Posts Tagged ‘Texas Holdem’
Different Betting Structures in Texas Holdem Poker
Texas Holdem poker game is played both as cash game and tournament game. These two games follow different strategies.
Cash games - before invention of tournaments most of the players used to play poker for real money. They used to bet actual currency or chips which represented currency on the hands. These games which feature actual money on individual hands are called as ring games or cash games. In Texas Holdem most of the players play no-limit or fixed-limit cash games. The strategies followed in these two games are entirely different. In the no-limit game players find it difficult to gear down for limit, while limit players lack in courage and feel necessity of limit to excel. In limit games size of bets are restricted, they do not allow people to bluff. Most of small stake games involve more players in each hand and vary from extremely passive position (less raising and betting) to extremely aggressive position(high raising).
Tournaments - Texas Holdem can also be played as tournament. Poker tournament is not played with currency; it is played with chips (representing currency). In standard play all players have to “buy-in” fixed amount of money and start the game. The play proceeds until one player has accumulated all the chips and the money is distributed to players based on the place they finished in tournament. Most of the times in tournaments only 10% of players receive money and others are left without anything. Playing tournament is entirely different from cash game. The strategy followed by this game varies widely depending upon chips a player has, amount of chips others have, the tournament, playing styles of opponents. Some of the proficient players recommend beginners to follow tight playing strategy while other players recommend following loose playing strategy. In loose playing strategy players should play more hands. In these tournament games the binds and antes increase regularly and sometimes reach to their maximum at the end of tournament. Sometimes players make mistakes at the end of tournament; they play more hands at the end when compared to the beginning. This leads to severe loss at the end.
November 26th, 2008 / No Comments » / by suicidalsam
Strategy to Follow While Playing Texas Holdem Poker
Most of the professional Holdem gamers prefer tight-aggressive approach. In this strategy each player plays relatively few hands (tight) and places bets and raises them aggressively. The position where a player sits is important; it helps him in achieving more benefits from the game. Especially in a no-limit Texas Holdem game players who act at a later stage have more advantage than those who act before. This implies that players play fewer hands from early positions than later positions.
Position is Power
Position is the place where a player is sitting in relation to the dealer’s button. This position is quite important for any player; it can help him in winning or loosing the game. The position plays an important role because of the fact that Texas Holdem follows Clockwise betting strategy. This position helps a player to decide and know the moves of the opponents. It will help him to choose any one of bet, raise, fold or call. There are many positions in accordance to the dealer button; these positions decide the performance of the player and his winning chance. Before knowing about positions, players should understand some technical terms.
“Dealer” or “Dealer Button” or “Button” is the best possible position, player in the dealers seat will be last person to act on the flop, turn and river. “Under the Gun” is the first player who takes action in the hand. This player will be to the left of big blind. This position is the worst position in Texas Holdem Game but this player will have better position pre-flop compared to blinds. “Big Blind” is the player to the left of the small blind. “Small Blind” is the player who is left to the dealer button. “Cut off” is the player who sits right to the button. This position is called as cut off because the player sitting here usually “cuts off” the dealer ability to steal blinds by placing bets.
- The small blind has the worst position after the flop. He has to invest half of the bet.
- The big blind invests the whole bet and similarly has a poor position.
- The player who is under the gun has worst position pre-flop. At a later stage he has junk position.
- The best position during any round is the dealer button
November 20th, 2008 / No Comments » / by suicidalsam
Betting Aspects of Texas Holdem Poker
Game limit determines the betting structure of the game. High limit games are those which involve more money. Low limit games are quite opposite to high limit games. There are basically five limits in poker game namely Fixed Limit, Spread Limit, Pot Limit, Half-Pot Limit and No Limit.
Structured Limit or Fixed Limit- as the name suggests the bet of this game is fixed or set. These games are generally called as $1/$2 or $20/$40. Here the bets which are placed at initial stages at the time of flop or pre-flop are the starting digits. For example if the game follows $5/$10 strategy then the initial stage minimum bet is $5. At the time of turn and river this amount doubles. $10 is the amount placed when the turn card is dealt. In Texas Holdem poker each player can place maximum of four bets in each round i.e. he can bet, re-raise it again, re-raised and be re-raised again.
- Spread Limit- This is the stage where players can bet within certain range. For example in a $1-$5 game, player can bet between $1 and $5 during the betting round. Some times there are four amounts like $1-$5-$10-$10, that means each player can bet between $1 and $5 for pre-flop and flop. When the turn occur the betting goes up to the third number i.e. $1-$10. At the time of river the bet goes up to the last number i.e. $1-$10.
