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Play Good Cards and You Will Win. My #1 Texas Holdem tip is one of the very first lessons in poker. Texas Holdem is a complex game for beginners, but it's easy to learn after a few hands. Luckily, this game includes in-game tutorials on how to play and win big. To play a hand, you must offer a minimum bet and 'call' the highest bet by any player.
How to Determine the Winning Hand in Texas Hold’em
The first thing players brand new to poker have to learn is how to read the board or five “community cards” in order to determine the winning hand in Texas hold’em. The most important thing to remember is that when making your hand you use the best five cards available among the seven total cards — that is, your two hole cards plus the five cards on the board.
In hold’em you can use any five cards out of the seven to make your hand — in fact, you don’t even have to use the two hole cards which were dealt to you! This is called “playing the board,” and it happens if your best five-card poker hand is the one which is on the board in front of you.
For example, if you get dealt pocket aces and the board is , your best hand is the nine-high straight on the board in front of you — in other words, your aces don’t even play. In this case, you will chop the pot with your opponent when it comes to showdown unless of course the other player has or and makes a better straight.
Kicker problems
Another thing to bear in mind is that even with your one-pair hands — where most new players attention only to the pair they have — you need to be aware of the value of your total five-card hand.
For example, say you have and the board reads . That means your best five-card hand is A-A-10-7-5 — that is, the pair of aces plus the three highest other cards available, the ten, the seven, and the five. In this hand if you put your opponent on a pair of aces as well, the likelihood your would be best is in fact very slim given that the only other hand you beat would be . That’s because on this board your non-ace card or “kicker” plays.
It is always favorable to have a high card as your kicker when you make a pair, as having a high kicker helps improve the value of your full five-card hand. In the above example, a player holding on that board would have a pair of aces with a queen kicker (A-A-Q-10-7) — a relatively strong hand with which the player could be more confident than with ace-five.
Two-pair hands
One of the most common areas of confusion for new players when it comes to determining who has the winning hand is when both players have two-pair hands.
On a board which reads , let’s say one player turns over while another shows . I’ve seen new players in this situation who have the sixes mistakenly think their two-pair hand must be best, simply by virtue of the fact that they hold a pocket pair. But they’re wrong.
Let’s go through the five-card analysis again. The best five-card hand for the player with is sixes and fours with a ten — 6-6-4-4-10. Meanwhile the player holding has tens and fours with a nine — 10-10-4-4-9 — or a higher two-pair hand. This can be very tilting for the player with the pocket pair.
Counterfeiting
Finally, let’s have a look at something called counterfeiting. This doesn’t happen too often, but when it does you need to be aware of it.
Counterfeiting occurs when a community card is dealt that both alters the value of your own hand and increases the chance of an opponent having a better hand than you. It’s a little odd, because what happens is that your hand technically improves while likely making it less strong relative to your opponent’s hand.
For example, on a board of a player who has has a two-pair hand and is ahead of an opponent holding . But if a were to fall on either the turn or river, the player holding pocket aces would improve to a better two-pair hand (aces and jacks) and gain the advantage.
Notice how the player with would also improve to a better hand if a jack comes (going from sevens and fives to jacks and sevens) — but unfortunately the card that improved the hand also made it worse than the other player’s hand. Using the terminology of the game, the player’s two-pair hand has been “counterfeited” as the pair on the board gave the other player a better two-pair hand.
As in all of these examples, it is very important always to keep track of your best five-card hand. When you’ve done it for long enough, it may even start to seem like second nature recognizing what hands beat what. However, there may still be occasions when you end up staring at the board for a good minute trying to figure out what you have (and at the same time what your opponent might have!) and if you have the winning hand in your Texas hold'em game.
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cash game strategytournament strategybeginner strategyhand readingruleshand rankingsno-limit hold’em
Texas hold’em is a game of information availability – and when you go through a hold’em hand, regardless of whether it’s fixed-limit, pot-limit or no-limit hold’em, you need to be able to read the board and understand what it’s telling you. This is critically important.
The first step is to evaluate the composition of the board. This means working out what hand you hold based on your two hole cards and those on the board. But it’s also important that you connect the dots and have an awareness of what the best possible hand (the nuts) might be. Knowing what the nuts is on any given board is second nature to seasoned poker players, but it’s not always so obvious to beginners. Hopefully by the end of this lesson it will be.
