Betting Strategies for Poker Texas Holdem Game

You know the feeling. You’re sitting at the poker table playing another hand of Texas HoldemPoker Game and here comes The Flop. You’re pretty sure the player sitting across from you is waiting on a flush or straight draw. No problem. You’ll just bet to get them out. Except it’s a limit game. Pot odds in limit games are often such that you can’t chase him. In fact, even with a flush or straight draw, he might just raise you. So you’ve bet all you’re allowed to and still can’t chase him. If he pulls that draw and gets the flush or straight, it just seems unfair. If you’ve been feeling that way, you’re better off playing in a game where the limit allows players to bet different amounts. Then you can push so hard that a poker player on flush or straight draw has to fold. If they call instead, the odds are against them because of your betting strategy.

When you’re playing no limit Texas Holdem, you can make a lot of money making bets and pushing the odds for that player with the flush or straight draw. You want to bet so that the odds aren’t right for that player to call, but little enough so he goes ahead and calls. In Texas Holdem you have to figure a player is on a flush draw. It’s the most common and the draw with the best chance to hit. So use it when you’re calculating a bet.

Let’s say your playing $5/$10 no limit holdem. The pot is up to $700 and it’s just you and one other player. He’s got about $1400 in poker chips in front of him. He’s sitting on a flush draw and, after counting up his outs, figures he’s got a 35% chance of pulling it. Now you have to bet enough so he’ll have the wrong odds to call. If you bet $450 that drives the odds to 39%, statistically the odds are against calling. But 39% isn’t all that dramatically different from 35%. So you’ve got to push hard. The pot’s $700? Then you bet $1200. Now the odds are 63%, and he’s not going to call.

Written by texas holdem Team · Filed Under Texas Holdem

The Rake and How to Beat It

What is the Rake and how do you beat it? If you play Texas Holdem at a casino, poker room or online poker room, there is a rake. The rake is a percentage of the pot that goes to the house, usually 4 to 10%. A lot of poker rooms will only rake when the pot reaches a certain level. The term comes from “raking a little off the pot.”

If the house is only raking when the pot reaches a certain level, you can play to minimize your contributions to the rake. For example, you can blind steal or buy free cards. Blind Stealing is betting when only you and the blinds are left in the game pre-flop. To pull this off, you should be in the dealer position, just before the small blind. You make a large enough raise to get the blinds to fold, and you “steal” the blinds. If you’re in last position, you can buy a free card. If on the pre-flop, no one else has raised, you bet. This cuts down on the number of players – ergo cutting down the money in the pot, which avoids the rake. Everyone who doesn’t fold will tend to check to the raiser – you. Then, on the turn, after the other players have checked again, you don’t have to bet again. That’s why it’s called a free card. It is best used if you’ve got a flush or straight draw.

Getting pots early and getting out is how to minimize the rake. Let’s face it, the house is going to get its money. You just don’t want to give them more than you have to. The rake at a casino or poker room is going to be more than an online poker room. Let’s face it, there is a lot less involved in maintaining an online room than a building with dealers, waitstaff, parking lot attendants and everything else. They have to pass that cost on to the players and one way they do it is through the rake. The rake at an online poker room is usually about half of what a live casino or poker room would charge.

Written by texas holdem Team · Filed Under Poker

Different Types of Tournaments

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Texas Holdem tournaments, along with most all other poker tournaments, follow a typical path. All players start with the same amount of poker chips. At the poker tables, the blinds gradually increase. And the players are gradually eliminated until a winner is decided. The winner is awarded a prize amount and so are the other top finishers. Most of these poker tournaments are freezeouts – once a player loses all his poker chips, he’s gone.

While that’s the way it usually goes, there are a number of variations on this theme. One of the most common is Re-buy and Add-on Tournaments. A re-buy lets a player buy back into the poker tournament. There’s usually a time limit on when you can re-buy. After it passes, players can still add-on. They can buy a set number of poker chips for a set price to “add on” to their stack. With these options, you can take more chances betting, especially in the early rounds where you can re-buy.

If you’re in a hurry to make your money or get chased from the poker tables, you might try a Turbo tournament. That’s one where the blinds rise very quickly, sometimes every 5 minutes. Sometimes as quick as every two minutes. With blinds getting that high, there’s not too much post-flop play because players are often forced to go all-in pre-flop or fold. In a Turbo tournament, it’s smart to play aggressively. Steal the blinds as often as you can and hope the poker cards come your way.

A satellite tournament doesn’t offer a cash prize. It rewards the winners with entry into a higher buy-in tournament. The World Series of Poker uses satellite tournaments.

We have Party Poker to thank for the steps tournament. It is usually a series of single poker table satellite tournaments with increasingly larger buy-ins, with big cash prizes at the final step. Most steps poker tournaments have five steps. Winners of the first step are awarded an entry into the second step and so on.

These are just a few of the many poker tournament variations you’ll run into in casinos, live poker rooms and online poker rooms and casinos.

Written by texas holdem Team · Filed Under Poker

Betting Strategies for Poker Texas Holdem Game