Beginner Guide to Texas Hold'em Poker
By Jeff "Ace of Spades"
This article was submitted by Jeff as part of this site's call out for articles. I (MJ) thought that Jeff wrote a very detailed texas hold'em guide that covered many aspects of texas hold'em, often beyond the beginner level, so I hope this article was very valuable to any players reading this. If you have any comments about the article, please post in the forum and Jeff or I will try to respond to your questions. Occasionally, I have also added my own comments into Jeff's article, which you will see in brackets.
It is my goal to describe a solid profitable approach to limit texas hold'em with an emphasis on the importance of position. This strategy will outline the strategy of limit texas hold'em primarily based on probability and odds and give recommendations for the most profitable plays. It is geared towards relatively low limit games against somewhat loose players. Some playing recommendations might not be correct for the tougher games usually found at higher limit, but the odds presented here are no different.
The concepts discussed here describe a general approach to correct play, but texas hold'em is a situational game, and you the player will have to make decisions based on the specific situations that you find yourself in. You must adapt your strategy to the texture of each game. There are few universal rules in texas hold'em, most concepts are situational and depend on the type of game you find yourself in and the players you play against. You must learn to play solid profitable poker first, and then learn to deviate from this type of play when the situation calls for it. Poker is about people, and the more carefully you observe your opponents, the better prepared you will be to make the best decisions in any situation.
You have the opportunity to gather a lot of information about the players at your table as soon as you sit down. You want to pay attention to which players are constantly in the pot (loose players) and which players rarely get involved (tight). You will want to pay careful attention to what cards they show down, and go back through each hand and think about how they played it. You want to know what hands they raise with preflop, what kinds of hands they bet and whether they bet their draws, if they make bad calls, if they bluff and how often. You want to soak up every piece of information you can about your opponents, because that information defines the situation for which you must adapt a strategy when you get involved in a pot with them.
There is one universal principle for winning at hold'em. You put your money in when it is profitable, and you DON'T when it's not. This important concept goes for all types of poker games, but is best illustrated by an all-in bet in no limit hold'em. When you put all your chips in the middle, you want to do it in a spot that you will win more often than you will lose. If you could make the same exact bet a million times in a row, you will win (profit) over the long run if it is in fact a profitable bet. That is a mathematically profitable bet, and that is what we will be talking about here, applied to limit hold'em. You want to apply a statistical advantage over and over again at the poker table. If you consistently make profitable bets in poker, you will consistently win in the long run. Solid poker strategy will usually provide you with the most profitable spots to get your money in, and careful analysis of your opponent's play will help guide you in your critical decisions.
Whenever there is chance involved, you will not always win because you made the best play, in fact, you will often lose when you should have won, but in the long run, your profitable bets will eventually pay off. The important thing is not to let short-term bad luck affect your decision-making and lead to poor (unprofitable) play. Every good player has losing nights, but if you allow misfortune to affect your play, you will undoubtedly lose more and more often.
Preflop Poker Hands and Position
Position is everything in texas hold'em. It is definitely the most important aspect of the game. The importance of position in hold'em cannot be emphasized enough. You must play very tight poker in early position, but you should loosen way up as you get closer to the button. Not only do you open yourself up to a greater potential to get raised when you open early, you will have the same bad position for all betting rounds including the more expensive later rounds, and that is the main reason to consider position when you decide whether or not to play a hand. Your opponent(s) will have to act first in hands you play from better position, and you will get to react to their plays, and it will be easier to read their hands. The value of position cannot be specifically quantified, but there are many advantages to position in texas hold'em, and they are all HUGE. Overall, you will win more and lose less on the hands that you play from better position. The advantages of position allow you to play increasingly weaker starting hands profitably from better position.
The most important decision you will make in playing a hand is whether or not to play it at all. The following table lists the minimum required hands to consider playing a pot according to your playing position. "Consider playing a pot" is stated because you would play these cards from the corresponding position if the hand develops appropriately for your particular cards. Texas hold'em is a situational game. There are many factors that go into a decision to enter a pot. It always depends on the specific situation (how the hand develops as well as the game, the stakes, the players, their frame of mind etc.). That being said, the table below lists some general pre-flop requirements to consider entering a pot according to position in a ten-handed limit hold'em ring game. You should never consider playing a hand that is weaker than what is listed for each position, and you should often pass on the middle and late position hands if the pot does not develop correctly for your starting hand.
Minimum Hand Requirements for Ten-Handed Limit Texas Hold'em
Early Position
Pairs :AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88
Suited :AKs-A10s, KQs, KJs, QJs
Unsuited :AK, AQ
Middle Position
Pairs :77, 66, 55
Suited :A9s, KTs, QTs, JTs, T9s, 98s
Unsuited :AJ, AT, KQ, KJ
Late Position
Pairs :44, 33, 22
Suited :A8s-A2s, K9s, K8s, Q9s, J9s, T8s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s
Unsuited :A9, KT, QJ, QT, JT, T9
Here is some poker theory on the minimum recommended playing hands:
Pairs: Pocket pairs are great because of their potential to win unimproved; especially big pocket pairs like AA, KK, and QQ. Medium pocket pairs like JJ-88 can also win unimproved, but not nearly as often. Smaller pocket pairs are usually only profitable if you make three of a kind (set). You will flop a set or better 11.8% of the time (7.5 to 1). If you flop your set, you will fill up (make a full house) or make quads on the turn or river 33.4% of the time as well.
Suited: Pocket cards that are suited have a significant advantage over unsuited cards of the same numeric value. In addition to the odds of winning a hand by pairing cards on the board, suited cards will flop a 4 flush 10.9% of the time (you will complete the flush 35.0% of those times). They will flop a flush outright 0.85% of the time.
