High stakes poker

Look at this great pot on the last hand of the night, AA vs. KK, could Farha fold that great hand?

High Stakes Poker (Season 1, Episode 9)

Watch some nice moves by the pro's, Negreanu, Farha, Johnny chan and more:

Great Fold

This is one amazing hand, I've never seen so many players with pocket pair in one hand, see a great fold by one of the players, would you change my compliment after the flop??? Isn't Texas Holdem the great game ever???

10 tips for becoming a better Texas Holdem player

I've been asked many times to advice beginner players about how to improve their Texas Holdem playing skills, here is a short list:

1. Know that Texas Holdem is a game of people rather than cards, you must know the players around you and adjust your game.

2. Choose the right game - pick the game where you perform the best, cash games or tournaments, limit game, pot limit or no limit game.

3. Choose the right stakes for you - play in a table where you feel comfortable with the stakes, you should bet an amount that if you lose it on one hand, you would still have money for your bread and milk, and if you win (lets say that you've tripled it), it would make you smile.

4. Choose your hands selectively - it's all about patience in poker, don't play hands that are easily dominated, try to be tighter than the average player in your table.

5. Play aggressively - since you should pick your starting hands selectively, you must play aggressively (by betting and raising) the hands that you do play.

6. Position - many words has written about the importance of the position in Texas Holdem so I'll be concise: don't play out of position with less than your very good hands.

7. Change your style - you mustn't play Texas Holdem 'by the rules' all the time, sometimes be looser and sometimes tighter, make it hard for other players to read your moves.

8. Create an image - know what your image at the table is and use it, if you have a very tight image bluff when the time is right, if you have a loose image you can over bet the pot when you have great hands.

9. Learn Texas Holdem - always keep learning, read books, articles and visit quality content poker sites.

10. Remember that in the play money tables (for points instead of real money) you can learn about the rules of the game, about recognizing the best hands and about the software but almost nothing about poker decision making. Most of the players never folds when they don't lose money.

Farha's great flop

Sometimes you must lose your money in one hand, watch this hand:

My Holdem Tips second version is on

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know that the second version of www.myholdemtips.com is on, we made it clean and simple.

You can check out the poker room reviews section and our free Texas Holdem school with special video tutorials, it's a 10 steps program for beginner or advanced poker players.

Hope to see you on our site.

Enjoy

Negreanu vs. Matusow

Watch two great players and their heart rate while they are playing.

biggest pot ever

Gus Hanse vs. Daniel Negreanu in the biggest pot ever played on the high stakes poker, a pair of 5 against a pair of 6.

2006 wsop final hand

Watch Jamie Gold Vs. Paul Wasicka at the 2006 final table:

2006 WSOP final table

Watch the 3 last players in the 2006 wsop final table:

Poker highlights

High stakes poker

Doyle Brunson Vs Daniel Negreanu - Celebrity bloopers here

No Limit – After the River

In this situation it helps to read hands. You should analyze your opponent’s actions throughout the preflop to the river, and try to figure out what his hand is.

If someone who played very aggressively until the river, and checks even though the river card was a trash card, it could be a trap. If he played very passively and suddenly bets with no river card that can explain it, it could be a bluff.
Just remember, the better your opponent, the harder it will be to read his hand.

Don’t bet with a mediocre hand. These hands are usually paid or raised by better hands, and are not called by worse hands. Taking this into consideration, you should understand that if a good player bets after the river, his hand is either great or trash. Try to figure out which one by analyzing his previous moves. If you are given the opportunity to go for a showdown without putting extra money in the pot, take this opportunity gladly.

No Limit – After the Turn

Many of the turn cards in No Limit Texas Holdem are the last card you are going to see. By this time you usually have a good feel about your status. If you think you have the best hand you should play aggressively and make it expensive for others to draw on you. As your good hand gets more vulnerable, the bet should be more aggressive.

For example, if you have As, Kh and the board is Ac, Qc, 9d, 3d, you could be up against a straight or flush draw. If you don’t have the best hand, there are a few possibilities:

1. If you have a drawable hand, check and call only if the pot odds are good (a rare situation when playing against good players).

2. If a scary card came (a pair or the third card of the same suit), it’s possible to bluff, especially if you have shown strength before the turn related to the scary card, or if the other player is unlikely to improve by this card. Otherwise, I would give up that hand.

3. Semi-bluffing – A semi-bluff is when your hand is not the best hand but has the potential to become the best hand. You should use a semi-bluff in order to make it harder for your opponents to read your hand. Sometimes, against a passive player who is hesitant about raising, you can bet and slow him down even though he has a better hand, thus making it profitable for you to see the river.

