Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Thursday, October 1, 2009

hold em poker strategy for the beginner

Starting out playing Hold em poker can be very stressful, trying to remember what hand beats what, should I call, raise, or get out of the way and fold. The object is to make the best 5 card poker hand using the 2 cards you are holding and the 5 community cards.
I have been playing now for quite a few years and still have not figured it out. What I have learned though, is that patients is a major part of the game, there are times when you will make hands no matter what you are holding, and there are times when you can't hit a dang thing. There are times when you have the best hand going into an "all-in" situation and someone "sucks out" on you and rivers their hand. There is a saying that poker players live and die by the river. This is a true statement at times.
I have no secrets to tell you how to "beat" these ups and downs, but what I can tell you, is to stick with it, and learn how to manage your bankroll to be able to ride these waves out.
Learning the terminology of poker will help you out a little bit, like knowing that a lot of the hands have names. Such as Big Slick=AK, fish hooks=JJ, or the highway patrol=10 4.
There is always "action" (meaning money in play on the table) due to the "blinds" the blinds are big and small and they are the first 2 seats to the left of the dealer. The first seat is the small blind and the next is the big blind. These amounts will vary from site to site and from table to table, but in general they start at 5/10. The play starts of by the dealer dealing 2 cards face down to each player. After that each player will be given a chance to call the big blind or raise or fold their cards. Then comes the "flop" the 3 community cards that everyone can use to make their hand, another round of betting, and then comes the "turn" the 4th community card, then another round of betting and then the "river" the 5th community card. If you are still in the hand by this point you should have a strong hand to be playing with. The winning hand is turned to show and if you were unlucky enough to not have won then you can "muck" your cards, throw them in face down, or show, it is up to you.
This is the first of many beginning tips thanks for your time.