Summary
No Limit Hold’em is a popular variation of Texas Hold’em poker. In this game, players are dealt two cards each, called “hole cards”.
There are two forced bets, the Small Blind and the Big Blind, and players can choose to call, raise, or fold in the first round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the Big Blind. The dealer will then place three community cards on the table (the flop), followed by a fourth (the turn) and a fifth (the river). Another round of betting takes place after each community card is revealed.
The winner is determined by the player with the best five-card hand using both hole cards and community cards. As you continue to play, you can develop your own strategies and techniques to increase your chances of winning.
What Is Texas Hold’em Poker?
Texas hold’em poker is the most played poker game as well as one of the oldest games in American history. Although much is not known about the history of this game, the Texas Legislature officially recognizes Robstown, Texas, as the game’s birthplace, dating it to the early 20th century. The game grew in popularity in the state of Texas before it was eventually introduced to Las Vegas in 1963 and the rest was history.
This Poker Game type is one commonly seen on television with Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour and ESPN’s World Series of Poker two major examples. It is also hugely popular in the online poker space as well.
Because of how popular this game is, there are new people who want to know about how to play, the ins and outs as well as the rules, tips and tricks that will help them on their way to becoming experts. We are here to provide you with everything you need to know when it comes to Texas hold’em poker.
The Basic rules of Texas Hold’em
Before diving deep into the “No Limit” aspect of things, it is imperative that we understand the rules of Texas hold ’em poker.
Starting a New Hand
Before the first round, the dealer must be selected. A disc known as the dealer button which moves clockwise will then select who the dealer will be. In casinos, the dealer never plays.
Blinds
After the dealer has been selected by the dealer button, the two players to the left of the dealer will have to put a predetermined amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. This procedure, known as “posting the blinds” is done to ensure that there is something to play for during every hand. The first player to the left of the dealer or “first blind” will put up half of the minimum bet, or the “small blind” and the “second blind” who is also to the left of the dealer puts up the full minimum bet or the “big blind”.
Preflop betting round
At the start of a hand, the dealer deals two cards face down to each player known as hole cards. Hole cards are simply known as cards that should be kept secret from the rest of the table. This is why they are dealt face down. When these hands are dealt, players can decide to either call the value of the big bind, check, raise or fold. This is known as a preflop betting round.
The Flop
The players who do not make any of these three moves and continue with the hand, will get their opportunity in the second betting round where they will see the flop. Prior to the dealing of the next round of cards, the dealer will discard or burn the top card. The dealer does this just in case one of the players has accidentally seen the top card. It is an action that helps to prevent cheating. There will be three community cards placed on the table next with the cards face up. The community cards are available to all players still active in the hand.
Another betting round will commence with players having to decide whether or not to check, call, raise or fold starting from the first player who is on the left side of the dealer button.
The Turn
After the flop betting round concludes, a fourth community card, also known as the turn card, is dealt face-up on the board. It then leads to another betting round to commence with the first player to the left of or clockwise from the dealer button.
The River
The fifth and final community card, also known as the river card, is dealt face up for another betting round. As usual, the remaining active players will place their bets starting from the first active player to the left of the dealer button.
Who Wins the betting rounds?
After the final betting round, if more than one player remains, a Showdown will occur. At this point, players can now utilize the seven cards they have to create the best possible five card poker hand to win the pot. These seven cards include the two hole cards which were initially dealt and faced down and the five community cards that were dealt afterwards.
The last person to bet or raise will show their hand. If there was no bet in the final round, the first of the remaining players to the left of the dealer will show their hand.
Naturally, the player with the best hand or the winning hand also wins the pot but if there is an identical winning hand, the pot will be evenly shared between the two players.
Once this is over, the dealer button will move clockwise to the next player and another hand will commence.
The four actions that can be made during a betting round:
- Check means to stand pat but stay in the hand.
- Call means to put enough chips to call an opponent’s bet.
- Bet or Raise forces other players to commit more chips to play.
- Fold means to throw your hand away.
Poker Hand rankings: which hands are the best to have?
Understanding poker hand rankings is a fundamental requirement for great poker players. It is one of the most basic pieces of knowledge that must be acquired before you play a poker game because it allows you to understand how strong your position is during a particular game and what your next move or moves will be.
