Texas Holdem Twins

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Twin River hosts a 23-Table Poker Room on our smoke-free Casino on the 2nd Floor. Twin River Casino offers two basic poker games: 7-Card Stud and Texas Hold’em. Texas Hold’em can be played either as a limit game, in which the size of all the bets is structured or as No Limit, in which a player can bet all their chips at any time. Texas Holdem Games & Variations. Texas holdem is the most popular variation of poker played online and in casinos and poker rooms everywhere in the world. Its popularity has led to many different variations, both in casinos and in home and private games. The first three sections below include information about limits that Texas holdem and its. Postflop Texas Holdem Strategy Once you understand right preflop Texas Holdem strategy, the postflop poker strategy becomes significantly easier. When you play weak hands from poor positions poker is quite difficult; nobody likes to play Q7 from out of position (Out of position means you act first, so your opponent will have more information. The second most popular form of Texas Hold'em is Limit Holdem.Whereas No-Limit is a game of brute force where players play big stacks and run up huge bluffs, Fixed Limit Hold'em is a more subtle, gentleman's game where players look to exploit small edges: a game of finesse and well-timed aggression.

Poker is a lot like sex. Everyone thinks they are the best, but most don’t have a clue what they are doing. — Dutch Boyd

It is very true, but hopefully by and reading our Texas Holdem Strategy section you will at least have a clue how to do well at one of them!

One of the great benefits of poker is that it is quite easy to learn the basics. The rules are quite simple and allow easy access for beginners. However, on the other hand, it is a tough game to master; there’s always something to improve upon or learn.

The basic strategy below should provide you with the groundwork for developing a dominant poker game. We link to some more advanced material throughout for anyone that is further ahead of the trend.

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Table Of Contents

• Preflop Texas Holdem Strategy
  • Starting Hand Types
• Postflop Texas Holdem Strategy
• Texas Holdem Strategy: Betting and Raising

Preflop Texas Holdem Strategy

Your preflop poker strategy forms the foundation of your game. Your first decisions will be made preflop during a hand, so it is important to get these decisions right. Thankfully this is one of the easier areas of the game to understand.

So to help you understand let’s take a quick example (click the picture to see the full replay):

We have JTs (J = Jack, T = Ten and the ‘s’ after JT means both cards are of the same suit. An ‘o' after the JT would refer to off-suit)in the first position under the gun (UTG) on a six-handed table with $1/$0.5 BB and SB. We have to decide what to do: we can raise, call (otherwise known as a limp) or fold. There are a huge number of factors which we need to take into account, and unfortunately, I won’t be able to cover them all. But I will try to cover the most fundamental factors in the coming paragraphs.

Firstly, it is very common to see new players play too many hands. They believe that they can outplay their opponents post-flop and turn a profit even with the weakest hands. This belief isn’t the case and often is the main reasons a new player loses money when starting out.

Only Play A Small Percentage Of The Hands You are Dealt

Thus the first preflop poker strategy tip is to play only a small percentage of the hands you are dealt – the type of hands to play will be discussed further on in the text. Players who play a small selection of the hand they are dealt are referred to as tight. Conversely, players who play lots of hands are known as loose.

The vast majority of winning poker players are relatively tight, and for the most part, losing players are loose. Therefore, the first important poker strategy tip:

Preflop Poker Strategy Tip 1: Only play a small percentage of the hands you are dealt.

Luckily, JTs is in the top 12% of hands and therefore is a hand we would want to continue with, in this case. We can determine ‘how strong' a hand is using a program called Equilab. So our options are now to raise or to call because our hand is too strong to fold.

This result leads onto a second reason new players are unsuccessful – frequent limping

Limping is defined as calling the big blind instead of raising or folding. For example, you are first to act after you have been dealt two aces (AA) or like our example with JTs and instead of raising, you just call – this is called a limp.