- Pot Limit- This is a stage where player can place bets on any amount between the costs of big blind and size of pot. Sometimes few games have pot limit like “$1/$2 pot limit”, at this point the minimum bet players can place should be larger than those two amounts i.e. the amount placed by the player should be greater than $2. In pot limit, first player is allowed to place bet 3 or 4 times. This bet should be greater then the size of the pot.
- Half-Pot Limit- this limit is popular in Europe. Here the strategy is similar to pot limit except that a player can bet amount which is between cost of big blind and which is up to half of the pot size.
- No Limit- here the players can place bets on any amount between the cost of big blind and minimum amount a player has to have at the table. For example if a game has no limit of “$3/$6” they do not show any impact on the bets placed by the player. Only thing is the player’s minimum bet should be larger of those two numbers.
November 13th, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by suicidalsam
Steps Followed While Playing Texas Holdem Poker
Series of Steps Followed While Playing Texas Holdem Poker Game
The betting structure in this game varies, some times antes are used and some times the game starts with two players to the left of the dealer. These players place predetermined amount of money before the game starts. This event is called as posting the blinds. Once the bets are placed dealer shuffles up 52(Standard deck) playing cards. At this movement each player is dealt two face down cards, these two cards are called as hole or pocket cards. Once players have two cards in their hand next round begins. In this round players place their bets. First bet is placed by the player who sits left of the two players who posted the blinds. This round is called as pre-flop.
- Betting structure depends on the game an individual is playing.
- While placing bets, players can raise, bet, call or fold.
- Once the betting round ends, dealer discards top card of the deck. This card is called as burn card. This card is discarded to prevent cheating by players.
- Once the highest rank card is discarded, dealer flips the next three cards on the table. These cards are dealt face up and are called as the flop. These three cards are communal cards and can be used by any player in combination with their two pocket cards, for forming a poker hand.
- After the flop another betting round starts. This time the bet is placed by the player who sits to the left of the dealer.
- Once the betting ends, dealer burns another card and flips one card on the table. This card is called as turn card; this card can be used by players to form their five card poker hand.
- Again the betting starts, this time with the player who is left to the dealer. At this stage the betting’s get doubled.
- Finally in the last stage dealer burns a card and flips one more card on the table. This card is called as river. Once the card is placed players can use combination of any of those five cards on the table and two pocket cards to form the best five card hand. Here the final betting round takes place starting with the player left to the dealer.
- After this betting all players begin to reveal their hands. It starts with the player who is left to the last player to call. This event is called as showdown. Players use the whole combination of these seven cards and make the best five cards hand.
- The player who shows the best hand is declared as the winner, some times tie occurs between the players, at this time the dealer comes in and flips one more card on the table and checks the card combination of those players. Player with highest ranking card is finally declared as winner at this place.
October 27th, 2008 / No Comments » / by suicidalsam
Introduction to Texas Holdem Poker
Introduction to Texas Holdem Poker
Most of us are interested in playing casino games; one among them which is most popular is Texas Holdem Poker. This game is entirely different from games like Omaha Poker and 7 Card Stud. It’s quite simple and provides better opportunities for beginners. Few hours of practice will make players learn this game efficiently and helps them in playing it easily. Texas Holdem is popular in countries like North America and Europe. Texas Holdem is called as community card game where each player uses any one combination of the five community cards and two hole cards to make a poker hand. Some times other poker variants like stud or draw also occur in this game. In these variations each player holds a separate individual hand.
Objective of Texas Holdem Poker
The main goal or objective of winning players of pot is not to win the individual hand but rather make correct decisions regarding the raise, fold, call, bet. This game is quite similar to other poker games, where players compete for an amount of money contributed by players themselves. This money is called as pot. This money is controlled based on the card dealt by every player. If the player thinks that he will be having the winning hand, he will raise his bets. Texas Holdem is divided into series of hands or deals: at the end of each hand the pot is awarded to the winner. Sometimes the hand ends at the time of showdown. At this movement hands of each player are compared and the one who makes the best five cards hand is declared as the winner and finally awarded with the pot. Most of the times only one player wins the pot but at times more than one player hold equal hand. This stage is called as tie. If a player makes proper decisions on these four things, he will be able to play the game for long duration and win large amount.
October 15th, 2008 / No Comments » / by suicidalsam
