The Texas Hold'em version of poker is one of the easiest to learn. It is for this reason that it has now become the most popular poker variant both online and in casinos. The simplicity of the rules allows new players to pick up the game and start playing after a few minutes, whilst the depth of the game helps keep players interested for years. This guide aims to give you a complete understanding on how Texas Holdem is played, and it will take no longer than 5 minutes. So take a little of your time and learn how to play the hottest card game in town.

The Basics
Texas Holdem is played with a 52-card deck and poker chips. Texas Holdem can be played in a cash game style, where there is no time limit and each hand is played with real money. The game can also be played in a tournament style where each player receives a set amount of chips at the start, and the winner is the player that obtains all of the chips on the table. Tournaments can also be played for real money, where the winner takes all or part of the other players’ buy-ins.

	Each player is dealt two cards face down on the table, these are called ‘holde cards’
	5 community cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table in 3 separate stages
	'The Flop’ is the first stage, where the first 3 cards are dealt face up
	‘The Turn’ is the second stage, where 1 card is dealt up
	‘The River’ is the final stage, where 1 last card is dealt face up
	Players use a combination of the 2 cards in their hand and the 5 cards on the table to make the best 5 card hand.
	At each stage there is a round of betting
	If there are still players left in the hand after the final round of betting, the hand will go to a ‘showdown’ and the best hand will take the money in the pot

Betting
Betting is a fundamental part of  Texas Hold'em poker.  The amount you can bet depends of the variant of Texas Holdem you are playing. In Limit Holdem you can only bet a fixed amount on each round. In Pot Limit Holdem you can bet any size you wish up to the amount that is already in the pot. In No Limit Holdem you can bet any amount of money on any round up to the amount you have in front of you. There are numerous stages in the game of Texas Holdem where betting can take place. The rounds of betting are listed in order below:

Hole cards are dealt
Round of betting
Flop is dealt
Round of betting
Turn is dealt
Round of betting
River is dealt
Round of betting

In each of these rounds of betting, you will have 3 options available to you depending on what has happened before the action reaches you. The two situations you will be in are acting after there has been a bet, or acting after no bets have been made.

Acting After No Bets 
1. Check – By ‘checking’ you do not put any money in the pot, and the next card will be dealt if no other bets are made.
2. Bet – By betting you put money into the pot. This means that the other players must call this bet to see the next card to be dealt.
3. Fold – You also have the option to fold, but this is rarely done because it is currently free for you to see another card and give yourself an opportunity to make the besthand.

Acting After A Bet
1. Call – By calling, you put the same amount of money into the pot that the other player has ‘bet’. Therefore you will see the next card if no other players raise this bet.
2. Raise – You can raise another player’s bet and force them to call an additional amount of money for them to see the next card.
3. Fold – If you do not wish to put more money into the pot, you can fold your hand. Your hand will be declared ‘dead’ and you will no longer be able to win the money in the pot.

Dealing
The cards in Texas Holdem have to be dealt in accordance to a simple set of rules. These rules help to keep the dealing fair, and prevent the cards from being fixed.

	Before the flop can be dealt, a card must be ‘burned’ which means that this card is dealt face down on the table and placed to one side.
	Before the turn, another card must be ‘burned’
	Before the river, one final card must again be ‘burned’

	Hole cards must be dealt 1 at a time from the top of the pack in a clockwise motion starting from the dealer’s left.

As you can hopefully see, Texas Holdem is a very simple game to pick up. It is also a very enjoyable game and can be played for real money or for entertainment purposes without the use of money. Due to the betting nature of the game, it is possible to learn skills and strategies to improve the way you play and win money through playing poker. 

 

1. Don’t Play Too Many Hands 
A very common mistake that amateur players make is not being selective enough with their starting hands. Don’t fall into the common trap of thinking that ‘any hand can win’. Although this is true, some hands are more likely to win than others and will help you win more money, while others will help you in losing more money. So be selective about which hands you play. 

2. Don’t Bluff Too Much 
Another common misconception about poker is that you need to BLUFF to win. You may see spectacular bluffs on the WSOP shows, but these are edited to show the highlights of the tournaments and so give the wrong impression of the frequency that top players bluff. If you are an Online Poker beginner, it is better to play your cards well rather than trying to bluff your opponents out of hands. It is good to try occasional bluffs here and there, but the real art of knowing when to bluff comes from knowledge and practice. 

3. Think About Your Opponent’s Cards 
It is vitally important in poker to think about the strength of your opponent’s hand, and not just your own. It is nice to have a big hand, but if you think that your opponent has a better hand than you, you should prepare to fold. For example a straight is a decent hand, but if there are four cards of the same suit on the board and your opponent pushes all in, do you still think you have the best hand? 

