Texas Hold'em Tactics

Texas Holdem Poker Tactics

Overview
How to win
Playing tactics
Starting Hands
Conclusion

Texas Holdem Tactics Overview

• Flop Percentage
  The flop percentage is the most important figure in determining the quality of players at the table. It shows how many players are paying to see the flop. It will give a good indication as to how loose a game is. On a ten-seat table 25% would be very tight and 40% pretty loose.
  
  
• Pot Size Average
  Another useful figure is the pot size average. It will also give an indication on how loose the game is. If the pots are large, more players are likely to be contributing
  

• 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!

• 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).
  
  
  

• 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.

Many of your opponents are going to be playing for fun, and as such, quite badly. At the very low limits most players are playing to pass the time and have fun. If they win great, but it is usually not their primary objective. Many of your opponents don’t mind losing $50 to $100, hey, that’s a cheap night out.

But when you play poker your main objective should always be to win money and improve your play, no matter what the limit. If this is always your primary goal you should be able to improve and move up to the higher limits. I have a great time while I play, but I never forget why I play, to hone my skills and most importantly to win money!

You will not be relying on luck to win, even at the low limits, although most of your foes will be. At low limit online holdem, there will be two key factors that will make you a winner. The first is that you will use patience and as such you will usually enter a pot only with a premium hand. The second factor is that you will not get married to your hands, that is, you will have the discipline to get away from even a premium hand when it becomes apparent that it is a loser. If you can do these two things you will beat any low limit online game (you will beat any brick and mortar game too).

Many of your opponents play too liberally, especially for their ability. Since your starting requirements will be higher than most of your opponents you will usually be ahead of them from the get go. If you can have the patience to only play good cards and the discipline to muck those cards when they are no longer winning you will be a winner at the low limits. I want to point out that this does not mean you will always beat your opponents, often one of them will catch lucky and beat you out of a pot. But by playing this sound, tight aggressive game it will ensure that you will take down more than your fair share of the pots, and be an overall winning player. This sounds quite simple doesn’t it?

Well it is but it does take patience and discipline, which most of your opponents will be lacking. But you will not lack it. You will exude it. As I’ve already mentioned several times patience and discipline are of paramount importance. Rest assured, I realize I am beating a dead horse here, but I don’t think I can stress enough how important these two traits are, well perhaps you’re starting to get the idea. If patience and discipline are all that is required to make you a winner at the low limit games you better make damn sure that you have it!

Before we get too deep into tactics I want to talk a little bit about "Luck". It does play an important factor in the short term. Especially, at lower limit games. As you move up in limits it plays less of a factor and skill becomes more important. Proof of this is the simple fact that you see the same people year after year making it to the World Series of Poker final tables. How can this be explained if skill isn’t the primary factor? It can’t, skill is the primary factor, and you will be a skillful player

Since you will be exercising extreme patience and discipline, the results will be, you will consistently start with better hands than your opponents. As such the hands you don’t win will be because your opponents got lucky against you. You will almost always be leading before the flop in most hands you play.

Occasionally you will play some weaker drawing hands from late position, but these will be the exceptions not the norm. Again, this does not mean you will win every hand, but it does mean you will win more than your fair share of pots that you get involved in.

PLAYING TACTICS

In this section I will discuss position, what hands you should play, when you can play them and how to play them. When you should bluff, and when you shouldn’t. Remember your main advantage will be that when you enter a pot you will usually have a better starting hand than your adversary’s. And, when you get an unfavorable flop you will have the discipline to muck your hand and save those big turn and river bets.

You may ask yourself how do I accomplish this, after all the cards get dealt out randomly, so how can I ensure that I start with better cards than my foes? Well remember that patience and discipline we spoke about, of course you do, I mentioned them about twenty times, by exercising those two qualities

you can ensure that you will usually enter the pot with the best starting hand. It’s not easy, you may find yourself getting bored, having to fold over and over again. But if you do have the discipline to follow this strategy and to not to play any garbage hands, and not to play any hands out of position, I assure you that you will beat these low limit games.

Most of the low limit players simply can’t be bluffed so don’t try and bluff them, ever. We will use a technique called a semi-bluff, but never a pure bluff. Your edge will be that you usually have a better starting hand than they do. As such you will be doing a lot of value betting, that is putting in as much money as you can into the pot with what figures to be the best hand. That is your strategy in a nutshell.

