Online Texas Hold ‘Em

The first thing to understand about Texas Hold ‘Em is that, like any other style of poker or game, the only  way  you can learn  to play is to PLAY.  Pay attention and learn from your mistakes! 

The GREATEST thing about ONLINE Texas Hold ‘Em is that you can learn in a less expensive environment.

There are any number of advantages and benefits to playing Texas Hold ‘Em online, especially for the novice.

You can go to online casinos and see what is happening.  Play for free and begin betting on games only when you feel you are ready to take on the challenge.  You can choose lower limit tables so you do not lose all your money. 

You should also take advantage of watching online games to see how the game flows and where people make mistakes.  If you notice a player who is particularly successful, look for that player when you are next online and watch and learn.   You can just do a player search in the options menu at most online poker rooms. Then you can easily find the good players and watch them.

Take notes as the game progresses.  Some of the online casinos also allow you to take and save notes online while you are watching.  This is particularly efficient!

When you are taking notes, you should note the following areas:

Another advantage that online Texas Hold ‘Em gives you is that you can see what is in the pot.  When you are playing at a regular casino, you will have to estimate the pot based on the betting history. 

When you KNOW what is in the pot, you can play the game of ‘pot betting’ where you adjust your style and your game to the results you can expect to achieve, knowing full well whether your bet is worth the risk.

Another reason you might like to play online is that you can choose from many different tables in thousands of online casinos.  There are many betting options, limits and player types. 

Keep in mind that, if you want to win, you will always be weighing the odds against the player behavior and of course your position at the table.  Because of the blind positions in Texas Hold ‘Em, your position is a necessary consideration and, yes, the dealer position is the most coveted.

If you are the dealer, you get to see how other players are betting and you can better adjust the pot.  But in online Texas Hold ‘Em, the dealer position is actually held by the system software!

Once all the other players have bet, a raise by the dealer can double the pot.  Because all players are already in the game, they are more likely to try to stick around for another round of betting.  

If you observe a poker table for any length of time you will see that the winning hand will often occur in a clockwise order around the table, going from one to the next. 

Studies reveal that the ‘win’ typically moves in that direction so you can look for that pattern in your own games online.  That does not mean that you can ignore skill or the cards in your hand, but it does mean that playing behavior and the positions of people who fold and people who stay in are often predictable.

What if your table position requires that you are the player who must act first, or the one ‘under the gun’.  You will always have to act before other players.  Both the two blind positions and the player ‘under the gun’ must be careful and selective. 

However, if you are in a ‘late’ position (or ‘On the Button’ position) where you are the last to call, you already know who is in and what they have bet.  You might be able to squeak out a win with a so-so hand like a KJ or a smaller pair, if a lot of people have folded before the table gets to you. 

If you are on the button, you will also get some free cards.  If no one bets in any given round, you’ll get a card with no risk, and it is your choice as to whether you want to take the free card. 

Before you begin betting in the online casino, be sure you grasp the differences between live play and online play.  It is harder to judge the behavior of a player in a virtual environment so if you want to be aggressive, your behavior has to be more obvious. 

To accomplish this, you can try one of several tactics.  For example, you might push the bets harder and perhaps even play with the strategy of slowing down the game occasionally.  When you do this, you can sometimes get the less experienced players to pony up and put money in the pot just to get the game moving. 

If you decide to take this tactic, just be sure that you limit the number of times you fold after you slow the game down.  If you do that too often, the other players will believe that you are indecisive and that you have little or no experience. 

If you make a big raise after your pause, you will communicate a more assertive posture.

If you choose to slow down the play online, be ready for some abuse.  Other players may chat and comment about you and may even decide to be vindictive.  Yet, in their frustration, they may make some pretty bad mistakes, like betting on a hand they should not keep. 

If you are patient and you believe in your hand and your strategy, you can often distract the players enough to make critical mistakes. 

Just don’t do this every time you play or you will get a reputation and others will not want to take a seat at the table where you are playing!

In online poker it is even more critical to gain some control over the table and to use the playing behavior of others to help you win the game. 

The other crucial factor in online play is self control.  When you do not have to sit across the table from another player, it is easy to talk yourself into making a move that may be wrong.   Know the odds!  We will talk about this later in the book. 

Know the hands you can use if the flop is good, and understand when it makes more sense to fold to protect yourself.

You should be able to participate in one out of three of the pots at your online table.

In online poker environs, you may also need to consider your approach to the classic Texas Hold ‘Em problem of defending against a blind that is small.  If the player who places the blind stays in the game, it may be because the blind is small and even with a bad hand, the player feels they can take the chance of sticking with the table. 

When you are playing in an online environment, you will have to consider the pace the game and the fact that you will get a ‘toss up’ hand (or throwaway hand) one out of three times.  That statistic presumes that you will see the small blind about once every ten minutes during online play. 

