There is a veritable Texas Holdem
explosion going on. At nearly any social event --
weddings, birthdays, what-have-you, somebody eventually
starts talking about the game and what fun it is to
watch or play.
Right after that, the questions and
opinions about Holdem strategy usually start flying.
However, because of the dramatic do-or-die tactics often
witnessed at the end of championship Holdem tournaments
on TV, many Holdem novices have sadly misguided views of
effective Holdem strategy.
Always remember this: Texas Holdem,
more than anything, is a game of high cards. Low cards
will simply not pay for themselves in this game over
time. When you peek at your two hole cards, if they're
not both pretty big, it's very unlikely you belong in
the pot.
This should all seem logical once
you think about it. Here's a true story from a local
poker room that exemplifies the tried-and-true "high
card" axiom in Holdem.
A player sat down in a $20/$40
Texas Holdem game and bought in for $500. He came to the
table complete with his notorious, intimidating "chip
shuffling" routine that earmarks him as an experienced
player. He was a flashy, aggressive type, often
check-raising and back-raising from out of position. On
a few hands, "Flash" made it three bets (double-raised
it) before the flop and won a couple of nice pots with
6/4 and 8/5.
A little later, he raised from the
big blind with the 5/3 of clubs. He flopped a pair of 5s
with a club flush draw and check-raised on the flop. On
the turn, the deuce of clubs came making Flash his
flush. Again, he managed a check-raise and confidently
bet out at the river -- only this time he got raised.
Flash called out of reflex and his
opponent showed down the Ace/Jack of clubs for the nut
hand. Flash turned up his 5/3 of clubs as though he had
taken a bad beat -- but with those cards he was just
asking to get beat. A short while later, Flash was
making another buy-in and when that was gone, so was he.
The moral? Flashy play with low
cards will win once in a while, but before long -- it'll
bust you. Here are a few more high card/low card
matchups with their associated odds to win.
You can see that the big pair is
the chalk (favorite) and the Ace/Queen has a good solid
shot. However, notice the pocket pair of 4s. It only
wins the pot about once every six times. That's not
often enough, since you're only getting about 3-to-1
odds on your money.
Because of that, there's only one
way to manage those small pocket pairs. In early
position, just fold them because you don't know if
you'll be getting good enough money odds. In late
position, call only if there are already a lot of
players in and remember, you'll usually need to flop a
set (trips), or you'll have to give it up there.
Now let's look at the 7/2. Out of
169 different hands you can be dealt, this one ranks
dead 169th. In this four-horse field, it'll win the pot
once every eleven times. It's impossible to survive
getting paid three times your investment once, then
losing it back ten more times.