Limping: Flawed Reasoning

Often, new players limp to see a cheap flop with speculative hands or to trap with strong hands such as AA or KK. Good winning players very rarely limp and there are many reasons why:

1. You give the other players a chance to beat you with their weak holdings. For example, if you limp with AA and your opponent in the big blind checks behind he will have a chance to outdraw you to three of a kind or two-pair. Do not give people a free chance to improve and beat your strong hands.
2. Raising with good hands builds the pot. A big hand deserves a big pot! Typically the only way you will win an opponent’s whole stack (all of their chips) is by raising preflop; winning their entire stack is what you want when you have AA or KK, right?
3. It allows you to better understand what your opponent may have. If we limp in and our opponent is in the big blind, he could have every possible hand; however, when we raise our opponent will fold some of the worse hands and the type of hands he can have become more defined. Experienced players use this to their advantage.
4. Playing speculative hands (hands which could potentially, but infrequently win a big pot) such as 64s (s = suited, o = offsuit) and T2s just is not profitable in the majority of cases, whether you raise or limp, and no matter how good you are at poker.

Preflop poker strategy Tip 2: Never limp preflop

Example: JTs Under the gun

Since limping (i.e. just calling) is not an option our only option is to raise. That poses the question of how much? In this case, we will raise to 3x the BB, so $3 and one player calls our bet as shown. We will cover the reason we use 3x later in the article.

Three times the BB is a standard raise size which we will go into later in this article under the heading “Texas Holdem betting strategy”. But first, a little more on aggression to drive home the point:

You should only raise or fold your hands when first entering the pot. However, calling with some hands after someone else has raised is fine. There are some situations where open limping is a good idea but they are so few and far between that never limping is a good starting preflop poker strategy – especially for a beginner.

This leads to another generalization of how people play poker:

Aggressive vs. Passive

In poker, an aggressive opponent is a player who bets and raises frequently. A passive opponent is a player who calls and checks often and very rarely bets or raises.

Aggression is one of the keys to success in poker for one simple reason: When you bet or raise, you have two ways to win the pot – either your opponent folds or you get to showdown with the best hand.

Unfortunately, when a player is passive there is only one way to win the pot – by having the best hand. This difference is hugely important and is the reason all big winners are aggressive poker players; while most losing poker players are quite passive.

Preflop poker strategy Tip 3: Take the initiative and be aggressive. Bet and raise your strong hands frequently and don’t rely on others to do the betting for you!

The four playing styles

In total there are four player styles:

1. Tight-Aggressive (TAg) – This player type which makes up the majority of the winning player pool. They wait for strong hands and bet and raise them hard, punishing other players who play weaker styles.
2. Loose-Aggressive (LAg) – successful loose aggressive players are few and far between. They play lots of hands and play them very aggressively. It is a tough style to play but also a tough style to combat!
3. Tight-Passive – this player type does not play very many hands and when they do the play them by calling and checking frequently. These players lose their money slowly but surely.
4. Loose-Passive – these player types just don’t like to fold. Loose passive players play lots of hands – sometimes over 50% of the hands they are dealt. They are the complete opposite of tight-aggressive. This player type is the biggest loser and where the big winners make their money.

So what hands should you play? That is a difficult question to answer since it depends on many factors – what position you are in, how many opponents are on the table, how likely your opponents are to raise, the equity of your hand, how many BB you have and how many hands you have been raising recently.

Starting Hand Types

However, there are some basic starting hands that you should almost always be playing:

Premium Hands

There are very few premium hands in poker but when we do get these hands we should be trying to build a pot as big as possible and as quickly as possible. These hands are:

AA, KK, QQ, JJ, and AK – the top pocket pairs and Ace-King. AK is considered to be a powerful hand because:

• It dominates all other strong non-paired hands (e.g. AQ and KQ),
• Against a pair, it's nearly a coin flip with approximately 45% pot equity (will win the pot 45% of the time if we are to go all-in preflop)
• It blocks AA and KK which are the only two hands which have a significant equity advantage.

These hand should always be raised and often re-raised to begin building the pot.

Strong Hands

Strong hands are hands you should also always be raised when first entering the pot. These hands should be called when someone has already raised before you. These hands include:

AQ, AJ, AT, KQ and 99-TT. Large suited and connected hands such as QJs, JTs, are also considered strong hands. Suited hands derive their strength from being able to make flushes. However, do not overestimate the value of suited hands. Don’t play a hand just because it is suited. The value of a hand is derived from the combination of the ranks of the two hole cards. Example: AQ is much stronger than Q5, AQ is still much stronger than Q5 suited.

