How to Use Strategy to Win a Texas Hold’ Em Game

Read the table and the players. Reads are a very important part of poker. Practice putting your opponent on hands, meaning making educated guesses as to what his cards are, and profiling what type of player he is based on the hands he plays and how he plays them.^[4] With enough practice you’ll soon see that you can narrow your opponent's hand down to a few possibilities.

• This involves paying attention to players’ tendencies. Note which players like to bet big, who plays a tight game, etc.

Look for tells. Everyone, even the best poker players in the world will have a tell. Some players are just much better at disguising them. This doesn’t exactly mean seeing if a player itches his nose every time he has a good hand. It’s more about finding a pattern in a player’s betting and folding habits. After all, any strategy to win Texas Hold’em involves playing all the cards, not just your own.

• Pay attention to see if a player folds early when he has a bad hand. If he is suddenly betting in several rounds then chances are he has a good hand.
• Take note on the size of bets and look for patterns. If a player usually just calls or makes the minimum bet and is suddenly acting out of character that could be a tell.
• More obvious tells are head scratching, sighing, and even how the player is sitting. A relaxed player might have a good hand while a player with a bad hand might be slumping. Read body language to inform you.

Play the player. If your opponent is a tight player, meaning he’s careful with his bets, you can loosen up and play weaker starting hands like K-J unsuited, “bad aces” like A-3, or a lower pair. If he comes at you with a raise, you might be beat and should throw away marginal hands.

• Perhaps you’re up against a player who is looser with his bets. You can play him against himself by baiting him into raising his bets. If you have a good hand and you know your opponent likes to bet, then go ahead and see if you can draw him out. Just be mindful that he might have a good hand as well.

Slow-play especially on your monster hands. If you flop a monster/"the nuts" (the best possible flop with your hold cards) or at least trips, just check and call any bets to induce a bluff since you seem weak, or on the bad side, you may let your opponents catch a card on the turn or river. Slow-playing works best with loose aggressive players that you hope will try to bluff when no one has bet/as if they have nothing. If you flop a full house and bet out, everyone folds and you only win a small pot. So just check and let others lead out, as you try to catch a card on 4th or 5th street. Be careful, though, that you don't slow-play and get many opponents checking to see draws. For example, if you hold T(♥) - T(♠), and the flop comes T(♣) - 9(♦) - 3(♣) for "trips T's", and you now have three or more opponents in the pot. Do not slow play your set/trips, especially if you raised pre-flop and are known to make continuation bets. Bet "a third of the pot" to make the flush draws and straight draws fold or pay to see the next card.

Intimidate as a big part of your strategies. Win by intimidation -- not Most Popular. Psyche (tilt) the other players, within the rules of a tournament. Keep quizzing earlier position players face up and theorizing about their hand while betting against them, without violating rules. Bragging about hitting the nuts, coconuts, monkey nuts is silly but boggles their minds. Over-talk, over-analyze how you might bet; say how they may be "strategizing", about what they hold: "So, do you think you are ahead. Do you? So what do you have, like something good. Oh, so is it suited? Are they connectors? Well, suited connectors, no? So, you have small pair, or do you?" -- while watching the reactions of each of the betters who are in the pot ahead of you.

• Remark without delaying play when one loses to you on a showdown, "How could you bet on Jack, ten?" and stuff like, "Why would you waste your time and money on Queen-high, awe, oh man..." Don't expect answers, but don't interfere with actual play. Ask about any sort of legitimate issue. Ask about every aspect of their game only as you face each person, on each and every round, as you are apparently deciding how much to bet or whether to fold. Especially against shorter stacks, ask never-ending but seemingly sensible questions while you decide. "You want me to bet? Or, do you want me to fold?" so then "If you want we to bet, I might have to fold. Honestly, what do you want -- me to do, fold? Yeah, fold? Fold right..." Then if your opponent folds with a much better hand than you -- you only show your low card. Steam will come out of the folder's ears. You put your opponent on tilt.
• Take "forever" to fold, being careful, then say, "I think you got the nuts, right? So, you have queen or better, okay, I fold." If that feels right, and you are not already all-in... "Every time you play your hand the way you would, if you could see your opponents' cards, you gain, and every time your opponents play their cards differently from the way they would play them, if they could see your cards, you gain." , per David Sklansky author, considered an expert on gambling. Which is like "Play to 'what the opponent most likely holds from their time/position/size of bet and based on past pattern of play,' and get the other to play to 'whatever you suggest that you have and know what they have by your chatter and leading questions while you were deciding how to bet.' " -- then the opponent quite often folds the better hand because you've put so many confusing/spinning thoughts in his/her mind (tilt!).