The first thing you should know is that holdem poker is a highly positional game. I want to stress that since this is aimed at a beginner/intermediate player I am not going to spend too much time discussing position. Position will be discussed but at a rudimentary level. The higher the limit the more important position is. In No Limit position is of paramount importance.

Even in low limit games position is important and can seem somewhat complicated. Let us try and shed some light on this. The best position is the button. If you have the button you are always last to act during each betting round of that particular hand. You have the luxury of gaining all sorts of information about the strength or weaknesses of your opponents hands based on their actions. Since they must always act before you, you will always be armed with important information you would not be privy to in a weaker position.

If everyone checks to you, and you have a mediocre hand you can bet it. If you have nothing you can check and give yourself a free card. If you have a hand that you want to try and limit the field on you can raise, or re-raise in the hopes of driving out other players (the blinds in particular). If you have an average hand like pocket nines and the pot has been raised, and re-raised you can muck your hand without it costing you a thing. There are tremendous advantages to always being able to act last, and as such you will be able to play some hands on the button that you can not play from early position.

The next best position is one seat to the right of the button. In this seat you will always be second last to act, and if the player on the button folds, you will be last to act. As you move further and further away from the button your positional advantage decreases. The worst position is the first seat to the right of the big blind, as its name denotes "under the gun" it is a place you don’t really want to be in without holding a strong hand. The worse you position the stronger your hand must be to ender the pot. So there are much less hands you would be willing to enter the pot with under the gun as opposed to on the button.

You will notice that I discuss in great detail how to play your cards before the flop and on the flop. I don’t even bother with detailed analysis on how to play your hands on the turn, and on the river. The reason for this is because all of these hands I will discuss play pretty much the same on the turn and on the river. If you are willing to continue with your hand after the flop, you should suspect that you currently have the best hand, otherwise you usually should fold. Thus, if you have the best hand, bet and protect your hand, make your opponents pay if they want to draw out on you. Never let your opponents have a free draw to beat you. If your opponents shown considerable strength and re-raise you, you will either muck your hand if you know you are beat, or you will check and call the hand down if you believe there is still a reasonable chance you may still have the best hand.

STARTING HANDS

Hand 1 Pocket Aces A A . (Pre-Flop)

This is the best hand you can start with. You will raise and re-raise with this hand from any position. The objective of your raises or re-raises is two-fold. You want to get as much money in the pot with your big boss hand as possible and you also want to limit the field. NEVER, and I mean NEVER slow play your aces in a low limit holdem game. I’ve seen them get cracked so many times by people doing this (myself included) it’s not funny. While this is the best hand there is in holdem, it does much better against a limited number of opponents, one or two and it is vulnerable if played against many players. To put this in perspective for you it only wins about a third of the time against a full table, but it wins about 75% of the time against only one or two opponents. So I reiterate, raise, or re-raise with your pocket aces before the flop from any position.

(Pocket Aces On the Flop)

OK, you have done you job pre-flop and jammed the pot as hard as you could. Hopefully you have limited the field to only one or two opponents. If your game is sensible you should have no more than a couple of opponents. On most any flop you will again play it quite aggressively. If you are in early position bet, in mid to late position raise a ragged flop of say 2d 7s Jc is a terrific flop for you. Your aces are very likely the best hand, and you should continue to jam the pot. A flop like 7h 7d Ks is another great flop for you. It is usually quite easy to play pocket aces when you get most flops. Although aces are a terrific starting hand there are some scare flops to this hand. This is when playing pocket aces isn’t so easy. It takes judgment and discipline to get away from them when they are beat. Lets look at a couple of dangerous flops to your pocket aces.

Suppose the flop is 10c Jd Qs if there was a pre-flop raiser(s)other than you it is very possible one of them holds an AK, if he does, you are in serious trouble. If there is a lot of action on the flop, (a bet, and a raise) you can be pretty sure that your aces are in big trouble. (If there was a 3 or 4 bet on the flop you are certain that your pocket aces are no longer winning, you are up against either a straight or 3 of a kind). With a flop like this likely your only out is the K, to make a straight, and even if you hit the K you will probably at most get half the pot. An ace doesn’t help you, even though you make a set, because if someone didn’t already have the straight they will now. Likely at least one of you opponents already has a straight with a K so you would be looking for 1 of 3 available kings at most. The odds of hitting one of the remaining kings are just too long. The correct play on a flop like this with a lot of action is to fold.

