Very basic poker strategy

[Feirefiz]

A few weeks ago I played Texas Hold'em for the first time. First I read up on the rules and practiced against an (offline) computer game. Shortly afterwards I met with a friends of mine and we played live (real but negligible money), but only one evening so far. That was why I started in the first place. Since then I have played both against the computer and online (Facebook, fake money.)
So far I like it. It's the first card game that I really enjoy.

Although I know the rules and I can kind of play it, I don't really know what I am doing. Of course I have a very general idea which hands are more likely than others in a given situation. With pen and paper I should be able to give you probabilities, but in an actual game it involves a lot of guesswork.

Now I am looking for a good very basic introduction to a bit of poker strategy. I am looking for something that is accessible to a beginner but not just a rehashing of the rules, or worse, a sales pitch for a poker site.

If you have any general tips, those are of course welcome, too.

[Cluricaun]

It's all about the number of hands you've played. Sure, there's probability tables out there that can tell you what to do with any given hand, but you're not going to memorize them like Rain Man, you really need to put your time in with the game and learn what works. But at the same time it's Texas Hold 'Em, which in all actuality is a shitty poker game. You can hold pocket rockets and get killed on the river every single time. Watch those TV games and there's lots of times where the high percentage winner still loses his ass because that third 2 hits on the outside. Nobody knows the cards that are coming. Easy stuff that you already know is stay on suit, royals are your friends and only retards bid on inside straights. Other than that, the masters of the game have hundreds of thousands of hands to teach their guts, and that's all that's ever going to help you.

[dread pirate jimbo]

The biggest mistakes most rookie Hold 'Em players make are playing too many hands and playing too meekly. If you're playing much more than 10-20% of the cards dealt to you, you're playing too many hands. You need to be very picky and only pursue premium starting hands because they give you the best odds of winning. Pocket pairs that are 9s or better, suited connectors that are 9s or better, stuff like that. Once you have a strong starting position, the goal behind the betting is to get everyone else to fold to you before the lucky draws on the river, as mentioned by Ryan, even happen. Otherwise, there is risk that someone with weaker holdings will fish out and beat you and also, it forces your opponents to have to invest significant amounts of money to stay with you. The only times where being a little timid is okay are when a) you know for certain that you have the best possible hand (flopping a full house or an ace-high flush for example) and just want to lure the other players into paying you or b) you have shit cards on the big blind and everyone else limps in, letting you see the flop for free. And if you don't get any help after the flop, or the turn, but other players are still betting, fold -- no point throwing good money after bad. Patience is a major virtue in Hold 'Em -- if you're thinking about raising pre-flop with that pair of 3s, take a deep breath, fold 'em, and wait until you see something worth investing in.

[Feirefiz]

Thanks for your answers!

The biggest mistakes most rookie Hold 'Em players make are playing too many hands and playing too meekly. If you're playing much more than 10-20% of the cards dealt to you, you're playing too many hands.

Ok, I guess I can start right there. I don't know my percentage but it's more than that.

[SBSO2]

Are you playing cash, tournies or what?

[Chew Barker]

If you are playing online tournies and just want to make some beer money, then you can try a strategy I sold a few copies of on eBay when I was a hard up student.
Actually it was a bit of a scam, because you still need to know how to play and have your own strategy. Regardless I got good feedback and it kinda works.

Chew's Online Texas Hold 'em Strategy
Only play in the beginners tournaments, one table, 8 other players $5 buy-in max, no buy-ins.
Now here's the strategy:
Don't play any hands ! (well, not until many of the other players are out) Even with a high pair just fold.
Sure you will forfeit your blinds, but this tends to work on these beginner tables because its full of idiots that will go all in on the first hand dealt and like Ryan mentioned you will get screwed by some lucky git who doesn't know when to fold when the odds are stacked massively against him but gets lucky on the river.

Now, when natural selection has done its work and there are just 4 players left including you, you need to start playing to get into the money (assuming top 3 are paid). You will likely have a lot fewer chips than the others so play smartly, don't get impatient and don't get emotionally involved.


This is where it is more of an eBay scam than a strategy, because I don't offer any advice on how to beat these other guys, except practice a lot and be better than them.

[McNutty]

One good way to keep up with the odds without actually having to do a lot of calculations in your head is to count how many "outs" you have. An "out" is a card that could show up that makes your hand for you. So if you have 3,4,5,7, a 6 is your out. In this case, you have 4 outs. If you've got 4,5,6,7, then you have 8 outs because you could use either a 3 or an 8. The number of possible outs is directly tied to the probability you'll get one. See the tables about halfway down this page.

That page also talks about "pot odds", which are interesting to keep in mind. The idea is that when you consider the odds of getting your out, you should weigh those against the cost of staying in the hand. If the pot is $9 and you are contemplating calling for $1, you stand to get back 10-to-1 for your trouble so if the probability of getting your out is better than 10%, it's worth the risk. I'm not practiced enough to actually be calculating my hand odds to compare with pot odds in any precise way, but the concept is still useful: pay attention to what fraction of the pot you're putting in, and only put in a significant fraction of the pot when you have significantly high chances of winning. This sounds more obvious than it really is.

[dread pirate jimbo]

Chew Barker's online poker strategy is, more or less, the same strategy I use in online tournament play. I will play monster hands, but that's about it. If I don't get dealt AA, KK, QQ, or AK suited, I'm folding until the stupid players eliminate themselves. One of the other advantages to this strategy is that, if the other players are paying attention, they'll start to recognize you as being a very tight player and will start to expect that if you're in a hand it means you have something strong -- this makes bluffing or semi-bluffing easier later in the game, as players will fold to you more frequently when you start betting.

I agree very much with what McNutty is saying as well. You don't have to have your odds memorized, but there are some that are worth knowing. The best starting hands are a pair of face cards (AA, KK, QQ JJ) or suited connectors (AK, KQ, QJ, of the same suit). After that, knowing roughly how many outs you have, or what your odds of making a particular hand are is useful. For example, if, after the flop, you have four parts of a flush or an outside straight draw, you have roughly a 35% chance of making your hand. If your opponents make it cheap enough for you to chase those hands, you should -- on the other side of it, if you think an opponent is chasing a straight draw or flush draw, you want to make it too expensive for them to pursue by betting aggressively. They'll either be smart and fold or be dumb and pay you or beat those odds and take your money, but the odds are swung in your favor.

Pot odds are a tough one to get your head around, but, as McNutty said, if you can grasp the concept and apply it to your approach, it will help your decision making.