Strategy
See also: Poker strategy (from wiki)
Most poker authors recommend a tight-aggressive approach to playing Texas hold 'em. This strategy involves playing relatively few hands (tight), but betting and raising often with those that one does play (aggressive). Although this strategy is often recommended, some professional players successfully employ other strategies as well.
Almost all authors agree that where a player sits in the order of play (known as position) is an important element of Texas hold 'em strategy, particularly in no-limit hold'em. Players who act later have more information than players who act earlier. As a result, players typically play fewer hands from early positions than later positions.
Because of the game's level of complexity, it has received some attention from academics. One attempt to develop a quantitative model of a Texas hold'em tournament as an isolated complex system has had some success, although the full consequences for optimal strategies remain to be explored. In addition, groups at the University of Alberta and Carnegie Mellon University are developing poker playing programs utilizing techniques in game theory and artificial intelligence.
Starting hands
Main article: Texas hold 'em starting hands
Because there are only two cards dealt to each player, it is easy to characterize all of the starting hands. There are 52 × 51 ÷ 2 = 1,326 distinct possible combinations of two cards from a standard 52-card deck. Because no suit is more powerful than another, many of these can be equated for the analysis of starting-hand strategy. For example, although "J♥ J♣" and "J♦ J♠" are distinct combinations of cards, they are of equal value as starting hands.
Viewed this way there are only 169 different hole-card combinations. Thirteen of those hands would be pairs, from 2 through ace. There are 78 ways to have two cards of different rank (12 possible hands containing an ace, 11 possible hands containing a king and no ace, 10 possible hands containing a queen and no ace or king, etc.). Hole cards can both be used in a flush if they are suited, but pairs are never suited, so there would be 13 possible pairs, 78 possible suited non-pairs, and 78 possible unsuited non-pairs, for a total of 169 possible hands.Suited starting cards are stronger than unsuited hands, although the magnitude of this strength in different games is debated.
Because of this limited number of starting hands, most strategy guides involve a detailed discussion of each of these 169 starting hands. This separates hold 'em from other poker games where the number of starting card combinations forces strategy guides to group hands into broad categories. Another result of this small number is the proliferation of colloquial names for individual hands.
Strategic differences in betting structures
Texas Hold'em is commonly played both as a "cash" or "ring" game and as a tournament game. Strategy for these different forms can vary.
Cash games
Main article: Cash game
Prior to the invention of poker tournaments, all poker games were played with real money where players bet actual currency (or chips which represented currency). Games which feature wagering actual money on individual hands are still very common and are referred to as "cash games" or "ring games".
The no-limit and fixed-limit cash game versions of hold 'em are strategically very different. Doyle Brunson claims that "the games are so different that there are not many players who rank with the best in both types of hold 'em. Many no-limit players have difficulty gearing down for limit, while limit players often lack the courage and 'feel' necessary to excel at no-limit."]Because the size of bets is restricted in limit games, the ability to bluff is somewhat curtailed. Since one is not (usually) risking all of one's chips in limit poker, players are sometimes advised to take more chances.
Lower stakes games also exhibit different properties than higher stakes games. Small stakes games often involve more players in each hand and can vary from extremely passive (little raising and betting) to extremely aggressive (many raises). The difference of small stakes games have resulted in several books dedicated to only those games.
Tournaments
Main article: Poker tournament
Texas hold 'em is often associated with poker tournaments largely because it is played as the main event in many of the famous tournaments, including the World Series of Poker's Main Event, and is the most common tournament overall. Traditionally, a poker tournament is played with chips that represent a player's stake in the tournament. Standard play allows all entrants to "buy-in" for a fixed amount and all players begin with an equal value of chips. Play proceeds until one player has accumulated all the chips in play or a deal is made among the remaining players to "chop" the remaining prize pool. The money pool is redistributed to the players in relation to the place they finished in the tournament. Only a small percentage of the players receive any money, with the majority receiving nothing. "The percentages are not standardized, but common rules of thumb call for one table" (usually nine players) "to get paid for each 100 entrants," according to poker author Andrew N. S. Glazer, in his book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Poker.A good rule of thumb is that close to 10% of players will be paid in a tournament. As a result the strategy in poker tournaments can be very different from a cash game.
Proper strategy in tournaments can vary widely depending on the amount of chips one has, the stage of the tournament, the amount of chips others have, and the playing styles of one's opponents. Although some authors still recommend a tight playing style, others recommend looser play (playing more hands) in tournaments than one would otherwise play in cash games. In tournaments the blinds and antes increase regularly, and can become much larger near the end of the tournament. This can force players to play hands that they would not normally play when the blinds were small, which can warrant both more loose and more aggressive play.
Evaluating your hand
One of the most important things in Texas hold'em is knowing how to evaluate your hand. The strategy of playing each hand can be very different according to the strength of your hand, for example on a strong hand a player might want to try to appear weak in order not to scare off other players with weaker hands and on a weak hand a player might try to bluff other players into folding. There are several ways to evaluate your hand strength, two of the most common are counting outs and using calculators.
- Counting outs - the reasoning behind this method is in counting cards that are still in the deck which in combination with the cards in your hand will give you a combination with very high chances of winning.
Those cards are called "outs" and your hand strength can be measured by how many outs are still in the deck (if there are many outs then the probability to get one of them is high and therefore you have a strong hand). The following chart determines the probability of hitting outs (bettering the player's hand) based on how many cards are left in the deck and the draw type. Note that a higher number of outs directly corresponds to a high win percentage.
| Outs | One Card % | Two Card % | One Card Odds | Two Card Odds | Draw Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2% | 4% | 46 | 23 | Backdoor Straight or Flush (Requires two cards) |
| 2 | 4% | 8% | 22 | 12 | Pocket Pair to Set |
| 3 | 7% | 13% | 14 | 7 | One Overcard |
| 4 | 9% | 17% | 10 | 5 | Inside Straight / Two Pair to Full House |
| 5 | 11% | 20% | 8 | 4 | One Pair to Two Pair or Set |
| 6 | 13% | 24% | 6.7 | 3.2 | No Pair to Pair / Two Overcards |
| 7 | 15% | 28% | 5.6 | 2.6 | Set to Full House or Quads |
| 8 | 17% | 32% | 4.7 | 2.2 | Open Straight |
| 9 | 19% | 35% | 4.1 | 1.9 | Flush |
| 10 | 22% | 38% | 3.6 | 1.6 | Inside Straight & Two Overcards |
| 11 | 24% | 42% | 3.2 | 1.4 | Open Straight & One Overcard |
| 12 | 26% | 45% | 2.8 | 1.2 | Flush & Inside Straight / Flush & One Overcard |
| 13 | 28% | 48% | 2.5 | 1.1 | |
| 14 | 30% | 51% | 2.3 | 0.95 | |
| 15 | 33% | 54% | 2.1 | 0.85 | Flush & Open Straight / Flush & Two Overcards |
| 16 | 34% | 57% | 1.9 | 0.75 | |
| 17 | 37% | 60% | 1.7 | 0.66 |
- Two Times Rule and Four Times Rule: Multiplying the number of outs by two or four gives a reasonable approximation to the One Card % or Two Card %, respectively, in the above table.
- Calculators: calculators are poker tools that calculate the odds of your hand (combined with the cards on the table if there are any) to win the game. Calculators provide precise odds but they can't be used in live games and mostly used on Internet poker games.
