This Texas Holdem online poker guide is designed primarily for novice poker players who have already mastered the basic rules of Texas Holdem Poker and have tried a few games with friends in the pub or on the internet for play money and now want to go online a real money game.
This basic strategy should “guarantee” winning poker on so-called. microlimits, which are primarily limits with a deposit of $ 2, $ 5 and $ 10 per table.
Table Position
The position at the table is one of the most important factors in determining whether you will win or lose in Texas Holdem online poker.
Players who often play weaker hands out of position (with more players still playing behind) are doomed in advance.
Poker table positions are divided as follows:
Blinds: which are the first two positions at the table where the mandatory bets are paid – the Small Blind and the Big Blind.
Blinds are disadvantageous positions at the table and in the case of raising any player at the table, it pays to play nothing but the best hands.
Early Position: the position immediately to the left of Big Blind and two more positions behind it.
These are the less advantageous positions at the table, so very few starting hands are played from these positions.
You still have a lot of players behind you and it is quite likely that one of them will have a strong hand and if you are called, you will usually play first, ie out of position.
Middle Position: the position between the early position and the late position.
It also pays to wait for the best hands only, from time to time (against the bad players behind you) it pays to get involved with the average cards.
Late Position: The last two positions before the blinds (CO (Cutoff) and Button (Dealer)).
These positions are best at the table. You simply play last, so you have a good overview of what is happening at the table.
From this position, it pays to play a much larger number of starting hands, and if everyone puts their cards to you, this is the ideal situation for the so-called. Steal. Which means raising before the flop to steal the blinds.
(and bet on the flop if someone calls = Continuation Bet)
Tight is right
As the first player after the Big Blind, you look at a combination like KJ, AJ, TJ in color, 89 in color, KT or KQ .. what do you do? The answer is simple. You simply throw away all these combinations in your poker strategy. Inexperienced players are probably grabbing their heads now, but believe that these cards cannot be played in the long run. Behind you is still. 8 other players will often have a better hand than you. In the worst case scenario, your cards will be called. dominated (you will have for example KQ and they AK and the flop comes K83, at that moment you are doomed, unnecessary lose). Therefore, play really carefully and as the title of the paragraph suggests, really wait for the best possible combinations. In blinds eg. on NL10 you will pay 0.05 + 0.10 for one round, which is $ 0.15 to see about 9 starting hands. When you wait for the best combination and you manage eg. to win $ 2, you just paid the chance to look at another 120 starting hands (13.3 * 9)!
Never Slowplay When You Have
The basic mistake of texas holdem online poker beginners is the fear that your rivals will not pay your good cards and therefore you play your good cards weakly and let your opponent catch a free card to pay you more. This is totally wrong. Often there will be a scare card (straight, suit, etc.) that totally dampens the action and the opponent will no longer pay you what he would have paid before the card came. So once you have a good hand, bet, raise, go all-in and never just call. Exceptions are combinations such as poker or a straight flop. These hands are practically unbreakable, so from time to time you can give your opponent one card for free, but only in those strong hands where there is almost no chance that your opponent may have caught anything at all.
Preflop Play
And now we’re going to start playing specific poker hands. What to play, from what position to play and how to play.
High pairs – AA, KK
These are the best hands in a Texas Holdem Poker game. Don’t wait and raise them from every position, when someone raises in front of you, raise at least 3 times as much as he can and, if possible, go all-in before the flop. The standard pre-flop raise for microstakes is 4-5x BB + 1x BB for each limper (eg NL10 is $ 0.50 + $ 0.10 for everyone who called Big Blind before you).
Other Pairs – QQ, JJ, TT, 99,88,77,66,55,44,33,22
You can raise the QQ and JJ combinations before the Middle and Late Position flop and play them in a similar way to AA, KK. But don’t hesitate to discard the cards. Otherwise, call all other pairs before the flop. If someone raises in front of / behind you, follow the call rule only if that player raises a maximum of 1/10 of his stack. Couples are played mainly because they have the potential to catch a set (triple) on the flop and this is a very strong hand. You will catch the set in about 12% of cases. Once you catch the set, don’t hesitate and raise. Often you will be against AA, KK, QQ and your opponent will give you all your money. But if you hold 99, for example, and the flop comes 752, do not overestimate your cards and, rather, put it in opposition.