Below are the poker hand rankings
Royal Flush: A Royal Flush is made out of a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and an Ace. All of these cards must be of the same suit.
Straight flush: The Straight Flush is five sequential cards all in the same suit. For example, a straight flush could be a sequence of A,2,3,4,5. Ranking between straights is determined by the value of the high end of the straight.
Four of a kind: A Four of a Kind is the same card in each of the four suits.
Full house: A Full House is a pair plus three of a kind (e.g. K,K,K,7,7). If there is a tie with two players having their five card poker hand each with a full house, the tie will be broken by the three of a kind, as you cannot have two equal sets of three of a kind in any single deck.
Flush: A Flush is five cards in the same suit.
Straight: A Straight is five cards in a numerical order, but not all five cards share the same suit. It is important to note that a straight cannot wrap. This means that a winning hand cannot come from a five card poker hand of Queen, King, Ace, Two, Three. If two or three people end up with a straight then the higher straight wins but if the straights tie, the pot will be split.
Three of a kind: Three of a Kind is three of the same card and two non-paired cards.
Two pair: Two Pair is two different pairings or sets of the same card (for example J,J,K,K).
One Pair: One Pair is a pairing of the same card (for example A,3,K,5,5)
High Card: A High Card refers to a hand with no matching cards.
Best Starting hands in texas holdem poker.
Selecting the correct hands to start betting with preflop is very important and can see a beginner player get winning hands straight from the start. Below are some of the best Texas Holdem starting hands, so that you can start betting at the preflop with confidence.
Pocket Aces: This is the best starting hand that a player could be dealt in Texas hold’em. It has the highest odds of winning over any other pair of cards.
POCKET KINGS: Also known as Cowboys, pocket kings are second in line behind the aces as the top starting hand. With this, you can go into your preflop situation feeling confident, but you still have to be wary of an opponent holding an ace.
POCKET QUEENS: Pocket queens are a solid hand to go into a Texas hold’em preflop round and can be played in the majority of situations.
POCKET JACKS (FISH HOOKS): Although poker professionals express unhappiness about being dealt pocket jacks, this is still a very good hand. Aggressive play during the preflop could reap some nice rewards if done correctly in Texas hold’em.
ACE-KING SUITED (BIG SLICK): The ace-king suited is the first non-paired hand we have seen on the list. Despite going into preflop behind any pocket pair, this hand gives you a huge amount of top pair potential as well as flush draw or straight draw potential. It also keeps you ahead of all other unpaired hands going into the flop.
POCKET TENS: Pocket pairs possess the potential to collect a lot of value if accompanied by a solid preflop raising strategy.
ACE-KING OFFSUIT: On this list, the Ace-King offsuit is the only hand that is both non-pair, and non-suited. Even though this hand does not have the flush draw potential that Ace-King suited has, it is still a very decent hand that can still get you a top pair on the flop.
ACE-QUEEN SUITED: This hand has the potential to hit a nut flush, some big pairs, and a straight draw. Be aggressive in preflop with this hand and be alert to whatever response your opponent makes.
What is No Limit Texas Hold’em
In Casinos, there are four different types of Texas Hold’em games played which are limit poker, spread limit, pot limit and no limit poker. Our major focus in this article is on no limit poker games.
Definition of ‘no-limit’
In no limit games, players are allowed to bet as much as they want over the minimum raise. Player bets can be as high as all the chips they have on the table (betting all your chips is known as an all in bet). No Limit texas hold’em is the most popular type of texas hold em because of how unpredictability and entertainment value it has. The games have the highest stakes, the highest risk factor and ultimately the highest pot prize. Players must be prepared to risk it all in order to win it all.
Skilled gameplay
Even though Poker is inherently a game of chance, there is a skill factor required to be the best poker player. Playing a basic game will see you win money but the more experience you gain and the more opponents you face, you will realize that effective strategies will help win more poker games.
Using strategies like game theory, pod odds and implied odds among others will boost your chances of winning.
Fundamental concepts you need to know in No limit texas holdem
Because of the nature of the game, it is very important that players can remain as level headed as possible. Poker is a game of highs and lows where sometimes you can go on a serious win streak where your bluffs are going through and everything you do comes off and other times, nothing works at all.