Connectors: Connected cards and to a lesser extent cards with only one gap have an increased value because of their chance to make a straight. The odds of flopping a straight draw of some sort depend on the cards. An AK can only make one straight, where as connectors JT-54 can each make four straights using both cards. AK is still the better hand because of the rank of the cards. If you flop an open ended straight draw, you will complete the hand 31.5% of the time.
Big cards: You will pair one of your unmatched cards on the flop 32.4% of the time (about 2 to1 against). Offsuit hands with no little or no straight potential are the worst kinds of hands to get involved with. A9 does appear in the minimum hand requirements for opening in late position because of the numeric value of the cards alone.
Starting hole cards that do not match an opponent's hole cards are usually only small favorites versus each other head to head (except pair against pair). Head to head, a pair versus two overcards like 66 against AK is only a slight favorite (55%). High card and low card versus two unmatched cards with values between them like T6 vs. 78 is about a 57% favorite, while unmatched cards versus two smaller cards like AK vs. QT is about a 64% favorite. Preflop to finish, AK is only about a 2 to 1 favorite over 32. You can see from these examples that the advantages of suited and connected cards can contribute significantly to preflop hand selection
Dominating Poker Hands
A texas hold'em hand is dominated if it has 3 or fewer outs against a hand it faces, like AQ against AK. In this example only a Q can help AQ, an A will not. A hand like AK is a 3 to 1 favorite over hands it dominates like AQ, AJ, A9, KQ, KT, etc. (again, AK vs. 32 is only a 2 to1 favorite). An even more dominated situation occurs when you have a pair versus a smaller pair like JJ vs. 99 or a pair against two unmatched smaller cards like JJ vs. 98. In both of these cases, the JJ is about a 4 to 1 favorite. The most dominated situation occurs with a pair against another card of that same rank and a lower card, like AA against AQ. In this case there is no single card that can help AQ. A player in this situation can only catch two queens or make a miracle straight to escape (11.5 to 1 against). These are the profitable situations you are looking for and the horribly unprofitable situations you are looking to avoid.
Profitable play involves dominating your opponent's hands and avoiding situations where your hand is dominated. This has much to do with the opening hand recommendations because suited cards and connectors have the ability to make straights and flushes that escape the trap of domination. That is why the only offsuit hands you can play from early position are AK and AQ. When a player calls early with AT and gets involved in a pot against AJ or AQ, the A is dead for the AT hand. If the flop comes with an A and no Q or T, this dominated hand only has a 12.5% chance to catch a T on the turn or river and win the pot (7 to 1 against). And, the better hand has just as good of a chance to catch their kicker as well, in which case AT will still lose. This is the position you want to put your opponents in. You should be very selective about the hands you get involved with, especially from early position. You MUST be more selective about the hands you play relative to the hands your opponents play. If you choose to pass on more hands preflop and play better hands in more favorable position than your opponents, you give yourself a statistical advantage that translates into more profitable situations. It's just that simple. You win at limit texas hold'em in hand selection
Watching out for yourself in poker:
If you ever find yourself holding a hand you know you should fold from the position you are in, but start thinking, "Well, it only cost me one small bet to see the flop", you are dead wrong. The pot can still be raised behind you, but that is the least of your concern. The worst thing that usually happens is that you hit your hand in some way on the flop, and you get stuck having to call more bets with a hand that has almost no chance to win. You will often discover that your hand was dominated from the beginning. Also, the more hands you throw away before the flop, the more likely that when someone happens to get 4 of a kind or a straight flush, or some other monster hand, you will not be in on the hand to pay them off. A good example of an overplayed hand is Ax offsuit. If you come in with something like A8 and catch an A on the flop, you are likely to end up losing a big pot to something like AJ. Most poor players play too many hands, go too far with them, and don't give position enough consideration.
The hand recommendations presented here assume that the game is typical (somewhat loose). You must make some adjustment if you are playing in a very loose or tight poker game. In a very loose game without much preflop raising (loose passive), you can get involved with more hands from early and middle position, but if the game is tight with few players in each pot, and pots often being raised preflop (tight aggressive), you must play even tighter from each position. You might want to find another table in this later case. Tight aggressive play in a loose passive game is most profitable. These starting hand recommendations also assume a full ring game.
Making adjustments in your hand selection:
As the game gets more short-handed however, you are forced to play more hands and play more aggressively. The value of each starting hand naturally goes up when there are fewer hands against you, and you have to post blinds more often. As the game gets very short handed down to heads up play, it has been shown that a player can have a significant mathematical advantage by simply betting at every opportunity against a player that doesn't use proper short-handed tactics (betting, calling and reraising more than seems proper). You should be aware of this tactic any time a ring game begins to break up and you are left in a short handed game. There is a lot of literature on short-handed theory and tactics, and you should become familiar with it if you wish to play in short-handed games. [MJ: Don't ever think that you can learn short-handed play on the fly on your own, because you can't. The easiest way that poker players lose money is by playing outside of their element. If you want to become good at short-handed games, which can be very profitable, start out low and work your way up.]
These minimum hand recommendations actually assume that the pot has developed ideally for each starting hand listed in the table. This theoretical loose passive full ring game where an ideal number of opponents enter the pot ahead of you for each starting hand listed in the table is far from a realistic game. If you are playing in a tighter or very loose game, maybe short a player or two, with a varying number of opponents entering the pot ahead of you each hand, you will of course have to make an adjustment for each new situation. That is what it's all about. You will be placed in a new situation every time it is your turn to act. Profitable texas hold'em comes from critical analysis of any and all information you acquire as you play. You use this valuable information to adapt your general strategy to your specific situation in such a way as to make the best (most profitable) decision about how to proceed.
As it turns out, many middle and late position hands are usually playable when there have only been callers to your right. In later position, you will have more information to consider, and you will know if this is a good situation for your hand. The number of players in the pot, which players come in and how they have played past hands gives you much information to consider in deciding whether or not to get involved when you hold some of the weaker middle and late position hands. You will want to pass on many of these hands if the pot doesn't develop how you would prefer for your hand, and you will be more inclined to play against opponents who you have seen make bad plays.