Another scare flop for aces is something like 8d 9d Jd . Players do like to play suited connectors like 10Q or 107 or Ace x suited. Actually in the low limit games many of your opponents will play any suited cards (which is a big mistake that you will not make), but nonetheless they do play them. So any suited flop with 3 connected cards is a very dangerous flop to your pocket aces. Note that if you had the Ace of clubs you would be willing to check and call the hand down. You must even call the river unless there is considerable action on the river indicating that you are beat. You must always remember that although you started off with the best possible starting hand, pocket aces is still only a one pair hand, and sometimes you will have to release the hand when you get an unfavorable flop

One of the biggest problems beginner’s have is getting married to their good hands. After all, you might only get a hand like AA once or twice a night. Be that as it may, you must be willing to get away from the hand when you get a dangerous flop with any kind of action. When you get a dangerous flop with action, you need to muck those aces, at first it will be hard, after a little experience you will eventually realize its often a no-brainer. This is a problem I see on a daily basis even at the high buy in NL tournaments where I spend most of my days. Never get married to a hand, after all you will get another one in less than a minute.

Hand 2 Pocket Kings K K . (Pre-Flop)

This is the second best hand you can start with. You will play them pretty much the same way you play aces, jam the pot as hard as you can before the flop for the same reasons I have listed above.

(Pocket Kings Post Flop)

Once again you will play the flop very aggressively like you did with pocket aces. You have to worry about the same kind of dangerous flops we just went over that make pocket aces vulnerable. Kings have one addition liability that aces don’t have. If an ace hits the flop you must shut down. Players play hands such as AK, AQ, AJ, and A10 under a raise. In low limit holdem many players play ace any for any amount of bets (of course you won’t be one of these weak players, but there are lots of the online). This is why if an ace hits the flop you must shut down. If there is any action at all on the flop you pocket kings have to go in the muck, THEY HAVE TO!

It doesn’t matter how pretty those pocket kings look in your hand. It doesn’t matter that you only get them once or twice a night. It doesn’t matter if they are your favorite hand. The hand is beat, you know it (now you do right?), so do the right thing, throw them in the muck. Save your self a bunch of bets. At the end of a session if you can make three or four correct lay downs that might amount to your profits for that session. After all, a bet saved is a bet earned. This is another huge weakness many players have. They know what they should do. They know player X has an ace, they know they should fold. But rather than doing the right thing they make crying calls and lament about how the world isn’t fair, how the poker gods are out to get them. They completely ignore the fact that they voluntarily choose to donate a large number of chips to the pot when they knew they were beat. They didn’t have to loose those chips and they knew it, but those darn pocket kings sure did look pretty. Don’t be one of those players. Don’t get married to your hands. Enough said.

Hand 3 Pocket Queens Q Q . (Pre-Flop)

In my opinion this is the 3rd best starting hand you can have. If someone wants to tell me they like AK better I wouldn’t put up too much of a fuss. These two hands run pretty close. In low limit holdem AK might even do better at a full table, but we will talk about that hand next. Right now you have QQ, so how do you play them? Well very much like your pocket aces and your pocket kings, especially at the low limit games. You bring them in for a raise from any position for two reasons. Firstly, to get as much money in the pot with what is likely the best hand before the flop, and secondly to limit the field. At the low limit games I want you to re-raise with your QQ from any position (a tactic I would not endorse at the higher limit games).

Here is why you must play you pocket queens so aggressively before the flop in the low limit games. For the following reasons, firstly, the low limit games tend to have a lot of maniacs who play any two cards for a single bet, any two connected, any two suited etc. The higher limits still have these types of players however they tend to be a lot less of them. You need to drive these players out before the flop because like the other big pairs they do well against one or two customers, and tend to go way down in value against lager fields. QQ loses even more value than the other two bigger pairs because it is more vulnerable (it has more over cards).

Against four or more callers if an over card hits somebody is pretty much guaranteed to have one of the over cards and your hand turns to a two out drawing hand if at best. Or in other words, it turns into trash and should be treated as such. In a scenario such as the one I just described if there is a bettor and a caller, with players yet to act behind you QQ should be mucked every time. This is why QQ is a very difficult hand to play at low limits, you have to put in two or three bets before the flop to try and limit the field. Hopefully you achieve your objective, but sometimes you won’t be able to do it. The other players my have legitimate hands, or they just might feel like playing their Ax and Kx suited hands against you. Don’t try to figure it out, you can’t. You can’t put many of these players on a thought or a hand, because very often they don’t have either. Always remember what your primary edge over these players is. That you are almost always starting with a better hand than do, and you will have the discipline to get away from them when they are beat.

