Pineapple: This is another Hold’em spin off, except you get three cards followed by a pre-flop round of betting, instead of the two you get in Texas and the four you get in Omaha. Then you must get. Choosing the right Texas Holdem strategy When you know which hands to play, you should just concentrate on playing tight-aggressive poker strategy postflop and using your position. This means that instead of calling you should be raising most of your holdings when you decide to play. Learning Texas Hold’em terms can seem like trying to learn ancient Mesopotamian but it can be done with this simple, short glossary: Blinds: “Blind Bets,” are the forced bets placed prior to dealing; the Texas Hold’em version of the classic poker “ante.” Button: The player acting as the dealer for the current hand. In Texas Hold’Em the action is started by making the two players to the left of the dealer put in a forced bet, called a “blind” before the deal. It's called a blind because you haven't seen a card when you put in this bet - you're going in without seeing, or blind.

• How To Win Poker Texas Holdem
• How To Poker Texas Holdem

Though much of this page sounds like a how to play Texas
holdem page, it goes beyond this. You’re getting ready to learn
how to deal a Texas holdem game and how to run the game as well.

If you want to be a competent holdem dealer you need to know
how to run a game in addition to how to deal the cards. Most
players know how to deal cards, but they often don’t understand
what it takes to be a competent dealer.

Most poker dealers make a small hourly wage and make most of
their income based on tips. Good dealers run a game with little
or no mistakes and understand that the more hands they can deal
per hour the more they stand to make in tips.

Before Each Deal

Before each hand is dealt you need to prepare for the hand.
If you’re opening a new table you need to determine which player
gets to start on the button. The button is the player who acts
in the dealer position, or last on each betting round after the
first one.

The dealer or button position is designated by a white disk
that says dealer on it. As the actual dealer you need to make
sure the dealer button is moved one place to the left after each
deal. The two blinds also move to the left one place after each
hand and you need to make sure the players place the correct
amount out for each of the blinds.

The blind levels are set by the house and the small blind is
usually half the big blind. In a limit Texas holdem game the big
blind is the same amount as the lower betting limit and the
small blind is half the big blind.

You’ll often need to make change for players in
the blinds. If the big blind is $10 and the player in that
position puts out a $25 chip you take the $25 chip, give the
player $15 and place the $10 blind in front of the player.

To determine which player is awarded the button when opening
a new table you shuffle a deck of cards and deal one card face
up to each player starting with the player to your immediate
left. The player who gets the highest card is awarded the dealer
button. If two or more players tie for the highest card the
first one to your left who tied is the dealer.

You need to make sure no one has cards remaining from the
last hand and you need to either hand shuffle the cards or place
the deck in an automatic shuffler and retrieve a freshly
shuffled deck from the machine.

Occasionally the player to the immediate left of the big
blind places a bet of twice the big blind and announces it as a
straddle. This acts as a type of third blind and isn’t legal in
all card rooms.

Before the deal is the time you can make change for players
and welcome new players to the game. Depending on the house
rules, a new player is given the choice to wait until their big
blind or post an amount equal to the big blind and get dealt
into the current hand. A few poker rooms let you start playing
immediately without posting a bet.

The Cards

Once you have all of the housekeeping things taken care of
you move to the part of each hand where you deal the cards. It’s
important to protect the cards in a way where players can’t see
any of the card values when you shuffle or deal. It’s easy to
get sloppy and start lofting the cards as you deal them.

You also need to watch flashing the value of the bottom card.
Many poker rooms use a cut card to cover the bottom card of the
deck.

Before the Flop

Each hand starts with dealing a single card face down to the
player in the small blind. If the player supposed to be in the
small blind has left you deal the first card to the first active
player to the left of the button. You then continue dealing one
card face down to each active player to the left. This continues
until each player has received two face down cards.

Once all of the cards have been dealt the first player to the
left of the big blind is the first to act. You may point to this
player if it doesn’t look like they’re paying attention. You can
also say the action is on you as you point.

In the first betting round the players call the big blind,
fold, or raise. Betting action continues to the left until
everyone has called the last highest bet. In an un-raised pot
the action ends with the big blind. As players fold they’re
supposed to slide their cards face down to you and you put them
in a pile called the muck. It’s important to protect these cards
like the deck you’re dealing from so no one can see the value of
them.

The Flop

Once all of the betting action has been completed before the
flop you deal the flop. The top card on the deck goes into the
muck. The muck is the name used for the discard pile. This is
called a burn card.

