Texas Hold’em Fever

Just like in the other games, in Texas Holdem you can face different kinds of play. Sometimes the game is loose and juicy, but some are really tough. Luckily, there are some strategies and tricks that’ll help you to win even in tough games with skillful and aggressive opponents. Once you start out playing Texas Holdem, you’ll find yourself in many loose games with number of players in preflop that have truly weak hands and make a lot of foolish mistakes. The style of play applicable in this situation is just to wait for good starting hands and hit the the pot with an aggressive play. Playing this way you will miss a lot of games folding poor hands, but in the long run your advantage over loose players will be obvious. However, as you enter tough games, the same tricks won’t work out anymore. In a tough Texas Holdem game all players are usually skilled, there are just a couple or just a bit more players in preflop and often there is a raise and re-raise preflop with lots of aggression and tight play. In this kind of games, if you keep to the previous strategy, your opponents will just avoid your raises and on the other hand, play tightly and aggressively when you don’t have good cards, forcing you out of the pot. In fact, your opponents will have all means to defeat you, while you will have no means to beat them. Read the rest of this entry »

Note that specifically, these tips refer to Texas Holdem poker, but they are also applicable in some other poker games and are directed towards novice and upstanding players.

First of all you must play just good starting hands. Foolishness and loose play are only allowable in home and play money games, where even weak and worthless hands usually see the showdown. Real money Texas Holdem games require you to perfectly know good starting hands, worthy enough to see the flop. Don’t hesitate to fold weak hands. You’ll just waste your money, because even if one weak hand out of a hundred wins the pot, it’s rather an exception than a rule. So, the strong hands to hit the pot with preflop are: a pair of Aces of any suite, a pair of Kings of any suite, a pair of Queens of any suit, Ace and King of any suite, a pair of Jacks of any suite, Ace and Queen of any suite and a pair of 10 of any suite. Worthy hands to call with are Ace and Jack of any suite, King and Queen of any suite, a pair of 9 of any suite, a pair of 8 of any suite, a pair of 7 of any suit, Ace and 7 of the same suite. Keep in mind that these hands are worthy to call just a couple of times. The rest of the hands must be folded preflop. In case if you notice your opponents forcing weak hands to the showdown, then you can easily defeat them by tightening up until hitting a good starting hand. This set of good starting hand refers to Texas Holdem Poker and may vary in other poker games. Read the rest of this entry »

I recieved an interesting update from the Poker Players Alliance, that I thought should be shared AND acted upon by all poker players!

Part of the letter reads:
“Frankly, there is very little specific information from most of the candidates on this issue, so we are also encouraging you to contact the campaigns of the candidates who interest you, and ask their position. Please let them know you are an undecided voter and a proud poker player when you contact the campaign, so we can illustrate the grassroots strength behind the great game of poker. It’s time to let the presidential primary candidates know that Poker Is Not a Crime!
” Read the rest of this entry »