Lessons In Texas Holdem (limit) Poker
By Gabriel James, Fri Dec 9th
Texas Holdem Poker in the Limit variant is a measured,mathematical game. These articles are designed to help you makethe most money for the least effort. There is no magic formulabut I will be giving you tips on how to maximise your earningspotential.
Everybody knows you need to have good starting hands to besuccessful but that is far from the end of the story - there aremany other important points that need to be addressed.
In the following articles I will concentrate on small stakelimit holdem cash games both live and online. The Home Game:Johnny Moss once said he'd bet his own grandmother in a hand andthat is where the problem lies. For some money brings out theworst in people. I think home games have their place when playedfor friendly stakes or for small buy in tournaments, but as soonas the stakes go up sometimes friendships go out the door. I'veheard from several of my friends who've played at a boys pokernight (small fee tournaments) then going to cash limit, finallymoving to No Limit cash all fuelled by Jack Daniels most of thetime. It all finished fine but on a few occasions friendshipswere tested. If you are going to play at home make sure you playfor fun or small money.
Moving on to my forte, Texas Holdem Online Poker. What a greatconcept - any day, anytime you can find a game waiting for youfor any stakes you please. Want to play a sit and go tournamentfor $5, sure no problem. Want to play $300/$600 with the best inthe world then yes it's out there. In order to win the most youneed to select the correct game to sit down in. As I said thesearticles are for the small stake Texas Holdem Limit player, soany statistics I produce have that in mind. I say small stakeswhich I take to mean $0.5/$1 tables up to $5/$10.
Log on to your online poker site and arrive in the lobby. Orderthe tables by stake and scroll down. You see 5 tables that areten handed and you decide to go on the waiting list. Do you waitfor the next available seat? That depends if all of the tableshave average pots of 7 Big Bets (a big bet is the value of thelarge blind) then it doesn't matter which one you wait for. Ifall but one table have less than 5 big bets and there is nobodyin the queue for the table with more than 5 big bets then it isworth waiting for that one. Why do I put emphasis on average potsize? Well the bigger the pot the more you stand to win when youwin a pot. The tables that have 5 big bets or less are probablyfull of "Rocks" (tight players) and you will not be able toextract the maximum value for your hand, or they will fold toany aggressive play you show them. Therefore your earn per hourwill decrease on these tables. Go for other tables with thehighest Big bet per pot average.
Another way you can see which table to choose is to look at thestatistic "average seen flop". This is the percentage of playersthat have seen the flop per hand. Some online poker sitesdisplay this in the lobby. If you are playing small stakes LimitTexas Holdem, any table average with 35% or higher should haveyour mouth watering. Some poker sites allow you to maintain abuddy list. I highly encourage you to do this. Say you wereplaying $2/$4 Texas Holdem and a player on your table isconstantly calling down cold calling pre-flop and showing downthings like 6 of clubs 4 of spades from early position they needto be added to your buddy list. When you next log on you cancheck your list and see if they are playing. Even if he isplaying higher, it may well be worth moving up to take hismoney, especially if you can sit to his left and make isolationraises to get him heads up with you, but I digress into pokerstatistics which we will get onto in due time. So today I'vejust brushed the surface into how to maximise your earn startingwith game selection.
Lesson 2 - Table Selection
This article is focussed on Texas Holdem Poker in the Limitvariant and the selection of tables before you begin to play.
The next thing we need to discuss is table selection. We willaddress the questions that you need to ask yourself before yousit down at a particular table. When do you want to play? Iflike most people you have a job working 9-5 then your looking atevenings and weekends. Perfect! That is when most recreationalplayers are at the poker tables. You don't want to be playing inthe day because that is when the professionals put in some oftheir hours and also a lot of retired folks who want to scratchout some pin money.
