Learn Texas Holdem

If you haven't heard the term "shifting gears" as applied to No-Limit Texas Hold'em poker, you'd better learn it quick. The ability to shift gears is a crucial skill in no-limit hold'em, and no matter what their style, every pro poker player knows how to take advantage of this idea.

In a standard transmission car, you shift to a higher gear when you want to go faster and down shift to a lower gear when you need to slow down. Shifting gears in poker works exactly the same way. Some situations call for you to shift to a higher gear and play faster, others require for you to down shift and slow down.

Fast and slow, with respect to poker, refers to how aggressively you are playing. If you are playing very aggressively, mixing it up in many pots, making big bets and big bluffs to take down the chips, you are playing fast. If you're playing a tight game, looking for the right spots and only putting in a lot of chips when you have the best of it, you are playing a slower game. Each of us has a standard speed we like to play, usually somewhere in between a maniacal high-speed style and a super rock-tight low speed one.

The time to shift gears is when you have established a certain image. Once you know that players see you as very tight, only putting chips in with the nuts, it's time to start making moves and picking up pots with marginal hands. After you've shown a few big bluffs, it's time to downshift and wait for that monster hand that your opponents are dying to pay off.

Just like road signs on the highway often tell you how fast to go, your opponents may tell you when it's time to shift gears. When an opponent announces to the table, "That's like the third hand you've played in two hours. I knew you were coming in with something big," that's your "No speed limit enforced" sign. It's time to start coming in strong with marginal hands that you now know no one will put you on. When an opponent says something like, "You keep trying those river bluffs when a scare comes. Keep it up, I'm going to catch you sooner or later," that's your "School zone" sign. Hold back some of those big moves and wait until you hit a monster on the river to push in a big stack of chips.

Success in No-Limit Texas Hold'em is all about varying your play. The worst thing you can do in a no-limit hold'em poker game is be predictable. By shifting gears periodically, you make sure your opponents can't get a solid read on you, allowing you to use your skills to their fullest extent.