4. Play Against Players Worse Than You  
This may seem obvious, but you will be surprised at the number of players that go against this simple principle. If you are better than the players that you are playing against, it makes sense that you will be a winner in the long run. If you were the 10th best player in the world, it would not be profitable to sit at a table with the top 9 players in the world. So choose your games and limits carefully.

5. Think About Your Position 
Position is a very important factor in poker, especially The best positions to be in are when you are last to act on the hand, for example, when you are on the button. This means that you gain knowledge about what kind of hand they may have before the action gets to you. Having good position in a hand can easily turn a losing hand into a winning one. 

6. Pay Attention To The Game 
The best way to pick up tells is to watch your opponents and how they play in each pot. Even when you are not in the hand, you should still concentrate on the game to understand how your opponents play. Hopefully you will see what moves the players make when they don’t have the best hand, and what moves they make when they do have the best hand. The more information you can get from your opponents, the better the opportunity you will have to beat them. 

7. Don’t Jump In At The High Limits 
There are two reasons why you shouldn’t play for too much money as a beginner. Firstly, the players at the higher limits will be better than the players at the lower limits. There is less chance that you will be able to beat them and you will spend a lot of money trying to learn the game in the process. Secondly, you only want to play at limits you can afford. You should not play at limits where you are going to drop money that you cannot afford to lose.  

8. Don’t Pay Too Much For Draws
You will often find yourself holding half a hand that only needs one card to complete your flush or your straight. As a general rule, if you opponent is betting heavily, it is unlikely to be profitable to chase after these draws. However, if there is only a small amount of betting it may be wise to call in the hope of making your hand. If the amount your opponent bets seems too big to warrant a call to make your hand, then don’t.

9. Suited Cards Aren’t That Great 
The ultimate beginner mistake (that even some intermediate players make) is over-valuing suited cards. Flushes are not as common as you think, and if you limp in with your two small suited cards, there is the chance that you will lose all your money to a higher flush if the flush does come. Just because your cards are of the same suit, it only improves that hand by 2% compared to if your hand was not suited. This marginal improvement is too small to warrant calling pre-flop raises, so learn to fold the small suited cards. You will be saving yourself some money in the long run. 

10. Know The Rules 
As obvious as it seems, there is no substitute for knowing the rules of the game. You don’t want to find yourself calling a player all in, thinking that your straight beats his flush and losing all of your chips. There is no way you can be a winning poker player if you don’t know the fundamental rules of the game. Furthermore, each card room and casino may have its own unique set of rules that you must abide by, so make sure you familiarize yourself with them before jumping into any game.

Before the flop is where it all starts, where you are forced to make your first important decision depending on all of the variables involved with the hand. It is important to make good, solid decisions before the flop, as it will form the foundations for how the rest of the hand will be played out. If you make a high-quality decision before the flop, you will set the tone for the rest of the hand and give yourself the best opportunity to get into a moneymaking position. However, if you make a bad decision before the flop, you may well set yourself up for a big loss by getting yourself into a sticky position or missing out on a potentially rewarding hand.

Therefore after you have been dealt your cards preflop, it is important to take your time to evaluate all of the different variables in the hand, and not just make decisions on the cards that you are holding. It is important to consider your position and the type of opponents you are playing against, as well as know the correct starting hand requirements. So make sure you think very carefully before every flop and build the foundations for a profitable hand by making the correct preflop decision.

Starting Hand Selection

Choosing which hands to play and which hands to fold is fundamental to playing a winning poker game. The best hands to play in Texas Holdem are:

• Big pocket pairs: AA-TT
• Big suited connectors: AK, AQ, AJ, KQ
• Big connectors: AK, AQ, AJ, KQ

These particular combinations of cards have the best chances of winning than other cards, so if you stick to these you will find yourself in more profitable situations after the flop. It is possible to play other combinations of cards successfully, but if you are a beginner player then it is advised to stick with the big cards until you find your feet at the poker table.

Position

Your position in the hand is an incredibly important variable that you should be aware of in every hand, yet it is something that is all too often forgotten about. The dynamics of play are slightly different in the preflop betting round, as the small and big blind will be last to act, whereas they will be the first to act on every other betting round. However, the general principles of position will remain the same, as you want to try and play more hands where you have position over your opponents than in positions where you do not.

This means that you should avoid playing too many hands in the blinds or in an early position, as being one of the first to act in each hand can make things very difficult unless you are holding a premium hand. Be very careful when playing in the blinds, and don’t feel as though you have to enter more pots in these positions because you have already committed money to the pot. It is far safer to let marginal hands go rather than to call raises with half a holding and play out of position for the rest of the hand.

Remember that position can often play a more influential role than the strength of the cards that players are actually holding, so try and keeping the upper hand by combining good position with good cards.

