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Beginner's Guide to Texas Hold'emBeginner's Guide to Texas Hold'em
Introduction
A Beginner's Guide to Texas Hold'em is not an introduction to the basic rules of Texas Hold'em. To find detailed information on how Texas Hold'em is played, please visit our rules page. Instead, this guide is focused on helping you understand the game better and give you some tips on how to become a better Texas Hold'em player. We hope you'll find it intriguing.
Texas Hold'em is the king of all poker games. And it requires a ton of skill. But still the most skilled player in the world can't beat a lucky strike. So anything can happen. But we thought we'd guide you through the most essential strategy assessments.
Start at the Bottom
Even if you turn out to be the biggest poker talent the world has ever seen, you are best off starting at the bottom. Playing low stakes limit games or tournaments is a good way to get a lot of hands under your belt without taking too big a risk. Sure limit games can be tricky and lacks the element of bluffing, but as a newcomer bluffing is probably not the thing to try. Limit games are much more controlled and less risky to experiment a little with. And as in all things, experimentation is a good way to learn fast.
Don't trust your HUGE Play Money Stack!
If you've won a ton of money playing with play money you probably got what it takes to become a good real money player too. But the games differ a lot. So don't jump into a high stakes real money game expecting to kick butt. But you are probably set to take on a low stakes game. Because sometimes they are even wilder than play money games!
Starting hand Value
Your two pocket cards, or hole cards, are the only factors that separate your hand from the other players' hands. So learning how to play them is vital. An AA (ace-ace) combo simply has a much greater chance of winning than say a 7-3 combo. Play the good starting hands. Fold the bad.
Position Play
Being seated in late position in a poker game is a huge advantage since you then get to see your opponents make their moves before you have to act yourself. To become a good player, one must understand, and learn to take advantage of this advantage. A good starting hand in an early position may actually be a worse hand to play than a bad hand in late position.
Folding
No matter the betting round, if you have nothing and can't draw to anything, fold faster than Superman on laundry day. It's as simple as that.
Hand Nicknames
AA Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines
KK Cowboys, King Kong
QQ Double date, Canadian Aces, Siegfried and Roy
JJ Fish hooks
99 German virgin
88 Snowmen
77 Sunset strip
66 Route 66
55 Speed limit
44 Magnum, Sail boat
33 Crabs
22 Ducks
AK Big slick
AQ Big chick
AJ Black Jack, Jack-ass
KQ Royalty, Marriage
KJ Kojak
J5 Jackson five
Q3 Gay waiter
95 Dolly Parton
A8 Dead man's hand (Made famous by Wild Bill Hickok who was shot in 1876)
K9 Canine
J4 Flat tyre
Beginning Holdem Strategy
It's true that in Texas Holdem any two cards can be a winner. But it's cards, not dice, and although luck plays a part in every hand, strategy can make you a long term winner.
Texas Holdem is a game where you should pick and choose your battles wisely. Playing every hand will of course lead to winning more pots. But in between those wins will be more losses as well. Playing the right hands, at the right time will leave you with more chips in your stack.
That leads us to seat position. Timing is everything in some cases, and in poker it certainly counts for something. While some cards are playable under some circumstances, they aren't under others. Seat position is a key part of the circumstances that dictate whether you should play a hand, or wait for a better opportunity to present itself.
Professional poker players can sense what their opponents have in their hands. When just beginning you may not be able to read your opponents with that level of skill, but if you can take a moment to read the cards on the board, you can tell with certainty what they do not have. Reading the board lets you know what hands are possible, and from there you can use other information from your opponents to gauge what hands are probable. And act accordingly.
Often players will find themselves in need of a card to complete their hand. These hands are known as drawing hands. When on a drawing hand, it's nice to know what the odds of your ship actually coming in are. Armed with those odds, you're better able to play your hand correctly. So, see the drawing odds page for a chart that will tell you the odds of completing your gutshot straight, flush, or three-of-a-kind. Information is power at the table, and this information is part of the basic skills that winning poker players possess.
Related to drawing odds is the concept of pot odds. When you know you're waiting on a card to complete your hand, and there's a bet before you, you'd like to know if calling that bet is a good idea or a bad idea. If you're familiar with the concept of pot-odds, you'd be informed enough to make that decision. When you're ready to have that kind of power at the tables, read the primer on pot odds.
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