Hold Em Authority - Texas Hold Em Strategy and advice for all levels of players

Playing pocket pairs can be tricky at times, and making the right decision about how to play them depends on a lot of factors. In this article, I’ll try to break down the elements you should think about before and after playing a pocket pair. Also, in this article, I’ll deal with pocket pairs 99 and lower. I think that 10 10 through AA should be played aggressively preflop and not folded for much of anything, unless you feel in your gut that you’re beat by someone.*******

First, Position. If you are Under The Gun and hold 44, chances are someone has a hand that is better than yours, or at least as good as yours. Generally, I figure that I probably don’t have the best hand, and will only limp in with these small to medium pairs under the gun if the blinds are still relatively small. If the blinds are large, however, it’s not worth the risk. You only flop a set about 1 in 8 times, so realize that your hand won’t improve most of the time.

Late in a tournament when the blinds get big, I think you should either raise or fold; calling is not an option. A lot depends on the type of table you’re at as to what decision you should make (raise or fold). If the table is tight, make a solid raise. If the table is loose, and you expect someone to call your raise, what are you going to do when a flop of A 10 7 hits and you’re holding 66?
Second, in relation to position, action behind you needs to be addressed. Generally, it’s hard to justify a call with 22-66 when there’s been a raise behind you, even if you are in late position. 77-99 require a bit more judgment, but if you don’t hit a set, chances are, there will be overcards on the flop and you’ll have to fold the hand. Ideally, you want to see a cheap, multi-way flop. That being said, your ideal situation with a small to mid pocket pair is 4 or 5 callers with you being in late position.

If you’re in late position and no one has entered the pot, by all means, raise the pot. You do already have a made hand (a pair), so why not be aggressive and steal those blinds?

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The general rule of thumb, and one that should definitely be applied in a multi-way pot (3 or more players) is: No set no bet. If you’re isolated against one other opponent and you don’t think the flop hit him/her, take a stab at the pot. If you’re only in the hand with the Big blind, take a stab at the pot. If you bet when there’s multiple people in the pot, though, you can get yourself in a world of hurt, unless you flopped a set of course, which leads me to my next section…

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What happens when you hit a set? Well, the options are really endless, and obviously depend on the situation. If there are no flush or straight draws possible on the board, I think you should slowplay the hell out of your set. If there are draws out there, though, exercise a bit of caution. You’re still in line to win a nice pot, but if you slowplay too much, you’re letting players see cheap cards that could make their hand better than yours.

So, in summary, exercise caution when entering the pot with your small to mid pocket pair, and if you don’t hit a set, don’t bet.

It seems that all I talk about on this site is no limit hold em; well, there’s another game in town, it just doesn’t get the attention that no limit does. I was doing some reading the other day, and I came across an article (actually two) that can describe limit hold em much better than I can, and it’s a very worthwhile read. It touches on some tough hands to play in limit, namely small pocket pairs.It is written by Rolf Slotboom over at CardPlayer Magazine. He does a good job of keeping things simple, so it shouldn’t be too hard to follow along. The only thing I can forsee as a problem is the size of the text in the article(s). Have a look!

Limit Hold’Em - Part I

Limit Hold’Em - Part II

Today’s article is about playing A x - x being some sort of weaker card between 2-9. In my title you might notice clothing references - all I am referring to is suited and unsuited. Why would I write about such a topic you might ask? I’ll tell you why; players get themselves in a lot of trouble putting too much stock in A x. I’ve seen countless players drooling over their hand any time it contained an Ace especially if it was suited. First off, let me address this myth about suited hands. In reality, they only add about 2 or 3 percentage points to your chance of winning a hand. For example, A5 unsuited is a 57.5% favorite to win against QK. A5 suited is a 60% favorite to win against QK. Many people put too much stock in suited hands, justifying their call by saying something like “it was suited.” If you see someone seriously backing their call by using those words, it may be a solid indication that this player is inexperienced or weak (or both).

Now, the Ax portion of the program. This is a hand designed to get the beginning and even intermediate poker player in a world of trouble at a full table of 8 or more people. Let me give you an example. You call a small raise in late position with A 5 suited. The flop comes A 7 2. The inital raisor bets into you, what do you do? Well, let’s think about it. You have top pair, and there are no legitimate draws on the board (let’s assume three different suits “a rainbow” on the board). Top pair is a pretty strong hand, but what about that kicker? The player who raised could hold any number of hands, but a lot of those hands contain an ace. Let’s play out a few scenarios. You raise, he folds, great, you’ve won the hand. You raise, he reraises, you’ve gotta let the hand go. You raise, he calls, and again, you’re probably beat, because what would he call with at this point that you can beat? I think the latter two situations pan out just as, if not more, often than the first situation does.

Let’s assume now that you call in early position with A x. Someone on the button raises, and you call the raise. Now your position is hurting you even more. Assume the board comes A 7 2 like it did before. What do you do now? If you bet and he/she folds, great. If you check and he bets, you’re in a quandry. A check raise is risky, a call is also risky, because there’s a good chance you’re beat.

The moral of the story is: Until you have a good feel for the game, let those tricky A x hands go a t. It’ll save you a lot of money and chips in the long run.

If you have taken a look at my article on different variations of hold ‘em, you’ll know that no limit, pot limit, and limit are the three most common way hold ‘em is played. However, there is another distinction that needs to be made: table games vs tournaments. Table games can usually be found in all three types of limits, and are present in almost every casino (online or brick and mortar) today.
In regards to limit poker tables, a lot of casinos and online poker rooms might have what is known as a “kill” or “half kill” game. What this means is if the same player wins two hands in a row, the following hand will be played with doubled, or 1 and 1/2 times the blinds. For example, if a player wins 2 hands in a row at a 4/8 kill game, the next hand, the levels will increase to 8/16. They will stay at that level until that player loses a hand, after which it will revert back to its normal level. Note: remember, the blinds are half of the level, so in a 4/8 game they are 2/4, in the 8/16 kill game they would be 4/8.

As for tournaments, many different variations are out there. I think that PokerStars, an online poker provider, has a list that pretty much sums them all up. Tournaments also come in the three limits (no limit, pot limit, limit).

As of right now, I can’t think of any more background that you need on the game of hold ‘em, so I think that strategy is the next road that we’ll take.