The cards listed above in the starting hands selection section can be played from almost any position, but you should try and tighten up your starting hand selection in the earlier positions. So as a general rule, you can play with a wider range of the top starting hands in later positions than you should in the earlier positions in the hand.

So the top strategy tips on preflop position are:

• Always be aware of your position in a hand
• Try to avoid playing out of position unless you have a strong holding
• You can afford to loosen up your starting hand requirements in later positions
• Don’t feel committed to playing hands when in the blinds

Betting Tips

When the action reaches you before the flop, you will be faced with the decision to either fold, call or raise. If there has been no raise before you, then a call will simply mean matching the size of the big blind, which is also known as ‘limping in’. This is generally not a good play, as if you are entering any pot in Holdem you will want to be making a raise and show aggression. If you are limping in with a hand, you are either entering the pot with a sub-standard hand or you are playing a premium hand too weakly. So the real question you should ask yourself if you are first to enter the pot before the flop is; “Am I folding or am I raising?”

If you decide that you are going to enter the pot, you should be looking to make a raise of about 3 or 4 times the size of the big blind. By making a minimum raise you are letting opponents with marginal hands come in cheaply, and you are almost defeating the object of making a preflop raise. The idea of a preflop raise is to reduce the amount of players that follow you to see a flop, as it is easier to make profitable decisions when there are fewer players in the pot. So make sure to come in with a strong 3 or 4 BB raise, and increase the size of the raise if you find that a lot of players are still calling these raises with marginal hands or if other players have limped in before you.

If there has been a raise before you, you must now consider whether you should fold, call or raise. If you have a poor or marginal starting hand you should look to fold. If you have a good starting hand like the ones mentioned above you should be happy to call and see a flop. If you have one of the top starting hands like AA or KK, should re-raise to help try and get as much money into the pot as possible.

There will be a few cases where limping-in will be an acceptable play. This will normally be when there have been a number of other players limping-in before you, and so you will have better odds to see a flop. The best hands to limp in with are strong drawing hands such as suited cards with an ace or king, or any connecting cards that can make a straight. You are not looking to make top pair in these limped multi-way pots, as they can often land you in trouble. So aim to play hands that can land you a very strong holding or a strong draw, and then comfortably fold on the flop if neither of these materialize.

Top strategy tips for preflop betting:

• Don’t be afraid to bet or raise
• Make solid 3 or 4 BB raises when entering an un-opened pot
• Increase the size of your raise if other players have limped or are calling stations
• Avoid limping with mediocre hands
• Only limp if you have a potentially strong hand and others have limped before you

Other Preflop Tips

• If you are playing in a shorthanded game such as a 6-max table, you can afford to reduce your starting hand requirements so that you can see more flops. If you stick to the starting hand requirements mentioned above, you would probably find that you are folding too often and missing out on opportunities to win money. So you can afford to play other hands such as AT, KJ, KT, QJ and so on.

• When making your decision pre flop, you should also consider the type of players that you are playing against. If you notice that a tight player has made a raise, it is likely that they have a very strong hand, so you should re-evaluate the strength of your cards in this hand. Similarly, if a loose player makes a raise, it is more likely to be profitable to be call with a decent hand as you could well be holding a stronger hand than them.

• It is important to not be afraid about making bets or raises before the flop. It is important to be aggressive in poker, as it is a winning style that all good players adopt. If you are afraid to make bets and raises when you should be, then you will be making unprofitable decisions and you will find it hard to ever win money from the game. To help accustom yourself to being aggressive, you could try dropping down in limits where there is less money at stake, so that you can become comfortable with playing aggressively and notice the advantages of an aggressive style over a weak playing style.

The flop is where the hand really starts to come together, and players start to evaluate the strength of their hands and make decisions based on their potential. You should always look to analyse the texture of the flop and consider what it could mean to both you and your opponents. Being able to fully understand the flop texture and what potential the cards on the flop contain is a key skill that every good poker player is looking to develop.

The flop play can contain all different types of mathematics, both for players with made hands and for players with drawing hands. Therefore it is important to know how to size your bets and raises to make sure that you are making profitable moves at every opportunity.

Playing the flop can range from being fairly easy to difficult depending on the situation. The flop can often be relatively simple, and you are completely happy to either fold or raise with your hand when the action reaches you. However, the flop can be tricky to play when out of position or when in a multi-way pot, so more thought may be needed to work out the best plan of action in these situations.

The Texture Of The Flop

As mentioned above, it is a key skill to be able to understand and think about the implications that different flops can bring. When I use the word ‘texture’ I basically mean the type of cards that appear on the flop and if there are any draw possibilities, as different flops can bring different possibilities for the players at the table. Here are two questions you should be thinking about after every flop:

• Are there any straight possibilities?
• Are there any flush possibilities?