Get into the mind of your immediate opponent, heated to distraction. Don't expect many answers. Ask for various counts: "So, how much is your stack?" "I may just put you all in!" "I'll show you my hand at the end, okay.", then quickly say "if you show me yours, I'll show you mine"... "Do want me to count my stack; well, (taking some time) I have about ___." Be serious, "I need to know ____" asking "how much is in the pot?", "how much is the current bet"", etc. -- anything theoretically worth knowing. As if you don't know. "Hey, so you have a bottom pair. No, it's top pair." "Now, I think you're on a queen... Yeah, yeah, you do have a face card. You do, right?" You can say such guesses, and ask about your guess, about their hold; now, change your mind; guess again, etc. Get the table hot, angry or exasperated, so they may over-bet on weak hands to try to get back at you. But they end up folding or losing hands, stuttering, muttering and confused.

• Tone it down to be less hated. Don't talk while they are deciding what to bet or to fold. Be, "Mr. Nice Guy" in words. Say, "Nice hand!" even if you win it. Say, "good play, nice round", but not letting up on the quiz.

Bluff. Bluffing is an art learned over time. If you are new to bluffing, then try doing it on smaller bets that won’t impact you too much if you lose. Focus on staying consistent with your actions, and try not to let your voice or face give you away.

• Betting with a hand that is not out rightly a probable winner is a good way to get used to bluffing. If you have an decent hand but you think the odds are good that it may improve with more cards coming down the river, this can be a great way to practice bluffing and end up being a very profitable play.
• You basically have two ways to win through a bluff. Your opponents think that they can’t beat you based on your bets and fold right away, or you keep bluffing in the hopes that you can make the best hand (usually flush or straight). This tactic works best in later position if everyone checks to you.

Play fewer hands. As long as you have chips on the table you’re in the game. Playing fewer hands is a strategy to win Hold’em that involves you waiting for the right cards.

• In Hold’em, there are a 169 combinations of hands of you can be dealt, not including hands of the same suit. suits.^[5] Only five of those hands are premium hands that will give you the best chance at winning.
  • AA
  • KK
  • QQ
  • JJ
  • AK - if they’re the same suit.
• There are fifteen hands that are considered top hands including the five above. Other combos include the Ace and face cards, along with high numbered pairs like two (2) tens.
• That means that you should focus on playing hands that are most likely going to reward you instead of trying to constantly bluff or out bet other players with a weaker hand.

Get rid of small pockets as soon as they don’t serve you. This doesn’t mean immediately folding if you get dealt one of these hands, especially if you’re either big or small blind and have already bet.

• Hands like 2-2, 5-5 or 7-7 lose most of their value after the flop unless you make a set (three of a kind) so it’s better not to hold out for something down the river and just cut your losses.
• You don’t always have to fold on a small pocket as they could lead to a winning hand, but don’t let yourself get carried away just because you start with a pair.

Play the pot odds. If there is a large pot, say $100 and your opponent has raised another $100 then it’s usually a mistake to chase the pot hoping that you can end up with something like a flush or straight. This strategy typically has you losing more than winning.

• Don’t always chase straight and flush draws even though it’s tempting. A skilled opponent won’t let you see the next card without first paying up unless he’s confident he has your draw beat and is trying to win the pot as quickly as possible.
• While making large bets is a tactic to forcing other players to fold, sometimes a bet that’s very large can be an indication that your opponent has the winning hand.