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It is important that you have a great decision making power potential when you are into playing poker. If you have, then you will have better winning chances. Unfortunately if you don’t have, then you must start to work on having this the soonest.

To have great decision making power potential, you must research and collect vital or significant information. Watch how other player play. But try to focus more on watching over tight players and loose players, you can learn a lot from them. Also, you must observe some raises, most especially pre-flop raises that usually win the blinds.

You must also be open to all possibilities. Open your mind and understanding to things that may take place. Of course you will never know what’s in store for you till you reach the end. Be very patient. Say for an instance, you have raised pre-flop, consider then what may possibly come out on the flop. Doing so will keep you away from being surprise later. And if something unlikely takes place, you are prepared. Poker is about taking risk and will always be about taking risk.

Also, you must not cram, try to taking things slowly. Never be rattle or be in a hurry when on play. Just consider the champion Chris Ferguson who always stops for a minute or two before making decisions. He knows he can’t get anything good with being so fast when making decisions.

Be aware that stopping for some time to think can really help. You can’t only be able to check everything, the odds, probabilities and the like, but also eventually figure out what’s the best thing to do. You can consider all factors, and never miss important things and so errors or mistakes will also be minimized or be lessened.

Of course you will be first considered a beginner as you start. And as a beginner almost all hands will appear like trouble hands to you. Well trouble hands are actually hands that are harder to play than the others.

Although almost all hands will appear like trouble hands to you, there are certain hands that would really cause you serious and big troubles. These actually include Pocket Jacks, King-Ten, King-Jack, Ace-Jack, and Ace-Queen.

Pocket Jacks

Pocket Jacks can typically be overplayed. It a powerhouse which could be a great, profitable hand for beginners. However, if a beginner will raise this kind of hand pre-flop, hands that would call them will maybe too far away.

King-Ten

King-Ten, aside from being a trouble hand, is also a sucker’s hand. Beginners who happen to have this kind of hand will no longer get a board that will give them the second nuts. In case they don’t flop broadway, they will surely be on great trouble later.

King-Jack

King-Jack is a hand similar to King-Ten. But it is a better hand considering it can be played by beginners with lesser risk or hazard.

Ace-Jack

Ace-Jack is neither a premium hand nor a good hand. Thus, beginners should be careful in playing this kind of hand. Not unless they are on a heads-up play, they should treat this hand like Ace-Ten and not like Ace-King.

Ace-Queen

At this point, Ace-Queen is considered as the ultimate trouble hand for beginners. Misplaying this kind of hand might cost player really a lot of money. Thus, beginners must know how should they play this hand to make profit. If not sure how, then maybe they could just avoid playing this hand.

At some point, you will be tempted to play the most popular poker variety – the No Limit Texas Holdem. Considering that it is one of the most challenging and hard to beat poker variety, it would be helpful if you equip yourself with some information that could really help you. For an instance you can try equipping yourself with the common mistakes players commit in No Limit Texas Holdem games that could later spare you from committing them yourself.

Being Very Aggressive

Many players, play aggressively when in a No Limit Texas Holdem game. They call every challenge, bet on every hand, and play a mediocre hand till its conclusion. In real essence, it is not helpful to play aggressively in most No Limit Texas Holdem games. To beat the game, you must know when to hold on and fold up and walk away.

There should not be any signs of shame when folding in a No Limit Texas Holdem game. Sometimes there’s no any better move than folding. Folding can sometimes save you from losing big bucks. But of course you must fold for good reasons.

Playing Loosely

A lot of players play loosely when in a No Limit Texas Holdem game. Eventually, they fail to realize that playing loosely makes them play like hungry crocodile getting everything being laid down.

Well, to beat the game, there shouldn’t be a lot of starting hands being played. Call on the pre-flop in the event there are some decent hole cards such as Kings, Queens or pocket Aces. At times, temptation to call on the preflop with hole cards like 10-9 unsuited hole cards would be strong. Entertaining the temptation once in a while would be fine but shouldn’t become a practice. Stand firm against temptations to beat the game.

