Poker Article: Best Texas Holdem Strategies

Texas Holdem, like all of its other poker variants, is an extremely mathematical game. As such, it is important to adhere to certain rules during gameplay, to appreciably enhance your odds of winning. The following rules should be judiciously employed, to help maximize your Texas Holdem winning percentage. Here are some great Texas Holdem Strategies:

• Get Out of Bad Starting Hands - If your pocket cards do not meet certain criteria - get out ! Never continue on playing and betting, when you have a poor pocket hand. As a general rule, under most circumstances, you should only consider playing on, if you have on of the top 25 pocket hands which are: Ace-Ace, King-King, Ace-King suited, Queen-Queen, Ace-King unsuited, Ace-Queen suited, Jack-Jack, 10-10, Ace-Queen unsuited, Ace-Jack suited, 9-9, King-Queen suited, 8-8, Ace-10 suited, Ace-Jack unsuited, King-Jack suited, Queen-Jack suited, Ace-8 suited, King-10 suited, Ace-9 suited, Jack-10 suited, Queen-10 suited, King-Queen unsuited, 10-9 suited, and Ace-10 unsuited.

• You need a Decent Flop - After your pocket hand, the next 3 cards (known as the Flop) must offer you possibilities. If it does, then you should on depending on how strong your hand is; if does not, then always fold IF another player bets.

• Drawing Hand must exist during the Flop - If you are playing a drawing hand (flush or a straight), at least 4 of the 5 required cards must be present by the Flop. If they are not, then you should always fold, unless you have another non-drawing scenario that is strong.

• When to continue beyond the Flop with a non-drawing Hand - If you do not have a drawing hand by the end of the Flop, only continue on if you have a high-ranking pair with a big kicker, or a poker pair that is of higher rank than any card showing on the Flop (an "overpair"). Movreover, if the Flop has 3 cards of a suit (and you do not have any pocket cards within that suit) or if the Flop has 3 consecutive cards (that do mesh with your chance for a straight), then that is also a realistic time to fold, since the odds of one of the other players obtaining a straight or a flush may potentially exist.

• Survey Opponent Hands - After the Flop is issued, take stock on what hands your opponents may or may not have. Attempt to calculate the highest possible hand that any of your opponents may have. Attempt to estimate what the odds of your opponent getting such a hand may be. When this is quickly established, use this as a basis for deciding whether to fold or play on.

• Be Aggressive with Superior Hand - When you have a superior hand, push your opponents to the brink (in a No Limit game, this may mean going All In). Go for the kill, when you have a great hand - refrain from draggin the game out and letting it proling, because that may provide an opportunity for your opponents to climb back into the game.

• Always Fold a Losing Hand - Always fold your hand when you know you are losing. Refrain from hanging in the game, and betting, with the hope that something good will come. You should always minimize your losses, but cutting them as early as possible. The only possible exception to this might be in a No Limit game, where there is a large degree of bluffing - in this scenario, if you understand your opponents' bluffing strategies, you may be inclined to occassionally hang around in a game, when there is a shot of winning.

• Seating Position Matters - You should always take your seating position into account, when determining whether you should fold or remain in the game. This is best illustrated via an example: suppose you have a pair of pocket 4's in the first seating position of the table. Normally, this would be a good reason to fold, pre-flop. However, if you have the same pair of 4's in the last seating position or in the Small Blind, for example, and no other opponents raise prior to you (pre-flop), then if there are a decent number of opponents in the pot ahead of you, you may want to decide to continue with your pair of 4's, and see play into the Flop, due to pot odds.

• Pot Odds should be greater than Actual Odds - "Actual Odds" are the precise mathematical odds of an event occurring. "Pot odds", are the ratio of money in the pot in relation to the amount that are being asked to bet, in relationship to the actual odds of an event occurring which would give you that pot. Let's explain this with an example: Let's assume that your pocket hand is (7, 8), and the flop is (10, Jack, 4) - that is, you need a "9" to complete the straight. The odds of obtaining that "9" on either the Turn or the River cards, is about 5-to-1. Dependent on the amount of money in the pot, where you and two other players are remaining, the pot odds of you winning would be about 2-to-1, which is clearly inferior to your actual odds - in this case, you should definitely fold. However, in the same case, if there are 8 players remaining in the hand, your pot odds would be approximately 7-to-1, which are better than your actual odds of 5-to-1 -- hence, in this case, you should remain in the game and play on. In this latter case, your pot odds exceeded your actual odds, so that indicates that it is worth remaining in the game.