These questions simply highlight the possibility that there may be potential for players to have drawing hands. It is important to take into account the fact that some players may have drawing hands because it will affect the way the hand will be played out. This is because where normally you might expect a player to call a bet with a made hand, players may now be calling bets because they have a draw to a stronger hand.

If there are numerous draw possibilities, the flop will often be referred to as being a ‘wet board’, whereas a flop that brings very little or no draw possibilities will be referred to as a ‘dry board’. Here are examples of typical wet and dry boards:

Wet Board: T 9 7
Dry Board:  K 8 2

How To Approach The Flop

So now that you know about the different flop textures, how should you approach the flop? Well one of the first things to consider is if the flop actually improved your hand, and you will normally be faced with 3 different situations:

1. Your hand did not improve
2. Your hand improved
3. You are on a draw

1] The first situation is pretty simple to address, because if your hand did not improve then you should simply look to let the hand go at the nearest opportunity, or hope to see another card for free and possibly improve. But at the end of the day, you are not really in much shape to win money from the hand on this occasion.

2] The second situation isn't too difficult, but there are different degrees of ‘improvement’ that we have to think about. To make things a little easier, I am going to split the improved hand section up into 4 smaller sections and give a little strategy for each:

- Decent Hand (any pair, middle pocket pair, top pair with weak kicker)
In these situations I like to bet out to see where I stand if there is no action before me. If I get a call I will consider my options on the turn depending on what card comes down. If I am raised I will usually tend to fold unless I have a strong reason to believe that my opponent is bluffing. If I am faced with a standard raise then I will normally call with top pair but fold any lower pairs. I am not prepared to get involved in too much action with these hands.

- Good Hand (overpair, top pair top kicker, two pair)
With these hands I am more than likely to have the best hand at this point, therefore I will be and raise to make sure that I give the wrong pot odds to anyone looking to call with a drawing hand. You should never slowplay in these situations as your hand is nowhere near strong enough to give other players a free card to catch up, so make sure you are betting and raising to give your opponents bad odds and increase the amount of money you can win from the hand.

- Very Good Hand (set, straight, flush)
Again with these hands I will normally want to bet out to get as much money into the pot as possible. I am not necessarily looking to ‘protect’ my hand as much as before, but more to give myself the best opportunity to win a big pot. Some players will like to slowplay here, but in my opinion you will just be missing out on an opportunity to build the pot. It is also a good idea to bet with weak flushes and give bad odds to anyone who is looking to call with a high card of the same suit as the flop for a flush of their own.

- Exceptional Hand (full house, four of a kind, straight flush)
Make the most of this situation, because it’s not going to happen very often. It is in these rare instances that I will look to slowplay to try and allow my opponents to catch up, but it is not likely that I am going to win too much money from these hands anyway. So just try and extract as much money as you possibly can, but do not be too disheartened if you end up winning a small pot.

3] Now if you have a drawing hand on the flop, you will want to try and see the turn card as cheaply as possible in an attempt to complete your draw. It is not often that you will be given 4 to 1 odds (roughly the pot odds you need to call for a straight or a flush) at this point, so you will have to consider the chance that you will win more money from the hand than is already in the pot. This is known as your ‘implied odds’. All this info may seem a little overwhelming at first, but in general just try not to pay too much for your draws, and try and see the turn as cheaply as possible. If you are feeling a little adventurous, you can always come out raising from time to time with a draw to disguise your hand and keep your opponents guessing.

Other Flop Tips

• You should always try and consider what your opponent may be holding as well as think about the potential of your own hand. For example, if your opponent made a strong raise before the flop, they may well have high cards like AK or AQ. So if the flop comes 8s 2c 4d you can be fairly sure that your opponent’s hand did not improve. Whereas if the flop comes Ah Ks 5d, you can be confident that your opponent has caught a piece of the flop and is more likely to have improved. You can then use this information to your advantage by altering your betting strategy accordingly.

• Always try and give the wrong pot odds to any player looking to call with a draw. You can never be totally sure that your opponent has a draw, but it is better to bet assuming that they are on a draw rather than betting assuming that they aren’t. By giving your opponents the wrong odds to chase, you will be making money every time they call. However, you will be losing money if your give your opponents good odds and they call.

• Be prepared to let good hands go. If you have a good hand but come up against a lot of action or are out of position to a raise, you should try and lean toward letting your hand go. It may be difficult to fold good hands, but it is far better to drop the hand early and save yourself from losing more money later in the hand. The best winning players wouldn’t win money if they didn’t fold the best hand occasionally.

The turn is a much forgotten about street that does not get nearly enough as much attention as it should. Most strategy articles seem to focus on playing the flop and river well, but leave out the turn and almost consider it to be a bridge between two more important streets. However, the turn is actually a key part of any poker hand, as it is the point where the pot has usually grown to such a point from the preflop and flop betting rounds that you now will be making a decision about whether or not to commit yourself to the hand.