Preflop poker strategy tip 4: Do not overestimate the value of ‘suitedness.' Evaluate the strength of the hand from the rank of the two hole cards.

Medium Strength Hands

Texas Holdem Twins Games

You need to be careful of this hand type. These hands can make you a big winner if correctly played, but when incorrectly played can cost you lots of chips. These hands include:

KJ, KT, QJ, JT and 22-88. Medium suited connectors such as 87s are also considered to be medium-strength hands.

You will play different hands from various starting positions. Details on this require a separate section – for more on the differences in the positions read position is king which will provide a “beginners starting hand chart.

Summary Of Preflop Texas Holdem Strategy

In summary, preflop you should:

1. You should play a small percentage of the hands you are dealt.
2. Never limp.
3. Take the initiative and be aggressive. Raise and Reraise your strong hands frequently and don’t rely on others to do the raising for you!
4. Do not overestimate the value of ‘suitedness.' Evaluate the strength of the hand from the rank of the two hole cards.

If all you take from this section is these four points you will still have significantly improved your chances of winning.

For a summary of preflop poker strategy see the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNgcJ4AmjGA

Postflop Texas Holdem Strategy

Once you understand right preflop Texas Holdem strategy, the postflop poker strategy becomes significantly easier. When you play weak hands from poor positions poker is quite difficult; nobody likes to play Q7 from out of position (Out of position means you act first, so your opponent will have more information than you)! However, if you play only a narrow range of hands from good starting positions, as is recommended, poker will become a much simpler prospect.

Postflop, there are many factors which we must take into account before we make a decision. The number of variables makes each decision quite complicated for a beginner. However, there are a few guidelines and concepts which can be understood which will help you in the decision-making process.

Postflop Poker Strategy – The Basics

One of the most important considerations is if we are in position (IP) or out of position (OOP). We will cover this in more detail in Position is king.

Secondly, we should be considering what our opponent may be holding. Does our opponent have only strong hands if he is a tight player? Does he play lots of hands meaning his ‘range’ of hands will be quite weak? See more on how to hand read.

A whole book could be written on hand reading, so I won’t go further into it. But it is important as a new player to begin thinking about what your opponent may have. Do not only consider the hand you are holding.

Postflop poker strategy Tip 1: Always consider what your opponent could be holding.

Next, we should consider the board texture. For example, is the board likely to have improved your hand or your competitors? Is the board likely to change very much on the turn or river? These considerations will be detailed further on in this guide.

Another consideration is how many players made it to the flop. If the flop is heads up (only you and your opponent) the strength of each hand is much better than if five or even six people made it to the flop. The more players that see the flop, turn, and river the less likely you are to win a showdown with a weak holding such as one pair. For more information on the differences between multiway and heads up pots, head over to pokernews.com.

Postflop poker strategy Tip 2: The more players there are in the hand, the less likely you are to win and the weaker your holding.

Finally, we need to consider how many chips are in the pot, how much we have left behind in our stack and how many chips our opponent has.

After these considerations, we can make a decision on how we are going to proceed in the hand.

So first let’s have a look at board texture:

Postflop Poker Strategy: Notation

Before we discuss post-flop poker strategy and board composition in detail, we need to make sure the notation is clear to everyone.

In some cases, pictures will be used to show board textures, but often just text will be employed. When describing the board with text (i.e. letters and numbers), each card rank is represented by either its number or the first letter of its name. To take an example, the board:

This texture is described by 5♥ K♣ 5♦ and is often shortened to 5hKc5d. It is sometimes shortened further to 5K5r. Here the ‘r’ means rainbow (the flop is all different suits). When the flop has a flush draw (i.e. not a rainbow board) the board could be represented by 5K5s. Here the ‘s’ represents suited.

There are many types of boards, but in general, they can be broken down into two types: dry board textures and wet board textures.

Dry Board Texture

Dry board textures are ones which the players in the hand are less likely to have connected with the community cards. Also, dry also means a board which the strength of your holding is unlikely to change over the course of the hand.

