Want to know how to get the upper hand at Texas Holdem Poker? Take in these tips by semi professional player Gabriel James.
Texas Holdem Poker, in the Limit variant, is a measured, mathematical game. You will need strategies that are designed to help you make the most money for the least effort. There is no magic formula but I will be giving you tips on how to maximize your earnings potential.
Everybody knows you need to have good starting hands to be successful but that is far from the end of the story. There are many other important points that need to be addressed.
In this article I will concentrate on small stake limit holdem cash in both live and online games.
The Home Texas Holdem Poker Game
Johnny Moss once said he'd bet his own grandmother in a hand! And this is where a major problem exists as money brings out the worst in some people.
I think home games have their place when played for friendly stakes or for small buy in tournaments. However, as soon as the stakes go up sometimes friendships go out the door. I've heard from several of my friends involved with boy's poker nights (small fee tournaments) that have moved to cash limit, and finally moved on to No Limit cash. The major reason for these moves being the involvement of Jack Daniels! Usually it works out fine but on a few occasions friendships were tested. If you are going to play at home make sure you play for fun or small money.
On Texas Holdem Poker - Online
What a great concept - any day, anytime you can find a game waiting for you for any stakes you please.
Want to play a sit and go tournament for $5, sure no problem.
Want to play $300/$600 with the best in the world then - yes it's out there.
In order to win the most, you need to select the correct game to sit down in. As I said, this article is for the small stake Texas Holdem Limit player, so any statistics I produce have that in mind. I say small stakes which I take to mean $0.5/$1 tables up to $5/$10.
Log on to your online poker site and arrive in the lobby. Order the tables by stake and scroll down. You see five tables that are ten handed and so you decide to go on the waiting list.
Do you wait for the next available seat?
That depends. If all of the tables have average pots of Seven Big Bets (a big bet is the value of the bets on the turn and the river, which in Limit Texas Holdem play are double the size of the pre flop and flop bets) then it doesn't matter which one you wait for. If all but one table have less than five big bets and there is nobody in the queue for the table with more than five big bets then it is worth waiting for that one.
Why do I put emphasis on average pot size? Well, the bigger the pot the more you stand to gain when you win a pot. The tables that have five big bets or less are probably full of "Rocks" (tight players) and you will not be able to extract the maximum value for your hand, or they will fold to any aggressive play you show them. Therefore your earnings per hour will decrease at these tables. Go for other tables with the highest big bet per pot average.
More Methods For Picking A Table With Texas Holdem Poker
Another way that you can see which table to choose is to look at the statistic "average seen flop".
This is the percentage of players that have seen the flop per hand. Some online poker sites display this in the lobby. If you are playing small stakes Limit Texas Holdem, any table average with 35% or higher should have your mouth watering.
Some poker sites allow you to maintain a buddy list. I highly encourage you to do this. Say you were playing $2/$4 Texas Holdem and a player on your table is constantly calling down cold calling pre-flop and showing down things like 6 of clubs 4 of spades from early position they need to be added to your buddy list.
When you next log on you can check your list and see if they are playing. Even if they are playing higher, it may well be worth moving up to take their money. This is especially the case if you can sit to their left and make isolation raises to get them heads up with you. (I digress into poker statistics which we will get onto in due time).
This is only the beginning and I've just brushed the surface into how to maximise your earnings starting with game selection. At first, it may be about the right tables. Try these tips and look for more of my suggestions about Texas Holdem Poker.
About the Author
Gabriel James is a semi-professional poker player turning over 12,000 hands of Texas Holdem Limit Poker per month online. He writes for www.texashold-empoker.com