Your average retired player who is 65 year plus will be a rock -peddling the nuts and playing tight. You can't make much moneyif at all from these guys. Interestingly stereotypes in this dayand age are not considered to be politically correct, but inpoker if you want to save/win money, it's a good place to startand your
view can always be changed. We will be writing more onpsychology and player profiling another day.It's decided then we are going to play on Saturday night - thebusiest night of the week, guaranteed action. We walk in for thefirst time and hear that beautiful sound. The sound of rifflingchips. Action is everywhere but where to sit? If it's your firsttime you want to sit at the lowest limit available. Usually it's$2/$4 limit holdem. There will be a few tables running so youneed to know what to look for in picking a good table. Youshould judge a table by two yardsticks:
1)How loose/tight is the game? 2)How aggressive/passive is thegame?
Referring to one above, you want to play in loose games becauseyour opponents are playing more weak hands to get to see moreflops and get lucky. The more mistakes your opponents make themore you will win. On the second point playing in an aggressiveor passive game is a little trickier. My preference isaggressive games that are loose. The wilder the better. Sure myvariance will swing with stomach churning ups and downs butinevitably my hand selection abilities will see me through and Iwill see payoff big time when my hands stand up at showdown. Formost beginners I would recommend start in a passive game whereyour mistakes will not be punished so badly and your opponentswill not extract the maximum from you.
So get a feel for the place - watch a few tables in the limityou are interested in playing. Want to play at a passive table?Watch for a lot of "calling stations" people calling all thetime with not much raising going on and it feels like a relaxedfriendly table. If you want aggression and looseness look forpeople four way capping preflop, a high chip average for thetable, and lots of chips in play. If you are prepared to playtight and only premium starting hands be prepared for a rollercoaster ride and strap yourself in because this is the table foryou.
You find a ten-handed game and decide to chip up. How much tobuy in? I always like to buy in for double the usual amount.This is for two reasons:
1)If you take a couple of bad beats to begin with the youusually have enough to carry on. There is nothing worse for yourego and confidence than to have to chip up again early on. Plusif you are short stacked and get heads up (two players leftincluding you) with the nuts (best hand) and there is no cap onbetting then you won't make as much. 2)When other people jointhe table later and they see your large stack they will give youmore respect, hopefully so you can run more bluffs and appear amuch stronger player than if you had less chips.
Lesson 3 - Seat selection
This article is focussed on Texas Holdem Poker in the Limitvariant and the selection of seat you make both before you beginand shortly thereafter.
Do you like your seat? Do you want to change it - indeed wouldyou know that you need to change it? This all depends on whattype of players are around you at the table. After a few handsyou get to know who is not playing many hands, who is in everypot, who is raising and who is calling. Here are some guidelineson selecting or moving seats in Texas Holdem (Limit) Poker.
Who are the players to your right that will act before you? Youwant two types.
1)A loose player 2)Aggressive players.
This is because when they act before you it will provide youwith information on how your hand will play. For example, ifloose players call that goes a long way to helping you decidewhether your suited connector hand will have the correct odds tosee the flop. If an aggressive player raises you first thenchances are the odds are not there to cold call. Now, reversethe situation and act before these guys. You are dealt 78 heartsa great hand to make money in a multi-way pot, but you are notsure that you will get called so you fold. Sure enough the looseplayers call but you didn't know that because they were actingafter you. Also imagine you have the same hand and you decidedto risk calling only to be raised by an aggressive player toyour right, everyone else folds leaving you to call one more betto see the flop playing heads up out of position with anaggressive player. This is not a pretty picture.
Its good to have a passive player to your left. This is becausethey don't raise much, call a lot, and seldom bet. A callingstation will not give you many problems and you will not gainmuch valuable information from them. Keep tight players on yourleft also, these players seldom play money hands so you won't bein many pots with them. They are also great to have on your leftbecause if its folded round to you in late position it's greatto raise them and steal their blinds.
About the author:Gabriel James is a semi-professional poker player turning
over12,000 hands of Texas Holdem
Limit Poker per month online.
