Texas Hold'em Tips

The key concept in Texas Hold'em is improvement. How much your hand improves the board cards determines the quality of your hand. Remember that all players are using the board.

For example, if you hold two fours (4,4) as your starting hand and the flop is three kings, you have flopped a full house. This is, however, not as big a hand as having the same hand in a seven card stud game in the first five cards. You would almost surely have the best hand in the seven card stud game but many hands will beat your hand in Texas Hold'em because of the shared cards aspect of the game.

In the example above, any pair larger than fours in the hole will not only beat your hand, but will also have you nearly drawing dead, having no way to win regardless of the next cards. Here you would need to make four fours to beat your opponent.

A similar situation occurs when the board shows four to a suit and you hold a card of that suit. You have a flush but so would anyone else with a card of the required suit. Here you must be very conscious of the size of your flush. If you have the ace, great! If not, be more cautious.

You are looking for big cards, suited cards close together, and pairs before the flop. Small pairs are not as valuable as in stud. You will need to flop three of a kind to have a competitive hand.
A hand with an ace and a king will win much more money than a small pair in the long run. Flush and straight draws are fine after the flop, but are in danger if the board is paired (e.g., 9,9,4).

Remember the importance of position. The last player to act is a big favorite. Play more hands when you are in this position. Play only premium hands when you are in first position as you have no information about your opponents' hands because they haven't acted yet. You will win many pots that are checked to you, when you are last and are able to make a bet. Be selective with this maneuver, as some opponents like to check-raise.