How to play No Limit Texas Holdem - Part 1

Well I bet you’ve been watching poker on the TV recently, and all your friends are talking about playing poker on the internet or at your local Pub/Casino. So you decide that you want to give it a go but haven’t a clue where to start? Here I will outline a very competitive strategy for beating the lower limit online games.

There is no doubt that there is a lot of money to be made playing Poker, Internet tournaments are starting every hour that offer prize money of thousands of dollars. There are also some very large weekend tournaments that can offer up to a million dollars in prize money. Internet players are now becoming famous for winning millions in the daily No Limit cash games. The biggest live tournament in the world is the World Series of Poker, and at the 2006 WSOP the first place winner won $12 million!

Most articles will tell how to play the game however due to incredible amount of poker on TV these days almost everyone has an understanding of the blinds and betting structure. So I will get right to the point, the tips outlined here will help you improve your game in the low limit cash games available. If this is your first time playing you should get to grips with the game by playing for free in the play money section before you play for real.

When playing low limit Texas Holdem online you’re most important weapons will be discipline and patience. If you exercise both of these I guarantee that you will beat the low limit online games! However it is not that easy, all players including the top pros will break these rules from time to time and that can be costly.

Many of your opponents are going to be playing for fun, and as such, quite badly. At the very low limits most players are playing to pass the time and have a bit of a gamble. If they win then great, but it is usually not their primary objective. Many of your opponents don’t mind losing $50 to $100, hey, that’s a cheap night out. But when you play poker you’re main objective should always be to win money and improve your play, no matter what the limit. If this is always your primary goal you should be able to improve and move up to the higher limits. I have a great time while I play, but I never forget that I’m here to hone my skills and most importantly to win money!

You will not be relying on luck to win, even at the low limits, although most of your foes will be. In low limit online Holdem there will be two key factors that will make you a winner. The first is that you will use patience and as such you will usually enter a pot only with a premium hand. The second factor is that you will show discipline and not get married to your hands. You will be able to get away from even a premium hand when it becomes apparent that it is a loser. If you can do these two things you will beat any low limit online game (you will beat any brick and mortar game too).

Many of your opponents play too liberally, especially for their ability. Since you’re starting requirements will be higher than most of your opponents you will usually be ahead of them from the get go. If you can have the patience to only play good cards and the discipline to muck those cards when they are no longer winning you will be a winner at the low limits. I want to point out that this does not mean you will always beat your opponents. Often one of them will catch a lucky card and beat you out of a pot. But by playing this sound, tight aggressive game it will ensure that you will take down more than your fair share of the pots, and be an overall winning player.

There are many strategies like Phil Hellmuth’s top 10 hands theory whose basic aim is to drastically limit the amount of hands you play and therefore you will always have a big advantage over your opponents. This is good however many players will lose focus as much of their time is spent folding. My starting hand selection is below:

Big Pairs: Ace Ace-Queen Queen

Small and Medium Pairs: Jack Jack-22

Big Drawing hands: Ace King and Ace Queen

Big Cards: Ace Jack, Ace 10, King Queen, King Jack, Jack 10

Suited Ace: Ace 9-Ace 2 of the same suit

Hands in the blinds

This gives you 27 hands to play not including hands you can play cheaply from the blinds. With this many hands to play you should not be playing any others! At least not yet! Many of these will only ever be played from certain positions if the situation and the pot is right. 

Top 10 Poker Tips

1. Never ever play above your comfort zone
2. Never play with money you could not afford to lose
3. Dump a losing hand at the first opportunity
4. If you ever raise more than half your stack you should go all in instead
5. Pick the right game for your skill level & bankroll
6. Once you place money in the pot it is no longer yours
7. Never sit down with more than 10% of your bankroll
8. Pay attention to the cards on the Table
9. You should always be folding way more hands than you play
10.  Take advantage of play money, freerolls and low buy-in tournaments when your learning 

In part 2 I will out line how you play the big pairs.