The turn is almost like a continuation of the flop, but with the stakes raised a lot more. If you and your opponent have been betting correctly in previous betting rounds, you should find that any bets or plays you make on this street will commit a large portion of your stack into the middle. Therefore knowing whether to continue to fight for the hand or to let it go is a very important ability that no player should neglect.

Don’t Be Afraid To Let A Hand Go

When playing the turn, it is important to stay focused and assess the strength of your hand. Many players have the problem of not being able to let the hand go because they feel that they have come so far in the hand, that is worth their while to continue to see the river. This is a terrible way to play and will cost you a lot of money if you are not able to make clear and educated decisions on the turn.

On the turn, you should be contemplating whether you are going to commit to the rest of the hand or not. It is not a good idea to muddle your way through the hand and hope for the best, so have a clear idea in your head about what you are going to do and be happy with it. You should be happy to fold a mediocre hand at this point, as you do not want to be committing a much larger amount of money to the pot with a hand that may well be second best. So learn to let go.

Typical Situations

When you find yourself at the turn, you will normally be in one of the following situations.

1. You are continuing with a strong hand
2. You are continuing with a bluff
3. You called with a mediocre made hand
4. You called for a draw on the flop and missed
5. You called for a draw on the flop and hit

1] If you are at the turn with a strong hand, you should be looking to continue the action and bet if you feel that your opponent has not improved a possible draw. At this point you have probably not been given enough information to assume that your opponent has you beat, and so you should continue to make strong bets and lay down bad odds if they are on a draw. If your opponent comes over the top of you and raises, you will have to reassess the strength of your hand and consider folding. Not many players will raise a bet on the turn unless they have a very strong hand themselves.

2] If you made a continuation bet on the flop and got called, you are in a very sticky situation indeed. You are now faced with a predicament of whether to fire a second barrel or to let the hand go. In most cases it is better to check and let the hand go to any action, hoping that you get to see a free river card. However, if you can be fairly sure that you can force your opponent to fold with a strong bet, it may be a good play to bet again on the turn. But again, the majority of the time it will be safer to let the hand go and save your money for another hand.

3] If you called on the flop with a half decent hand like middle pair, you were essentially calling to see how your opponent reacts on the turn. Therefore you should look to fold the hand if your opponent continues to show strength, and look to bet if your opponent checks to you and shows weakness. Your opponent may have been making a continuation bet on the flop and is now shutting down because of your call on the flop, so now you are in a prime position to take down the pot. This is known as a ‘float play’, and it can be made with any two cards as a bluff to pick off continuation bettors.

4] If you missed your draw on the turn, you should roughly use the same strategy on this street as you did on the flop. Your odds to complete your draw will almost be exactly the same, so try and get to see the river for as cheaply as possible. It is less likely that you will be given the correct odds at this point to call for your draw, so it is probable that you will need to fold your draw at this point unless you feel you have mammoth implied odds to play on in an attempt to complete your draw.

5] If you were lucky enough to hit your draw on the turn, you are now in the mode to try and extract as much money as possible. If you are first to act, betting or checking as both acceptable plays, and you should choose the one that you think would make you the most money. I would lean toward betting to make sure I was forcing the action and making sure that I gave my opponent to put money into the pot. If you are last to act then it is almost imperative to bet, otherwise you will be missing out on an opportunity to build the pot. If your opponent isn’t going to put any more money in at this point, then it is unlikely that will be putting any money in on the river either, so make sure you try and extract as much money as possible.

Other Turn Tips

• You should try and think about your turn decision whilst you are making your play on the flop. It is a good idea whilst on the flop to think “Okay, so if I make this play now, what will I do on the turn?” By asking yourself this question you will find yourself making more educated moves on the flop, and not feeling so lost when you get to the turn.

When you make it to the river (which actually happens a lot less often than you might think), all the players have been given the final card on the board with which to make their best 5-card hand. The river is different to the rest of the streets because with every other street there are always more cards to come to help players improve their hands, but on the river you are stuck with what you are given. Therefore the river betting round is free from all the complications of pot odds, implied odds and all other types of mathematics that are involved with drawing hands.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the river is an easier round to play. The river can become very tricky as players will either ‘have it’ or they won’t, and so the players that don’t make the hands that they were hoping for will sometimes make one last effort to try and take down the pot with a big bluff. Therefore to play the river well, you should always think about all of the information you have gathered from each street in the hand you played against your opponent up until this point to help influence your decisions.

How To Play The River

As I just mentioned, you have to think about the way your opponent has played the hand on each street to help inform your decision on how to play on the river. The more information you have, the more pieces to the puzzle you can fit together to build a bigger picture of what your opponent may be holding. By the river it is often likely that your opponent will have given off enough information through the way they have played to indicate what kind of hand they are holding, so it is just a case of thinking through the hand and looking for it.

