One of the most
important skills at playing Texas Holdem poker is
simply playing the right game. Unless you just want
to practice, there's no reason to play against other
pros! The best way to tell is to watch how much
betting/raising is happening. If there is a lot of
raising and folding, stay away! If people tend to
limp preflop a lot and then just call bets, join!
Shorthand is about aggression, so passive players
tend to be losers.
Preflop Starting
hands
One thing to remember is
that hand values are relative, so a hand can be good
under some situations and total trash under others.
Hands to raise with,
non-raised flop: Paired cards, A10+, KQ,KJ, QJ, J10s
Hands to call a raise
with: high paired cards, AQ, AK, AJ(maybe), KQ, KJ,
AT(maybe), JQs.
Hands to reraise a
raise: This depends on the raiser. Reriase a maniac
with any pair or A9+ because you'll probably be
winning at the flop. Otherwise, reriase with made
hands like JJ, QQ, KK, AA (although you may want to
smooth call with JJ). You should consider just
calling with AK because it does very well 4 handed
because there is a good chance you have someone
dominated if you hit.
Hands to call and hope
to build a pot with (early position) high suited
connectors (i.e. 910s), only do this in late
position if others have limped too. In general, in
shorthand there is going to be a raise preflop to
knock out these hands. IF people are not aggressive,
limp with these hands and small pairs and play
multiway pots. Then, when you have big cards, raise
and keep the pots shorthanded so you have the best
of it.
Flop Tips
When you have a made
hand, bet it. If flop is AK5, bet with your KQ,
maybe they'll fold. If one calls, then you have a
decision to make, if you think he's drawing,
continue to bet at him. If he's the type to call
with the second best hand. Maybe check to him to see
if he bets (he probably has a pair too, it just
matters if it's ace low kicker or king lower kicker
or a pocket pair).
When you pair but it's
not the top pair, decide. If the guy is a maniac,
consider just calling him down. IF the player is
passive, either raise or fold. Find out where you
are on the flop. If you just flat call all the way
down, that's a total of 5 small bets. If you raise
and he comes back firing, you can probably fold on
the turn and have saved yourself a big bet (two
small bets).
But only do this is the
guy is very passive. IF the guy calls your raise,
consider checking the turn or betting if you think
he is on a draw. If you check the turn and he in
fact has top pair, you just saved yourself a small
bet (2 bets on flop instead of a bet on the flop and
turn) and also earning yourself a free card on the
turn. IF he is on a draw, then you charged him an
extra bet to see another card.
Drawing hands and pot
odds: Always know your number of 'outs' i.e. number
of cards that will make you a hand that you are
pretty sure will win. Number of outs X2 + 2 is the
percentage of hitting at the next card. So divide
the pot by that number and if the bet is smaller
than that, call. So, for example, suppose you are on
a flush draw in a 10-20 hand, you have two spades in
your hand and there are two on the flop. So there
are 9 spades out there.
The chances of hitting
on turn are about 20%. So if pot is 80 and bet to
you is 10, call! When calculating the pot size, it
is generally best to remember future bets. For
example, even though the pot is 80, if you hit,
you'll win 40 more on turn/river bets. So all you
really need is a 1/12 chance of hitting.
Bluffing
Flop bluffs: a very good
time to bluff is at the flop when you are the
preflop raiser. Suppose you raised with QJ. It is
heads up and the flop is A83. Your opponent checks
to you. Bet! You have nothing but he probably has
nothing, too. Go ahead and try to steal.
Semibluffing: this is
betting when you don't have a made hand yet, but you
can. For example, betting on a flush draw. Example:
Flop is A64, you have KQ suited and there are two of
your suit on your board. Go ahead and bet. Not only
do you have a good chance of hitting, you also can
steal the pot. Semibluffing is only effective at
higher levels, because at lower levels you are just
value betting because people will call you.
Other Bluffs: These
don't work too well at limit, but they do work at
times. For example, if the flop is checked and then
another big card (like a queen) comes on the board.
Go ahead and bet. More than likely your opponents
will fold unless they hit a draw or they have a hand
themselves. Please realize though that some
opponents will call you down with ace-high. Against
those players, do not bluff much. Instead, value bet
a lot and win a lot of chips whenever you have any
sort of hand against them.
