What is important to know about Texas Hold’em in the beginning

To have a chance of winning the WSOP main event you have to master Texas Hold’em poker. A good Texas Hold’em poker player should understand the psychology of the opponent and be able to calculate the various options. It is believed that a good poker player is not the one that wins a lot of money, but the one who loses little. Your primary task is to increase your stack as much as possible. Simple to say, more difficult to achieve. A few points should be considered.

Since in Texas Hold’em poker the betting order (like in many poker games) is determined by the position of the dealer (the button) and does not change through the course of the hand, one’s position during the betting rounds is a key factor in the game, and for example at the last position you can keep some cards that should have been fold in early position. After all, the latter your turn is, more the information you’ll manage to get, and as we all know, poker is a game of information.

Categories of hands

Despite the huge variety of combinations of cards, in poker there are only 169 variants of starting two-card hands, if you count the cards, differing only by suit, the same combinations, i.e. the Queen of spades and the Jack of spades, we equate to the Queen of hearts and the Jack of hearts. Of course, if the flop reveals three spades, the first of these combinations would be more advantageous, but not having the gift of prophecy, these hands before the flop are equivalent.

All these 169 variants can be divided into 5 main categories: pairs, cards in sequence, gapped hands, cards in sequence of one suit and gapped hands of one suit. In case you don’t have a pair, your two pocket cards can be of one or different suits, be in sequence or not, have one or more gaps. Obviously, with cards in sequence you have more chance to form a straight, and the more gaps you have, the less is the probability to form it. In case you are trying to form a flush with suited cards the gaps are not important, but the higher cards are preferable.

Variants of two-card combinations in different positions

Here are some of the main two-card combinations with which you can call in early position but you should take into consideration that the less players at the table, the more are your chances to win with lower combination.

Pairs: Sevens or better.

Cards of one suit: An Ace with a King; A Queen with a Jack or 10; A King King with a Queen, Jack or 10; A Jack with a 10 or 9; 10 with a 9.

Cards of different suits: An Ace with a King , Queen, Jack or 10.

If there are 9 players at the table and you are in position 5, 6, or 7, you are in the middle position you should play the following:

Pairs: Fives or better.

Cards of one suit:  An Ace with a King, Queen, Jack or 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10; A King with a Queen, Jack, 9 or 10; A Queen with a Jack, 8, 9, or 10; A Jack with an 8, 9 or 10; A 10 with an 8 or 9; A 9 with an 8.

Cards of different suits: An Ace with a King, Queen, Jack or 10; A King with a Queen, Jack, or 10; A Queen with a Jack or 10; A Jack with a 10.

In late positions you have an advantage, and therefore you can extend the range of combinations as follows:

Pairs: all

Cards of one suit:  An Ace with any card; A King with any card; A Queen with a Jack, 8, 9, or 10; A Jack with a 7, 8, 9 or 10; A 10 with a 7, 8 or 9; A 9 with a 6, 7, or 8; An 8 with a 6 or 7; An 8 with a 6 or 7; A 7 with a 5 or 6; A 6 with a 5; A 5 with a 4.

Cards of different suits: An Ace with a King, Queen, Jack, 9 or 10; A Queen with a Jack, 9 or 10; A Jack with an 8, 9, or 10; A 10 with an 8 or 9; A 9 with a 7, or 8; An 8 with a 7.

All of these recommendations, of course, are not absolutely optimal and you are not required to follow them unquestionably. Even more, to play in this way is recommended only if the pot has not been increased, i.e. none of the previous players has raised. In case the pot has been increased, the tactics should be a different, and then the psychology should play a greater role.

Your chances of getting a winning starting combination

Your probability to get a no pair is 1 in 2; to get one pair is 1 in 2.4; to get two pairs is 1 in 20; to get three of a kind is 1 in 50; to get a straight is 1 in 250; to get a flush is 1 in 500; to get a full house is 1 in 700; to get a four of a kind is 1 in 4 200; to get a straight flush is 1 in 72 00; to get a royal flush is 1 in 650 000.

Based on these calculations we can make the following conclusions:

The more players at the table, the higher is the chances at least one of them to form a pair or higher combination. In other words, the more are the players at the table, the better should be your card combination as well. But if you don’t have a pair or better, or four cards to a straight or a flush, the best thing to do is to fold.

The chances to improve your hand

In case we keep a pair and draw three cards, the probability of improvement is as follows: any improvement is 1 in 2.5; two pair is 1 in 5; three of a kind is 1 in 8; full house is 1 in 97; four of a kind is 1 in 360.

In case we keep a three of a kind and draw 2 cards, the probability of improvement is as follows: any improvement is 1 in 8.5; two pair is 1 in 5; three of a kind is 1 in 8; full house is 1 in 15.5; four of a kind is 1 in 22.5.

It is obvious that when you have a better starting hand, your chances of getting the best combination is higher. But you can forget about improving the 3 cards to a straight or to a flush. Your chances respectively are: 1 in 150 and 1 in 23. It is extremely unlikely that the pot will ever worth such a risk.