Examples of dry board textures are:

Why are these boards considered dry? Well on the K55 board there are not many hands that will change the strength of your opponent’s or your holdings. If for example, you held KQ, then the only way your opponent can now beat you is if he has:

Well on the K55 board there are not many hands that will change the strength of your opponent’s or your holdings. If for example, you held KQ, then the only way your opponent can now beat you is if he has:

If for example, you held KQ, then the only way your opponent can now beat you is if he has:

• An Ax (e.g. Ace-Queen or Ace-Seven) hand and hits an ace on the turn or river.
• A pocket pair such as 77 which hits his set on the turn or river (unlikely).
• A hand such as QJ which hits a runner-runner straight (two cards in a row – for example, the turn is a Ten, and the river is an Ace resulting a straight Ten to Ace) or runner runner full house (two Queens or two Jacks).

The most important factor is that neither of these two board has many straight-draw or flush-draw possibilities. The lack of draws means that if you have a hand like A5 on the K55 board or 44 on the 742 board you are very unlikely to be beaten by your opponent if he is behind on the flop.

Additionally, dry flops are inherently difficult to hit and hence makes continuation betting as the pre-flop raiser (you raised first, and someone called your raise) especially useful on dry boards. Continuations bets will be detailed further on in this section.

Wet board texture

On the other hand, wet board textures are boards where the board is very likely to change over future streets.

Looking at the QT9s board, there are many cards which will modify the strength of many hands. If we have AQ or TT on this board we have a strong hand; but on many turn cards such as a K, J, 8 or any heart, the strength of these hands will significantly degrade. Also, there are many hand types that your opponent may have hit this board with:

• Any 8 or K is an inside straight draw (4 cards will complete the straight).
• Any J is an open-ended straight draw (8 cards will make a straight)
• The majority of opponents plays Queens, Tens, and Nines.

Therefore, your opponent is likely to continue with a large proportion of his hands on this board.

We can directly translate all these points to the 432s board; except for the last as this board has cards of lower ranks. On the 432s board, however, every Ace has an inside straight draw. Aces will be played quite frequently by most opponents.

Every other board type will be somewhere in between the dry K55r and the wet QT9s. Understanding how wet or dry a board is and adjusting your strategy correctly is the key skill at play in this scenario. For more information on board textures, see this excellent article.

Continuation betting

A continuation bet, as its name suggests, is when you follow up on your previous aggressive action with another bet. For example, you raise pre-flop and then continue to bet on the flop. Continuation bets are extremely useful postflop poker strategy for two reasons:

1. It is tough to connect with most board types; therefore player who bets first will often win the pot
2. The player who last raised pre-flop will typically have the strongest hands; thus will get the benefit of the doubt when he bets again.

The rate at which you continuation bet should be, on a very basic level, determined by the wetness of the board.

The dryer the board, the less likely your opponent hit and therefore the more often we will want to bet so that we can take down the pot.

But we should also be more prone to bet when we have a chance to win the pot when called. In other words, we have pot equity in the form of a draw or overcards.

Postflop poker strategy Tip 3: The dryer a board texture, the more likely we are to win the pot by continuation betting (cbet).

Example 1: A Good Spot To CBet

So let’s take a few examples of good examples of continuation bets. Continuation from our previous example of JTs from UTG (click the picture to see the full replay):

We opened to 3bb from UTG and got one call from the Button. On the flop of 9h7s3s, we have an inside straight draw and two overcards. This board is ranked medium for wetness and how the opponent connects; our opponent can have a few straight and flush draws as well as top pairs.

JTs is a good hand in this situation as we can make robust pairs on the turn and river and also can make the nut straight. Thus this is a good spot for a cbet as a bluff. We expect him to fold hands which are better than ours. However, if he does continue, we have a good chance of making a stronger hand with a J, T or 8.

We should keep bluffing to a minimum when playing small stakes and especially at play money poker. But in this case, it is almost a perfect situation for a bluff.

Example 2: Another good spot to CBet

Another situation for a good cbet is below:

We raised with 22 from the Button and got two callers from the SB and BB. Both check to us on the flop. This situation is a clear spot to value bet (value betting and bluffing are discussed in the next section). The flop is relatively wet, and two players can draw out us with straights and flush draws. Therefore, we want to charge them to see them next card.