If your opponent has been playing as if they had a drawing hand on each street, and then comes out with a bet when the river comes with a card that could not have helped them, you can be fairly sure that they are bluffing be happy to call their bet if you have a decent hand. Similarly, if an opponent has been playing very aggressively on previous streets by betting and raising but plays very weakly on the river by checking, you can happily sense they are trying to trap you and trying to induce a bluff.

Playing the river can be a lot easier if you have position over your opponent. Acting after your opponent will prove to be a huge advantage on the river because you can see how your opponent reacts before making your final decision. When you reach the river you will be in one of the following situations regarding the strength of your hand:

• You are confident you have the best hand
• You are confident you have the worst hand
• You are unsure about whether you have the best hand

The first two situations are easier to play in, both in and out of position, but things can become very tricky when you are not sure about whether or not you have the best hand. So here is a quick guide on how to play in or out of position when in each of the situations mentioned above.

In Position

- You are confident you have the best hand
If you are confident you have the best hand, you will want to get as much money from your opponent as possible. This means that you should definitely bet and raise to get more and more money into the pot. It is better to make big pot-sized bets on the river rather than smaller bets to try and entice your opponent into calling. It will be more profitable to make big bets even if your opponent calls less often, as it is explained in the article on maximizing value.

- You are confident you have the worst hand
When you feel that you have the worst hand, you should be happy to fold the majority of bets your opponent makes on the river. It is unlikely that opponents will bet into you out of position with a poor hand, so always lean toward folding rather than raising in an attempt to bluff. If your opponent checks to you, you are now faced with the tough decision of whether or not to bluff. It is in these instances that you should use all the information from the way your opponent has played up until this point to decide whether a bluff is likely to work. Always try and be at least 80% sure that a bluff will be successful before making one, and fold if you have any doubts in your mind at all.

- You are unsure about whether you have the best hand
Now this is where things can become tricky, but at least in this situation we still have position over our opponent. If our opponent checks to us, then we should almost always check behind them and turn the cards over to see who has won. This is because if you ever bet in this position, it is unlikely that you will get a call from a player that we have beat, but it is likely that we are going to get a call from a player that has us beat. So just check it down and hope that your hand is the winning one after they have been turned over.

If our opponent is betting into us, once again we have to make the decision about whether or not we should call based upon the information we have gathered from previous betting rounds. You may also need to factor in the odds that your opponent is giving you to call, because if your opponent makes a very small bet, you may well be given the correct odds to call because of the likelihood that your hand will sometimes win. But at the end of the day, there are no concrete rules for these situations and it is just a part of poker that will take time, patience and a thorough understanding of the game to master.

Out Of Position

- You are confident you have the best hand
It is nice to feel that you have the best hand, but unfortunately we do not have position to help maximize our winnings in these situations. If you feel that your opponent has a half decent hand, you should look to make a decent bet and hope that they will call, as it is not likely that they will bet if they are unsure about whether they have the best hand.

If you think that your opponent missed a draw and has a very weak hand, it may be more profitable to bet in an attempt to induce a bluff. If you bet and it turns out they have no hand at all, then you are not going to win any more money because they are just going to fold. If you check however, you are giving them the opportunity to make a bluff and squeeze out that little extra money from them at the end.

- You are confident you have the worst hand
It’s pretty unfortunate to have the worst hand and be out of position, but its not all that bad. At least in these situations you will have a clear idea about what to do… check and fold to any action. It is rarely a good idea to try and bluff when out of position in these spots, so save your money for another time. Only bet if you are incredibly sure that you can get your opponent off the hand, otherwise betting out here is not going to be profitable at all.

- You are unsure about whether you have the best hand
Although this might seem like a bit of a dilemma, its not as bad you think. The last thing you want to do here is bet out… its one of the biggest mistakes you can make in poker when you think about it logically. When you bet out not knowing if you have the best hand or not, you are only going to get calls from hands that beat you, and you are not going to get calls from hands that you are beating. It is a completely lose-lose situation, so never bet out if you are unsure about whether you hold the best hand or not.

The only hard part in these spots is when your opponent comes back at you with a bet. In these situations you have to once again consider the way the hand has been played out up to that point, as well as think about they way your opponent has been playing in other hands as well as this one. If you think you have a decent chance of winning because your opponent is loose and bluffs frequently, then you have a good reason to call. However if you are not confident that you are ahead, you should be looking to fold unless you are being given good enough pot odds to make the call to see if you are ahead. It’s all about practice and a good knowledge of your opponent’s playing style.

Other River Tips

• Don’t bet on the river if you are unsure about whether or not you have the best hand. I know I have mentioned it before, but it is something that you should always remember. You are only going to get a call from a better hand and a fold from a worse hand, so don’t make that bet!

