Texas Holdem Tactics
Texas Holdem is a game of skill, and every new player needs a couple of good strategies up their sleeve! We’ll take you through some of the most effective Texas Holdem strategies around, providing you with everything you need to know for a high-quality pre-flop and post-flop poker strategy.
- General Texas Hold'em table position tips. The big and small blind seats are horrible. Don't be fooled by the blinds! You may be one of the last to act before the flop, but for every betting round after that, you will either always be first or second to act. So make sure that you stick to playing the best cards in these seats and throw away any.
- Going head-to-head in Texas Hold’em is not the same as playing against multiple opponents. One of the most challenging forms of poker in the world is, without a doubt, heads-up No-Limit Texas Hold’em. Besides a little luck, it demands players to have a set of skills that are different from those seen when playing a table full of opponents.
Essential Texas Hold’em Moves If you want to win at poker you need to understand the basics — odds, outs, equity, hand values, position, etc. But there are also a handful of “special” moves that can make a big difference in your long-term poker win-rate. Some other miscellaneous tips: #39 Learn Other Game Variations. If you are brand new to Texas Hold’em, maybe put this one on the bucket list. However, learning a new game variation will broaden your poker knowledge and often you will acquire new strategies which are transferable straight back to Holdem.
Good Starting Hands
It’s important to know which hands to play and which hands to fold. A player who never folds and continually checks is one of the easiest opponents for a seasoned player to face. Knowing the true value of your hand, both pre-flop and post-flop, is absolutely vital for a successful poker strategy.
Let’s explore the best poker hands, giving you a good idea of when to raise and when to fold in Texas Holdem.
Pocket Aces and pocket Kings are probably the best pre-flop hands, giving you, at the very least, an extremely strong pair. But remember, the flop can completely change the landscape of the game, and if the board hasn’t improved your hand, it might be worth folding. It’s important not to get attached to specific cards in the pre-flop stage of the game!
Big cards are excellent in the pre-flop. Pocket Queens, Pocket Jacks, Ace King, and King Queen are great starting hands, they flop top pair a high percentage of the time, and as such they can be extremely tough to play against.
Suited connectors are great starting hands – they give you the best chance of making a straight or flush. The most effective way to play a suited connector starting hand is to check rather than raise, making your opponent put as much of their own money into the pot as possible. Suited connectors tend to be high risk, high reward, so you won’t want to play them 100% of the time. If you’re in an early or middle position on the board, it’s best to play these hands with diligence.
Like suited connectors, high value linked cards are strong cards. The flop and subsequent rounds can dramatically improve the poker hand odds of linked cards, providing you with a great opportunity to make it to the showdown with a winning hand.
The Texas Holdem hands with the most playability are the hands that you’re confident of taking to the flop and into the later rounds. Virtually every other starting hand is a losing ticket. Playing weak starting hands is one of the worst ways to approach poker strategy. Focusing on extracting the maximum value from the best poker hands is the best way of maximising your poker odds!
Tight Aggressive Style
The tight aggressive style of poker play is probably the best Texas Holdem poker strategy for a beginner, simply because most of the time you’ll be playing stronger hands than your opponents.
Playing with a tight aggressive style essentially means that you’ll be selective about which cards you take to the flop, but play and bet aggressively once you get there. It’s also a good way of convincing your opponent to fold. If you only play aggressively on strong hands you’ll have a lot of credibility at the table, and your opponents will be warier of taking you to the showdown!
Position
Playing from a strong position on the board is one of the most important elements of a successful poker strategy. In poker, information is king, and the last player to act in the round has the best opportunity to gather information from their opponents. When you’re in this position you’ll have a great shot at reading your opponents, and controlling the round from the get go!
Playing from a late position on the board means that you can play a wider range of hands, since you’ll have more information than your opponents, who’ll be continually second guessing the play. Lots of players get tempted to play from the blinds since they’ve already put money into the pot, but it’s important to remember that they’ll be playing out of position. In terms of basic Texas Holdem strategies, a tighter strategy is usually the best bet.
Poker Odds
Never tell me the odds? To be successful at poker, you’ll need to figure them out for yourself! Poker odds inform your probability of winning the hand, providing you with a surefire way of working out whether to bet. You’ll need to calculate your pot odds against your equity, it might sound tricky, but the maths is simple, and can be learnt by anyone with a little practice!
Slow Playing
Slow play is a poker strategy wherein you disguise the strength of your hand by checking, rather than raising, on a strong hand. When learning how to play Texas Holdem, many players choose to go with an extremely aggressive strategy, but this isn’t always the most suitable option.
Texas Holdem Strategy
Slow play works best when you’re playing against aggressive opponents, particularly opponents who are aggressive in the pre-flop. If you know an opponent plays aggressively even on weak hands, slow play can be a successful Texas Holdem poker strategy. When the pot is small, or shorthanded, slow play can help lure players with losing hands to the showdown, giving you excellent odds of winning the round.