It’s important that before you learn some advanced and complicated tips or strategies for winning, you should first master how to deal with whatever kind of starting hands you may have to face along the way. There are some good starting hands worth playing however there are actually some that are just worth tossing aside in pre-flop.

AA, KK, QQ, JJ, or AK

If dealt with an AA, KK, QQ, JJ, or AK, it’s best to get as many chips as possible in the pot through betting, raising, and re-raising. But be careful of tight players and those who are raising pre-flop most especially if what you hold is not AA or KK.

10’s, 9’s, AQ, and KQ

If you have 10’s, 9’s, AQ, and KQ, be more selective. Be aware that although these are good to have, you’ll need the board to win with these. Bet and raise to get people out of the hand when in early position however be more conservative if in later seats.

AJ, A10, KJ, QJ, Q10, or 88

You can’t be aggressive with AJ, A10, KJ, QJ, Q10, or 88. Just play these in late position if before you there have been a lot of checking. Look for suited connectors to get a straight or a flush.

J10, T9, 98, 87, 76, T8, 97, 86, and 75 Same Suit

Hands like J10, T9, 98, 87, 76, T8, 97, 86, and 75 same suit should not be played aggressively most especially early part. Same thing with similar hands like pocket pairs from 7’s to 2’s, A and any same suit card, and K with any same suit card up to 8.

Other Hands

Other hands not mentioned above should be folded particularly if you can’t see the flop without checking. This can be the best thing you can do.

Hello,

I have some questions to ask. All of the questions has something to do with local $1-2 limit game.

Just recently, I played in our local $1-2 limit game. It was actually a loose game and almost all of the players at table were calling on anything. There were 6-10 callers then with an 8 avg on most all hands. At some point, a pair stood up but later just found myself being beaten by trips or the like.

What’s the probability of each type of hand from straight flush on down to A or other single card high? And does the probability varies depending on the number of players calling pre-flop?

By the way, in a loose $1-2 game where almost all players call it seems to me that I should call with non-suited 2-3, 5-6 etc. and 4-6,5-7,6-8, etc. where a favorable flop can make or create an open straight shot. Similarly, I should also call on any suited pair and stay for the flush possibility. Well, with 8-10 players in I think I only have to win out of 10 hands for the risk to be justified. What do you think? And another thing, what are the combinations below Group 7 Malmuth?

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
Colbie
Colbie,

The number of players in a hand does not affect the probability of certain hands hitting.

You should stay away from most non-suited connectors below 9-10 in these really loose games unless you are in the blind. They will lose a lot more than they will win. Suited cards are a little different. You can play most suited card combos. I would stay away from most under 7-6 suited unless I am in the blinds. If you flop a flush or a straight draw, you are staying till the river in almost all cases. Group 7 hand rankings are 44, J9, 43s, T9, 33, 98, 64s, 22, Kxs, T7s, Q8s.

Hello,

I’m just 14 years old, actually almost 15 now and I’ve been playing Poker for some time now. Well, I know the game itself is very addictive so I decided to only play $1, $2, or $5 games. Normally, I play with 3-5 players. At times for a dollar I go one on one. I remember one time I only have 200 chips therefore all of us at the table agreed to divide stuff evenly depending on how many players were there, we typically play with 20 chips a piece, and to keep it simple, each chip worth a quarter. To have pot every time, we then just played with antes.

If I were to base it in a certain basic holdem strategy article I’ve read, two of my opponents then were loose aggressive, were actually raising pre-flop and checking every time.

In your opinion, should I re-raise them with a good pre-flop hand next time around? Most of the time when I feel they have something good I’d fold and they’d have my antes. At times when I have an okay preflop hand, I’d call them however on the flop I’d face the odds, fold and then lose majority of my chips. However sometimes they don’t have anything good to show. Any thoughts? I badly need your expertise now, please help me.

I’ll be glad to hear from you soon.

Thanks and more power!