Then you take the next three cards and place them face up in
the center of the table. This is called the flop and they’re the
first three of five total community cards.

The first remaining player to the left of the button is the
first to act on the flop. They can check or bet. Play continues
to the left. If there’s been a bet the next player can fold,
call, or raise. Play continues until all of the remaining
players have called the last highest raise. When no one bets,
each player may check. If all players check, play continues to
the turn.

The Turn

After the flop you burn another card and turn one card face
up beside the flop. This is the fourth of five community cards.

The betting is conducted the same as after the flop except in
a limit game the bets on the turn and river are at the higher
limit.

After all of the betting has been completed on the turn you
move on to the river.

The River

A final card is burnt and the final community card is placed
face up beside the other four cards.

The betting round is conducted the same as the turn.

How To Win Poker Texas Holdem

After all of the betting has been completed the remaining
players turn over their cards to see who wins the hand. If a bet
and call was made, the person who was called is the first to
show their hand. Then hands are revealed to the left until
everyone has folded or shown their hand.

In most poker rooms a player doesn’t have to show her hand if
she will lose. Instead of turning over her cards after seeing
her opponent’s hand she can simply throw her cards in face down,
surrendering her hand. The house rules cover this possibility,
but this is the normal way to handle it.

Don’t ever look at cards thrown in from a player. Simply put
them in the muck and continue with the hand. Unless it’s covered
in the house rules, other players may not see the discards
either.

You must protect the deck you’re dealing from and
the discards at all times. No players may ever be allowed to
touch any of the cards except their two hole cards.

If the river has no betting action the first player to the
left of the button remaining in the hand is the first to turn
her cards face up. Play continues the left.

Once the players show their cards you must look at each hand
and determine the winner. Never take a player’s word for the
strength of their hand. Players make mistakes all of the time
and if you try to award the pot to the wrong player it can get
ugly quickly.

You’ll also find some players who lie about what
they hold to try to get their opponent to fold. You have to make
sure this doesn’t happen.

As you determine the winning hand slide the community cards
forward that are used with the winning player’s hole cards to
form the winning hand so all of the players can clearly see
which cards are used to form the hand. You should also announce
the winning hand. This gives the other players the chance to ask
for an explanation or point out a possible error.

At the End of the Hand

After the showdown at the end of the hand you give the money
in the pot to the player who won. At some point in the hand you
need to collect the rake from the pot if you’re dealing in a
room that takes rake.

Most Texas holdem dealers collect the rake as money is being
put into the pot, but you may be able to do it toward the end of
the hand. Each poker room has their own house rules concerning
rake so your method depends somewhat on these rules.

Here’s an example:

The poker room where you’re dealing has a policy that they
rake each hand 10% up to a maximum of $5 and if there’s no flop
there’s no rake collected. To simplify your rake collection in
this case you don’t worry about it until after the flop. Once
you deal the flop and all betting has been completed on the flop
make a quick mental calculation and take roughly 10% from the
pot and place it beside the rake drop box.

Don’t drop the rake in the box yet unless the pot has reached
at least $50. If the pot is at least $50 it’s simple. Just take
$5 and drop it in the rake box and you’re finished with the rake
for the hand.

If the pot is lower than $50 you have a few dollars in rake.
You may need to make change in the pot to be able to do this. If
the pot has $20 in it, put five $1 chips in for a $5 chip, then
take $2 out for the rake.

When $20 more goes into the pot on the turn take $2 more out
and place it with the first $2 you took for the rake. When the
pot finally moves past the $50 mark put the $4 you’ve collected
back into the pot and take out a $5 chip and drop it for the
rake.

The poker room makes money from collecting rake. If
you forget to collect the rake or collect less than you’re
supposed to the players will be happy, but you’ll soon be out of
a job. Don’t ever forget to collect the rake and do it in a
manner that doesn’t interfere with the flow of the game.

You have to be able to juggle multiple things while dealing
Texas holdem without making any mistakes, but with a little
practice you can quickly become a pro.

Most players won’t surrender their cards until you give them
the pot when they win. This is fine, but you have to remember to
collect the cards after giving them the pot.

The Players

Without players you wouldn’t have a job as a dealer. Of
course you wouldn’t have the constant headaches that players
create either, so some days your choice of the two things may be
a tossup.

The majority of Texas holdem players are polite and fairly
easy to deal with, but a few bad apples can threaten an entire
game. You’ll find players who’re rude, mean, abusive, try to
cheat, drunk, and obnoxious.

The sooner you’re able to learn how to deal with each type of
player the better. And while you’re learning how to deal with
problem players you have to remember that the majority of your
income comes from players giving you money.