If you are in late position and no one has opened, hands like A7 or K8 will often be better than any two random cards held by the few remaining players that have yet to act, so you can consider playing these very marginal hands when you know that most players have already folded. You will usually want to raise in this type of situation to try to steal the blinds (more on this later). However, if any players come in front of you, you would never play hands like A7 or K8. They could easily be dominated and have very little chance to escape.
How to play your hands preflop:
You must consider your position in how you play your hand in Texas hold'em. You must know what kind of action you want with your hand, and play accordingly from your position. You obviously must play only very good hands from early position, because you have very little control over how the hand will develop. You should often raise and/or reraise from any position with big pocket pairs like AA, KK, and QQ. You are likely to dominate many of the hands that will play against you. You want to get as much money in the pot as possible before the flop when you have one of these absolute best starting hands. If you were first in from early position with one of these huge hands, you might consider limping in with the intention of reraising if you suspect you might get a raise from another player. You would only consider limp-reraising if you are first in and your early position raises were not getting many callers. Once a player comes in, go for the raise and try to isolate them.
Playing big hold'em hands:
You should raise an opened pot whenever you think you will win more than your share of what goes in. You obviously want to force opponents to put more money into the pot when you are likely to have the best hand, especially when you are likely to dominate their hands. Most players raise with their best hands, so you will almost always fold to a tight player's raise, and avoid this situation where your hand could easily be dominated. If you have a premium hand like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs or AK, you would always reraise rather than just call. You reraise to isolate and hopefully get heads up, and you want as much money in the center as possible with your premium hand.
Cold calling a preflop raise is almost always a mistake. If you have some reason to believe the raiser has a less than premium hand, you could also reraise with TT, 99, or AQs, but you should definitely either reraise or fold. Exceptions to this reraise or fold approach to facing preflop raises occur when you are either in the big blind or there are many players in the pot and you have a hand that plays very well multiway. Both of these situations will be addressed later.
From early position, you usually want to raise with medium pocket pairs like JJ -99 and big offsuit cards like AK and AQ to cut down the number of opponents and increase your chance of winning the pot. If you raise preflop from early position with something like 99, you reduce the number of players that will see the flop and make it more likely that your hand will be best even if an overcard falls. With no raise, hands like KJ or A10 will be more likely to come in and beat you if an overcard does flop. Also, any time you raise, you maximize your profit when you do win the pot, so it is usually profitable to raise when you have a strong hand.
However, in late position following several limpers, you would not want to raise with 99 because you will now fail to cut down the number of players who will see the flop (any player who called the blind will call a second bet if you raise). You would probably be better off to just call and see the flop before you invest more. The majority of your profit from 99 in this case would be when you either flop a set of nines or no overcards fall on the flop.
Big offsuit cards like AK play best with a raise. The more players that see the flop, the less money you will win with hands like this (even though more players are putting money into the pot). If you do win, you will win a larger pot, but it is well known (and backed up by statistical analysis) that the more players that see the flop, the less profitable hands like AK become. The hand is not suited so will unlikely make a flush, and even though it is a connector, there is only one straight that can be made using both cards. You profit from hands like AK, AQ and KQ mostly by making top pair (or two pair using a board pair) with the best kicker. If many players see the flop, it is more likely that someone will make a hand like two pair, three of a kind, a straight or a flush. You raise for two reasons: to get more money in the pot when you have a great hand, and more importantly to keep other players out of the pot to increase your chance of winning. It is usually worth a raise from any position with big offsuit cards if you will cut down the field with your raise.
You might want to limp from early/middle position with hands like AJ. Even though it is not a good multiway hand (which would argue for a raise), you should not raise because you are out of position and have a greater chance that your hand could be dominated by a player yet to act, and multiple players may come in anyway. You will give callers better odds to draw against you if you make a hand and they flop a draw. By not raising and keeping the pot smaller, opponent's calls on later streets will be less profitable for them, which is better for you. Also, you will lose information by raising early with hands like AJ.
You should almost always raise with AK because AK cannot be out kicked and can only be dominated by AA and KK, but there are several more hands that dominate AJ. If you raise, you will have no idea if a caller dominates your hand. If you do limp and someone raises behind you, you gain information: you could very well be up against AA, AK, or AQ, so you will want to keep that in mind when you decide how to play after the flop. In late position following perhaps one limper, you are in better shape to raise with your AJ. You are in good position and less likely to be dominated by a hand like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK or AQ if no one raised in front you, and more likely to dominate a limper with an A and a weaker kicker. Your raise may knock out the blinds as well and get you heads-up or nearly so with a hand you dominate. That makes a raise here more profitable.
Playing smaller hold'em hands:
Hands with straight or flush potential as well as pocket pairs play well in a mulitway pot. Suited and connected cards have the added benefit of straight and/or flush potential. Hitting a flush or straight is a long shot, but when you do get one, you will almost always win with it, so you want to have it in a pot with lots of players. Same thing goes for pocket pairs, you will only flop a set about one out of 8.5 times, but three of a kind is a huge hand that will often win in a multiway pot, and on top of that, you have a 1 in 3 chance that the board will pair and give you a full house. These hands have the potential to make huge hands, but they will not do so often, so you need many players in the pot to make the payoff worth it if you do catch.
Big suited hands play very well mulitway and are usually good enough to play from any position. Big suited hands include AKs-A10s, KQs, KJs, and QJs. In addition to the chance of making the best hand by making a board pair with a solid kicker or better, these hands have the chance to make big flushes and straights. If you are playing a suited Ace instead of suited trash, and you make a flush, it will be the nut flush and not just a flush. If another player makes a smaller flush, you are likely to end up winning a big pot. AKs is best by far because if it pairs on the flop, it will make top pair with the best kicker or better, and it can also make the highest possible straight and/or flush. You would usually raise from any position with AKs, AQs and KQs. If you end up heads-up or nearly so with these hands, they will play just fine.