Big Cards – AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ
Cards type AK, AQ are also very strong combinations. However, they are conditioned by the fact that you have to catch A, K or Q on the flop. This happens only in about 36% of cases. Therefore, here is the so-called. Continuation Bet, which is a bet after you bet before the flop, even if your cards don’t hit. However, think about Continuation Bet in advance and only bet against a maximum of one or two players. But sometimes it is better to play check / fold. Play AJ, AT, KQ only from Late Position and only when players fold to you (maximum one limper). Of course, raise all of these pre-flop combinations according to the same rule as with High Pairs.
Suited Aces – AXs – any ace with another card in suit
Such combinations are designed to catch either 4 cards (or straight Flush) on the flop or 2 pairs. Just call the big blind and place on any raise without thinking. If you get 4 cards to the flop and a few more, don’t hesitate to raise all-in. At the moment, you’re not just a favorite against a set and two pairs. If you only “hold” 4 cards to the suit, follow the flop rule to not call more than half the pot. If someone bets more than half the pot in front of you, put down. Once your card comes in, bet ½ to ¾ of the pot.
All other hands should be discarded before the flop !!!
Postflop Play
After you just called, raised, or raised someone before the flop, and he called you, the flop shows up. Here I would recommend to beginners of texas holdem poker to play a very simple strategy:
I have a good hand = I bet (eg KK on a 445 flop)
I don’t have a good combination = I put (eg AK on a 567 flop)
Waiting for one card to suit, or waiting for a straight from both sides = either I put down straight (I recommend) or call up to a maximum of half the pot and when my card doesn’t come, I put the next bet on the turn. (eg KQ on the TJ4 flop)
Over time, when you differentiate each flop and think the flop didn’t hit your opponents, you can try a bluff. Rather, bluff only when the player is playing in front of you and only if he has not bet in front of you. For example, if you called someone’s button bet and you hold 44 and the flop comes K72 and the opponent checks, you might try to bet a ¾ pot and represent the king. Once you are called or exceeded, the game ends for you (unless the turn is 4). Another type of bluff is when you raised before the flop and you represent a very strong hand. E.g. when you hold JJ on the button, someone just limpped in front of you and you exceeded it (4-5x BB + 1x BB for limper), he calls and the flop comes AK5. Limp / call pre-flop often means some small pocker pair, so even if the flop came higher than you held in your hand, you could still try to pick up the pot anyway (Continuation Bet). Bet at least ¾ of the pot again.
Turn a River
If you didn’t bluff on the flop and played purely according to the rule that if you have a good hand, you bet, Turnu and River are basically divided into two options:
There was a card that was unlikely to help the opponent. E.g. You hold AA on the Th8s5h flop, bet 3/4 the pot, the opponent calls and the Turn comes 2c. In that case, don’t wait for anything and feel free to bet again in this poker strategy. All you beat is a trio or some weird Two Pair that doesn’t make sense.
There was a card that could add color or straight to the opponent. E.g. You hold AA on the Th8s5h (h-hearts, s-spades) flop, bet a ¾ pot, call the opponent, and Qh comes on the Turn. The queen of hearts added either the possibility of a straight in the J9 case or the possibility of any heart color. At this point, it is wise to either bet something around half the pot and instead raise it, or decide to check behind on Turnu and look at the River without betting. (ideally, if you hold Ah in your hand, any river card will give you the highest color)
Summary of cash game strategy
- Play really carefully. Only those combinations that are listed above.
- Raise before flop 4-5x BB + 1x BB per limper. Never less.
- Never blowplay. If you have a good hand, bet, raise, go all-in.
- Bluffing is really rare.
- Do not overestimate your cards, if someone outweighs you, usually believe them and discard the cards.
- Be the one who bet, not the one who calls.
- Strictly follow Bankroll Management.
- Always have a full buy-in at the table.
- Do not wait for the color or the flush on the paired flop. (someone can already have a fullhouse)
- Initially play a maximum of 1-2 tables until you get the basic strategy under the skin, you can open more tables.