Also, we have a robust hand (the second or third strongest depending on whether our opponents will re-raise KK preflop). We can get lots of value and win a big pot by betting; thus this is an excellent spot for a value bet.

Texas Holdem Win Calculator

Cbetting for value is a fundamental aspect of our postflop poker strategy and is one of the primary sources of profit at small stakes. Ensure you understand and utilize continuation betting fully by reading our in-depth article.

Example 3: A bad spot to Cbet

Below is a dangerous situation to continuation bet:

We raise a limper with 98s and get a call from the BB and the player who limped. The flop is terrible for us as we have a small amount of equity and this board is likely to have hit one of our opponents. Thus it is not a good spot to continuation bet (cbet), and we should check behind and fold to any future bets.

Postflop poker strategy Tip 5: Do not cbet on board textures where your opponent is likely to call, and you have little chance of improving on later streets

Continuation bets can also apply to the turn and the river. For example, we refer to betting the flop, turn and river as a continuation bet.

Continuation bets are how a significant proportion of your winnings will be generated at small stakes and free money poker. People often give up when they do not hit anything so take advantage of this fact.

Stack sizes

The number of chips you have bought in for or currently have on the poker table is known as ‘stack depth.'

If you are playing ‘short stack’ poker, it means you are not playing with very many chips on the table – for example, 40bb. We do not recommend shallow stack play. Shallow stack poker means we have fewer chips on the table and hence we can win fewer chips from the weak poker players at the table.

Conversely, deep-stacked play means you have a lot of chips at the table – e.g. 200bb deep.

The shallower your stack depth, the more likely you should be to go all in. In poker terms going all-in is called ‘stacking off.'

Stack depth has a profound effect on your preflop and post-flop poker strategy so ensure you are aware of your stack depth at all times.

For example, it would be appropriate to allow yourself to get all in with post-flop with top pair good kicker such as KQ on K72 if you had a stack depth of 40bb; however, not if you had a stack depth of 100bb or greater.

Postflop poker strategy tip 5: The greater your stack depth, the stronger a holding you need to stack off. Always be aware of your stack depth before entering a pot.

Before playing a hand pre-flop, you should be checking the stack depth of you and your opponents. Checking stack depth ensures you understand how many chips are at play.

One mistake often made by new players is not considering effective stack size: if you have 100bb and your opponent has 40bb then the effective stack size is 40bb; this is because your opponent can win no more than 40bb from you. Hence your effective stack size can vary from hand to hand, and you must adjust your post-flop poker strategy accordingly.

For a summary of post-flop strategy see this video below:

Texas Holdem Strategy: Betting and Raising

Betting is the fundamental aspect of poker which makes it an exciting game to play. The ability to wager money as a bluff inducing your opponent to fold is one of the biggest selling points of the game; it is the first thing people think of when discussing poker!

But it's not all about bluffing as Hollywood has led you to believe. A lot of a winning Texas Holdem strategy just involves getting your bets in when you have a better hand than your opponent.

Poker betting strategy: reasons to bet

There are three reasons why one would want to bet:

1. For value – to get worse hands to call meaning we will win a bigger pot. For example, you value bet AK on an Ace high board (such as A72) to get AQ, AJ, etc. and worse pairs to call.
2. As a bluff – to get better hands to fold so we can win the pot with a poor holding. For example, you may be QJ on the A72 board to get hands such as non-paired Kings (KQ, KJ) to fold.
3. As a semi-bluff – A semi-bluff is much like a natural bluff only that when we are called we will still have a good likelihood of winning the pot. With a semi-bluff, we have a lot of pot equity. An example of a semi-bluff would be betting or raising with a flush draw: a weak non-made hand which has the potential to make a robust hand. See more information on semi-bluffing.

Before betting, consideration should be made as to why a bet is being made. Can worse hands call our bet and provide us with value? Can we get better hands to fold? If neither is the case, you typically shouldn't be betting. This concept is integral to correctly implementing a solid poker betting strategy.