No Limit – After the Flop Specific Hands

When you flop a draw – When you have a straight or a flush draw in No Limit Texas Holdem, it’s very important to know who you are playing against. Good players make it unworthy to chase for a draw. Therefore if you have a drawable hand, calculating the pot odds is very important.
You should consider the following:
1. If you are getting good pot odds up to your entire bankroll, try to be the bettor and not the caller.
2. If you are in an early position you should usually check and call only if the pot odds are worth it.
Remember that even though a flush has more outs than an open ended straight, 9 compared to 8, you are more likely to get called once you catch your straight than after you make the flush.

When you flop top pair – You should bet your strong hands but remember that many of the big loses occur when a player falls in love with his top pair and won’t let go. If a good player calls your bet or raised it, you should consider folding your top pair, especialy with a low kicker.

When you flop two pairs – Because you probably have the best hand, you should carefully consider what the odds are that the next card will make someone else’s hand better, before deciding how much to bet. If you have the bottom two pairs, bet aggressively because a lot of cards can make your hand worthless. On the other hand, if you have the top two pairs and no flush or straight are possible, you can be less aggressive letting another player get the second best hand.

When you flop a set – If you have a pocket pair, the odds of getting a set or better are about 12%. If you do get your set, your primary goal will be to make the other players put their money into the pot. Sometimes the best timing is right after the flop and sometimes you should slow-play till the river. This depends on the board and the players you are up against. You should bet against tight players and slow-play against loose aggressive players. You should bet when there is a flush or straight draw no matter who you are up against.

When flopping a straight – It’s very important to recognize the different kinds of straights. You could flop the best straight possible, if you have King Queen and the board is Jack, Ten and a 9. You can have the worst straight possible, if you have 75 and the board is 986 which is pretty vulnerable. And you can have other kinds of straights. The things you should consider are:
1. How likely are the next cards going to hurt your hand? For example if the board has two or three of the same suit you should bet more aggressively.
2. How big is the pot and what are your opponents pot odds? For example, if you have T8 and the flop is Qh, Jh, 9s. if someone is going for a flush draw than he is getting about 36% to win by the river, therefore you should bet at least half of the pot size to make his call not worthy.
3. How many players are you up against – as the number gets higher, bet more aggressively.
When you flop a flush – If you have the nuts (the best flush possible), you can slow-play and let other players get the second best hand or induce a bluff. When you don’t have the nuts, you should bet at least half of the pot, so if someone is going for the nut flush he would have to overpay in order to get it.

When flopping a monster – A full house, four of a kind, or a straight flush – On these rare occasions slow-play and let others make second best hands.

No Limit – After the Flop Concepts

After you’ve seen the flop, you have seen 5 out of seven cards of your possible hand - 71% of the cards! At this point, many of your decisions will be automatic; if you don’t hit your cards, you should usually fold. For example if you have JT suited and the flop is A72 rainbow get out of the pot.

Since you should pick your starting hands carefully, you will raise many of your hands. In a tight game, this will make the pot heads up or close to heads up. This is usually your goal because playing against multiple players in No Limit can be very difficult.

A few hints for playing after the flop:

1. Heads up – If you were the one that raised the bet pre-flop, you should bet most of the rounds after the flop since it is not likely that your opponent has hit his cards. This is called the continuation bet.
If you just called pre-flop from a late position and your opponent checked, you should usually bet no matter what your cards are - except in two situations:
your opponent likes to ‘check raise’ and slow-playing or
you have a drawable hand and want to take the free card.

2. Multi-way pots – These hands are harder to play because more people are involved. There is a good chance that someone has a good hand, and even that the pot odds seem better, a good player will use the No Limit option in order to make it not worth chasing for a draw. Therefore you should:
A. rarely bluff
B. rarely slow-play
C. calculate other players' pot odds
D. watch carefully for tells

3. Hands to go all in – You should be willing to go broke with some hands. If you flop a set and the only thing that can beat you is a higher set, you shouldn’t be afraid of it.
The chances of this happening are so small and the amount of money you will not gain by playing less aggressively is bigger than what you'd lose if your opponent has a better set. A second example is when you have the right pot odds to do it: meaning, if you have a straight flush draw and thus more than a 50% chance of hitting your card by the river. An important rule is that you’d better be the bettor rather than the caller because by being the bettor you have two ways to win: by making your opponent fold or by hitting your card.

