Hold'em is a very difficult game. As everyone's favorite WPT announcer Mike Sexton
always says, it takes a minute to 8️⃣ learn and a lifetime to master.
Truer words were
never spoken.
Most beginner poker players play far too many hands and take 8️⃣ them too far
when they start to play Hold'em.
One of the first things you learn when you decide to
become 8️⃣ a winning player is to play tight - that is, to play fewer hands.
You do this
because when you play 8️⃣ only quality starting hands, it makes your play on later streets
much easier.
How to Win at Poker
Playing tight is absolutely 8️⃣ fundamental when learning
to play winning poker. I say winning poker because everyone knows how to play poker but
few 8️⃣ know how to play winning poker.
Your initial decision whether to continue with a
hand or not will be made before 8️⃣ the flop. Unlike on the flop and turn, which you might
only find yourself playing once or twice an orbit, 8️⃣ you're making pre-flop decisions
every single hand you play.
If you play too loose pre-flop, you're costing yourself
money every time 8️⃣ you play a hand you shouldn't. Thus it's imperative the first strategy
you master is playing tight before the flop.
Play 8️⃣ Only the Best Hands Before the
Flop
Before the flop you should be playing only the very best of starting hands.
You
8️⃣ should look for hands that are already monsters - AA, KK, QQ, etc. Play top-pair hands
- i.e. ones that 8️⃣ make top pair and when they do, do so with a good kicker.
For example:
A-K, A-Q, K-Q, etc. You can 8️⃣ also play quality speculative hands, hands that flop big
and take down big pots - e.g. T-9s, 8-9s, small pocket 8️⃣ pairs, etc.
All other hands
should be avoided like the plague. Not only do they show a negative expectation (see
"EV 8️⃣ explained"), they're also very difficult to play after the flop.
A hand like K-5s
may look good, being a king and 8️⃣ suited, but appearances are deceiving here. This is in
fact a very weak hand.
When it pairs its five, the five 8️⃣ is seldom the top pair on the
flop. When it pairs its king, it only has a five kicker and 8️⃣ will often find itself
outkicked at showdown.
That's the nature of this hand and similar ones: they make poker
a guessing 8️⃣ game. You can never be sure of where you stand. They also leave you no
possibility of making a straight.
Further 8️⃣ Reading:
Don't Be Fooled by the Flush!
You
may think that all of this is overcome by the hand's ability to make 8️⃣ a flush. No such
luck. Being suited only adds 2% to its overall likelihood of winning.
Generally
speaking, if you would 8️⃣ fold a hand offsuit, you should probably fold it suited.
Flushes
don't come around nearly often enough to make up for 8️⃣ the downfalls of a poor starting
hand. So stop limping weak hands just because they're suited.
Contrast that with a hand
8️⃣ like A-K. When A-K hits the flop you make top pair with the best kicker. You're never
going to be 8️⃣ outkicked at showdown.
You can play this hand confidently - you know where
you stand in the hand. "Guessing" is minimized.
Further 8️⃣ Reading:
When You Hit You Know
Where You Stand
This is why playing excellent starting hands make the later streets
easier. When 8️⃣ you hit you know where you stand. You have a quality hand that can see a
showdown.
You're rarely going to 8️⃣ find yourself outkicked. If you only play hands that
show a positive expectation pre-flop, the rest of your game will 8️⃣ fall into place.
Your
good pre-flop hands are going to make good post-flop hands, and you'll find your
decisions on later 8️⃣ streets getting easier and easier the more trash hands you eliminate
from your pre-flop holdings.
An extreme example of tight play 8️⃣ would be if you decided
to only play aces, kings and queens and you would fold everything else.
This would make
8️⃣ your play at the flop and after it very easy. There would be literally no guessing
game.
If you held an 8️⃣ overpair you would bet; if not, you'd slow down. Marginal
decisions would be eliminated. Everything would be black and white.
This 8️⃣ style, of
course, is highly exploitable and would never be profitable; it's merely an example of
how playing tight makes 8️⃣ things easier on the later streets.
I would never advise only
playing aces and kings, but that would be a better 8️⃣ strategy than playing every hand
that comes your way.
Further Reading:
The Best Beginner Poker Strategy
Obviously the
best strategy is somewhere in 8️⃣ the middle. Fold your weak hands but play your strong
hands aggressively.
As an amateur and a student of the game 8️⃣ you are guaranteed to make
multiple mistakes in every session. And every time you make a mistake at a No-Limit
8️⃣ Hold'em table you run the risk of going broke.
The more marginal hands you play, the
more difficult your decisions will 8️⃣ be. And that means the more mistakes you will make.
The more mistakes you make, the more often you're going 8️⃣ to find yourself getting
stacked.
If you start out only with quality holdings, you'll make the rest of your
decisions easier.
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