Poker Betting Strategy Tip 1: Always consider when betting, will your bet either get your opponent to fold a better hand (bluffing) or call with a worse hand (value betting).

This concept can difficult to grasp as a new player. But generally, you should be just betting with your strong hands; and if you are playing small stakes or especially free poker, keep bluffing to a minimum. People at low stakes or even play money poker do not fold; thus bluffing at these stakes is a complete waste of money.

Poker betting strategy: Bet sizing

Bet sizing is one of the most complicated parts of NLHE and is one of the most challenging aspects to grasp for a new player. For simplicity sake there a few rules to stick to which won't lead you too far wrong:

1. Preflop raise to 3 times (3x) the BB with all hands you are opening. Do not vary your bet sizing depending on your hand strength. Changing your bet sizing based on your hand strength is a sure-fire way to let your skilled opponents what you are holding.
2. The same applies when re-raising another player preflop, make your raise three times the initial raise. For example, a player in a 100Nl game might open to $3. In that case, when you re-raise him with your strong holdings such as AA or KK, make it $9.
3. Postflop bet between 1/2 and full pot size bets. That means that if on the flop, the pot is $10 you should be betting between $5 and $10. Any smaller than that and your opponent can easily call with a lot of hands. Allowing your opponent to call with lots of hands means you miss value with strong hands; also, your opponent isn't likely to fold when you are bluffing. This is a bad result either way!

For a more advanced guide on poker bet sizing see: Pokerlistings.com

A big mistake new players often make is using the same bet size as the pot grows on each street. For example: betting 5$ into a $10 pot on the flop and then betting $5 into a $20 pot on the turn. Your bet sizes should be relative to the pot! As the pot grows so should the size of your bet. Think fractions, not dollar amounts!

Poker Betting Strategy 2: As a general rule always raise at least three times the previous bet or raise. When betting post-flop bet between 1/2 to a full pot-sized bet.

These bet sizing rules aren't optimal; they are approximations. However, they should provide you with solid groundwork to get you off to a good start in your poker career.

Once you begin to understand the merits of betting and raising and develop a more comprehensive poker betting strategy you can start to see when it is appropriate to deviate from these rules.

See this video on value betting for more information.

Further Reading

That's it for Texas Holdem Strategy. If you are really keen on learning poker quickly, we would suggest you check out our home page for more information to accelerate your poker learning.

There is still a lot to learn so here are some further reading:

Common poker mistakes.

Or return to poker 101?

Last updated: 26 October 2020

Texas holdem is the most popular variation of poker played
online and in casinos and poker rooms everywhere in the world.
Its popularity has led to many different variations, both in
casinos and in home and private games.

The first three sections below include information about
limits that Texas holdem and its variants can be played in. Any
of the variants listed in the sections after the next three can
be played in any of the three limits.

The game variants listed in the sections after the limit
sections have varying degrees of popularity. Omaha holdem can be
found in many poker rooms and casinos and is widely available
online. Pineapple can be found in a limited number of poker
rooms, and most of the others are only found in private and home
games at this time.

Limit

A limit betting structure is commonly found in use for Texas
holdem games, but it isn’t as popular as no limit play. In limit
play each betting round has a set betting limit. This limit is
usually one amount during the flop and immediately following the
flop and twice this amount on the turn and river betting rounds.

A limit Texas holdem game with a 4 / 8 limit has bets of $4
during the first two betting rounds and exactly $8 during the
final two betting rounds. So each bet and / or raise is exactly
$4 before and on the flop. If player 1 bets $4 and player 2
raises she must put $8 in the pot, $4 to call the original bet
and a raise of another $4.

Blinds are usually set based on the limits, with the big
blind being equal to the lower betting limit and the small blind
being half the big blind. In the example we just looked at the
big blind would be $4 and the small blind is $2.

No Limit

No limit play has the same blind structure found in limit
games and usually has a minimum bet limit per round, but at any
time a player, when it’s their turn to act, may bet up to and
including the total number of chips they have in front of them.
This is the most common betting structure found in Texas holdem
games and also most of the variations listed below except for
Omaha holdem.