4. When the board is paired – The first one to bet, usually wins the pot when the number of competitors is low. Therefore, you should bet in about half of these situations regardless of whether you have a set or not. The most important thing in this situation is knowing your opponents. A good player may know you are bluffing and raise you with almost nothing.

No Limit – Playing Before the Flop

When to call a bet – you usually shouldn’t just call a bet. You give too much information to a good player in a better position when you just call. However, in some cases you could call:

1. When you have a hand that is not easily dominated, hands like a medium or small pair or suited connectors - these hands like a lot of opponents. For example: Queen Jack suited or a pair of 66.

2. When you’re very strong and believe that one of the players will raise.

3. When you have good pot odds for example: six players called and you have 98 suited.

When to raise – As I said before, in No Limit Texas Holdem you should carefully consider which hands you are going to play. Therefore, once you've decided to play, the hand is probably worth raising.

How much to raise – I usually recommend raising between 2 to 6 times the big blind. When you’re in an early position, tend to go for 2 to 3 times the big blind and from late position 5 to 6 times, raise the same amount whether you have a reasonable hand or when you have a great hand in order not to expose your game.

When you’re in late position and no one has yet called the big blind, almost any hand is worth raising.

When you’re in the small blind and no one has called the big blind, you should usually fold against a good player because you’re in a bad position. Against a weak player you can call or try to steal the blind by raising if you think he might fold.

Big raise - If one player raised, some of the other players called, and you have a good hand, go for a big raise - if you think the first raiser might fold, he will make it difficult for the rest of the players, who hadn’t reraised him, to call your big raise.

Stealing the dealer's button – As I said before, position is one of the most important factors in No Limit Texas Holdem. Therefore, sometimes try to steal the best position even if you’re sitting to the right to the dealer's button. You do that by raising. Then if the player to your left folds, you’ll have the best position for the whole hand. sometimes do the same thing when sitting two places to the right to the dealer with the appropriate players sitting to your left.

Going all in – This move is one of the most exciting moves in poker. go all in when:
you think you have the best hand and one of your opponents will call
you don’t have the best hand, but think the other players will fold
you are getting good pot odds no matter what the other player do

Examples for going all in:
If you hold a pair of Aces, one player raised the big blind and 3 more players called his raise
If you have a pair of 77, one loose player has raised and no one has yet called
Or if you have Ace Jack suited, the pot is big and you’re short stacked.

No Limit – General Tips

Remember that in No Limit Texas Holdem, making the wrong decision about seeing the flop can cause you to lose a lot of money; be sure to pick your starting hands very carefully.

Many books will tell you what hand you should or shouldn’t play preflop. I don’t believe in these guidelines; you should act according to the specific game and situation you are in. But here are some hints:

1. Position is even more important than in limit Texas Holdem – Play only a very good hand from an early position unless the game is very passive and there is usually no raising before the flop.

2. Your image at the table – Unless you have a tight image (which you should have), don’t bluff.

3. The other player’s style – If you’re playing against a maniac who raises frequently, wait patiently until you have a good hand. You can slow-play against this player. Against a tight passive player, try to steal the blinds as much as you can.

4. Your stack size – If you have short stack play tight. If you are the chip leader at the table, you can bully the other players by aggressive play, but don’t go overboard.

5. Your opponent stack size – Be careful when playing against someone who has more money than you. Don’t play a marginal hand with them. Be selective about the hands you are playing against short stack players because they tend to play only their best hands. This is not the case against very short stacked players, who would probably go all in with even a marginal hand.

No Limit - Rules of No Limit Texas Holdem

In a No Limit Texas Holdem cash game, the “table stakes” relate to the amount of the small and big blinds. In a $5/$10 game, the small blind put in $5, the big blind put in $10, and those blinds remain equal for the whole game.

Once the blinds are in the pot, two cards are dealt to each player. The first player to act is the one sitting to the left to the big blind. From now on, every player can bet the minimum of the big blind amount and the maximum of his chips. A raise must be at least twice the previous bet. The betting round is complete after each player has folded, called the highest bet, or went all in.

The only thing that’s different from limit Texas Holdem is the betting limit, but as you can guess, it’s a very important difference. The trick is to try to win the big pots since they can get really big.

Going all in – If a player bets more than your whole stack, you can go all in and if you win, you’ll get the relative amount of the pot.

For example, if the pot is $50, one player bets $50, another player calls, and you’ve got only $20, you can go all in. If you win, you will get $110 ($50 from the original pot and three times $20). The better hand from the other two players wins $60. This $60 is called the side pot.

