Beginner Texas Holdem Tips

Learn these Hold’em Tips before playing your first hand of online poker.

If you are new to poker than you probably realize that it is not always as simple as they make it look on TV. At times, you can be the target of relentless pressure from your opponents, yourself, and at times, even your cards. Similar to everything in life, things that you are unfamiliar with take time and practice to develop skills to get better. Poker is no different, in fact many pros spend every day practicing and honing their skills to get better. If you want to be like the pros then you need to adapt some of the same techniques and basic ideas that they implement into their game everyday. Provided below we have included some of those things for you practice and these tips should increase the quality of your game.

Involved In Too many Hands: You have heard this time and time again, but you really need to play considerably less. Every new player tends to get board while sitting at the table or in front of their computer and feel the need to contribute their chips to the patient players. Hands like K-Q or A-8 may seem great before the flop but they will be the end of you if improperly played. It is crucial to stick to a strict set of starting hands to keep yourself out of trouble, especially post flop. Many times, you will play hands such as these only to be out kicked.

How Do I Improve? That is simple. Use our starting hand guide below and tighten up your game a bit. Be sure to play only strong hands in early position and loosen up as you sit further away from the dealer. Not only will you have position, but also you will still learn how to play a wide range of hands. Until you are more comfortable with post flop play, try to stick to a tighter hand range. Here is a guide of starting hands to go by:

EP+1-EP+2

AA-JJ, AK, AQ suited

MP+4-MP+6

AA-88, AK-A9 suited

LP+7-LP+9

AA-22, AK-A9 suited or off suit, Suited Connectors

The Thrill of the Bluff: I am sure that you will agree that bluffing an opponent out of his shorts is awesome. But do you like to be caught? While you see the pros pull of outrageous bluffs on TV for large amounts of cash, what they do not show you is all the hours they may have spent with that particular player to have a good sense of when to bluff them. Bluffing a player will be determined from many factors including flop texture, history with that player, and your table image. If you are recklessly handing your out your money it is a safe bet that you will be called on any bluff attempt you try to pull. If you want to do this successfully, you need to be sure that you are telling a story through out the hand. Let your opponent know from the beginning that you have something and continue that all the way to the end. If you decide somewhere to check or seem unsure of what you are doing, then it is possible that they will see right through you.

What Can I Do Better? Uh…Do not bluff? In all seriousness, as a new player you need to be focusing on playing strong hands that will make decisions easier on yourself on later streets. You will want to learn how to extract the most value from your hands as possible while letting the 2nd best hands go. If you have to pull a bluff attempt that means that you may not be following our number one rule to play good starting hands. If you are going to bluff regardless, then you need to watch for flop texture and preferably your opponents hand range to have an idea of what he is willing to play from his current position.

Manage Your Bankroll: There is no reason to deposit $20 in your account only to be broke a couple hours later. Although it can be due to bad play, other times it is from playing at limits that are beyond what your bankroll can handle. You should not be taking your $20 and sitting at the $0.50/$1 because most times you will hit a run of bad cards and go broke. Just remember that even though you have the minimum, it does not mean you have to sit there and play. You have to protect your bankroll like you would your bank account. Are you going to lease a car that costs you $500 a month when you are only making $1,000 in wages? Of course not, that would be dumb. Treat your bankroll the same way. It needs to be able to withstand bad beats, poor play, and the other various swings a poker player faces.

What Can I Do Better? Be sure to play at stakes that will allow you to play again provided you go broke. A solid rule of thumb is to never buy in to a game that will consume more than 5% of your bankroll. That means if you have $150, you should not be bringing more than $7.50 with you to any given table. Most times, $7.50 will not buy you into anything bigger than $.25/$.50, but you should protect yourself further and buy into a game like $.10/$.25. It is understandable t want to progress fast, but you will not progress at all if you are broke.

Going on Tilt: If you kick and scream or pull a temper tantrum like Phil Hellmuth then you are probably familiar with Tilt. For those of you that do not know what Tilt is, it basically is an emotional response to a bad play or bad beats. Either way, it can have a major impact on how you approach the game afterwards. If you feel like you need to seek revenge or that playing any card is ok, you need to stop and take a break. Going on Tilt is a surefire way to lose your bankroll quick. Not to mention, that players look for this and will try to cause you to go on Tilt. If you go on Tilt, it will result in bad plays, poor decisions, and more Tilt.

What Do I Do to Improve? If you feel like you are on Tilt, you need to stop and walk away from the game. At the very least, you need to breathe deeply and stay calm. Learning how to deal with Tilt may be one of the best strategies you teach yourself. Just remember that you will have to deal with bad times all through out your poker career and that this will not be the last time.

If that were not enough then another tip would be to PRACTICE. If you practice Texas hold em, you are bound to see things that work and things that do not. Just give yourself a couple hours everyday to practice your game and you are sure to see an improvement. Just remember that poker is a lifelong game and do not expect any changes over night.