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

USA Misses The Boat With Online Poker

Poker, especially Texas Holdem, has become incredilbly popular. Millions of viewers can’t get enough of Texas Holdem on TV. And all these new fans can’t wait to try their hand at a hand of Texas Holdem. Of course, gambling is illegal in most of the United States. That means if someone wants to play at a casino or live poker room, they have to travel to a place where it’s legal, like Las Vegas or Atlantic City.

However, thanks to the World Wide Web, poker enthusiasts have another much more accessible place to play…in an online poker room. Online gaming has become a multi-billion dollar industry that keeps growing every year. Seems like we could use a growth industry, but there’s a catch. All the money online casinos make goes overseas. Online gambling is still illegal in the United States. Oh, no one is worried that the FBI is going to break down your door and arrest you and your computer, but it’s annoying.

Especially annoying because it means that anyone from the U.S. that wants to set up an online poker room has to set up a company overseas first, often in places like the Cayman Islands or Gibraltar, anywhere that is not in the United States. So even though over two thirds of online gamblers are American, the profits they generate go out of the country. Hmmm, think the government could use the taxes on those businesses?

The law that prohibits online gaming is over 40 years old. It was set up to prohibit gambling over the telephone (a handy charge to use to crack down on illegal bookies back in the day). But it was extended to include the Internet. Some members of the US Congress want to make the law even tougher. They haven’t gained much traction, and the major online casinos aren’t worried.

In these troubled economic times, it would make more sense to legalize online gaming in the US so companies could be based in America, pay taxes and hire US citizens. In the meantime, poker players will continue to log on and sit down at online poker tables, and continue to send money to overseas companies.

Written by texas holdem Team · Filed Under Poker

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

Betting Strategies for Poker Texas Holdem Game