(Pocket Queens Post Flop)

So you are lucky enough to limit the field to one or two players and you get a flop with no over cards. Go ahead and bet, if you are bet into raise, if you get re-raised, its time to slow down. Take a good look at the board. Think about the kind of cards your opponents might be playing. Have they been showing down reasonable hands? Have they been raising with nothing, or only when they have a premium hand? Is there a J or a 10 on the flop? If so do you think they might have a hand like AJ or A10? Did they 4 bet you before the flop? If so they may have a bigger pair than yours. Does the flop have suited connectors, or is it completely ragged? You must always be asking yourself these types of questions as you play if you hope to be a winner, no matter what the limit.

Use your discretion and play the hand out as you see fit. If no one is playing back at you continue to lead all the way, and don’t wimp out on the river. You will notice one thing as you move up in limits. The good players rarely miss out on that last value bet on the river when they have the best hand. Occasionally they get check raised because of it, but the number of extra bets they pick up by value betting there top pair on the river more than compensates for this negative outcome.

If the flop comes something like Ac Kh 2d and there is any action at all you likely are in big trouble and will want to get away from the hand even for a single bet. You can only continue to play if you opponent has shown you that he is a maniac, otherwise you must muck your Pocket Queens. If only one over card hits the board and you are heads up you are still in pretty good shape. If he checks to you, bet. If he bets into you call him, or you may even raise him, but if you get 3 bet you will have to release your hand. Then as long as the turn doesn’t hurt you too much continue with the hand. You will have to use some discretion when playing this hand, but if you have played it aggressively you probably will have a sufficiently large pot to justify calling even if you are not sure where you are at.

Hand 4 Big Slick A K (Pre-Flop)

This is another one of the premium holdem hands. You will want to raise this hand from any position other than the blinds. If you are a very aggressive player go ahead and raise it from the blinds as well. Don’t re-raise this hand from the blinds as AK is a positional hand and you will be first to act for the entire hand, its just not worth a re-raise from the blinds. If you are in late position you can put in a re-raise, as you will have position on your foes.

Hand 4 Big Slick A K (Post-Flop)

If you flop either an Ace or a King, you will have top pair, top kicker. This is the flop you are hoping for, so bet it strong. In this situation if you are first to act bet the flop, if someone else bets, raise or re-raise them. Much like the big pairs, this hand plays better against a limited field, especially if you hit the flop. If there is a lot of action again slow down and try and think about what your opponents have. Unless the board is scary, or one of your opponents has shown considerable strength with his bets, continue to lead at the pot. If the flop is ragged say 3s 6h Jd you will need to evaluate the situation. If you are in early position against more than one caller you should just check the flop. You only have over cards and there is a good chance you will get raised if you bet. If there is a single bet, you will call and hope to hit an A or K on the turn.

If you miss check and fold if you opponent bets.

You had a good starting hand, but you missed, you have no pair.

Don’t call the big turn bet here (remember the bets are twice as big as they were on the flop now), it’s a losing proposition in the long run, so don’t do it.

If you are in late position against only one caller with the same flop and are checked to you should bet. You may win the pot right there if you opponent folds.

There is also a good chance you are still holding the best hand even if you missed the flop. Your opponent may have a hand like AQ, KQ, or AJ, all hands that he may have called your pre-flop raise with. If the turn comes a blank, say 8 , and your opponent checks again only bet if your have a read on your opponent and you think he might fold. You need to observe the game to know this.

If he if bluff proof (he never lays down a hand) just check and hope to show down your hand against him. If you are lucky enough to catch an ace or a king on the river, value bet your hand if he checks. Don’t miss that extra bet, these value bets are tough, but they eventually will represent most if not all of your profits in a session. If you miss the river you will likely have to fold if your opponent bets.

Hand 5 A Q (Pre-Flop)

Ace Queen plays very similar to AK you will want to raise this hand whenever you enter the pot regardless of your position. If you are in one of the blinds you should just call. I would not recommend re-raising with the hand very often. You may re-raise with it only when you have a good read on the raiser and you have observed that he is a very aggressive player (or a maniac) who raises with several holdings and you have good position, the button or next to it. Otherwise you should just call and have a look at the flop.