You would probably limp in from early position with other big suited hands like AJs, ATs, KJs, QJs because you want many players to come in to give you good odds if you flop a draw. You would prefer to play a multiway pot with these hands. If you are in late position following several limpers, you should often raise with big suited hands to build a big pot. By raising, you force everyone to cough up an extra bet preflop (it only cost you one bet, but practically doubles the size of the pot), so if you flop a straight or flush draw, you will be getting very profitable odds to draw, and with such a big pot, you will likely get lots of calls from players that cannot win you if you catch. That is what playing solid poker is all about; setting yourself up for the most profitable situations. You could even consider calling a preflop raise cold with big suited hands if the pot is already mulitway.
Hands like KTs, QTs and JTs are downgraded to the middle position minimum opening hands because many hands can dominate them, but they still have straight and flush potential. In a loose passive game without much preflop raising, you could probably play them from early position as well. AKs can only make one straight, while JTs can make 4 different straights that will all be the nuts. QTs can only make 3 straights using both cards, and must catch a J to make any straight, and KTs can only make two straights and only by catching both a Q and J. You can raise with medium suited connectors like JTs, T9s, 98s, following several limpers and build a big multiway pot to give yourself very profitable odds to chase should you flop a draw [MJ: This is a bit redundant, as you will have pot odds to draw to a straight or flush almost 100% of the time, so you should not be raising]. Even if the pot was raised, you might still consider playing a medium suited connector near the button if the pot is already multiway because you will be getting great odds to chase if you flop a draw. Most players raise with big cards, so your medium suited connector cards are less likely to be dominated, and even if you are, it is not a big problem because you're not usually looking to win a multiway pot by pairing the board
Playing small hands in late position:
You would not play smaller suited connectors like 78s from early or middle position because you don't know how the pot will develop so you can't be sure you will get the multiway pot you want. If you limped in early with 78s and got raised, you could end up trapped with two of your bets in a relatively small pot heads-up against a hand you are probably unlikely to beat. You will not be getting proper odds for your straight or flush draw, and that is exactly the situation you don't want with this type of hand.
In late position, you can see the action before you decide whether or not to play. You would probably fold the 78s if only one person limped in front of you. If there was no raise and several players limped in, these hands definitely become playable because you are getting the kind of action you want. They are not as strong as the medium and big suited connectors, so you would seldom raise with them. You will often be folding after the flop, so you would like to see the flop cheaply. Small suited connectors down to 54s have the potential to make 4 straights and/or a flush, and when you hit your hand well in some other way by making two pair or trips, your hand is well disguised. If the flop comes A77, who would expect someone would be in with a 7? Any ace will pay you off. Also, when you completely miss the flop, which will often happen, you can easily get away from the hand. If you don't flop a straight or flush draw (or some very strong hand), you will usually just fold out.
If you had a small pair (77 - 22) in the same position following several limpers, you would probably just call, because you will frequently fold after the flop if you miss your set. Small pairs play well multiway, but you will not be chasing if you miss, so you usually want to see the flop as cheaply as possible.
Some late position hands that require special consideration are hands like K9s, K8s, Q9s, J9s, and T8s. [MJ: These hands can/should probably not even be played, period unless you are an advanced player.] These hands become playable following many limpers in loose games if you can expect to see a cheap flop in what is likely to end up being a big pot. The problem with these hands is that they can easily end up making second best hands, usually by making top pair with the worst kicker, but also occasionally by making the second best flush or straight.
To avoid becoming trapped, you have to be able to let go of these hands if you don't get an excellent flop. If you don't flop a flush or straight draw, two pair, or better, you should fold to any bet. Even if you make top pair with your K or Q, you should still fold if an opponent bets into you. If checked to you, you would usually bet top pair, but if you get raised, you should fold immediately. If you make a flush, you would prefer to see the higher suited card(s) on the board to insure you have the highest possible flush, otherwise you must keep in mind that you could be against a bigger flush. You would never play these types of hands in a multiway pot if they were unsuited, but you might consider playing unsuited hands with straight potential like QJ, QT, JT, and T9 following many limpers.
These hands also run a similar increased risk of making second best hands when many players see the flop. If you don't flop a straight draw, two pair or better, you should usually fold to any action. If you do make a straight, you will know if you have the nuts. If a higher possible straight is out, you must keep that in mind. These marginal late position hands can be profitable if played correctly in the right situations, but they have serious potential for disaster by making second best hands which can be difficult to get away from. You don't really give up anything by passing on these weak hands all together. Passing on these types hands is almost always correct anyway, and one mistake can wipe out any small advantage to playing them perfectly.
If the pot is raised before you voluntarily enter the pot, you should often fold right there; you should almost never cold call a preflop raise if you are not in the big blind (you will see bad players do it often, but it is a terribly unprofitable play). Unless you are in the big blind or the pot is already multiway, and you have a great hand that plays well multiway, don't call a preflop raise. Don't call preflop raises with hands like AQ or KQ (unless you have some reason to believe the raiser has a weak hand). Most players raise with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs and AK, so if you call with even very good hands, you could easily be getting into a dominated situation. Any flop that hits you could hit the raiser better, and you could easily end up losing a huge pot when you could have folded for free.
Of course any time that you believe your hand is better than the raiser's (you have the big pair or AK or it is a loose raiser) you should RERAISE. Calling is a mistake; reraise to get heads up and let them know you have a huge hand and get their reaction. If they cap it, they are representing AA, KK, or AKs. Those are the only 3 profitable hands to make it 4 bets with preflop. That doesn't mean they have it, but if the flop doesn't help you, and you believe they probably have you beat, don't be afraid to dump it right on the flop. Considering the flop, if you give yourself as much as a 1 in 3 chance to have the best hand, check and call your way to the river. Betting to find out where you are usually won't do you any good. Any player that caps it on the flop with less than a premium hand will definitely play back with no improvement, and if you're beat, you'll also get played with, so you're back to check and call. This is exactly the situation where you want to know as much as possible about your opponent. I hope you were paying attention.
