- In an earlier section, you learned how a game of Limit Texas Holdem is played. One thing is to play poker but another thing is to be able to play poker skillfully, which requires a command of the game and a well-developed strategy. We will describe a table of 10 players for our advice as a starting point.
- Play Fewer Hands And Play Them Aggressively. There is a limit on how many starting hands you.
- Texas Holdem Poker Strategy And Odds
- Texas Holdem Poker Strategy Beginners
- Texas Hold'em Strategy Guide
- Poker Strategy Texas Holdem No Limit
- Strategy Poker Texas Holdem Rules
Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em - Rules and Strategy Chart Introduction. Ultimate Texas Hold'em® is a poker-based casino game in which the player may make one raise at any time during the course of the hand. The earlier the raise is made the higher it may be. Ultimate Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular live and online casino games for poker players. One big reason is that if you know what you are doing, the game will feature one of the lowest. Texas Holdem Playing Styles – We provide a detailed look at the various ways to play Texas Holdem poker by looking at the different playing styles and poker strategies one can employ at the poker table. There’s no one correct way to play and poker players must adjust their game and strategy to suit the situation and table conditions.
Poker Tournament Strategy
Whether you’re playing micro stakes tournaments or the Sunday Million – you need to know what you’re doing to have a chance at winning. That seems obvious right? But trust me, there are too many players entering tournaments with no clue. That’s great news for you though cos it mean’s poker is not dead, despite what you hear. This article is going to give you poker tournament strategy tips that can be used to increase your cash rate, final tables and wins.
Don’t stop stealing the blinds
Tournament poker regs seem to nit it up and count on making it deep with premium hands. Don’t be one of them. Stay active, keep stealing the blinds from late position and don’t give up. A lot of poker sites are advocating the slow down approach but that’s what your opponents want. Regs are playing too many tables, not paying enough attention and missing profitable spots to steal the blinds. Tournament poker will always reward those who are able to consistently steal blinds and keep their stack alive. The fact that people are defending their blinds loosely should not make you fold more often in late position. Why? You have position. You have the advantage in a hand, even if your hand is weaker. Never forget that.
Pre-flop bet sizing
Consistency is very important when it comes to raising pre-flop. It’s fine if you want to make it 2.5x then stick with that. Please don’t change it based on hand strength. It’s 2020 and even the most basic of poker players will notice and instantly tag you. If you are a poker training video membership member, you’ll know my preference re’ pre-flop bet sizing but I will re-iterate it here non-members.
Early Position Min Raise
When I’m raising from early position, I lack information on the rest of the table. I want to open raise if I play but I also want to steal cheaply and/or keep the pot smaller against my opponents that flat in position. I also have no problem with it folding to the big blind and them calling a min raise. In fact, I welcome it. I will have position, a better hand and have increased the pot a little. My hand range is likely to be stronger than theirs and I have the pre-flop aggression.
Middle Position 2.2x
With fewer opponents behind us, I am happy to increase the sizing a bit and play a slightly bigger pot against the blinds. I don’t want to raise too much as I am still potentially acting first post-flop if someone in position calls. I am also slightly dissuading the blinds to call which is no bad thing in tournaments. I am likely to have a wider range from here so I have no problem with them just folding.
Late Position 2.5x
This may seem counter intuitive to some. Why raise more with a wider range? I want to play bigger pots when I have positional advantage. Sure, sometimes I will be light but sometimes I will be strong too. I want to charge the blinds more than the minimum to play against my wider range. By making it 2.5x I am also protecting myself against 3 bet bluffs a little more. Consider a min raise from the button. The big blind is far more likely to 3 bet bluff that than a bigger raise.
Notice – my pre-flop raises changes based on position – it doesn’t change based on hand strength. Therefore, it is logically consistent as I am raising 2.5x from late position with A-A and K-6s.
Defend the big blind
Everyone and their dog are loving the small ball approach these days. The standard small raise is popular and with good reason – it works. One of the results of this is that you have to defend your big blind more. It means calling raises with hands you won’t necessarily want to but pot odds and solid poker tournament strategy dictate you must. Let’s look at a quick example to illustrate this.
Blinds – 600/1,200 (antes 120)
Player A- 42,500
You – 36,900
It folds to Player A on the button. He is a capable tournament player. He raises to 2,500. The small blind folds and the action is on you. Before even looking at your hand, let’s do some poker maths.
Pot – (1,080 antes, 1,800 in blinds + 2,500) = 5,380
Cost to call – 1,300
Equity needed to call – 19.4%
As you can see, you need to defend super wide in this spot. You just can’t afford to fold too many hands when you are getting these kind of prices in big blind.
3 Bet with 30 bbs +
Tournament poker is often playing shorter stacks and less “poker” playing but that doesn’t mean you must play shove or fold poker. You don’t want to 3 bet bluff with short effective stacks cos it means the 4 bet from your opponent will always be all in. With slightly deeper stacks though (30 bbs+), you can afford to 3 bet bluff and take away a lot of pots. Poker tournament strategy is usually to attack short stacks. Screw that, 3 bet bluff the bigger stacks. I find that the big stacks are just as protective as the shorter stacks, if not more. It also means you can potentially get the last bet in if they decide to 4 bet. Good spots for 3 betting are when the raise has come from middle or late position.
CAUTION – Avoid 3 bet bluffing when they are raising from under the gun or UTG +1 as their range is likely to be tighter.
Learn continuation betting strategy
This article is dedicated to poker tournament strategy, not continuation betting but the fact is, c betting is an important part of tournament poker. You need to understand which boards favour your perceived range and what favours your opponent. A lot of players waste chips throwing out foolish continuation bets. You need to appreciate board texture, number of opponents and stack sizes when choosing whether to continuation bet or not. If you want more help with continuation betting, check out our article on the do’s and don’ts of continuation betting.
