Texas Hold’em Quick Facts

With all the new online casinos hoisting Texas Hold’em tourneys and providing serious player action with a slew of new games, many of you are ready to get in on some of this action. Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular poker game at online casinos. We see it everywhere offline, too. With so many people telling you how to play whether you are reading a new book about it, reading at online casino sites, or even hearing it from friends and other players- everybody it seems has a different opinion as to how you should and should not play the game of Texas Hold’em. Here are some quick facts that are just that – facts.

Before you jump in to play this popular casino game at any of your favorite online casinos – or as a new player, you need to consider a couple things before getting to the simple facts below. Playing this game at online casinos may be a little bit different than it would with friends at home and even different than playing a land based casino. At online casinos, you can’t read a player as easily as you can in person, but with new software developments allowing person to person playing, the ability to play the same online casino member each time and more, it will get easier and easier to read your opponent online. Land Based casinos will always be different than relaxed home games and home games may play slower than the game plays online or at based casino. If you keep simple things like this in mind when logging on to your online casino, you will have improved your game play already. This is a game where you play your personal game based on the other player’s abilities in your game. Online, it may be harder for you to know if your opponent is a beginner or pro until you are deep into the game, so just keep these things in mind and you will be a much smarter player.

Here are a few facts you will want to know whether you are playing at home, online or at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas:

-          The most commonly used 4 words in this game when discussing playing styles are tight, aggressive, passive and loose. Know them and what they mean.

-          Texas Hold’em started to get really popular when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) -which uses Hold’em as its game - was won in 2003 and the winner got a whopping $2.5 million dollar paycheck. How do you like them apples? Well, in 2004 it was won for double what it was won for the previous year. Yes, Greg Raymer (an amateur at the time) won a staggering $5 million bucks winning the WSOP in 2004. In fact, last year (2005), it was won for an incredible $7.5 million dollars by Aussie player Joe Hachem. There is money to be won playing this game and many regular Joe’s like us have won millions doing so.

-          In Texas Hold’em queens are sometimes called ladies and kings have been nicknamed cowboys, aces have been called bullets, jacks have been known to be called hooks and so on. The point here is that each card has some sort of nickname that is commonly used at Texas Hold’em tables. Online Texas chats always have players talking about these types of things and the guy sitting next to you in a casino may use these and other phrases, so get in the know about nicknames so you look and sound like a pro.

-          Blind bets are live, meaning you could raise even if the others at your table have not raised your blind bet. If you are the big blind, and your opponents who are still in the game (they didn’t fold immediately) have only called your bet, you can still raise it again. This is a golden opportunity to size the other’s up. Small blinds can raise as well.

-          When playing a poker game where there are shared cards, like Hold’em, your hand is linked to the other players at the table through these shared cards. It is much harder for someone to catch you if you are in the lead. There are fewer shocking bad beats in Hold’em because of this. Typically, when your opponents hand improves, so will yours often times.

-          Serious aggressive play has to be met with a calm and total control emotionally when playing this online casino game – no matter where you are playing it.

-          In Hold’em, folding is as much of a skill as anything else in Hold’em. Folding does not make you lose money in this game – staying in a hand that you have no business being in does.

-          If you are playing against a shill ( a hired casino worker used to get the game going when there are not enough players) understand that they are not playing with their own money and they do not get to keep what they win. They are passive and play a tight game. If you have ever played free Hold’em games online, you know who these players are – they are like playing the computer. They are very tight players.

-          There is no real room for whining at this poker table, players who are non complainer and courteous tend to come out on top. Keeping your head in the game is vital.

-          Remember, odds are a ratio. If you have 1 chance in 5 of completing your intended hand, your odds are4 to 1 against you. Probability is your chance relative to the total chances – like 1 out of 5 or 1 in 5. Probability is frequently expressed as a percentage. You will always see this on your TV screen (for each player’s hand) when watching Texas Hold’em tourneys like the WPT and WSOP.

-          It is highly recommended that you steer clear of chasing any draw against just one other player at the table. You won’t hit it enough and when you do, it won’t net you much. It is not a good investment.

-          The more poker players that act in front of you before it is your turn to do so, usually means your positional advantage is greater. By being able to see what the other are doing (how they act/bet) you will be aware of all you really need to know. All you really have to do next is to know the players enough to tell if any of them are being misleading.

-          The players at the table that you do not want to alienate are solid early position raisers and callers - even extremely tight players. These are players that may have real hands and will play through the last card, no matter what.

-          You will find that check raise bluffs are rare in this game ((and poker in general) especially at lower limit games. If a player check raises, it usually means they have a good hand and do not want o go overboard by re-raising. Run for it and get out of the game. Also, if you have check raised a practiced player hoping just t win that wager, it may very well backfire right on you. This player will most likely fold their hand faster that they can say I knew it.

-          Here is a doozie, Hold’em has a total of 1,326 possible starting hands. Because of the four suits in the deck, there are 6 ways of making a pair, and 16 ways of making any other hand. Think of this, there are actually only 169 distinctly different hands. 78 unsuited hands and 13 pairs.

-          If you are the aggressive pre flop and no one has gotten in your way, bet the flop. The other players in the game have probably not made anything and a wager here could very well win you the pot right there.

-          Your odds of making a straight-flush on the flop with suited connectors are 5,00 to 1. The odds that you will make four of a kind are 407 to 1.

-          As the game gets looser and more passive, the value of suited starting hands and connectors is higher – the value of strong hands like A-K and Q-Q gets smaller.

-          Discretion is the name of the game when playing this poker game, at online casinos and anywhere else.

 

(1,410)