The chances of improving four cards if you draw one card are as follows: with a four cards to a flush the chances are 1 in 4.5; with an open ended (two way) straight the chances are 1 in 5; with one end straight the chances are 1 in 11; with an inside straight the chances are 1 in 11; with an open ended straight flush the chances are 1 in 24; with one end straight flush the chances are 1 in 46; with an inside straight flush the chances are 1 in 46.

To call, or not to call – playing the pre-flop

If no one has entered the game in the early or middle position, the widely used move is “the attack on the blinds” – raising the bets (not necessarily with the strongest card) in order to win the blind bets. The blinder, in this case should use the same tactics as in the game in early position – with an appropriate hand to answer the bets, in other cases – to fold.

If the bet is made in the early / middle positions before you, you should expect that your opponents have strong hands. Most experts agree that in such position to call is not the best option. You should fold with a low combination, and if you have a mediocre hand, you may raise. In this case, your opponents may fold and you’ll get the pot (together with the blinds). To call is recommended only with a very strong hand in order to make your opponents continue betting and increase the amount of money in the pot.

So, let’s think in what situations you need to raise. Texas Hold’em poker is inherently very aggressive game, and you cannot win regularly just by calling other players bets. From time to time you should also post a bet. Of course, much depends on the psychology and the level of your opponents, but usually it makes sense to raise with a pair of aces, kings, queens, jacks or tens, with suited Ace and King, Queen or Jack, or King with a Queen, as well as with Ace with a King or a Queen, or King with a Queen of different suits.

Now the already mentioned attack on the blinds (to raise with weak hand in late position if no one has raised) can be performed with any pair, with an Ace with any card, with a King and a Queen, Jack, 10 or 9. Then there is a hope that the blinders will fold, but even if they don’t, you still have a chance to form a stronger hand after the flop.

So, the first betting round is over, you did not fold and the rest of your opponents call. Now is time to reveal the flop and this is another story.

Different ways of playing the flop

Revealing the flop is a key moment in Texas Hold’em poker. Of course, the next two community cards can change the situation but after the flop you actually see five out of the seven cards, i.e. 71 %, of your possible cards. Besides, you get the right to see these cards for only one betting round. But in order to see the rest 29 %, you need to pay much more.

This is why if the flop has not improved your hand, you should better fold, otherwise you can lose much more than one bet. Of course, this does not include the situation when all your opponents check since to miss the chance to get a fourth card free is just very stupid. Exceptions can be made only in case you have a really higher pair and the cards revealed on the flop most probably did not improve anybody’s hand significantly.

A low (of seven’s and lower) pair is usually not worth playing but you can try if there are no matches on the flop, the flop revealed higher cards, the pot is large, and you don’t need to place a big amount. In general, when making decisions in situations like this they should be based on the ratio of the bet and the pot, as well as on the estimated strength of your opponents’ hands.

The flop can improve your hand in different ways. In case you have managed to form a royal flush, a straight flush, four of a kind, full house or flush, you should not worry about winning or losing but about how to make your opponents to increase the pot as much as possible. Unfortunately, these types of coincidences happen very rarely. In most cases the flop gives you nothing or a very weak prospect for a flush or straight. In this case, the advice is: if you did not manage to form a four card flush, or a two way straight, you better fold. The probability to get the two cards you need on the turn and the river is minimal. Playing after the flop makes sense only with 4-card combinations – there are two more cards to be revealed and you need just one.

With a four card flush you need to consider the hand ranking since your opponents may also have the same suit. For instance, suited Ace and Queen is a good option to continue the game. But even if you managed to from a flush, you need to consider the possibility your opponent to have a straight flush.

Much more promising is the situation where there are several options for further hand improvement. Let’s say that you have 10 of clubs and 9 of clubs, and the flop reveals 9 of hearts, 8 of spades and 7 of clubs. In this situation we have an already formed pair, a potential four card straight, and we have three clubs which in the absence of other options are not enough to form a flush, but in this case they become an additional argument. Now you’ll still need to play and even more, you need to play aggressively – in fact, you are in a good position, and there is a chance to improve your hand.

There is one more basic rule for playing the flop: with an approximately strong hand you should not let your opponents improve their hands easily. Don’t let them go without paying. Nobody knows what will happen on the turn or on the river – your opponents may get the cards they need in order to form a winning hand. If now you can scare them away and make him fold – the pot is yours. In case they call, at least they will pay for the next cards.

Conclusion

Never forget that the main goal of this game is not to win as many pots as possible but to win as much money as possible. Hold’em is an aggressive game, you don’t form strong hands very often but when you do, you need to make the maximal use of it. That is why it is a mistake not to raise with a strong hand but to make a big raise and scare away your opponents is also a big mistake. So, be careful.

In Texas Hold’em poker, as in other poker games you always need to consider what hands can theoretically have your opponents. In order to do this, you should always think (on the flop and after that) about which two cards would give the highest combination. If these cards are in your hands it is OK, but if not, ask yourself whether your opponents can have them. It may be that the flop matches only a pair of cards that no one would play. Although “no one” – is too strong to say, since the opponents are very different. Understanding the style of the opponents, the ability to “read” their cards based on their actions, in Hold’em poker, and in any form of poker, in fact, is much more important than the basic strategy. Don’t forget that!