Probability and Statistics - hand match ups

I’ll present few examples of hands and the odds of each hand of winning, try to guess what the chances of winning are before looking at the numbers:

1. Big pair - A pair of aces against Jack ten suited, (As, Ah and JTd)
The chances now are: .....78% and 22%
The flop is: Ace of diamond, Queen of spades and 8 of diamonds
The chances now are: .....60% and 40%
The turn is: 2 clubs
The chances now are: .....70% and 30%

2. Small pair - A pair of five against Ace queen suited, (5h, 5d and AQc)
The chances now are: .....51% and 49%
The flop is: 8 of spade, 8 of clubs and 4 of spades
The chances now are: .....69% and 31%
The turn is: queen of diamonds
The chances now are: .....5% and 95%

3. The power of domination – Ace King versus Ace Jack, (Ah Ks and AsJc)
The chances now are: .....71% and 24% tie 5%
The flop is: Ace of diamond, Ten of diamond and 5 of clubs
The chances now are: .....87% and 13%
The turn is: 9 clubs
The chances now are: .....93% and 7%

4. The power of suitness – Ace Jack versus 87 suited and unsuited, (AcJd, 8s 7h or 87s)
The chances now are: .....62% and 38% and if it was suited 58% and 42%
The flop is: Jack of clubs, 6 and 5 of spades
The chances now are: .....63% and 37% and if it was suited 44% and 56%
The turn is: 8 diamonds
The chances now are: .....70% and 30% and if it was suited 55% and 45%

5. Best hand versus worst hand – a pair of aces versus 72, (Ad, As and 7h, 2c)
The chances now are: .....87% and 13%
The flop is: ten and 9 of spades and 2 of diamonds
The chances now are: .....80% and 20%
The turn is: queen of diamonds
The chances now are: 2 seconds pause 89% and 11%

Probability and Statistics - Advanced Pot Odds Calculations

We have just learned how to calculate the pot odds in order to decide whether to call a bet, but sometimes you must consider other factors. For example:
Implied odds – if the player on your right bets and has more money in his stack and you think that if you get your winning card he will pay you after the river, then your odds get a little better. If there are more players behind you and you think that some of them will pay but not raise, your odds are better than the regular calculation and you should take that into account.

For example: you hold 5c4c and the table is Ac, Kh, 7h, 3d. The pot is $125. Your opponent bets $25 and you know that if you get your card, he will pay you another $25 on the river. In this case you have a chance to win $175 ($125 + $25 bet now + $25 call after the river) by paying $25 which means your odds are 1 to 8 or 12.5%. You have 8 outs since any 6 or 2 will give you a straight. By Phil Gordon's rule of 2 you have 16%, therefore you should call.

General principles – if you are unsure that once you get your card you’ll have the winning hand (a King high flush for example), and there is a chance that another player is drawing for the nut flush, you should be very careful even if your pot odds seem good.
On the other hand If there is a reasonable chance that the player you’re up against is bluffing, then your pot odds are bigger than they seem because you have a chance to win the pot with a marginal hand or bluff him out of the pot on the river.

Advanced Strategy - Dominated and Second Best Hands

When deciding whether to play a hand or not, you should consider two main points:

* what are your chances of winning with your hand, and
* how big is the pot going to be

You should definitely play the hands in which you have a good chance of winning a large pot. But you should shy away from hands that will only win a small pot or that will lose a big one. Hands like AJ or AT are usually ’win a little, lose a lot' hands.

If you hold AJ unsuited, an early position player raised preflop, you called, and the flop is AT5, if you are the only one with the ace you probably won’t get any action. On the other hand, if the bettor has AK or AQ, you are probably going to lose a lot of money by paying all the way to the river. Let’s see what your chances are of winning with AJ against AK: the flop is A85, you have only 12% of winning, your opponent has 87% and 1% for a tie.

Any aces or kings with a low or even medium kicker are potential dominated hands if not played carefully. Therefore, folding a preflop raise is probably the best decision.

Advanced Strategy - Slow-Playing in Texas Holdem

Slow-playing means that you have a very strong hand and are playing as if it was mediocre in order to keep players in the game. Checking when nobody bets or just calling when someone else has bet are typical slow-play moves.

However, this move should be played very carefully. Many amateur players tend to use it too often, which gives other players an advantage.