The best of the best in poker always keep a level head no matter what the state of the game is. Getting too high or too low during games will be used against you so you must always be mentally strong in order to become a great poker player.
Risk vs Reward
As mentioned previously, the best way to be a great long-term poker player is to master strategy. No matter what strategies you learn, the risk factor in Texas hold em poker is always apparent.
No limit means no boundaries. There isn’t a cap on the bet you can make at any given time which means that the risk vs reward component is great. You run the risk of losing your entire stack at one go or doubling said stack in one go as well. You will not become a high level or wealthy texas hold em poker player without getting burned a few times. That experience helps garner growth and the long term rewards are worth it.
How to play winning no-limit Texas hold’em poker
In limit texas hold’em poker, the strategy used is different from the one used in no limit texas hold’em poker.
For limit poker games, the best players utilize a tight-aggressive style. This means that they play a short range of hands but are aggressive when they play the pots they enter. In no limit hold em, most winning players tend to expand their hand selection range.
Having a sizable bankroll is very important as a no limit poker player. No limit Texas hold’em is an unpredictable game where different scenarios can change in an instant and big bankroll will help to deal with bad runs. This is an important tip especially for anyone who wants to make a living by playing in poker tournaments.
Table position should be another area of focus for poker players looking to win big. Some marginal hands like suited connectors (7-8, 8-9, 9-10, etc.) can be played best from a late position only (on or directly to the right of the dealer button). Doing this could be pivotal because it allows you the opportunity to gain information about the holding of your opponent’s hand and what your opponent bets could he like in order to make a strong bluff.
Strategies good for No limit texas hold em Cash Games and tournaments
Carefully selecting your starting hands
The best and quickest way to understand which starting hand to play is by using charts. Great minds of poker have already done the statistical groundwork while various online poker sites have put those statistics into charts for easy interpretation and use.
Various factors such as position, whether or not opposing players bet before you, and how much the player bet, raised, or re-raised are to be taken into account when selecting what starting position to play.
Strong hands like kings, queens, jacks and pocket aces are strong hands that can be played from any position,as is AK suited. A pair of tens in the hole, as well as suited A-Q, A-J, and K-Q, and A-K offsuit can be played from any position.
Play the players
Understanding the body language of your opponent is one of the crucial poker strategies. Some Poker instructors will cover your hole cards and leave you to play by only watching your opponents. By looking at their body movements and facial expressions, you are able to make a conclusion on what could potentially be your next move.
Players are obviously instructed to not convey their emotion during a game, no matter the situation but the reality is that there will be subtleties that could give their position away.
Observing your opponents tendencies also helps to understand their play style which is an important weapon for any player. From the movement of their eyes, to how they look at their cards to whether they are tight, loose, passive or aggressive players.
Strategic table selection
This particular strategy sometimes may depend on chance but if the opportunity arises, texas hold ’em poker players can use this to their advantage.
Sometimes, you will have the opportunity to choose your table and seat in live cash games. The Casino may already be full and players will not be able to make the selection so this strategy may not be available at times.
Some Online poker sites allow table selection so regardless of if you’re playing in a casino or on the internet, if the opportunity arises for you to be able to pick your table position, you should consider this strategy.
What to look for when engaging in this strategy is the fish. You have to observe and search for any signs of players who play too many hands against the odds and chase, wishing to hit cards on the flop, turn or river to make their hand without considering how unlikely it is to happen. Essentially you’re looking for players who play poker badly.
In live poker, the only way to find the players who are chasing is to stand and observe the tables around you but in online poker, the statistics of each table is made available to you so it is easier to spot the bad players.
Respect Large Raises
Knowing how to size bets is an important part of strategy in poker. One of the best ways to become well versed in bet sizing is to experiment in smaller games where you will have time to observe how players in different positions and with different chip stacks respond to raises.
It is important to note that large raises are not to be used very often as consistently creating big pots is not necessary. Calculating pot odds could be useful in this case.
When you calculate pot odds, you will be able to more accurately choose the amount of money to pay into the pot against how much your potential winnings could be and how many outs are at your disposal.