Warm regards,
Brax
Brax,

Yes, reraise them and push your strong hands. Also, when you have speculative hands, take a look at the flop and when you do connect, push your advantages. Overall, I would probably play a little tighter in this game. Now if this is a limit game, open up your hand ranges a bit depending on position and see a few more flops.

Hi there!

I’m usually into trouble when in low limit I flop middle pair. For an instance 10 players, 4-5 have seen the flop and pot unraised pre-flop. I then bet with an overcard, from an early position, or if its checked around to me in a late position. I bet because I actually want others to fold or else raise. 2 or 3 players then appeared and I was not sure if they’re drawing as often they have top pair, weak kicker. Any advice on how I should play middle pair?

Your help will be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Skyler
Skyler,

In limit, middle pair is usually a hand that you are going to make check-calls with unless there is either very little money in the pot, or the player is one that you know has you beat. Such as you flopping middle pair and a rock of a player is betting the pot. In that spot, you can usually fold. In most cases, calling down is usually correct as you are getting the right price to call a bet in most cases.

Hello,

I know for a fact that there’s a huge difference in starting hand selection from full tables to short-handed tables. But what if you try to change the way you think, your mindset as far as the quality of your hand pre-flop when before you some players have folded?

Consider when you have Q10 in late position. Well, with many callers this might be the perfect hand you would push till the end however in short-handed games it would be a different story. Q10 will have a lot of potential when in short-handed games. But what if it’s folded around to you, will you change your thoughts and then just imagine you’re at a short-handed table? Do you think this will help?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Ricky
Ricky,

Q-10 in late position can be a playable. Whether to limp in or raise will depend on the remaining opponents etc. You may want to limp in and see a cheap flop, or you may want to take the pot right there.

When at a short handed table, you will need to widen your range of starting hand requirements as more hands become playable due to the reduction in the number of players.

Hi there!

Say you hold you hold pocket Aces and then someone goes all-in pre-flop, would you call? Is it always justified or recommended to make such a move? But how about if you’re sure a player will call your all-in?

Well, I would first consider some factors before calling however a pair of aces seems to be always the favorite pre-flop. Also, if you have the opportunity of doubling up or busting someone out and luckily you have the favorite, then calling will be a good one. What’s on your thoughts about this?

Thanks!

Warm regards,
Leo
Leo,

I am always calling an all-in bet to me preflop when I am holding pocket aces. There is really only one time you would even consider folding Aces preflop. If you were in a super satellite that paid 6 seats to a major tournament and there were seven players left, I might fold pocket aces preflop if I was a bigger stack. I would sit back and let the smaller stacks fight it out. Other than this one scenario, I am calling all-in with my aces, or moving all in if the situation warrants it.

Hi there,

Once you’ve mentioned that a good portion of the hands is win over with only a high card. Well, I dealt over 100 hands and plotted the results. I found out that only 2 out of the 100 hands were won with a high card. Some of the hands were won with medium to high pairs while some with 2 pairs.

To make sure, I purchased a Poker simulator on the web and ran it a lot of times. I also tried the simulator against 2, and 3 other opponents and still got same results. In the event played to the river, high cards at times.

I guess the only way I can make sense of the proportion you’ve mentioned is through ascertaining if winner emerges from pre-flop betting. High card dealt face down almost always will be the best hand pre-flop. However, I guess this is not what you’re trying to imply. Personally, I believe players need to play high cards pre-flop aggressively, however to win against a call or re-raise, such cards should improve.

By the way, in a small local tournament last night, I met very conservative, tight players. At some point, I noticed they typically never open a pot without an Ace or medium pair, however I never saw a high card Ace or King holding up to win unless it paired or helped make part of either a straight or flush. I believe if they were more aggressive in terms of their betting, they could have won more pots.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Regards,
Anthony
Anthony,

The typical winning hand in Texas Holdem is two pair. A high card only wins the hand a small portion of the time.

Hands such as A-K really need to improve in order to have a solid chance of winning. A-K is really just a glorified drawing hand.