Most of the time the pot will not be raised when it comes to you, and if it gets raised one time after you call, you call the raise. If it is raised and reraised behind you, you strongly consider folding unless you have a premium hand. That is, unless you have some reason to believe that the reraiser is weak.
Several examples of positional considerations have been presented, but endless unique examples will arise in the game. You should always consider how to best achieve the situation you want for your type of hand from the position you are in by calling or raising preflop, and folding when it looks like you will not get the type of action you need to play a particular hand.
Bluffing in Poker
Bluffing and bluff strategy is one of the hardest but most fundamental parts of poker. Without a doubt, if you do not bluff in poker, there is no way you can be a successful poker player. That being said, bluffing is no small task, as it requires good poker sense, timing and guts to pull it off. It can be frightening, scary and embarrassing when you are caught, but equally exciting and rewarding when you get away with it.
Bluffing in Limit Texas Hold'em
In most Texas Hold'em games played around the casinos, structured (limit poker) is the most common type of poker played. Unlike no limit, where you can shove your stack all-in and put a man to his money, in limit games, your bluffs will only be limited to a single bet or raise more often than not. Because of this limited betting, bluffing randomly can get you in trouble, as your opponents will often be willing to call down a single extra bet (especially in low limit games). As cool as it might sound to tell yourself that you're going to bluff everyone out of the next hand no matter what, it's not going to work the majority of the time. Why? Because bluffing, is an art form.
Position - The Weapon of Choice for Bluffing
If you have studied texas hold'em or poker in general, you'll know that position relative to the button is a big factor in the game. If you don't know what position is, I highly recommend you read the link above or our texas hold'em guide as a primer. Position is a topic too important a topic to ignore, as it goes hand in hand with bluffing and aggression. Thus, adding a bluffing game on top of your position game is absolutely critical.
Continuing, position is important because bluffing will usually take place when you are close to the button or last to act. Why? Because you are in the advantageous situation to see all the action before the action is on you.
Example: You are on the button in a 3/6 game. There are three players on the flop, including yourself. The flop comes [ A 9 2 ]. The first player checks, then the second player checks as well. Being last to act, you decide that since your opponents checked before you, you might be able to scoop up the pot. You bet $3 and happily see that both your opponents fold and you take down the pot.
This is a classic example of using your position to take down a pot. Because you were able to see your opponents act before you, this gave you enough information so that you decided to bluff and win this pot. So, if the action is checked to you, depending on how many players are in the pot and how loose the game is, you will often win the hand outright then and there without any confrontation.
Bluff EV - Can Math Solve the Bluffing Equation?
Let's use an example where you are playing in a $3/6 limit hold'em game with four callers on the flop: small and big blind, one limper and yourself. That makes it a $12 pot. The blinds and limper check to you. Should you try and steal this pot? Let's do the math.
If you bet out, it involves risking a small bet of $3 to try and bluff the pot. If you win, you will be up $12. This means the pot is laying you 12:3 odds, or 4:1 odds. If you aren't familiar with odds, please visit our page on how to calculate poker odds. Because the pot is giving 4:1 odds, this means that you must win this pot 1 out of 5 times in order to break even with your bet - or 20% of the time.
To figure out whether or not it will be profitable to bluff in your position, you combine this little bit of math against your own poker skills and intuition to ask yourself this: If I bluff now, will I win this pot more than 20% of the time? If the answer is yes, then you want to bet at this pot! If the answer is no, then it'll be a losing long-term proposition for you. This is why careful observation and taking notes of your opponents is crucial. Knowing when a play is profitable and when it isn't, is how you make money with bluffs.
The Semi-Failed Bluff - To Continue or Not?
So, lets say 1 out of 5 times you do take the pot down right then, meaning that it's a break even play. Let's say that on the times that you don't win immediately, your opponents simply call and you're looking at a turn card. Say that everyone still in the hand checks to you - should you bet again? Well, it certainly depends now doesn't it!
The hardest part about bluffing is knowing when to really dial up the aggression and when to slam your foot on the brakes. Trying to push over an opponent with a monster hand or standing down to an opponent with a weak hand are the two worst mistakes to make while bluffing, because they'll cost you the most money. This is why you want to try and analyze exactly what your opponents may be holding that they're still in the hand with you.
Look at what is on the board and try to figure out what hand your opponents would call you with. Are they loose enough to call that inside straight draw or call with bottom pair? Are they predictable players that only call top pair? But most important, are they weak enough to call the flop and fold the turn? The mistake that most aggressive players make is they don't try to understand their opponents; they just want to bully them. Your decision to continue should be a smart one: keep bullying if you have a good chance, but otherwise, give up.
The Actual Failed Bluff
Ok. There was only one opponent left on the river. You were sure they were going to fold, so you bet it out. They called with bottom pair and you have King high. You're sick to your stomach and embarrassed to boot. The first thing that goes through your head at this moment is: how on Earth did they call that?
Reality check: Don't do the stupid thing and try to convince yourself that your opponent made a mistake. While your opponent might have made a bad call, it was a worse move for you to try to bluff out a calling station! It's a rule of thumb that you can't push out a calling station, because they simply don't know any better.
Practice Makes Perfect!
While this article isn't an entire primer on all the different angles on bluffing, the best lesson you can have on how to properly bluff is to simply go out and try it yourself. Everyone has to learn the hard way eventually, no matter how much you read on strategies. The key is to learn from your mistakes on how aggressive you can be and then tone it down to match the style of the table. Most important though, is to actually try and bluff. Being nervous or scared is a very natural thing and getting over that emotional block is an important part of controlling your nerves and mindset to make good plays. Keep at it and you'll be doing well in no time!
