10-18-08, Clark Jensen:

Basic Texas Holdem Strategy

Texas holdem could be defined as a high card game. The player with the highest starting hand has the best chance to win a showdown when all cards are dealt. So it is very important to choose which starting hands you play. To play too many hands is an almost sure way to loose money in holdem.

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So which hands should you play? As always - it depends. The answers differs depending on your skill level, what position you sit in, how many players are at the table, how the previous players has acted etc. But there are some general guidelines to follow.

Starting hands
The best possible starting hand in holdem is, not surprisingly, A-A. It doesn't matter if you play online poker tournament or Friday night game with your friends, when a holdem player looks down at his cards and sees this hand, his heart beats a little faster. But which hand is the worst possible hand in holdem? This is probably not as intuitive. - The worst garbage you can get in holdem is 2-7 of different suits. This is the lowest possible hand that can't make a straight with the two cards combined.

So as a rule of thumb: if your hand has some similarities to A-A, keep it, but if it looks anything like 2-7 off suite, get rid of it.

The most important determent factor when you decide whether to play a hand or not is your position (and off course the previous actions of your opponents). The later your position, the more hands you can play. In early position you should only be playing premium starting hands, but you can relax this stance a bit in late position. Starting hands can be grouped according to their strength (in arly position you should only play hands from group one). Read more about starting hands here.

If you are the first player to enter the pot you should usually do it with a raise. You are only entering the pot with good hands and a raise gives you command in the pot and a chance to steal the blinds.

Post flop
If you've opened with a raise pre-flop it's often a good idea to keep betting (as long as there are three or less opponents in the hand). You should usually do this even if your hand hasn't improved, because your chance to pick up the pot there and then is pretty good (and your hand might still be the best one). But be careful if the board looks threatening with flush and/or straight draws out.

As a general rule you should play hands that can easily be outdrawn, like top pairs, aggressively, but with really strong hands such as sets (three of a kind), straights and flushes you want to build the pot and make your opponents stay in. (But always beware of dangerous draws.)

If you bet with a hand like a top pair and someone raises you have to re-access the situation. Whether to continue the in the hand or not depends on your read of the opponent, but also remember that a pair is not a very strong hand. Whether or not you should stay in with drawing hand depends on the odds you are getting on your calls. As a general rule you can pay more to chase a draw the more players that are in the hand. With more players in the hand your chances to get paid if you hit your hand increases.

These are only some general advice. To learn good post-flop strategy will take time and practice. Please check out our Texas holdem strategy section for more in-depth strategy articles.

 

 

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