Texas holdem poker is one of those games that will definitely challenge the minds of the player, as well as his luck. Finding the best strategy to use in the game then becomes very challenging and engaging for the avid poker player.
The best strategy that players can use in their game relies on a good combination of adept card skills and a controlled but aggressive betting style. These two elements of the strategy must work together flawlessly in order to be very effective during play.
A dash of analytical and mathematical skills, while not really required, can also be useful in when the need arise, such as calculating the odds that are against you and deciding on the bets.
Card Analysis
The core of any blackjack strategy, card analysis can greatly increase the player's chances by knowing in advance the possible combinations that may come out. But before people start raising their eyebrows, this is not some sort of psychic or supernatural ability. Rather, players can use the mathematical (Ok, so here's where the math part starts to come in) concept of probabilities. Basically the more probable the combination is, the easier to get one.
As an example, it is easier to get a straight flush than a royal flush simply because of the more probable way of forming the former. All the available cards in a suit can be used to form a straight flush, while the royal flush requires the face cards, which make it very difficult to form one.
Card counting is also one skill that you can add to your arsenal. Card counting is very useful in keeping track of all the cards that are being dealt in the game. While one needs to have a good memory, he does not need to actually memorize all the exact cards that come out of the deal, contrary to popular belief. What card counters do is simply to keep track of a few cards dealt by the dealer, assigning points or codes to each card for easier tracking.
Combining both skills, one can then determine the most possible card combination that he can form with the current hand he has. This can greatly help in deciding when to hit (ask for additional cards) or not. The strategy most players follow is to hit when there is a large possibility of drawing a high card or when the dealer is at as disadvantage.
Card analysis can also be useful in setting up the next part of the blackjack gamer's strategy, betting.
Laying The Right Bets
As important as the task of taking the right cards, making the right bets is the next step in the poker gamer's two-fold strategy. Once the player knows the possible outcomes of the cards, he can then decide on when to bet and how much to bet.
Betting requires a great deal of control on the amounts that are being laid on the table. Ideally, the amounts to be laid are such that one can expect to make a profit if he wins, while at the same time not losing that much money in case he loses the bet.
Wise players often make their initial bets small. The idea here is to slowly increase their winning s while still maintaining a reasonable amount left in their banks. As their winnings gradually increase, they also gradually increase the bets they make on the table.
Texas holdem players also make great use of the various betting and dealing options available in the game. These options increases their chances and sometimes minimize their expected losses in case they don't win.
One of the more daring tactics employed by Texas holdem players is bluffing. Bluffing is essentially fooling an opponent into thinking that the player has the upper hand or at a disadvantage, thereby letting him make a wrong move. Bluffing may be done through the cards by either taking up additional cards in the guise of strengthening a weak hand, or refusing to take more cards even with a weak hand, to fool the opponent into taking additional cards.
A riskier bluff uses the bets themselves. Again the intention is to fool other players into thinking that you have the upper hand and let them make wrong moves. This strategy, however, require the player to place larger bets on his hand, letting other players to assume that he does so because he has the upper hand. The major risk on this one is of course the amount of money being bet. If one loses, a lot of money can fly away easily. However, the end results can be very rewarding if all the plans and bluffs go through and other players actually bite in.
There are still more strategies that the Texas holdem player can explore. These are the more advanced techniques that one can pull of but essentially follow the same route as this basic strategy.