HOW TO CALCULATE POKER ODDS...
Why are Odds Important in Poker
Why are poker odds so important anyhow? Knowing poker odds is important because it gives you an idea when you are in a good or bad situation. To illustrate:
Let's say you and a friend are flipping a quarter and he gives you 1:1 odds that the next flip will land on heads. You already know that it will land on heads 50% of the time, and it'll land on tails the rest of the time. In this case, he's giving you an even bet, because nobody has a statistical advantage.
Instead, let's say your friend just won $500 playing poker online and is on a lucky streak. He offers you 2:1 odds that the next coin flip will be heads. Would you take this bet? Hopefully you would, because the chances of heads or tails coming up are still 1:1, while he's paying you at the 2:1 rate. Your friend is hoping to ride his luck a little longer, but if he gambles with you long enough, he'll be losing his shirt with these kinds of odds.
The above example is a simplified version of what goes on in Texas Hold'em all the time. This is summed up in this short principle:
In poker, there are two types of players. The first group are players who take bad odds in hopes of getting lucky. The second group are players who cash in on the good odds that are left by the first group.
Calculating Hand Odds and Poker Odds
Calculating hand odds are your chances of making a hand in Texas Hold'em poker. For example: To calculate your hand odds in a Texas Hold'em game when you hold two hearts and there are two hearts on the flop, your hand odds for making a flush are about 2 to 1. This means that for approximately every 3 times you play this hand, you can expect to hit your flush one of those times. If your hand odds were 3 to 1, then you would expect to hit your hand 1 out of every 4 times.
Your Texas Hold'em poker odds are given below for hitting a draw by the river with a given number of outs after the flop and turn, and examples of draws with specified numbers of poker outs given.
Example: if you hold [22] and the flop does not contain a [2], the odds of hitting a [2] on the turn is 22:1 (4%). If the turn is also not a [2], your poker odds of hitting it on the river are again 22:1 (4%). However, the combined hand odds of hitting a [2] on the turn or river is 12:1 (8%). For mathematical reasons, only use combined odds (two card odds) when you are in a possible all-in situation.
Common Errors in Calculating Odds
If you're like most somewhat read poker players, you'll think that your chances of drawing to a straight or a flush is 2:1, because you've read it and seen in in poker books high and low. I want to tell you right now, that this can be a very wrong statement to apply to your game at face value. Here are a list of common errors for drawing:
I.Calculating the odds for two cards at a time, instead of one card at a time
II.Miscounting outs, either by not counting enough or not taking into account counterfeit outs
III.Not taking into account implied value - what your opponents will put into the pot if you make your hand
Regarding the points above, I will go into more detail regarding each one and explain why they are common mistakes for many poker players and how to correct your thinking.
Figuring odds one hand at a time
I believe one of the major reasons that I've seen players make this mistake in calculating odds, is that poker odds tables universally show the odds of making a hand by the river first, then the odds of making a hand by the turn. In reality, unless you are playing in no-limit tournaments or playing in a crazy no-limit cash game, you will rarely ever have to perform a two-card calculation for your hand. The huge majority of the time, you will need to figure out your odds on your immediate hand to the next card, so it's pointless to calculate any more than that. You can do yourself a big favor by forgetting the odds of making your hand by the river and instead, memorize the odds of making hands one card at a time.
Example: A lot of players tend to draw their open-ended straights thinking they only need 2:1 pot odds. This is sorely wrong. What is true is that an open ended straight draw sits at a 4.7:1 chance of completing when calculated one card at a time. This is a very far cry from a 2:1 odd draw and still nearly one whole big bet off compared to the 4:1 mentality.
Miscounting Outs
Out counting is an important skill that is often overlooked or too easily assumed. Every time you are on a draw, you need to know exactly how many true outs you have. True outs are cards that will help your hand while not helping your opponents' hand in the process. An out that hurts you is considered a counterfeit out. Often times, your true outs may be in a gray area, because you don't for certain whether or not a certain out is counterfeit or not. Thus, your ability to read your opponents and put them on a hand is going to be very critical in figuring out what your true outs are.
Example: Players will often draw to a straight with a flush draw possibility on the table, because they haven't taken into account that two of their straight outs actually complete someone elses' flush draw. On the other hand, a play might have AK with a paired Ace and face some heavy raising from the BB, who he suspects of having two pair. The AK player may think that he must hit another Ace or King (5 outs) in order to win the hand, where the reality is that he has 3 more outs for the board to pair (and not give his opponent a full house), which gives the player 8 outs. Another common mistake is to not recognize the Ace counterfeit, where you make mid-pair on the flop let's say and have the pot odds to draw for a two pair. While you may make the best hand, an Ace on the board may also mean that the top pair also makes two pair as well in the process, thus nullifying your Ace out. Not always the case, but something to be mindful of.
The mistake of not factoring Implied Value
Not factoring in implied value is a huge error that a lot of players make, because they drop out of a draw when the are actually break-even or better on making their hand. For those who need a quick refresher on implied value - IV is considered the extra bet in the pot that occurs when your opponent calls you or bets on the river after you've made your hand. Implied value assumes that your opponent will indeed pay an extra bet on the river, which a number of old or weak-tight books have said they wouldn't. Realistically, this is mostly untrue.
Internet poker players, especially in the low limit games, will often pay you out quite handsomely at the river if they have gone that far, so it is almost an automatic assumption that you will get an extra bet on the river. What this means in application, is that all of your odds of drawing should be effectively reduced by one when calculating your odds. In fact, your flop to turn draw can also be decreased by 2 points, as the implied odds double when considering a turn bet vs a flop bet (assuming we are playing limit poker here).