This doesn’t mean you should go soft on trouble players in
hopes they give you tips. Some players will tip you more when
you handle other problem players quickly and effectively. Most
players want a quiet straightforward game without a bunch of
drama.

It’s difficult to know exactly how to handle all of the
possible situations that arise at the tables because you never
know what to expect. But once you start handling things in a
professional manner you’ll start getting a reputation with
players. Do everything you can to make this a good reputation.
If the players like you and feel you run a good game you’ll earn
more in tips.

Some poker players enjoy stirring the pot and try to make
other players mad or upset to throw them off their game. Most of
the time you need to ignore this and keep the game moving. But
sometimes players cross the line. You need to quickly and
decisively handle every situation that crosses the line.

Racial slurs and threats are two that demand immediate
attention. Give a stern warning based on the policy of the room
where you’re dealing and if the players refuse to do what
they’re told get the floor personnel and / or security involved.

Your best tactic when dealing with players is to
remain calm and never react to anything they say or do. If
they’re abusive to you the best policy is to continue dealing in
the best manner possible.

You never win when you react to a player abusing you. But
when you take it with a smile, most of the time other players
will come to your aid as long as you’re doing a good job. Even
if no other players speak up, many will slip you an extra dollar
or two on their next tip.

It can be hard to deal with problem players, but they don’t
have to make your dealing experience negative unless you let
them.

Some players never tip and there’s nothing that says they
have to. While many dealers take this personally, you have to
view these players as the cost of doing business. You need
enough players to run a game and even if a couple of the players
don’t tip they still help you earn from the other players.

Focus on providing the best possible gaming experience for
the players at the fastest possible pace without making mistakes
and you should be able to earn a decent amount of tips.

If you catch players cheating you need to get the floor
involved immediately. But if you only suspect a player or
players of cheating you need to keep your mouth shut and keep
the game moving. You can let the floor know your suspicions
between shifts at the table but don’t stop the game unless you
have proof or are 100% sure. Most cheats will deny it no matter
what so you must be prepared to defend any accusation you make.

Summary

Dealing Texas holdem can be a rewarding occupation. The key
is being able to juggle the different responsibilities while
keeping the game running quickly and smoothly. No one’s perfect,
but as you gain experience and practice your skills you should
be able to build a good reputation with the regular players,
which leads to more tips.

Everyone knows by now that poker isn’t just a game of chance; it’s also a game of skill. It’s not a big leap from understanding that to understanding that poker pros know some secrets that you and I just aren’t aware of.

In fact, most poker pros would prefer that you didn’t learn their secrets. They make money when you lose money. If you learn their secrets to making money at the table, they won’t earn as much.

It’s impossible to learn everything you need to know to win at poker from a single blog post, but you can get started from a blog post like this.

Here are 20 poker secrets to get you started traveling down the road of winning at poker:

1- Winning at Poker Requires Insane Amounts of Discipline

Poker is a game of small edges that are applied repeatedly over time. Most people aren’t patient enough or disciplined enough to wait for those small edges to pay off. In fact, even the people who know what’s required don’t tend to realize just how much discipline is required.

You need to be willing to lose with pocket aces in Texas hold’em 5 or 6 times in a row without being discouraged or going on tilt. You need to be willing to face a seemingly endless string of bad beats without changing the way you play.

Poker can be a mind-numbingly boring experience, especially if you’re folding as often as you should be folding.

2- Most People Don’t Have What It Takes to Play Poker Professionally

The best estimates I’ve seen said that fewer than 10% of the people playing poker are showing a net profit at the end of the year. I’ve seen other estimates that said only 5% of poker players make a consistent profit. Being in the top 10% of the players means that at a full table, you’re the best player at the table. How often has that been the case?

I play at the Winstar in Oklahoma pretty regularly. I’m sometimes one of the best 2 or 3 players at the table, but I’m rarely the best player at the table. If you’re shooting for that top 5% echelon, you need to be the best player at your table and the table next to it.

Most people think it’s easier to play poker professionally than it actually is. They probably don’t keep good records of their wins and losses, either.

Most of what you need to know about poker math has to do with counting outs. An “out” is just a card that will make your hand the winner. Any cards you need that will make your hand the nuts—the best possible hand—count at full value.

For example, if you need an ace to make your hand, and there’s an ace in your hand and one on the board, you have 2 outs. When you know that, you can compare that with the number of unknown cards to calculate the odds of hitting your hand. That’s just a ratio of cards that won’t improve your hand to the cards that will help your hand.

