Category: Gambling and Casinos

It’s obvious to everyone that Texas Holdem is the most popular form of poker in the world today. It’s unthinkable to have a brick and mortar or online poker room that doesn’t spread Holdem in one form or another. It’s also the chosen game for the biggest poker cash tournaments in history, including the main event of the World Series Of Poker which decides the world champion each year.

The reasons for Holdem’s success as a game are numerous, including it’s easy to learn rules, complex advanced strategies, quickness of play and well proportioned balance between luck and skill. It’s inherent properties seem to offer something for all types of poker players. Action junkies will love the quickness play and sophisticated bettors can enjoy learning the endlessly debated advanced strategies possible. Another big part of the games growth comes from the actuality that the cards and odds often allow for rookie players to win a session or tournament against practiced players. Achieving results, even just occasionally, always encourages new hobbyists to continue playing without intimidation.

Will Holdem always be the poker game of choice, or is it possible another game will become the new favorite? Older poker games like Stud and Draw could possibly regain some momentum however this is an unlikely scenario as these games are currently being shunned by many new action players for their naturally slow pace of play. Other known games like Guts (3 card poker) seem a little too wild and precarious for most players and Pan (a form of chinese poker) is immediately seen as being just too complicated.

It is more likely that a newer game like Crazy Pineapple or Badugi would take over as the number one. Pineapple is essentially a spin-off from Holdem and Badugi is a fun new form of 4-card poker that is played triple-draw for low. These new games can be exciting poker alternatives when a bit of variety is needed in our playing sessions.

Keeping Holdem as a foundation to their poker activities, most players seem to learn the rules and dabble in the other poker games after a year or two of play. Regardless of these tendencies, it’s certain that the Holdem craze is not going to end anytime soon since it has been the introductory game for the biggest wave of new players in history.

Poker has the distinction of being one of the oldest card games around. A universal game that can be played anywhere and at anytime, poker transcends languages and locations, and not just confined to casinos or bars. Its burgeoning popularity has given rise to many different types of poker games such as Texas Holdem, Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Better High-Low Stud and various others. It is one of the most popular online gambling games around, as seen with the huge rise in the number of dedicated online poker rooms and poker clubs.

But before you wear your shades, strap on the green visor and throw down your life’s savings, you are going to have to know when to hold’em and when to fold’em. It’s probably a good idea when learning the rudiments of the game, to have a firm grasp of the Poker hand rankings and the unique language that you’ll hear at the poker table. Burn this information to memory; you’ll be glad you did. After all, even though you might be new to this game, there is no need for the other players at the table to know.

Having a strategy going into this game is very important if you want to be taken seriously and convince other players you are the bees knees. So here are some of the basic points you need to keep in mind to keep you one step ahead of your fellow players. The best place to start is at some of the online poker rooms so that you can perfect those skills and variables before playing in the real world

Quick Reminders:

1. When you have a rubbish hand, fold fast.

2. Do not pretend that you are a big spender poker player unless you have the bankroll to back it up. A rule of thumb is that you should have at least 50 times the table limit to play with.

3. If you are lucky enough to hold an unbeatable hand, remember Nicholas Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas and make sure you make the players pay dearly to see it.

4. The first 5/7 cards you receive will be the foundation of your hand. Build your strategy around these. You’re not likely to better your opening hand and the odds of improving your hand on the draw are about even.

5. You will soon discover who the strong players are at the table, but it is important that you focus on your own game rather than focusing on trying to beat them. You may risk losing big time if you’re not lucky. If you’re lucky enough to win, it’ll hardly be worth the effort.

7. Commit this to memory: If you can’t beat the other hands, don’t join them, fold and live to play another day. The table will always be ready when you are. Above all else, try to have fun.

8. Unpredictability can be good. Most pros are able figure out a really loose player by waiting for the nuts and being patient. However, an even easier opponent is a tight player or “rock”, who plays only the Group 1 type hands. You need to change your game up, and let them see that you can run bluffs, and play some lower value starting hands as well. These changes should be subtle and shouldn’t dramatically affect the flop rate.

9. Always learn from others; never be complacent that you know it all. That just gives other players the chance to take advantage of your weakness.

In Texas holdem the first two cards dealt to each player are the holdem starting hands. As a players’ starting hand consists of two “hole” cards it is essential that the odds on the dealt cards are understood as it is on the strength of these two cards that the decision to bet will be made.

One hand in every 17 dealt will be a “pocket pair” (2 cards of the same rank), 4 hands out of every 17 will be “suited” cards (and a potential Flush) and 12 in 17 will be “offsuit” hands ( which could be ranking cards and potential high pairs e.g. Ace of Hearts and King of Clubs).

