First of all, you need to understand the game. Texas Holdem is a community card game which has many intricate ways to win. The basics are the cards are dealt to each player, the player then has to make the best hand from the community cards using his two hole cards and the five community cards dealt face up in the middle of the table. The player can use his hole cards and the community cards to make a hand, one of his opponents can make a hand from the same two cards and as many more community cards, and the player can even use the same cards to make a hand (in his hand) from the table.
After the five community cards are dealt, the player makes his hand from the five community cards. A player can either hold his hand or fold. If the player calls the bet, he forfeits the ante bet, unreasonable or not. When the hand is over, the pot is taken.
Holding is for:
1. Two Cards2. 3 Cards3. 4 Cards4. No cards
You only have a few options when it’s time to get out. You can:
1. Go all-in again2. Complete the bet and lose3. Surrender
But you can do more than that – you can bluff.
1. Go all-in again2. Complete the bet and lose3. Surrender
It’s Your Decision
You can call the bet when you want to go all-in, you can fold at any time, and when you point out that you are beaten a few players will get knocked out.
It is your decision on how much you want to invest in the hand – point, raise, or fold.
Going all-in
If you call the bet, you are risking the amount of money you want to put in the pot.
Going All-In
If you go all-in, you put the following money in the pot:
- The amount of the ante
- Your hole cards
- The amount you want
- The amount your opponent bets
Your opponent must put the same amount in the pot.
- Going All-In
You must put in the amount that you want to bet. You can’t put in any less than that.
- Going All-In
You must also indicate to your opponent how much you want to bet. You can’t indicate the amount you want (you should count it into the bet you want) except when you call the bet.
If your opponent bets the amount you indicate for him, you will get more money in the pot.
- Going All-In
You must indicate to your opponent the amount you want in the pot when you call the bet. You can only indicate the amount you want.
If your opponent bets the amount you indicate for him, you can check (do nothing and let your opponent bet). You must then indicate the amount you want in the pot when you call.
We can call such bets because it’s a natural to act as if you want the amount in the pot. Also because when we act naturally, most of the time we can end up putting in the amount we didn’t want in the pot in the first place.
We need to be able to act thus we must be able to bet in certain increments. This way we can assure that we will get a return for our money.
The Effective Difficulty
- The difficulty comes in when you don’t quite know how to bet. Though betting is pretty simple, it is not quite simple to do. However it gets beaten in the long run.
- If you guess the size of the bet when you call, you end up putting in the amount you didn’t want much in the first place. The problem is that the types of cards you need are still out. This means you could call a bet on the flop when you didn’t really have anything and hit nothing. And end up having to flush draw when your opponent has a flush.
- This makes poker a very nasty game for the amateur player because quite often you can’t even get the odds you’re pot odds in the hand you’re playing.
- Making matters worse for the rookie player is that position plays an important role in what cards you get to play. That’s because you get better pot odds when you are further to the dealer than you are to the blinds.
If you are in the big blind and it’s only a few players left, you aren’t getting good pot odds because of your position.