• Always think about each play that led up to this point into the hand, and use it to influence the decisions that you make on the river. There is no better tell than the way an opponent has played their hand and the information they have given you by the way they have checked, bet or raised.

• Always bet around the size of the pot when you want a call when you hold the best hand. Even though you may well get called less often than if you made small bets, you will be winning more in the long run. Its more profitable to win $50 1 in 10 times than it is to win $5 8 out of 10 times.

If you ask an amateur player or any person new to poker what the fundamental aspects of Texas Hold'em are, you can be very sure that they will describe how bluffing your opponents is key to beating the game. However, this is actually far from the truth. It is possible to beat poker games without ever needing to bluff. The over estimation of the importance of bluffing by amateur players is what helps them lose money to the more experienced.

The aim of poker is to win money, simple as that. So if you were to never bluff, you could still make money. Think of it this way; If you are sitting at a 6 seater table, each player has an equal chance on getting good or bad cards. Each player according to simple math should have the best hand 1 in every 6 hands, therefore if all the players were of the exact same standard, in the long run nobody would lose, and nobody would win.

However, if one player was able to win more money from their opponents when they had the best hand than their opponents won from them when they had the best hand, that player would be making more money than their opponents in the long run. It stands to reason that if you play your cards better than the other players play their cards, you will end up a winner.

So does this mean that players lose more money trying to run bluffs on one another? Not necessarily. An experienced player can pick their spots and take down a few pots that should have been taken down by someone else, adding a little more to their stack. But it is not easy for a beginner or even intermediate players to pick the right spots, it takes a lot of experience of situations and knowledge of your opponent to know when a bluff will be successful. Therefore if you are unsure of whether you can take down a pot, then you shouldn’t try, as you are unnecessarily risking chips by trying to take down a pot that is not essential anyway.

As you play more poker, you will have a greater understanding of when you can bluff. However there are more advantages to bluffing than simply winning one pot.

Giving Yourself a Loose Image. If you continually try to run bluffs against your opponents, they will try and catch you out when you bet into them. They will start to overplay their mediocre hands when you bet and pay you off when you do have a good hand.

Put Your Opponents on Tilt. People do not like to be deceived out of their money. If you make a successful bluff against a player and show them, they may become frustrated and play worse in an attempt to get their money back. This is known as 'playing on tilt' However it is not advised to do this often as your opponent and others at the table may be out to get you, which will make the game trickier to play.

As you can see, bluffing has its extra benefits. The most important one mentioned above is giving yourself a loose table image, as you potentially can take a lot of money off your opponents because they will not believe you when you do have a good hand.

When Should You Bluff?
Now that you know the theory of bluffing, when you should you bluff? The answer is simple; you should bluff when you think your opponent will fold.  Knowing when your opponent will fold can only come through practice, and the more you practice the better you will become. Reading Poker Books will also help you to understand the game, and where bluffs can be employed successfully. Here are a few situations when it is more likely to run a successful bluff:  

• When in last position. If you are in last position, you have the ability the make more successful bluffs than anywhere else on the table. If you are last to act, and your opponents have checked to you, it is a sign of weakness. This is a perfect opportunity to bet and win the pot.

• If you raised pre-flop. If you raise pre-flop and then missed on the flop, you can still win the pot. If you make a continuation bet, your opponent is unlikely to call unless they have hit top pair or middle pair at least.

• Against small stacks. If your opponent has a small stack, they are unlikely to call a raise unless they have hit the flop hard. But you have to be careful, as it will be rare for a short stack to simply call when bet into, they will either fold or push. Again this is where practice makes perfect, and you will know when the short stack is more likely to fold than push.

• When on a draw. If you do not have a made hand, but are on a draw such as a straight or a flush, you can launch what is called a semi-bluff. You hope to take the pot down right there, but if you do get called you still have a chance to win the hand if the next cards improve your hand. But if you get re-raised be prepared to let the hand go, unless you are receiving correct pot odds to call.
  

Evaluation

It is important to remember that you do not need to bluff to win money at poker, especially if you are new to the game. It is far better to play your good hands well rather than try and make your opponents fold when you have no idea whether or not they will call. As you play more you can expand your game and try new things in different situations and find out times when it is best to bluff. It could be said that bluff are more beneficial for what they do for the future, rather than what they do for the present. In the present you will be taking down a small pot, but in the future you could be taking down a large pot because your opponent did not believe that you had the best hand when you bet.

Playing a hand profitably from start to finish can be a pretty difficult task, as there are always opportunities to make mistakes along the way. However, as you start to play more hands and read step-by-step hand strategies like the ones on this site, you will find it easier to make the right moves and make the right sized bets based on the factors in each situation. From then on you can work on fine-tuning your game to help maximize your wins and minimize your losses by playing as perfectly as possible on each street.