If you ALWAYS call instead of folding, you are likely to lose a lot more money in those circumstances.  If you fold half the time under those circumstances, you will save yourself a lot more money. 

So what marks the difference between a pro shark and a novice fish?  First of all, pros always know who is sitting across the table from them. 

You have to consider the odds and the cards, but you also have to know the other players, their behavior and how you can use strategy against them.  Winning poker players are great at the art of behavioral analysis and they can adjust to the people at the table.

When you are just getting started, you will want to follow the tried and true rule of thumb which is to befriend players on your left and to declare on anyone who is seated to your right. 

Don’t try to throw daggers at every player at the table unless you are REALLY good.  Build some trust with those who are going to throw the game back to you as they go around the table. 

Here is another fact you may wish to consider:  Research of online casinos reveals that at least half of what you will win in an online poker session is already determined before you ever take a position at the table. 

The way to affect the remaining half of your odds and alter the determining factors is to understand the top hands and play strategically while considering your position at the table. 

The first consideration in choosing a table is to stay away from really tight tables where everyone is a great player.  You are not likely to win in that case, unless you are one of the pros!

If you dare to enter a tight game, remember that your strong hand is worth more than the blind, and your weak hand is worth less.  If you weigh the blind against your hand and find your hand lacking, folding is your best option!  Get out while the getting is good.

There are some basic guidelines to picking a table and playing Texas Hold ‘Em online.

Here is an illustration of how the game might go:

You are seated in the middle of a six-player table (not the dealer, the blinds or the cat bird position). 

Let’s say that the dealer gives you a King and a Ten.  Look at the odds charts and top hands we will give you later in the book and decide whether that is a strong hand or a hand you will need to watch. 

For now, we’ll tell you that the additive probability (the odds) of your winning with that hand are a little less than 16%

Next, look at the pot:  What is the total?  You won’t want to bet more than 16% of the pot total because that would exceed the odds against you.  Let’s say the pot is $100.  You should bet no more than $16.00.

When the betting comes around to you again, the pot is at $150.00.  What would be your maximum?  Something in the vicinity of $24.00.  But you’ve already bet $16, so you’ll have to limit your bet to $8.00 or less.  If you need another $10.00 to stay in the game, this would be the point that you should fold. 

If you are playing according to the odds, you should follow this calculation right out of the game.  If you tell yourself that the difference between your limit of an additional $8.00 and the $10.00 needed to stay in the game is ONLY $2.00, you are likely to lose it all because you are going against the odds.   If you feel you are a good enough player to take this chance, when you consider all other factors, then by all means, stay in.  Otherwise, GET OUT! 

Beat the odds by KNOWING the odds. 

In fact, if you can consider the odds for all the players at the table, based on what you know of their hands and the table conditions, you will be better off.  What if you had a pair of Queens in your hand at the flop? 

Half of all online Texas Hold ‘Em pots are won with pairs of nines or better.  So your odds are good so far.  But when you look at the table, there is a
partial straight laid out for all to use.  How do you know whether you can use that to win the hand or whether someone else will build their winning hand with the partial straight?   

What  do  the  other  players  have in their hand, do you suppose?   The art of the ‘tells’ is the art of evaluating another player’s hand, based on what you know. 

If there is already a partial straight on the table, then one of the other players must have must have something close to a straight (one or two cards).  If that is true, then you would need at least THREE of a kind (not a pair) to stay in the running.  In other words, you would need another Queen.

There should be another two queens out there somewhere.  If you look at the information you have accumulated so far, you know that there are six players, and based three down in the flop, and two cards in each of the six players’ hands, there have been fifteen cards dealt.  Your odds would be two out of fifteen or 13.3%.

What about the bet you have to make?  If the pot is at $200 when it gets to you, you can afford to make a bet of $26.00 to stay in the game.  That will be the cost of getting a look at the next card (the turn card). 

Let’s say that the turn card is a five of clubs.  A straight will beat your three of a kind (trips), and you should probably fold now.  While you can improve your hand with another card, so can all the rest of the players, so the odds don’t change much. 

With a full table of players, you can get a lot of mileage out of a KT,  QJ  JT,  89,79, or  46.  These are a strong foundation as pocket or hole cards.  If  you don’t get the cards you are looking for as the game goes on,  it is easy to fold. 

With an apparent POWER hand like a pair of aces, you will find it hard to fold because you will be so deeply invested in the pot that you’ll want to stay in for the duration.  With a JT or 89 hand, you can raise to build the pot and play the odds.

When you adjust your play, you must adjust to the changing conditions of the table and reassess your odds and the playing conditions (how many players have dropped out, etc.)