One of the common misconceptions of non-poker players and
beginners is if a player has more money than another and moves
all of their chips into the pot that the player with fewer chips
can’t play or loses automatically. What actually happens is the
player with more chips gets back their chips in excess of the
other player’s total amount.

I player A has $250 and moves all in and player B has $200
and calls, player A receives $50 back so each player has $200 in
the pot.

This can get somewhat complicated if multiple players are in
a pot with differing chip stacks. When multiple players get all
in with different stack sizes the dealer creates different pots
with the main pot being the total amount of the player with the
smallest stack which anyone remaining in the hand can win.

The first side pot will be bets in excess of the amount the
smallest stack held, with only players who contribute to the
second pot eligible to win it. A third, fourth, and so on, side
pot can be built in large multi way pots. You don’t have to
worry about this as the dealer takes care of it, but it’s good
to understand how it works to make sure the dealer doesn’t make
any mistakes.

A pot ends up with four players all in, and the hand starts
with the following chip counts:

• Player A has $700 in chips
• Player B has $800 in chips
• Player C has $900 in chips
• Player D has $1,000 in chips

The main pot ends up with $2,800 in it and any of the four
players can win it. The first side pot has $300 in it and
players B, C, and D can each win it. The second side pot ends up
with $200 in it and only players C and D can win it. Notice that
player D will only have $900 invested because she started with
at least $100 more money than any of the other players.

At the showdown the player who’s eligible for each pot with
the highest hand is awarded that pot. Different players can win
each pot or the same player can win all of the pots. This
example ignores the small amount of the blinds and rake that
often make a pot not come out quite so evenly for instructional
purposes.

Pot Limit

Pot limit is mostly found in Omaha games, but a few Texas
holdem games are played in a pot limit format. One of the issues
with pot limit play is the dealer has to understand how the
betting structure works and be able to quickly determine the pot
size. When playing online the software platform takes care of
all of the calculations, but in live play the dealer needs to be
either experienced, or quite sharp, or both.

Texas Holdem Twins Cheat

The blinds and minimum bets on each round are set by the
house, just like in limit and no limit play, but the maximum
amount any player may bet at one time is the amount of money in
the pot. But the amount of the pot also includes the amount it
takes to call an earlier bet, so a pot sized bet can be bigger
than most players think. Look at the two following examples for
a better understanding of how pot sized bets work.

The pot has $125 in it after the flop and the
first player wants to raise the size of the pot. She bets $125
and play continues to the next player. This is fairly
straightforward and easy, because the player is starting the
betting round.

Using the previous example as a setup, the next
player to act wants to raise as much as possible. The pot now
has $250 in it, but the maximum raise is actually higher than
$250. Though the player must state their intention to raise, the
pot size is calculated by first adding the call of $125 to the
pot and then determining the maximum raise amount. So once the
$125 call is added the pot now has $375 in it, so the player can
raise another $375. So they put a total of $500 in the pot,
which is the $125 call and the $375 raise.

This is why the dealer needs to understand how pot limit play
works and stay on top of the game.

In real life pot limit games it’s rarely this complicated and
most poker rooms let players operate with bet maximums close to
the pot size. If the pot has anywhere between $90 and $110 or
somewhere close to this range a player can bet $100. As long as
players are close to the pot size with their maximum bets it’s
usually acceptable for all of the players. This way the dealer
doesn’t have to keep an exact count on the pot.

Occasionally you’ll play against a player who can keep the
running pot amount in his or her head and announce it whenever
anyone needs to know. This can be a bit intimidating, but most
of these players aren’t any more than decent poker players. Just
because you can keep track of a pot doesn’t mean you’re a great
poker player.

Pineapple

Pineapple poker is played exactly like Texas holdem except
you start with three hole cards instead of two. You discard one
card face down before the flop. Traditionally you discard your
third card after the pre flop betting round, but in some places
you discard it before the pre flop betting round. It doesn’t
really matter which way you play, as long as you stay
consistent.

Most Pineapple games are played as no limit, but it can
easily be played in limit and pot limit. In comparison to Texas
holdem, Pineapple hand values run a little higher, but not
extremely so. Three of a kind hands and flushes are more likely
to happen in Pineapple because it’s easier to start with a
pocket pair and it’s more likely to have two cards of the same
suit.

