This is why A-10 is a playable hand, and A-6 is not. (A-10 can also turn into a high straight). So while aces are highly sought after, do not feel the need to play every hand in which you are dealt an ace.
- King with Face Card - A King with a Queen or with a Jack is a playable hand. But, it is not as strong as you may think. Still, two face cards rank high enough that seeing the flop is often a good idea.
Other Starting hands that are playable:
- Any low pair
- Connected cards in the same suit, for example 8-7, 6-5, 5-4 etc
- Ace-10, King-10, Queen-10 off suit
- King-9, Jack-8 on suit
Be careful, but it might be worth at least seeing the flop.
Starting hands you really shouldn't play
Basically, anything else. You can still get away with it, and if you're short stacked and forced to go all-in you may not have much choice, but they should generally be treated with extreme caution.
Always remember, that there's an inherent degree of luck involved with the game. While playing the percentages should lead to a profitable and rewarding time at the poker tables, bad beats are a part of the game. You can sit there with a pair of aces against a player with 2-7 and watch them flop three of a kind to beat your pocket rockets.
A good rule of thumb is to play fewer hands than your opponents.
On the Flop
- Abandon bad flops
If the flop doesn't fit, abandon it. It is very expensive to hope to make something from nothing at the flop. A lot of times you won't, and a lot of times others will make even better hands when you actually do improve.
- Inside Straight Draws
An inside straight draw is normally not so good to bet with, unless there is a lot of money in the pot already and the risk of being raised is very small.
- Flush and Straight Draws
A flush or outside straight draw at the flop is normally a good thing. If there are others in the pot, try to raise - if it doesn't scare people off - to get more money in, as you will win your fair share of the hands.
- Pocket Pairs
Pocket pairs that haven't made trips on the flop and with over cards on the flop are not so good. The chance of improving on the turn is very small.
- Scares
It is important to identify scares on the table. That is flops that can make draws for other players. When this happens, you will probably win less frequently than on a top pair.
~Three consecutive or close cards might very well give someone a straight draw.
~Two consecutive cards may give a two pair (more connectors played than other cards)
~A two flush on the board significantly reduces the profit of a straight draw. One in four of the cards you are waiting for could possibly give someone a flush!
On the Turn
Coming to the turn, the bet increases. Here's an opportunity for a lot of money to be won or lost. Managing to make it two bets on the turn when you'll win and no bets when you would have lost anyway, makes a winner in low limit Texas Hold'em! (Easier said than done, though!)
- Check Raise
Frequently go for a check raise on the turn with premium hands, as you're often checking/folding less good hands on the turn anyway. This way, your opponent will not be able to read your hand effectively.
- Acknowledge Bets and Raises
In low limit games, bluffing is not very common, which leads to another rule of thumb:
A raise on the turn almost always means that the other player has a good hand
This is especially true when there are more than two players in the pot. Don't be surprised if the opponent has trips or a made flush/straight.
- Don't bet on Draws
At the turn, the probability for making your hand is substantially lower than on the flop, and the number of opponents calling is probably less. Checking and calling is often the right thing to do, while betting is mostly wrong. (Unless you think you can scare the opponent off).
On the River
- Checking a weak hand
Normally you should bet out on the river if you feel you have a strong hand. There is one exception though. If you have a hand that was good at the flop but unimproved since (like a top pair with a weak kicker), have continued betting and just been called throughout the hand, you should probably be checking. The reason for this is that it is unlikely that you'll be called with a hand worse than yours (giving you no profit from betting) and you take the risk that someone has made a stronger hand on the river (maybe a two pair), and will raise you (making you lose money). This is a typical no-profit-for-risk scenario.
- Seeing it through
Frequently on the river there is enough money in the pots to make it worthwhile calling a bet, even if you are unsure if you have the best hand.
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