Generally all of the holdem starting hands have different strengths, these are rated on the assumption that nine or ten people are playing so if you are one of the first players any “pocket pair” is worth a bet but higher pairs should be played with restraint to leave your opponents guessing as to their value. The later your position at the table will influence the choices you make according to the value of your cards, the number of active hands and the size of the bets. If you were the seventh to tenth player and there were several active bets and raises a small pair should probably be discarded. High “suit” cards are probably worth a small bet early in the table and, if the stakes are not too high, they are worth holding on to if you are later in the table.

The “offsuit” hands are not such a good bet whatever your position at the table and even an Ace, King combination is only ranked around 12th position in a table of winning probabilities. The top ranked probabilities are the pocket pairs’ Aces to Queens followed by the “suited” cards Ace King and Ace Queen. How you play your hand will depend on how others play their hands and even on how you feel. You should always be aware of the odds on your hand being the winner and bet accordingly.

Even the best odds and reasoning can be thwarted when the community cards are exposed, especially the with the river card. The real skill is in knowing at which point you keep betting but, more importantly, at which point you don’t bet. The ability to recognise and run a bluff is also important. Knowing a good hand is not a guarantee of success but knowing the best holdem starting hands can certainly influence your decisions.

There is one hand in Texas Hold ‘Em that you will hear a lot about as you begin to play the game. It is commonly called Big Slick, and it is when you are dealt an Ace and a King. AK can be a powerful hand, but it can turn on you and become deadly in the blink of an eye. Let’s take a closer look at this unique hand.

There are two types of Big Slick. One is when you are dealt an Ace and a King and they are suited. The other type is when they are not suited.

As you might imagine, the suited AK is more powerful (pre-flop) than the unsuited AK. The reason for this is simple but important. A suited AK holds potential for becoming the nut flush if you happen to draw two or three of the same suit on the Flop, Turn, or River. Having the nuts means that you have the highest ranked hand possible for that particular rank. Let’s say your Hold cards are the Ace and King of clubs. Three more clubs show up on the Flop. You now have the nut flush because there is no other club higher than the Ace of clubs that you hold in your hand. Because you also hold the King of clubs, you have the five clubs needed to make a flush. If someone else is holding two clubs, they will lose to you because of your Ace. A nut flush is a very powerful hand and is not easily beat.

But that does not mean it cannot be beat! Be careful and keep your eye on the community cards. Remember, a Full House will beat even the best Flush, and that includes yours! It is also worth remembering that it is impossible for anyone to get a Full House unless there is at least one pair on the board. If there are no pairs on the board by the River card, then there can be no Full House in someone’s hand. The same applies to Four-of-a-Kind. No player against you can have Quad’s if there isn’t at least one pair showing on the board. Lastly, a Straight Flush will beat you, too, so keep an eye out for that sequence of cards. It’s unlikely this will happen, but it could.

Now there is the possibility that you won’t see the suit that you need to make your Flush on the flop. In fact, you may not see even one card with the suit that you need to go along with that suited AK in your hand. When this happens, your AK suited becomes no more powerful than an AK unsuited, and it’s very important that you change gears and play the AK as if the Flush was not even an option.

When you are playing an AK and there is no possibility for a Flush draw, then you have think about pairing up or making a set. The AK in your hand, even if it is suited, will be beat by as low a hand as a pair of 2’s if you do not improve your hand.

If you have AK unsuited pre-flop, you want to see a flop, but you don’t want to spend a whole lot of money in order to do so. If an Ace or a King shows up on the Flop, you are in much better shape to play the remainder of the hand. However, if you don’t pick up an Ace or a King on the Flop, you need to be careful about putting in more money if someone raises to you.

Whether you call the bet or fold will depend on some variables: Who you are playing against, how many players are left in the game at the time of the raise, and your level of skill and confidence. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, AK is great starting hand, but it can go south in hurry if you don’t catch the Flop.

As your level of experience increases, you’ll get a sense of when to fold that AK and when to hold it for a look at another card. In the meantime, it is a fairly good rule of thumb to fold that AK if you don’t pick up at least an Ace or a King on the Flop and someone raises to you. Chances are fairly good that they made their pair on the Flop and even though that AK looks good in your hand, it may not be worth very much and it almost certainly is not worth a big bet call on your part.

Be happy with AK in your hand, but watch out. It can slap you down and sooner or later it will slap you down. That, by the way, happens to all of us.