A Q (Post-Flop)

If you hit either your ace you will have top pair second best kicker, if you hit you queen, and there is no over cards you will have top pair top kicker. As such a flop like Qc 7s 2h is a very good flop for you and you should play it fast. If you are first to act bet, if someone else has bet, raise. Continue to play the hand fast unless your opponents continue to play back at indicating a lot of strength. If this happens slow down and just call the hand down, they could have flopped a set, or perhaps have an over pair (you should have an idea about this as they likely would have been a lot of pre-flop action). If you flop an ace again play the hand fast. If there was pre-flop raising you must be careful if your opponents are showing a lot of strength on the flop, you might be up against AK, so pay attention and be careful if your opponents continue to play back at you. Note that a flop of Kd 9h 2s is a terrible flop for you. Any flop with a Kxx in it is a bad flop for you hand and you should simply muck your hand if anyone bets the flop. You should play the hand the same way you play AK if you miss the flop and no king is on the board.

Hand 6 & 7 other Big Connectors AJ, KQ (Pre-Flop)

I am lumping these two hands together because you can play them pretty much the same. If the game you are playing in isn’t very aggressive (there isn’t to much raising before the flop) the hand can be played from all positions. If you are entering the pot from an early position with one of these hands you might just want to limp in. There could be a great deal of action behind you, and if the pot is capped by the time it gets back to you, you can get away from the hand by mucking your cards. They just are not worth four bets before the flop; if the hand is raised behind you, call. It the pot is raised and re-raised you can call if the pot is multi way, 4 players or more but you will need to hit the flop perfectly in order to continue playing the hand, so proceed with caution.

If you are entering the pot with one of these hands from middle position or later and you have no more than one caller already in the pot go ahead and bring it in for a raise, under these circumstances there is a strong probability you have the best hand.

AJ, KQ (Post-Flop)

The flop is going to have to help your hand in order for you to continue playing a hand like this. If you hold KQ and an ace hits the flop you are done playing the hand (unless you flop two pair or better). If you hold AJ and an ace hits the flop, you will lead at the pot, but you must proceed with caution. If there was any pre-flop action, and there is a lot of action on the flop you are probably better off to simply get away from your AJ. This is where knowing your opponents will help you. If you do decide to continue with the hand again, do so with caution. Yeah you have a pair of aces but you only have one pair and your kicker isn’t great so don’t bet this hand to the moon like many of your opponents do. There is no need to loose additional bets due to bravado. If you get a favorable flop to a hand like this you will want to continue leading at the pot unless one of your opponents shows a great deal of strength, then just check and call the hand down.

Hand 8&9 other Big Connectors KJ, JQ (Pre-Flop)

These two hands are definitely part of the big card family, but they are not raising hands. They should be discarded from very early position. They can be played from mid position or better. If the pot is raised you can protect your blinds with a hand like this as you are already part way into the pot and likely will be getting correct pot odds to continue. You want to try and get into the pot as cheaply as possible with a hand like this because if the flop doesn’t improve your hand you will be mucking your hand for any bet on the flop.

KJ, JQ (Post-Flop)
You will need to improve your hand on the flop or you will not continue playing the hand. You will either need to flop a pair or an open ended straight draw or you will have to muck your hand. If you flop a pair and there is no over cards on the flop you will have top pair with a decent kicker. You will want to bet or raise with a hand like this. If you get played back at, at all (raised or re-raised), you must slow down, evaluate the hand and decide if the hand is worth continuing with. Often you will need to muck it right then and there. If you decide to continue with the hand, check and call as long as no over cards or scare cards hit the turn or river, if they do you likely will have to muck your hand. You must play hands like these very carefully or they will end up costing you a lot of money.

Medium to Small Pairs, Pocket Jacks Through Pocket Twos (Pre-Flop)

While a pocket pair of Jacks is vastly superior to a pocket pair of twos you will actually play all of these pockets quite similarly. The higher the pair the more strength it has. You will absolutely need to hit any hand between 22-88 to have at chance at winning the pot. Occasionally you can win with jacks, tens, and nines without hitting them, but you will need a very favorable flop for these hands to hold up (no over cards, no suited connectors etc.). In early position these hands should be thrown in the muck. With the exception of jacks and tens, with either of these two pockets limp in from early position, they are just a little too good to muck, even from up front.

