Learn Texas Holdem

Question:Just ran across your website and wanted to let you know that I found it to have some really great information. Good job! I wanted to ask if you possibly had a general catalog of all the hands, which listed hands a player would absolutely fold - hands that a player would fold most of the time - hands that you would always bet, but not necessarily raise - and hands you would always bet and raise. I assume you always raise group 1 hands, but I wasn't sure about what a player should do with the other groups. Should you play hands in groups 6 & 7? Another thing, what kind of general percentages would you expect to see for the following items. I'm a fairly new player and my percentages using play money in PokerRoom.com are in parentheses. (please don't laugh) I'm asking for percentages you would expect to see for successful players using real money - on low money tables.

 

Saw the flop (90%)

Went to the river (41%)

Folded to a river bet (58%)

Showdowns won (42%)

I've been playing for several weeks using play money and admittedly…..I'm hooked. It's a great game! I've tried playing some online $1-$2 tables over the last couple of days and I've consistently lost money. I know I'm staying on too many hands to begin with, but what's killed me is getting in traps while trying to make a hand, which never materializes. I'll either get better or get broke. :>)

Again, you're website is great and I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to reply.

Darrell Hobbs

Taylor, TX

Answer: Thanks for the questions Taylor. I've started writing the answer to your first question a number of times only to delete it. What I want to say is that poker is highly situational and it wouldn't be in your best interest to think about absolute rules for governing your play (preflop or postflop). Because you'll never play two tables that are exactly the same it is almost impossible to give you a table that will tell you how to play well. There are more exceptions to the general rules then there are rules. Let me give you a couple examples...

Let's say I had a rule that said, "Taylor, always raise with the nuts (the best hand)." Now that might seem correct but if you had 7 other people in the hand with you, you probably would want to slow play and let them catch up a bit before nailing them. Let's say I had rules like, "always reraise prelop with AA" or "always fold KT preflop if you have to call a raise" or "don't play suited connectors in early position"... I can think of a tons of exceptions for all of those already. The hand grouping tables are to give you an idea of how well certain hands play against one another. You should study them but don't be imprisoned by them. Mixing up your play is important these days..just remember what mixing up play is as opposed to just playing loose bad poker.

As for playing hand groupings 6 and 7, it depends on the texture of the game and the hand. I would be much more likely to play hands like 55 and 87s then I would be A9 offsuit or T8. I like suited connectors and I like pocket pairs since if either of them hit, they will have a strong hand. Playing a hand like K5s for profit takes a good game and skill. It is very easy to get sucked into paying someone else off if you catch a King.

For the online poker statistics again it depends on the game some. The looser the game, the looser I can play. The two main stats for me are always how much I saw the flop and then how often I won a showdown. I'm usually at about 30% for seeing the flop and then at 50% or above for the showdowns won. The looser the game the higher my preflop number will be and the lower my showdowns won will be. If the game is tight I'll be at 30% preflop and then even higher for showdowns won since it will usually be heads up (60 - 70%).

I'm not a huge believer in those stats importance. The reason is that some days I'll have a higher percentage of playable hands then other days so the preflop stat doesn't tell me much. And as far as winning goes, you can't say that winning 50% of your pots will make you more money then winning 30%. If the game is extremely loose, you may just win a couple massive pots and have a huge day but your stats for the showdowns would be low. On the flip side you may be playing in a horribly tight game and win 80% of your showdowns but have only a small win.

Lastly, don't be discouraged if you lose some when starting out. I still lose all the time and that's part of it. You can't win all the time. Poker is a game of small edges and you make your money by playing correctly over a long amount of time. Also the learning curve online is stepper then offline. There isn't much difference between the 2/4 games online and the 5/10 and 10/20 ones. Offline it is a world of difference. So keep learning, playing and maybe tighten up a bit until you get some more experience.