You should slow-play only when:

1. Your hand is very strong and by betting or raising you will drive all or most of the players out of the game.

2. The chance that the next card will give another player a better hand than yours is small.

3. The chance that the next card will give another player the second best hand is relatively high.

4. The pot is relatively small.

Examples: if you hold QQ and the flop is Q73 rainbow, slow-playing would be the best move because it applies to all 4 criteria mentioned before.
If you hold Ah,Qd or even AA and the flop is Ac Qc and 9d you should go ahead and bet because the next card could make someone’s hand better than yours (flush or straight) and you don’t want to give a free card to a player that would have otherwise paid.

Advanced Strategy – position, the first two cards

In Texas Holdem, your position is extremely importance. Since Texas Holdem has four rounds of betting, the position is even more important than in other forms of poker.
The rule is that you should play fewer hands when you are in an early position and more hands in a late position; you should also play the same hand differently in different positions.

The later you play, the more information you can get from the other players and thus the more capable you are of making better decisions.
The decision of whether or not to play a hand has a lot to do with the type of game. In a tight game (when there aren’t many players in the flop) you should play fewer hands than in a loose game. If there are many aggressive players at the table, you should also play fewer hands than if you are playing against many passive players.

In general, in Texas Holdem and in other forms of poker, the greater the competition is, the fewer hands you should play.

Some hands, like AA, don't like many opponents because if there are 4 more players, a pair of Aces has less than a 50% chance of winning, even if the other players have marginal or weak hands. A JT suited or small and medium pairs like a lot of opponents because if the JT hits his card (flush, highest straight, etc.), the player with the second best hand will make him win a big pot.

From these examples, you can see how important is it to know how the other players play. This information will come in very handy when you have to make a decision to fold, call, or raise.
Playing in last position gives you some unique advantages: being able to steal the blinds when nobody has bet, Getting a free card, semi-bluffing and more.

You can find specific guidelines in different books about how to play every hand preflop in Texas Holdem by your position. Some of them are great books by very good writers, like David Sklansky. However, I don’t believe in following guidelines automatically; you should understand the principles behind making a decision based on your position, and then act according to the situation.

I usually tent to play fewer hand than the average at my table and play them more aggressively than the average.
Just remember, there are no automatic guidelines. You should adjust your play to your opponents and the situation.

Poker Psychology - Tells

Even good poker players give a tell once in a while, and an expert player picks that tell. Tells are divided into two groups: voluntary and involuntary. By spotting these tells you can figure out how weak or strong your opponent’s hand is.

Examples:

1. When busy, most of the players tighten up. If a player is eating, talking with a friend, speaking on the phone, or handling his I-pod, when he is in the pot, he is usually strong. If he raises, I’d stay in the pot only if I had a premium hand.

2. Intimidation signs – when a player tries to intimidate, I usually know he has a weak hand. For example: when he shouts: “I raise”, when he leans on the table, bets very quickly, or tosses his chips on the table.

3. Weakness signs – when a player tries to show that he is weak, I usually know he has a great hand. For example: if he puts his chips neatly and quietly into the pot, leans backward, or if he bets slowly.

4. Be careful of the speech – when a player gives a speech like: “a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do”, before he raises or goes all in, I know that he usually has a very strong hand.

5. If a player puts the bigger chips into the pot ($100 for example) when he has 4 chips of $25, he is usually strong. People like their bigger chips and put them on the table when they think they will come back to them.

6. Double-checking for the suit – when a flop has three cards of the same suit, and a player double-checks his cards, he will most likely have one of that suit and is checking to see which card it was.

7. A quick call means a drawing hand most of the time.

To summarize, the rules of “the tells” go as follows: when a player acts weak he is strong and when he act strong he is weak. When spotting these “tells,” try to disappoint your opponent – if he plays weak while holding a great hand, fold or check. If he acts strong while holding a weak hand, go ahead and bet or raise. Just remember two things:
A. You gain the most reliable information about a player by watching his betting patterns rather than poker tells.
B. Experts will trick you with reversed tells if they think you are paying attention.

Poker Psychology - Recognize Player Styles

The style of a play refers to a pattern of actions made by a player. There are two basic style dimensions: passive aggressive and loose tight. These two dimensions create 4 general styles.
If we scale the dimensions in a square where 1 is very loose and 9 is very tight as well as 1 for very passive and 9 for very aggressive, the corners of the square represent the most extreme types of players, very loose/tight and very passive/aggressive. Of course, most of the players are located somewhere in the middle of the square. First, I’ll explain how to recognize the style and in my next post I’ll explain how to play against these extremes. You should adjust your game according to the type of player you’re playing with.