If there are 47 cards left in the deck, and you need one of the 2 aces, the odds are 45 to 2. You can reduce that to 22.5 to 1. Then you can compare that to the pot odds—the payoff if you win the pot compared to the size of the bet you need to make. If there’s $40 in the pot, but it’s $10 to call, you’re getting 4 to 1 pot odds.

If your odds of winning are 22.5 to 1, but you only get paid off at 4 to 1, you’re in a negative expectation situation. Those are the basics. Anyone can handle that, because it’s just addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You also need to be able to think fast and do some estimating. But it ain’t rocket surgery.

If you’re playing correctly, you’re getting a long-term positive expectation. In the short run, though, you will lose money. If that weren’t true, no one would play poker.

Some players get frustrated and think they would earn more money if their opponents respected their raises when they had a better hand. The truth is, you stand to gain more in the long run if your opponent calls your raises with inferior hands.

This is why bad beats are a good thing. And yeah, you’ll lose sometimes. In fact, you might lose most of the time. But if you’re playing correctly, you’ll win enough when you win to compensate for those losses and still profit.

5- You’ll Lose a Lot of Money if You Can’t Let Go of a Hand

Situations change in poker, especially Texas holdem. You can easily have the best hand preflop and need to fold it because the flop doesn’t fit. If you can’t let go of a hand because it’s not developing the way you’d like, you’re destined to lose a lot of money at the poker tables.

You get into a pot with pocket jacks, but the flop comes with an ace and a queen on it. Furthermore, all 3 cards are suited, and it’s not matching the suit of either of your jacks. Anyone with an ace, a queen, or 2 suited cards that match the flop has you overpowered at this point. Pocket jacks are a premium preflop hand, but you have to let it go in some situations.

6- Going on Tilt Is Awful but Avoidable

It’s hard to maintain iron-clad control over your emotions all the time, but if you want to win at poker, you have to learn how to do it. If you get angry and emotional, you’ll make bad decisions. In poker, the more rational your decisions are, the better off you’ll be.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have emotions. You just need to know that when your emotions are running high, it’s time to step away from the table until you calm down. Meditation helps, too, believe it or not.

7- Most of Your Opponents Play as Badly as You Do or Worse

It’s easy to think that you’re the worst, most inexperienced player at the table. In Alcoholics Anonymous, they call this “reverse pride.” The truth is that 90% of poker players aren’t profitable. The other players at the table are probably as bad as you are or worse.

Don’t stress out no matter what they say about your play. If they were really THAT much better than you, they’d be playing for higher stakes.

Poker is a game of small edges that you repeat again and again over time. This means you’ll lose a lot of the time. That’s part of the game. It’s hard to get a big edge at poker. It happens when you get hit by the deck and start getting monster hands.

The rest of the time, you’re trying to exploit small edges that you gain from paying attention to the cards and the other players.

9- You Should Be Paying Attention ALL the Time

One of the easiest mistakes to make at the poker table is to pay attention to something else besides the action at the table. Players commonly make this mistake when they’re not involved in the hand.

If you believed me when I said that poker is a game of small edges, then you’ll understand that gaining information about your opponents’ tendencies even after you’ve folded is worth doing. It gives you a small edge. You need to milk the game for every tiny fraction of a percentage of edge that you can if you want to be a winner.

10- You Can Improve Your Game Dramatically by Discussing Specific Hands in Online Poker Forums

Not everyone is comfortable discussing how they play specific hands with strangers, but sometimes there’s no better way to get feedback on how you’re doing. Just keep in mind that 90% of the players in the poker forums are no better at poker than you are.

11- ABC Poker Is All You Need to Win at the Lower Limits

If you’re trying to use tricky thinking and multiple-level thinking at the $1/$2 no limit holdem tables at the Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma, you’re engaged in a fool’s errand. The players at that level aren’t paying enough attention for any of that to matter. Most of them are just there to gamble. They might as well be playing a slot machine.

ABC poker is just poker where you bet and raise when you have good cards. You check and fold when you don’t. It doesn’t work at the higher limits because it makes you predictable. But at lower stakes tables, it doesn’t matter.

12- Bullies in Poker Are Just Like Bullies on the Playground

The trick to dealing with bullies on the playground is to stand up to them. If you do the same thing at the poker table, you’ll be less likely to get bullied repeatedly. This doesn’t mean you need to bet and raise into these bullies. Just call their bets more often. Let them know that you’re not going to be pushed around.