Overall, if you can beat Texas holdem you should be able to
quickly adjust your game to be a winning Pineapple player. The
same concepts of tight and aggressive play tend to do well in
Pineapple, just like in Texas holdem. Poor players tend to play
too many hands in Pineapple because they have a third starting
card, making it look like they have a better hand than they
really do.

Crazy Pineapple

Crazy Pineapple starts the same way as regular Pineapple, but
you don’t discard your third hole card until after the betting
round following the flop. This tends to make players stay in the
hand longer, leading to larger average pots than in a similar
Texas holdem game. It’s usually played in no limit format.

The average winning hand strength is better than in a Texas
holdem game because of the extra starting card and the
possibility to see six total cards before the turn and river.
Just like regular Pineapple, if you’re a good holdem player you
shouldn’t have much trouble adjusting your game to be a winning
Crazy Pineapple player.

Omaha Holdem

Omaha holdem, often just called Omaha, is the second most
popular form of poker played online and in poker rooms around
the world. The main differences between Texas holdem and Omaha
are each player receives four hole cards instead of two, and
each player must use exactly two of their hole cards and three
community cards to make a hand.

Omaha is sometimes played as high only, like Texas holdem,
but it’s also played in high / low, usually with an eight high
qualifier. Though 7 Card Stud can be played high / low, Omaha is
about the only game found at this time that is played for low.
Razz is a low only game, but finding a game is almost
impossible.

In a high / low Omaha game the pot is split between the best
high hand and the best low hand if a qualifying low hand is
shown down. A qualifying low hand must have five unpaired cards
ranked eight or below. See our Omaha poker section for a
complete explanation of the rules.

From a strategy standpoint if you’re starting to play Omaha
and have been playing Texas holdem, the most important thing to
remember is just because you have twice as many hole cards it
doesn’t mean you can play twice as many hands. You should
actually play no more hands than a winning Texas holdem player
does, and many good Omaha players play fewer hands.

The other important thing that trips up many beginning Omaha
players is never forget you have to use two of your hole cards.

You can’t use more or less than three community cards. This
can lead to costly mistakes if you forget it.

Omaha, in both high only and high / low, can be played in no
limit, pot limit, or limit, but most games are limit and pot
limit.

Aviation Holdem

Aviation holdem is a cross between Omaha and Pineapple. You
start with four hole cards and discard one before the flop and
another one after the flop. This form of holdem is rare and most
players aren’t familiar with it. The odds of it passing Omaha in
popularity aren’t good because it’s almost exactly like Omaha
high only, but in Omaha you keep all four cards for the entire
hand.

The value of winning hands at showdown is almost identical to
Omaha high only, which means better than the average Texas
holdem hand, but not outrageously better. Winning Texas holdem
players and wining Omaha payers won’t have much trouble
adjusting to Aviation holdem winning play.

Tahoe Holdem or Lazy Pineapple

Tahoe holdem, also called Lazy Pineapple in some places, has
each player receive three hole cards and keep them throughout
the hand. It’s a cross between Texas holdem and Omaha. Other
than three hole cards it plays exactly like Texas holdem.

This variation can be played in a high / low split version
like Omaha high / low, but it’s rarely played this way. The
average winning hand value is slightly better than Texas holdem,
but not extremely better.

Speed Holdem

Of all of the variations listed on this page Speed holdem is
probably the rarest and is only found in home or private games.
In Speed holdem each player is dealt four hole cards and each
player immediately discards two of them. Then all five community
cards are dealt face up in the center of the table. This is
followed by the single betting round and showdown.

All other rules are the same as a normal Texas holdem game
and Speed holdem can be played in limit, pot limit, and no limit
varieties, but it’s almost always played in no limit.

Summary

It’s easy to get bored playing regular Texas holdem, which
leads to all kinds of problems. When you get bored you may play
too many hands, let your mind wander so you miss important parts
of the game, and just play worse than normal overall.

Now you know how to play many of the popular variations of
Texas holdem, so the next time you start getting bored or just
want a change, look for one of the variations listed above. Or
get some friends together and start your own game of Pineapple
or Tahoe holdem.