The player types:

The Calling Station – the loose passive player. We call a player a ‘calling station’ if he tends to check and call a lot and rarely bets or raises. This is the worst possible strategy in Texas Holdem. In Texas Holdem you should be patient and fold many of your starting hands, and you should play aggressively when actually playing a hand. Otherwise, by checking and calling you are in a constant chase for your cards and when they come and you bet no one is paying you.

The Maniac – the loose aggressive player. The maniac tends to play many hands and plays them aggressively. He takes many risks, bluffing even when chances are he’ll get called. Sometimes he over-bets, and usually it takes less than a minute to spot this kind of player.

The Rock – the tight passive player. He doesn’t play many hands but when he does, you should know he has a very strong hand and should usually fold. These players have a lot of patience, hate risk, and can sometimes sit without playing for an hour.

The Winner – the tight aggressive player. This is the best style for playing Texas Holdem. It’s difficult to adopt, but once you do, you will start winning. The tight aggressive player picks his hands selectively, but when playing those hands he plays aggressively. Betting and raising are usually the best actions to take. By doing so, you increase your chances of winning the number of pots, and when you do, the pots are larger. On the other hand, some of your losses would be higher; therefore you mustn’t be in many pots when playing aggressively and should especially be careful of hands that tend to be second best, like AJ for example.

Probability and Statistics – Pot Odds

You must know some of the simple mathematical calculations before deciding whether to call a bet or fold. When you need an extra card to get your hand, one of the most important abilities is to figure out the pot odds. In other words, how much is the pot offering, compared to the amount you have to pay.

Some basic terms first:
Outs – the number of cards left in the deck that will improve your hand. For example: if you hold Ah, 5h and the flop is Kh, 4h, 3c. It seems that you have 13 outs - 9 hearts that will make you a flush and another 4 two’s that will give you a straight. But pay careful attention not to count the 2 of hearts twice. Therefore you have only 12 outs.

Odds – calculating the odds of getting one of the outs is quite simple. You divide the number of outs by the number of cards you haven’t seen yet. If we take the previous example, the odds of getting the winning hand in the turn is 12/47 = 25%. Because there are 52 cards in the deck and you’ve seen 5 of them, it leaves 47 cards you haven’t seen yet. Phil Gordon developed a simple rule of “four and two”: he calculated the approximate odds of getting the winning card on the turn, by multiplying the number of outs by two. And for getting it on the turn or on the river, he multiplied the number of outs by four. This is not the exact percentage, but it’s almost always good enough because rarely do you need the specific calculation.

Pot odds – the final calculation you’ll need is checking if the pot is big enough for you to call with a hand that needs to be improved in order to win. If the pot is $100 and your opponent bets $50 after the turn, this means you have to pay $50 in order to get the chance of winning $150. This means you get 3 to 1 odds on your call. If you win one time for every 3 times you lose, you’re even. So you must win at least one out of every 4 games in order to make the call the right decision. The final calculation you’ll need to make is to see if your odds of getting the winning card are above 25% (1 out of 4). You should call if they are higher than 25%, and fold if lower.

Example: you hold 8d, 7c and the board is Ad, Qs, 6h, 5h. You have 8 outs to make a straight. If the pot is $300 and a player bets $100, you have to bet $100 to win $400, and your pot odds are 20%. Since you have 8 outs, by the rule of 2, you have approximately 16% of making your straight. Therefore you are not getting enough pot odds and should fold.

Probability and Statistics - Introduction

Even though poker is a game of deception and intuition, math has a very important role in Texas Holdem, since there are cards that are common to everyone’s hands.
In many situations you almost certainly know your opponent’s hand, and you need to check if you should fold or call his bet.
This decision is made by calculating the pot odds, as you will see in the next article.

First, here are some numbers and percentages:

Chances of your two pocket cards
* The chances of getting a pocket pair are… 5.8% or one out of every 17 hands
* The chances of getting a pair of AA are… o.45% or one out of every 222 hands
* The chances of getting two suited cards are… 24% or one out of every 4 hands
* The chances of getting any AK suited are… 0.3% or one out of every 333 hands

Chances on the flop
* The chances of getting a pair are 29% or one out of 3.5 hands
* The chances of getting two pairs are 2% or one out of 50 hands
* The chances of getting trips are 1.35% or one out of 74 hands
* The chances of getting a set when you have a pair are 10.8% or one out of 9 hands
* The chances of getting a set or better when you have a pocket pair are 11.8% or one out of 8 hands
* The chances of getting a flush when you’re suited are 0.84% or one out of 119 hands
* The chances of getting a flush draw when you’re suited are 10.9% or one out of 9 hands