Sometimes you can even use Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope technique against a bully. Fold in the face of his aggression a lot. He’ll keep trying those bets and raises. When you get some cards, you’ve got him.

13- You Can’t Bluff a Player Who Isn’t Paying Attention No Matter How Tight You’ve Been Playing

Bluffing too often is one of the biggest mistakes you can make at lower limit games. I mentioned earlier that the low stakes holdem games are often called “no foldem holdem.” That’s because players fall in love with their hands, and there’s almost always a showdown for the pot.

You can’t bluff someone who refuses to fold no matter how bad his cards are. Your best bet at lower levels is to get the cards, then bet the cards. You might try a semi-bluff if you’re facing a single opponent, or even 2 opponents who play weak. You win if they fold, but you also win if you draw out on them.

14- Poker Tournament Strategy Is Significantly Different from Cash Game Strategy

In a poker tournament, the value of your chips change as the game goes on. The chips represent your equity in the prize pool. In a cash game, the chips are worth what the chips are worth. This has huge implications in terms of strategy, especially since the blinds go up as the tournament goes on. Early in the tournament, when the blinds are small, you should play tight. You don’t want to bust out early even if you have a pretty good hand.

Later in the tournament, when the blinds are higher, you have no choice but to loosen up and start raising. If you don’t, you’re going to get into a situation where you bust out of the tournament just because you couldn’t afford the blinds.

15- You Should Specialize in One Game When You’re Starting Out

I had a boss who used to tell me that the man who chases 2 rabbits catches neither. If you want to be an expert at Texas holdem, stop trying to learn how to play 7 card stud. Master Texas holdem first, and once you’re confident in that game, move on to other games.

Texas holdem, by the way, is the obvious choice of a poker game to specialize in at first. It’s the most commonly played variation, so you’ll always be able to find plenty of action. If you just can’t bring yourself to master Texas holdem, try studying Omaha.

16- You Can Go Broke if You Don’t Manage Your Bankroll Appropriately, Even if You’re in the Top 5% of Players Skill-wise

Anyone can lose a hand because of bad luck. Anyone can have a losing session because of bad luck. In fact, anyone can lose several sessions even if they’re playing perfectly. That’s why you need a big enough bankroll to avoid going broke in the short term. Your skill doesn’t show up until you get into the long term.

You can find plenty of pages on this site and other that offer specific bankroll advice. But it’s a good starting point to understand that if you’re uncomfortable with the buy-in, your bankroll probably isn’t big enough.

Poker isn’t about winning pots, although many players think it is. It’s actually about making mathematically sound decisions on a repeated basis. Sometimes this means you’re going to lose several times in a row. You have to become zen-like in your acceptance of these kinds of losses. I used to play with a guy who told me, “DBSRO.” That was short for “don’t be so results oriented.”

If you’re not orienting yourself around results, you’re orienting yourself around the process. And in poker, that process is a matter of making mathematically sound decisions over and over again.

18- Online Poker Is a Riskier Proposition than You Might Think

I’m not as paranoid about online cheaters in poker as some people, but it’s still a problem to consider before depositing money in an online poker site. I’d be more worried about a poker room that might not have the funds to pay my withdrawal when I try to make it.

They’re lucky to have gotten their money back at all. Play online poker if you want to, but only use fun money for this purpose. The more money you risk, the worse off you are.

The biggest mistake I see at the low limit Texas holdem tables is playing cards that are too weak considering your position. The rule of thumb is easy:

What position you’re in should inform your choice of hands to play in a big way. If you’re not accounting for this when you’re deciding whether to play a hand, you have a major leak.

20- The Hands You Fold Are More Important than the Hands You Play

You absolutely cannot win at poker if you keep getting into hands with cards that are dominated. This means you need to fold junk. It also means you need to fold mediocre hands from early position.

How To Poker Texas Holdem

How often do you think you’ll win against him? Playing good hands is the equivalent of giving yourself a head start. Folding mediocre hands is the equivalent of sitting out the race when someone else has a head start. You can find plenty of articles explaining starting hand requirements. They’re all more or less the same, but with subtle differences. Read any of them today.

Poker pros don’t want you to know ANY of the secrets of the game. In fact, if you hear what seems like well-meaning advice from a serious poker player, consider doing the opposite. I’ve given other players bad advice in the past, myself.

This post is only the beginning of poker wisdom. You have dozens if not hundreds of books to read. There are thousands of hands to play. Even after all that, you might not know everything you need to know to win at poker consistently. But you’ll have gotten a good start.