Overbet the pot
When playing Texas hold’em pot control is an important strategy if you want to be successful. It is very important to bet only an appropriate percentage of the pot and should be done according to pot odds and poker equity in order to let opposition players know that you intend to control the betting round.
By definition, an overbet occurs when a player uses a bet sizing that’s bigger than the size of the pot.
Why do you overbet?
Overbetting allows you to bluff with a bigger proportion of your range.
When you overbet, you will be able to get more value with your strong hands.
When you overbet, there is a tendency for the opponent to fold more which in turn makes them realize less equity.
Overbets can frustrate opponents and often forces players who are unfamiliar with overbet theory to make mistakes that you can take advantage of.
More often than not, your opponents will be hesitant to raise vs an overbet (which is a good decision on their part). This allows you to realize more equity because you will always get to see the river while also being in position. It also allows you to control the size of the pot going into the river.
When should you overbet?
A very good time to overbet is when you see that you have the nut advantage. When a player has a nut advantage is when he has more combinations of super strong hands (two-pair or better) than his opponent.
When your opponent’s range is capped. A capped range is a range that contains little to no strong hands, such as flushes, two-pairs, sets, overpairs, straights, etc.
Another good time to overbet is when the turn (or river) card is a brick.
Texas Holdem Strategy : Preflop play
Preflop play is a good poker player strategy because the hole cards are the only cards that their opponents can’t see or use. This is the foundation of your poker poker hand which can lead to potentially a big win or a frustrating loss.
Your sitting position at the poker table can be a key determiner of the success you can possibly attain more often than not. Player positions are divided into early positions, middle positions, and late positions. Experienced texas hold’em players use a different poker strategy depending on their position.
Early positions
The player to the immediate left of the dealer is the small blind, then the player to the left of the small blind is the big blind. The player to the left of the big blind is under the gun (UTG). The under the gun player starts the preflop play by placing their bet. The under the gun player will not get a chance to see how other players will place their bets, so they will have to make their wagers solely on the strength of their hole cards.
Both the small blind and big blind have a chance to re-raise based on the strength of their hole cards and the first round of betting. This can happen only in the preflop betting round.
Middle positions
Players to the left of the under the gun player and to the right of the cutoff are in the middle positions at the poker table. As you go clockwise around the table from the player under the gun, each player will have a slightly better position in the preflop round. The reason for this is that players can see the reaction of every other player before them to their starting hands.
Late positions
The cutoff, who is the player to the right of the dealer, and the button possess the second best preflop strategy capabilities because they have witnessed all the other players except the small blind and big blind place their bets. The late positions have the biggest strategic advantage when it comes to all the later streets.
Having a good preflop strategy
Understanding your table position, a thorough analysis of the hole cards in your possession and the ability to keep track of how other players have bet before you are the fundamentals needed to have a good preflop betting strategy in texas hold’em.
If you’re not sure how to assess whether or not your preflop hand is strong or not, then you should try to study a preflop chart. Preflop charts make it easy to determine how likely it is that you will be able to turn your hole cards into a pot winner by showdown.
Avoid these common mistakes in no-limit Texas Hold’em poker games
Being a new Poker player means that you are most likely to commit errors that will cost you money. Even the most experienced players are guilty of errors sometimes.
Winning the battle but losing the war
Playing the long game is very important in Texas hold’em poker. Being a player that relies on his skill as well as strategies to win requires you to have patience. Understanding you do not need to play on each and every hand is crucial.
Just because you have the confidence that a certain hand is yours for the taking, doesn’t necessarily mean you need to go all in to make it happen. Whether you’re playing in a poker tournament or just in a cash game, you always need to look ahead to read to what may happen in the future.
Playing too many starting hands
Live poker sometimes can be a drag. When it gets boring, you could be tempted to play too many starting hands to ease the boredom. Folding one hand after another as others play and win pots is not the most thrilling experience in the world but you just have to pay attention to how often you get involved in hands that don’t make sense against the betting charts. It is important to keep your cool in those situations
If you get tired or bored, it is important to do things that will help keep the boredom at bay. Take a walk around the casino or put on some music on your headphones. It is very important for you to focus on the important hands and bet responsibly.