Chances on the turn
* The chances of getting a straight when you have an open ended straight draw are 17% or one out of 6 hands
* The chances of getting a flush when you have a flush draw are 19% or one out of 5 hands
* The chances of getting a full house when you have two pairs are 9% or one out of 11 hands
* The chances of getting a full house if you have a set are 15% or one out of 6.6 hands

Chances on the river
* The chances of getting a straight when you have open ended straight draw are 17% or one out of 6 hands
* The chances of getting a flush when you have a flush draw are 20% or one out of 5 hands
* The chances of getting a full house or better if you have a set are 23% or one out of 4 hands

Advanced Strategy – the Free Card

First of all, what is a free card? If the player in the last position bets or raises and everyone checks to him on the next round of betting, this gives him an opportunity to check also, and thus get to see another card for free.

I’ll divide this advice into two - getting a free card and giving one:

1. Getting a free card – Raising before and after the flop may allow you a free card on the next round of betting, especially if you are playing with weak players. This maneuver should be used whenever possible. For example if you raised the pot preflop with AQ suited from the latest position and the flop comes with 9, 5, 2 you should probably check and get a free card since 6 outs can give you an overpair. If you bet instead of checking, anyone that will call your bet is probably better than you and you’re taking a risk that someone has checked with the intention of raising. Understanding the advantage of getting a free card is nine-tenths of understanding the danger of giving one.

2. Giving a free card – A common mistake among beginners is to immediately check to a player who bet or raised in the previous round of betting, thus giving him a free card if he wants one. If you think you have the best hand, go out and bet no matter what happened on the previous round. If you think he has a better hand than yours, consider folding - unless the pot odds justify calling. Giving a free card is a big mistake if you have a good hand and there are many players in the pot. Giving them another card could give them the best hand – one that they didn't even have to pay for (a gutshot straight, for example). Give a free card only when you have a drawable hand that needs to be improved in order to win, or when you are very strong and slow-playing, thus wanting other players to make second best hand.

Examples of when and when not to give a free card:

A. If you hold JT diamond and the flop is J62 rainbow, you should probably bet even if the player in the last position raised before the Flop. You don’t want to give someone holding AK or AQ a free card. If you think you can 'read' the raiser and that he has an overpair, you shouldn’t bet, and if he bets again, you should fold.

B. If you hold AT and the flop comes with ATT, you should slow-play by checking, thus letting others catch something so that later on in the game, they will either call your bet or even raise on later rounds. If you are holding most of the valuable cards, it is unlikely that someone else will be holding a good hand. By giving a free card, you might be allowing someone to make a straight, and pay you all the way to the river.

C. If you have a top pair with a low kicker, it’s probably okay to feel out the other players by checking. If they checked as well, and the next card isn’t likely to improve their hand, you probably hold the best hand and should bet.

Beginners – Betting in Poker

Betting in poker works like this:
When it’s your turn, if no one has placed a bet, you have two options: check or bet.
1. Check – you don't put any chips in the pot; you wait to see what the other players will do.
2. Bet – you put chips into the pot.

If someone has already placed a bet, and now it's your turn, you have three options: fold, call or raise.
1. Fold – you decide to leave the hand, meaning that you put your cards down and don't bet on this hand anymore.
2. Call – you put into the pot the same amount as the original bet.
3. Raise – you make the bet bigger than the original bet. The amount raised should be at least double the original bet, and should be placed on the table.

Advanced Strategy -Semi Bluffing in Texas Holdem

The semi-bluff move means that you bet with a marginal hand with ‘outs’ that can improve your hand. For example: if you hold As, 5s and the flop is Ks, 5h and 2s your current pair of fives will most likely not be the best hand on the table, but any spade, 5, or an Ace that comes along will probably turn your hand into the best.

Semi-bluffing is a very effective technique used by professionals.
It provides two ways of winning:
1. Everyone folds and you take the pot immediately.
2. You hit your card and make a great hand.

The semi-bluff move provides additional advantages:
· If the last card is a ‘scary card’, lets say that the biggest card on the board is paired, if no one raised your semi-bluff on the previous round of betting, it is less likely that anyone holds that card, and now you have a good opportunity to bluff.
· Another advantage is that when you do hit your card, it will be hard for your opponents to know what you have. For example: lets say you hold Ah, 4h and the board is Kh, 5c, 2h if any heart, a 3 or an Ace will come you have a good chance to have the best hand and get paid by someone when you bet.
· The semi-bluff will sometimes give you a free card if you don’t hit your card immediately. If you bet after the flop from late position, the turn didn’t improve your hand and everyone checked, you can get the river for free by checking.

