Your Transformation From Novice to Expert Texas Hold
'em
Poker Player
Your transformation from novice to expert Texas Hold ‘em Poker
player begins by making sound judgments using all the information that you have
at your disposal. The acquiring of information begins even before your first
two hole cards are even dealt to you.
Before the first cards are even dealt you should begin by
considering your position at the table. The table should be divided up as
follows:
Early Position
- 2-3 Players to left of the blinds
Middle
Position - Players 4 through 7
Late
Position -
Players 8 through 10
Small and Big
Blind
Early Position – When you are seated in early position you are
making you’re betting decisions before getting a chance to see what the other
players are going to do. You are making you're decisions without information on
what hands your opponents may have. You will not be acting from a position of
strength. For this reason, if you do not have one of the better starting hands,
you should consider folding.
Middle Position – This position will allow you to play more hands
than if you were seated in the early position since you will get to see what the
other players in front of you are going to do. There are also not as many
players who will act behind you so you are not as susceptible to a raise as you
would be in an early position. For this reason, you can play the best starting
hands aggressively. Raising and re-raising opponents would be a sound
strategy. In middle position you can use a raise to help you determine the
strength of your opponents' hands – Do they fold, call or re-raise? How they
react to your raise can tell you a lot about what they may be holding.
Late Position – This is the most advantageous position at the
table. You get to see what most of the other players in front of you are going
to do. You get to act with the most information available to you. Being seated
in late position allows you to play a wider selection of hands. Being
"on the
button" – the dealer - is the best position. This is because you will act
last. You will have the advantage of seeing what all the others in front of you
have done. Here again, raising and re-raising opponents would be a sound
strategy. Being seated in late positions allows you to play a little looser.
Small and Big Blinds – While these do act last before the flop,
you are acting first in every round after the flop. This makes it one of the
more difficult positions on the table.
As a general rule of thumb, you should expect to play a tight
game when you are seated in one of the early positions and looser when in late
position.
You will put yourself on the winning path in limit hold ‘em by
playing good hands and showing sound judgment on when to be aggressive.
There are some very good reasons to be aggressive and raise the
pot, especially before the flop, such as:
-
You have one of the best
starting hands and by raising, you get more money into the pot.
-
You want to force
opponents with weaker hands out of the game. There is no sense in letting
someone hang around and give them the chance to hit the flop.
-
Others in front of you have folded. The likelihood that your
hand is the best increases as others fold.
Of course there are also some good reasons to not raise:
-
You don't want to narrow
the field. An example of this is when you are drawing for a flush or
straight. You are risking less up front for a hand that you may or may not
make. By keeping more players in the pot, you have the potential to win a
larger pot if you do hit your hand.
-
You're raises don't
work. This happens in very low limit games and/or games with poor players.
They all react to raises by raising and re-raising. The large pots tempt
players to hang around with lower ranked hands and increase the possibility
that one of them may hit a card on the turn or river that will beat your
hand.
By studying and knowing your
opponents you'll know how they play hands and you’ll know when your raises will
or will not work.
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