Isolate the limper(s)
An oldie but goody. Raising over a limper or limpers is still a very profitable play. It’s crazy to think there are still players that adopt this limp in mentality, but it’s great for us. If people want to try and limp into the pot with pocket 3s or A-9 offsuit, that’s fine, we will take their blinds all day. In some scenarios, it may seem prudent to over-limp but most of the time, just raise it 4x and win it. If they call, you can often just win it with a flop bet anyway. It’s a great way to build a stack in tournament poker and is also good for your table image as people. This might help you get paid later in the tournament.
Practice heads up poker
Many tournaments end in deals being done but what if yours doesn’t? What if you’re against a tough player or someone unwilling to deal. You need to know how to play 1 on 1. After all, if you want to win the tournament you have to beat the last opponent. Heads up is a great poker format. Some basic heads up tips are below:
- Raise every button
- Bet most flops
- Check raise more
- Bluff catch 2nd pair down
- Stay on top of your opponent, don’t let up
- Don’t show bluffs
Join Poker Training Video Membership
I hope you enjoyed this article on poker tournament strategy tips for 2020 and beyond. A final tip is a little plug for our training videos. If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more, you can. By join as a member you can gain access to almost 1,000 minutes of poker training videos. I give more tips, secrets and advice beyond this article. You can see how I play tournaments, cash games, SNGs and strategy lectures designed to help members make money. The price of membership is only £49.99 for 1 year. You can join by clicking below or clicking the banner below for information. Once you’ve paid for membership, you will be sent your personal login details within 24 hours.
Become a Poker Training Video Member
Texas Holdem is a game of skill, and every new player needs a couple of good strategies up their sleeve! We’ll take you through some of the most effective Texas Holdem strategies around, providing you with everything you need to know for a high-quality pre-flop and post-flop poker strategy.
Good Starting Hands
It’s important to know which hands to play and which hands to fold. A player who never folds and continually checks is one of the easiest opponents for a seasoned player to face. Knowing the true value of your hand, both pre-flop and post-flop, is absolutely vital for a successful poker strategy.
Let’s explore the best poker hands, giving you a good idea of when to raise and when to fold in Texas Holdem.
Pocket Aces and pocket Kings are probably the best pre-flop hands, giving you, at the very least, an extremely strong pair. But remember, the flop can completely change the landscape of the game, and if the board hasn’t improved your hand, it might be worth folding. It’s important not to get attached to specific cards in the pre-flop stage of the game!
Big cards are excellent in the pre-flop. Pocket Queens, Pocket Jacks, Ace King, and King Queen are great starting hands, they flop top pair a high percentage of the time, and as such they can be extremely tough to play against.
Suited connectors are great starting hands – they give you the best chance of making a straight or flush. The most effective way to play a suited connector starting hand is to check rather than raise, making your opponent put as much of their own money into the pot as possible. Suited connectors tend to be high risk, high reward, so you won’t want to play them 100% of the time. If you’re in an early or middle position on the board, it’s best to play these hands with diligence.
Like suited connectors, high value linked cards are strong cards. The flop and subsequent rounds can dramatically improve the poker hand odds of linked cards, providing you with a great opportunity to make it to the showdown with a winning hand.
The Texas Holdem hands with the most playability are the hands that you’re confident of taking to the flop and into the later rounds. Virtually every other starting hand is a losing ticket. Playing weak starting hands is one of the worst ways to approach poker strategy. Focusing on extracting the maximum value from the best poker hands is the best way of maximising your poker odds!
Tight Aggressive Style
The tight aggressive style of poker play is probably the best Texas Holdem poker strategy for a beginner, simply because most of the time you’ll be playing stronger hands than your opponents.
Playing with a tight aggressive style essentially means that you’ll be selective about which cards you take to the flop, but play and bet aggressively once you get there. It’s also a good way of convincing your opponent to fold. If you only play aggressively on strong hands you’ll have a lot of credibility at the table, and your opponents will be warier of taking you to the showdown!
Position
Texas Holdem Poker Strategy And Odds
Playing from a strong position on the board is one of the most important elements of a successful poker strategy. In poker, information is king, and the last player to act in the round has the best opportunity to gather information from their opponents. When you’re in this position you’ll have a great shot at reading your opponents, and controlling the round from the get go!
Playing from a late position on the board means that you can play a wider range of hands, since you’ll have more information than your opponents, who’ll be continually second guessing the play. Lots of players get tempted to play from the blinds since they’ve already put money into the pot, but it’s important to remember that they’ll be playing out of position. In terms of basic Texas Holdem strategies, a tighter strategy is usually the best bet.
Poker Odds
Texas Holdem Poker Strategy Beginners
Never tell me the odds? To be successful at poker, you’ll need to figure them out for yourself! Poker odds inform your probability of winning the hand, providing you with a surefire way of working out whether to bet. You’ll need to calculate your pot odds against your equity, it might sound tricky, but the maths is simple, and can be learnt by anyone with a little practice!
Texas Hold'em Strategy Guide
Slow Playing
Poker Strategy Texas Holdem No Limit
Slow play is a poker strategy wherein you disguise the strength of your hand by checking, rather than raising, on a strong hand. When learning how to play Texas Holdem, many players choose to go with an extremely aggressive strategy, but this isn’t always the most suitable option.
Strategy Poker Texas Holdem Rules
Slow play works best when you’re playing against aggressive opponents, particularly opponents who are aggressive in the pre-flop. If you know an opponent plays aggressively even on weak hands, slow play can be a successful Texas Holdem poker strategy. When the pot is small, or shorthanded, slow play can help lure players with losing hands to the showdown, giving you excellent odds of winning the round.