Advanced Strategy - Bluffing in Texas Holdem

A bluff definition – when you are sure that your hand is not the best hand at the showdown or has no value before the showdown than betting is a bluff.

When to bluff – if you think you will succeed in making the other players fold in a higher proportion of the situations than the odds the amount in the pot is offering you, you should bluff, for example, if the pot is 20$ and your bet is 5$, if you think that you take the pot more than 20% of the times you should bluff.
Try to get caught bluffing once in a while to vary your game and image, but on the other hand, don’t show off with your bluffs too much, it makes your opponent’s attention focused on how to beat you.

Important things to consider before bluffing:
1. Knowing your opponents is the most important consideration you should take – are they capable of folding, what is their game style, what is your image at the table, has any of your opponents got bluffed lately.
2. Reading hands and poker tells – if you are capable of analyzing the previous actions in this hand or saw something that can make you think your opponent is weak, go ahead and bluff, check for strength moves pre and after the flop, check for other psychological tells before you decide weather to bluff or not.
3. Look at the size of the pot – if the pot is big and your opponents are committed to it, your chance of success are small.
4. Look at the board – if the community cards are Jd, Td 9h you shouldn’t bluff because most of the chances are that someone is holding a hand that is worth paying, on the other hand, if the board is Ks, 8d, 2h it’s probably a good signal for a bluff.
5. Look at your opponents stack – if one of the opponents is short stacked compared to the pot size he will probably call your bluff, on the other hand, if you have a marginal hand and think that the short stacked opponent is weaker than you, making a bluff could be quite a smart move because even if a good player thinks you’re bluffing he knows that the shorted stack is going to pay you which makes it harder for him to call.
6. Your image – sometimes it’s a smart move to bluff even if the pot odds don’t justify it, if you want to make it harder for your opponents to read your game later on. Sometimes it’s a smart move not to bluff too much if you want to preserve your tight image and bluff only when the pot is big and due to your tight image you think no one will call.
7. How many opponents still in the game – as the number of opponents is bigger your chances of taking the pot falling.

Example: the flop is Kh, 9h 3d, the turn is 7s and the river is 4h bluffing against one opponent when taking the previous consideration mentioned is probably a good move no matter what are your cards.

Another example of a natural bluff is when the board got paired and you think the chances of someone having that card is relatively small.

Advanced Strategy - Reasons for betting in Texas Holdem

Reasons for betting in Texas Holdem: When it’s your turn to act if no one has placed a bet you have two options: check or bet.

1. check – you are not putting any chips into the pot and waiting to see what the other players do, this can be made for 4 different reasons – you have a weak hand and if someone bets you will fold (you have 5,6 hearts and the flop is Ac, Kc, 3d), you have a marginal or drawable hand and if someone bets you will call (you have 5c, 7c and the flop is 2c, 6d, 8s), You have a great hand and if someone bets you will raise (you have Ac, 3h and the flop is As, 8c, 3d), or you have a weak hand and if someone bets you intend to bluff by raising.

2. bet – you are putting chips into the pot, this can be made for 4 different reasons – you think you have the best hand and want to make the pot bigger (you have AJ and the flop is 47J), you think you have the best hand and want to eliminate the competition (you have Ah, Ks and the flop is Ad, Kd, Jh), you bluff with a lousy hand (T8 and the flop is 257), or you want to get the respect from the players on the next turn (you have As, 5s and the flop is Ks, Ts, 5h)


If someone has already bet you have 3 options: fold, call or raise

1. fold – you don’t put any chips into the pot, through your hand and are no longer a part of this round of betting. This can be made when you think you don’t have a good hand (83 and the flop is AQ5), you are not getting the right pot odds in order to call the bet (you have 75, the flop is 46A playing heads up and the bet is very big) or you think that bluffing would not work in this situation.

2. call – you put the same amount of the bet into the pot, this can be made when you have a drawable hand (straight or flush usually) and you are getting good pot odds (you have Kh, Th the flop is Ah, 9d 4h and the bet is relatively small compare with the size of the pot) or when you have a great hand and want other players to call (you have AA and the flop is A, 9, 4).
3. raise – you make the bet bigger and put more chips than the original bet, the amount should be at least doubled than the original bet. This can be made when you have a good hand and you want to eliminate the number of opponents (you have AQ and the flop is Q, 7, 3) or when you are going for a bluff.