So to help your overall hand strategy, here are a few key tips to help you along the way.

1) Take Your Time With Decisions
If you are playing online, you are given a generous amount of time within which to make your decision on what action you are going to take. You are in no hurry to make your play, so carefully think about how you are going to play and use your time wisely. You will be surprised about how often you can have a sudden change in thought and make a better play by simply taking the extra 5 seconds or so to review your initial decision. So don’t rush yourself, and allow yourself to take the time to make the best decisions on every street.

2) Think About Future Betting Rounds
It is all well and good to think about your current situation on one street, but it is important to consider how future streets are going to be played out depending on the action you make in the current betting round. For example, if you are preflop and are contemplating a call, you should try and think about how you would play the flop. If the majority of situations you can think of on the flop appear to be very tricky to play, it will probably be in your best interest to fold and save your money for another spot. Similarly with other betting rounds, consider how future betting rounds could play out to help yourself make more informed decisions.

3) Think About Past Betting Rounds
Every hand has its own unique ‘story’. The majority of poker players will play in a certain way and form patters in the way they check, bet and raise depending on the strength of their hand. If you always think about how and why an opponent played the way they have on each round, you will be able to piece together small parts of a puzzle to provide yourself with a bigger picture. You can then look at all of these individual factors to help put your opponent on a certain range of hands, and make plays based on what hands you think your opponent may be holding. At the end of the day, the best tell of all is a player’s betting pattern.

4) Think About How Other Players See You
Knowing about your own table image is just as important as knowing about the individual playing styles of your opponents. If you are aware of the way your opponents see you as a poker player, you can use it to your advantage to make more profitable plays. For example, if your opponents see you as a loose player that likes to play a lot of hands, you will probably find that you are going to have a harder time bluffing them out of pots. So if your opponents think that you are the type of player that likes to bluff, you should stop bluffing and bet when you have the best of it. By doing this you are likely to get paid off when you have the best of it and you are saving yourself from losing money by trying to bluff your opponents when they are more likely to call.

5) Change Gears
This concept is tied in slightly with knowing your own table image. If you are constantly changing gears, your opponents will find it more difficult to read you and so they will be unable to ‘pigeon hole’ you and play in a way to combat your particular style. If you are switching from tight to loose, your opponents will have trouble knowing where they stand, and so you will be able to win more money than if you constantly play in the same way throughout each session. However, changing gears does not mean going from super-aggressive to super-tight at the flick of a switch, so you should try and wait for the right opportunities to change your style, rather than trying to force it in the middle of a session.

6) Be Disciplined
Discipline is something that even the best players in the world struggle with from time to time. You can have all the poker knowledge in the world, but if you are unable to let a good hand go when you know you are beat, you will not be able to make it as a poker player. It does not matter where you are in the hand or how much you have invested, if you know the correct move is to fold, you should fold. Being disciplined also means not going on tilt, and so not throwing more and more money away if you are on a cold streak. If you feel that you are frustrated and so you are not playing your A-game, you should get up from the table and save yourself some money.

Hopefully a few of these pointers will have highlighted areas in your game that you will need to work on. There is no room in poker to be arrogant and ignore obvious leaks in your game, so make sure you always try and be honest with yourself about your ability and where you can improve. It is easier to say to yourself that you can let a good hand go when you should; yet still make those crying calls at the table, but it is profitable to admit to yourself that you could improve and plug up the leaks in your game. You are your own personal tutor when it comes to poker and it is not often that you will have someone pushing you to do the right things. So if you are soft on yourself and ignore obvious flaws, you are not going to be able to take your game to the next level. Your ability is in your own hands.  Compare FreePoker.net to WPT, World Poker Tour, Titan Poker, Hollywood Poker, Party Poker, Doyles Room, Full Tilt Poker.

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These are the basic rules for Jokers Wild BlackJack TM game: Standard BlackJack Rules Apply with exceptions.

Exceptions: For Jokers Wild BlackJack TM, using a standard deck of 52 playing cards with an additional 2 Joker Cards for a total of 54 Playing Cards that are used to play Wild BlackJack TM.Multiple decks of cards may be used. Wild card(s) have the ability to become any card in the deck. Example: If you have 10 of clubs card in your hand and (1) Joker wild card, you may use the wild card(s) as an Ace to give yourself  21 (BlackJack).  Get both Joker Wild Cards and win side bet jackpot.  Wild Card Jackpot can be progressive or fixedand may be linked to multiple tables. 

Copyright © 2008 No User shall receive any right, license or permission to use, manipulate, reproduce our Trademarks, Copyrights & PATENT PENDING Game Systems or our Intellectual Property without prior written consent. Patent & TM attorney of record. Dale F. Regelman