Example #1: It's a $3/6 game and you are dealt T7o in the BB. Two limpers come in and the SB folds (pot $10). You check and the flop comes T-8-6 rainbow. You check, first limper bets, other two fold and it's now up to you. The pot is now at $13 with $3 to call, giving you 4.3:1 odds. Your total outs on this hand are 7 (3 outs to hit two pair and 4 outs to hit your inside straight, assuming your opponent has top pair/better kicker or overpair). At 7 outs, this puts your draw at 5.6:1, which compared to your 4.3:1 pot, means with conventional odds theory, that you should fold this hand. However, if you take into account implied value and the fact that the implied value is doubling on the turn, this actually makes your draw a 3.6:1 proposition. This may be hard for you to wrap your head around, so let's do some actual number crunching:
Pot: $13 ($10 preflop + $3 flop bet)
Cost to call: $3
Odds to make hand: 5.6 to 1 (15%)
Turn Pot: $22 ($10 preflop + $3 flop bet + $3 flop call + $6 turn bet)
Now let's run this scenario through 100 times to see where we fall:
Total Cost = 85 of 100 losses = 85 * $3 = $255
Total Win = 15 of 100 winners = 15 * $22 = $330
Average EV = ($330 - $255) / 100 = 75/100 = $0.75/hand = 0.1BB/hand
Hourly EV significance = (Hands/hour) * Average EV = (45 hands/hour) * (0.1BB/hand) = 4.5BB/hr
Note: If you are very observant, you should even be able to realize here that you have even more implied value on this hand, because if you make your hand, you will almost certainly raise on the turn and bet the river, which may add one or two additional BB. For the sake of clean theory, we will not add it in here, but realistically, you can probably add an entire BB on top of your implied value for this kind of hand.
IMPORTANT CONCEPT: Many of you reading this will probably nod your head, look at the odds and say that implied value makes this draw ok, but only by a marginal amount, as it's only 0.1BB after all. For that reason, you think that you don't need to focus very hard on the odds or implied odds when counting your draw. That line of thinking will absolutely destroy your bankroll.
This is not to say that playing this hand incorrectly will cause you to lose 4.5BB/hr, but if you made the constant mistake of misplaying hand such as these, it would cost you that much over the long term. This is why a complete and critical understanding of odds is necessary to win at poker - especially low limit. Knowing when to draw marginal hands can turn you from a losing player to a winning player if you are consistently able to spot profitable situations.
Example #2: You are in a $3/6 game and dealt AKo in middle position. One limper in EP, you raise up to $6, all folded to the big blind, who calls as well as the original limper. Pot is $18, flop comes triple rags. Big blind bets out, limper in EP folds and you see a pot of 21:3 - or 7:1 pot odds. You figure the big blind has a pair, most likely giving you 6 outs to make a better pair. Your odds of hitting an Ace or King one card at a time is 6.7:1.
On the very surface, this is a profitable play, since you are getting better pot odds than drawing odds, but you also have to take into account that your opponent may have better than one pair or may have a King or Ace to counterfeit your outs. This may make it a break even play on paper. However, given that the majority of the time he has a pair here, your implied value makes this more like a 8.7:1 draw, which easily nullifies any counterfeit threat.
Advanced Applications of Odds
It doesn't stop here however. For the regular player, they will look only at this one decision and figure that they want to draw because they're getting 8.7:1 realistic odds. Think what happens on the turn however? Say you call the flop bet and your opponent bets the turn on another rag. The pot is now $30, giving you 5:1 drawing odds on the turn. Even with implied value on the turn, you cannot continue to draw and must dump at this point unless you are planning on bluffing your opponent out. Your hand is now over.
On the other hand, let's take an offensive approach to implied value. It's to you again on the flop. Instead of calling, you raise instead. By raising, you're making your pot odds 24:6 or 4:1. On the turn, if your opponent bets again, the pot is 36:6 or 6:1, which gives you at least 7:1 realistic odds when factored with implied value.
Pot: $30 ($21 flop + $6 raise + $3 call)
Cost to raise: $6
Chance to make hand: 6.7 to 1 (13%)
Total Cost (to get to turn) = 87 of 100 losses = 87 * $6 = $522
Total Win = 13 of 100 wins = 13 * $36 ($30 pot + $6 implied turn bet) = $468
Net Gain = -$55
These are all the on paper stats. One thing that isn't taken into account but easily dealt with, is what happens if the big blind reraises you on the flop? Easy, you drop your hand, because he most likely has better than top pair or likely has an Ace to counterfeit your outs, giving you an unprofitable draw.
What has not been taken into effect is the Bluff EV and the free card factor. With a raise, you can expect to make your opponent fold 5% to 15% of the time here on this hand. Taking the low end of the estimate, even if your opponent folds 5 out of the 100 times on this hand, that means an extra $105 ($21 flop pot * 5 successful bluffs) in your pocket, which turns this from a unprofitable play to a profitable one instead. And we're just getting started.
Now you also have to factor in the free card effect. We can estimate that if your opponent calls, he will probably check to you 30% to 70% of the time. We will again take the conservative estimate of 30% and recalculate what our real cost is playing this hand if we miss on the turn.
Turn opportunities: 87 of 100 hands
Opponent bets on turn: 70% of 87 = 61 hands
Opponent checks on turn: 30% of 87 = 26 hands
--Opponent bets--
Pot: $36 ($30 + $6 bet)
Cost to call: $6
Chance to make hand: 6.7 to 1 (13%)
Total hands lost = 87% * 61 hands = 53 hands
Total hands won = 13% * 61 hands = 8 hands
Total Cost = 53 hands * 6 = $318
Total Win = 8 hands * $42 ($36 pot + $6 implied bet/call) = $336
Net Gain if opponent bets turn = $18
--Opponent checks--
Pot $30
Cost to call: None
Chance to make hand: 6.7 to 1 (13%)
Total hands lost = 87% * 26 hands = 23 hands
Total hands won = 13% * 26 hands = 3 hands
Total Cost = $0
Total Win = $30 * 3 hands = $90
Net Gain if opponent checks turn = $90
--Overall--
Total Net Gain from turn to river = $118
Now, we will combine the turn stats with the stats from the overall hand:
Total Cost (to get to turn) = 87 of 100 losses = 87 * $6 = $522
Total win from playing past turn = $118
Total Win = 13 of 100 wins = 13 * $36 ($30 pot + $6 implied turn bet) = $468
Total Bluff EV = (5% * 100 hands) * $21 flop pot = $105
Net Gain = -$522 + $118 + $468 + $105 = $169
Average EV = ($169 net / 100 hands) = $1.69/hand = ~0.3BB/hand.