From mid position or better you may enter the pot provided that it is not yet been raised and you have at least one or two other limpers in the pot in front of you. If you don’t have these circumstance you should not even bother entering the pot, it is just not profitable. You want to play these medium to small pairs the exact opposite way you play big pairs. They play well against many players, and you would like to enter the pot for one bet. You can call a raise only if you are in very late position and there are at least three other players already in the pot. Most flops will be unfavorable to these types of hands and most often you will have to muck your mid to small pocket hand on the flop. As such, you are not willing to put in several bets before the flop. You want to play against many players in case you are lucky enough to hit a set on the flop. If this happens you will often win a large pot. So remember the only time you want to play your little pockets is when you can limp in from late position against numerous players, if you are unable to enter the pot under these circumstances simply muck the hand. If you play little pockets under any other scenarios they will be big time chip burners.

Medium to Small Pairs, Pocket Jacks Through Pocket Twos (Post-Flop)

These hands will be very, easy to play after the flop. You will only be able to continue playing if one of two things happens. Firstly, if you hold one of the higher holdings, like tens, or jacks, about 40%-50% of the time an over card will not hit the flop. If this happens play your hand very strong on the flop, bet or raise the hand in hopes of driving out player who hold over cards. If an over card hits on the turn or the river and there is any action you will have a tough decision, either check and call, or muck your hand if you figure you are beat. If there is a bet and a raise when an over card hits, trust me, you are beat, muck your hand.

If you are lucky enough to flop a set then your objective is usually to get as many chips into the pot as possible, as you will be a big favorite to win the pot. This is one of the only times you may want to slow play a hand. Especially if a pre-flop raiser or just a very aggressive player is sitting to your immediate left. You can check with the intention of raising or re-raising. You may even elect to wait until the turn to make your check raise, but only do this if the flop is ragged (its not suited, or connected). When you are lucky enough to catch a flop like this you stand to make a lot of money.

Suited connectors and Ax Suited hands Pre-Flop

There are certain times that you may play these types of hands. They require the same criteria as small pairs. Again, they play well against many opponents, and you would like to enter the pot for one bet from late position. You can call a raise only if you are in very late position and there are at least three other players already in the pot. If you can’t enter the pot under these circumstances than you must pass on the hand. It is these types of hands that cost beginners and intermediate players tons of money. They continually enter pots out of position, under a raise when they shouldn’t, in non-multi way pots, these are all horrible plays and you will NEVER again make them yourself.

Suited connectors and Ax Suited hands (Post-Flop)

Again, they play very similar to your little pairs. You need to flop to these hands perfectly. You need either an open ended straight draw, or a flush draw or better to continue playing one of these hands. If you have a big draw like either of the ones I just mentioned you usually should just check and call. In limit holdem, if you have at least two other players in the pot, you will always be correct in calling the hand all the way to the river. You will be getting sufficient odds to continue with your drawing hand.

If the board has three of a suit, you must never continue with a straight draw. Someone may already have a made flush, so how can you continue on a straight draw? You can’t and you won’t. If you flopped a made straight, that’s a horse of a different colour. In this case you would continue to play unless you experienced a lot of action indicating that you are beat, in which case you will have to get away from this hand. If the flop comes paired, you will never draw to either a flush or a straight, as someone may already have a made full house. The key rule is that if you are drawing, you don’t want to make your hand and still lose, you don’t want to be drawing dead. This is precisely what happens time and time again when people draw to straights with paired or suited flops. If you have good position and a lot of players you may want to raise on the flop. Lets say it’s a large multi way pot with say five or six players and you have a nut flush draw. You are on the button and five players are in for a single bet. You might as well go ahead and raise in a situation like this. You will hit your hand one out of three times, and you are getting six to one on your raise (likely all the players will call for a single raise). If you hit the flush on the turn great bet your hand, or raise it, hey are lucky enough to have caught the nuts so bet your hand. If you miss, your raise on the flop may just give you the opportunity to check the turn and give yourself a free card. Never bet the turn in this situation if you can check and get a free card, the odds are no longer with you with only one card to go.

CONCLUSION

To be a winner at the higher limits patience and discipline are still probably your most important weapons in your arsenal, however they alone will not get the job done at the higher limits. You will need to hone your poker skills because doing just these two things won’t get the job done at the higher limits, but I assure you it will get it done at the low limits. . You have now been equipped with enough information to be a solid winning poker player, when playing low limit Texas Holdem, so what are you waiting for, good luck.!