Texas Hold em Poker Tips

Pay close attention to these Texas hold em tips.

Playing too many hands

Most beginners play way too many starting hands in Texas hold em – a really good player will typically play between 15-25% of their starting hands. Concentrate on higher value starting hands and you will cut down on the amount of difficult (and often expensive) situations you get yourself into .

Listen to Kenny Rogers (Know when to hold em...)

Learn how to fold a hand, and don’t be a calling station. Many beginners keep betting regardless of the board or what their opponent’s actions are suggesting. If the flop hasn’t improved your hand and/or you’re not sure whether or not you are ahead, you should realize that the best choice most often is to give up the hand (check and fold if your opponent bets).
It simply gets too expensive playing too many hands all the way to showdown.

Choose less skillful opponents

Sounds fairly obvious, but you should play at betting limits where you can beat the majority of players. Move down in limits if you are having difficulties winning money. Leave your ego at the door and do NOT get stubborn. If you just can’t beat a certain game then step back and analyze things or simply accept that the game isn’t right for you and choose another game.

Watch your opponents habits

Especially when you aren’t in a hand. The best time to study is when you aren’t emotionally invested in the hand, and you can make more prudent observations. Watch how opponents bet, and how much they bet, in what position are they betting. Learning how your opponents play is key.
Good observations will later give you opportuneties to both steal some pots but also to perform some good lay downs where you know you are beat.

Learn to put your opponents on a hand

Try putting yourself in your opponents shoes, and learn to put them on a hand. Ask questions like “Why did he re-raise me that amount?”, and “Why did he only call in the previous betting round?”.
The best way is to put your opponents on a likely range of hands and then narrow it in as you get more information.

Learn how to bluff and semi-bluff

...at the right times against the right players, and at the right frequency. Bluffing is often a misunderstood concept and many lessor players bluff too much. A bluff can be very effective when used rarely, and where there is a seemingly low risk of being called by your opponent.

Changing Gears

Don’t play in a way that give your hands away. Always mix your game up a bit.
Unpredictability can be good. Bluff once in a while (even if you know you will get called this can be a good move), sometimes play some lower value starting hands. Remember that you should only mix things up once in a while – just enough to keep your opponents guessing.

Understand position, position, position

...and why it is critical. Not only is it important to play strong hands, it is even more important from what position you play. For example, the ideal position is the Button, as you are last to act, and have the advantage of watching all of the betting action before you need to make a decision.
Small blind, big blind and UTG(Under the Gun, first place after the big blind) are the worst positions.
Realize that a good starting hand for the Button can be an easy fold from early position.
Don’t underestimate the importance of position. It is another one of the things that can have a big impact on your overall success.

Read books and take notes

Players can always learn more if they want to be a better poker player. Keep notes on what works and doesn’t work for you, and eventually you will come up with a style of play that works uniquely for you and improves your game.
Also keep notes on your opponents (at least those who you figure to be playing against regularly)
Check out the Poker Books section for the best Poker books availiable.

This is the end of our current list of poker tips.

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