Hourly EV significance = 13.5BB/hr
Remember, all of this assumes that your opponent will only fold 5% of the time to a bluff and only give you a free card 30% of the time. The implications of what you can win even still with these types of figures, is to show that implied odds and bluff EV can and should be used as a tool to aggressively attack your opponents - especially if you can selectively pick on those who will fold and check to you the most, as they will offer substantially higher EV to these actions.
Realistic Odds Conclusion
As a conclusion to this example of realistic odds, think about how you normally play AK when you miss the flop and the big blind bets out. Most tight people fold and get rid of their hand without a second thought. Hopefully if you've read through all of the above so far and have understood it, you can benefit by applying this information to not simply play a defensive draw game, but an offensive game as well. This is where the concepts of aggression, folding equity and free cards become much more significant, as they open many more doors that a simple drawing game does not.
Value Betting
A lot of the money good poker players make comes from their skills in value betting. A value bet occurs when you put your opponent on a hand, and yours is better. You evaluate how much your opponent is willing to pay you with his worse holding, and then make that bet. If you want to maximize your profit at the poker table; value betting should be a vital part of your game strategy.
The most important factor in making good value bets is to be good at putting opponents on hands. You have to be pretty sure of what your opponent is holding and then act accordingly to that. This skill takes a lot of practice and comes naturally after playing many thousands of hands. Putting opponents on hands and make value bets are two things that often separate winning players from the losing players. Even though this is very much based on practice there are some things that you can think about when trying to decide what to bet on the river. I'll try to explain how I think when pondering a value bet.
Example 1: The game is $3-$6 No Limit Texas Holdem and you have A♦ T♥ on the button. Two players limp in before you and you call. The flop comes 2♣ T♠ Q♦. All players check to you and you decide to bet your middle pair. You bet $20 in the $27 pot. Big Blind folds, and so does the next player, but the last player decides to call. The turn is 3♣ and you both check. The river is 3♠. Your opponent checks again. What do you do in this situation?
Let us evaluate what has happened. It is not very probable that your opponent has a Q. With a queen he would have bet the river after you checked on the turn. A possible holding is KJ, he limped pre-flop and KJ is a hand some people like to call with before the flop. You won't be able to get any more from him on the river if he holds a busted straight, but on the other hand, that holding is not a threat to you either. He could have a T with a worse kicker JT, T9 or something like that. He made a call on the flop because you were last to act and he might have thought that you just tried to steal the pot.
I think you should bet here, but how much? You want your opponent to have a T with a worse kicker than you. You showed some weakness on the turn, and he might definitely call you with that kind of hand. If you bet too much he will probably muck, so the appropriate amount is about half of the pot. That could look like a bluff in the eyes of your opponent, but in reality it is a good value bet.
Example 2: You play $1/$2 No Limit Texas Hold em and have K♣ Q♣ in late position. A player in middle position limps and you decide to raise it up to $8. All players fold to the original raiser and he calls. The flop comes: 2♦ Q♥ K♠. Your opponent checks and you bet $15. Your opponent decides to call.
Let us stop here for a moment. What are your opponent's possible holdings? We have to take into consideration that he limped pre-flop, called your raise, and then called your bet on the flop. AK is probably out of the question since almost all players raise with that hand pre-flop. He probably has a KT or KJ for top pair, or maybe JT for a straight draw. It is also possible that he holds 22. Ok, let's carry on.
The turn comes: Th, Your opponent checks, you bet, and again he calls. What does this mean?
22 is not a very likely holding anymore. Th created a very scary looking board and if your opponent holds a set he would most definitely bet or check-raise the turn.
The river comes: 9♠ creating the board 2♦ Q♥ K♠ T♥ 9♠. It is checked to you. The pot is $129. What do you do now?
Firstly, you have to think about what your opponent thoughts about you. If he thinks you are a bad player, he might check with the straight on the river to be able to check-raise. But if he sees you as a good player he wouldn't do that, because you would fold to a check-raise. Instead he would bet out the straight.
If you consider your opponent to be a good player, and vice versa, you could value bet something in the range of $40. But you must know that your opponent is able to make pretty tough calls. Hopefully he holds KT and two pair, a holding he could pay you off with.
Against all players, the exception might be total maniacs; you have to fold to a check-raise. When you make a value bet and are last to act, very often you do it knowing that you have to muck the hand if you are raised.
Example 3: The game is $2/$4 NL Holdem and you hold A♦ 3♦. You sit in middle position and one player in early position limps in, you decide to do the same. Big blind checks. The flop comes: 2♥ 2♣ 8♠ and all players check. (maybe you should have bet here, but that's another story). The turn is: T♣, and it is round-checked again. Q♥ comes on the river and it is checked to you. It is $14 in the pot, what do you do?
You probably hold the best hand right now with A high. What should you bet? The answer is nothing! To make a successful value bet you have to be sure that someone holds a hand worse than yours, but still good enough to make a call with. The second best hand in this situation would be K high. Almost no player would call with that and therefore you should check and probably win the pot.
Conclusion
Concentration is the key to good value betting. You have to focus on the game and evaluate everything that happens on every street. Try to take everything into consideration when putting opponents on hands. What happened pre-flop, on flop, on turn and on river? When you become good at that, the amounts you should bet on the river comes pretty naturally.
The question you always should ask yourself is: How much money is my opponent willing to pay me with his second best holding?