Common Flop Textures
The flop is a defining moment in hold’em and can be made up of many different card combinations. Here are a few examples of common flop textures you will see when playing hold’em:
The Rainbow Flop
A rainbow flop means all three cards are of different suits. A rainbow flop means nobody can hold a flush without drawing on both the turn and the river, as the maximum number of suited cards a player could have at this point is three (two in the hole plus one on the board). If the turn is a card of the fourth suit, then a flush defintely won’t be possible.
The Flush Draw Flop
This flop has two cards of the same suit (spades), which means the maximum number of suited cards a player could have at this point is four. If a player has four suited cards then he’s said to be “on a flush draw”, and could have two opportunities for hitting a flush – on the turn or on the river.
The Suited Flop
If the flop contains three suited cards then someone could already have a made flush, with the two cards in their hand. These types of flops are very dangerous if you have hit part of it, but not the flush. Your hand is also under threat by players who might have just one spade in their hand and are drawing to a flush.
The Paired Flop
Whenever the board shows a pair, the possible hands available increases to include full houses and four of a kinds. Therefore you should immediately realize that your opponent’s could be holding these big hands.
Playing The Board In Texas Holdem
There are many more types of flops, such as trip flops, straight flops, and so on. The important thing to remember is that you analyze the texture of the flop at all times. It’s free information and is available for all to see – so don’t ignore it. In fact, the texture of the flop should heavily influence how you play a hand.
Knowing Your Best Hand
In order to be properly prepared for playing poker it’s essential that you can read the board and work out your best possible hand. It’s easy to do, yet even experienced players make mistakes and mis-read boards from time to time.
Example #1
The best hand you can make here would for a full house.
Example #2
In this example you’re best hand is for a King-high flush.
Example #3
In this example your best hand is for a straight. You could use one of the 4′s in your hand but it doesn’t make any difference because you’re effectively “playing the board”.
The Nuts
The term “the nuts” means you have an unbeatable hand based on the board. When playing poker you should always think about what your opponents might have, so it’s important that you can read the board to work out what the nuts might be.
See if you can work out which starting hands would give the nuts in the following examples:
Example #1
This board doesn’t contain any pairs and only two suited cards. The best possible hand would be a straight, for anyone holding 10-7 (suited or unsuited). It would give a straight of 6789T. What would be the second best hole cards? That would be 7-5, giving a lower straight of 56789.
Example #2
The nuts on this board would be four of a kind since the board is paired. Anyone holding would have quads. What would be the second nut hand? Well since there are also a pair of 6’s on the board, anyone holding would have the second nuts.
Example #3
The board isn’t paired and there are only two suited cards, so we can discount a flush or better. A straight is also impossible since there are too many gaps to fill. The best hand here would be pocket Kings, giving a set. The second best would be pocket Jacks, for a lower set.
Understanding the Strength of Your Hand
Sometimes the board can render those two private cards that you’ve been dealt as absolutely priceless, or absolutely worthless, or somewhere in-between. You must learn to read the board and fully understand the relative strength of your hand and what potential opportunities or dangers lay ahead.
Let’s revisit the example hands we used earlier and determine how strong your hand really is.
Example #1
You have a full house, but you could be losing to players with the following hole cards: TT, JJ, JT, T3, T2, and 33. So while you have a full house, your hand is only the eighth best hand available. You still have a strong hand, but it’s by no means the nuts.
Example #2
You have a flush but you could be losing to any player who is holding the , or . Therefore you have the fourth best hand based on this board.
Example #3
You are “playing the board” which shows a straight. But you would lose to any players holding a single 8 for the higher straight. Any player with an 8 would be in very big trouble if someone else had 8-9 in the hole for the nut straight.
SWOT Analysis
In the business world it’s common to perform a SWOT analysis of a company, and SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Well, we can take this approach to poker too. Let’s look at some example starting hands and flops, and perform a SWOT analysis on them.
Example #1
- Strengths – You have flopped a set of 7’s, a very strong hand.
- Weaknesses – Well you don’t have the nuts, as this would be a player holding K-K, but you have the 2nd nuts – so there’s no real weakness at this stage.
- Opportunities – Your hand can still improve. Another 7 would give you quads, and a 5 or K on the turn or river would give a full house.
- Threats – The biggest threat to your hand is another club on the turn or river, which could make someone else a flush. While a King would give you a full house, it could also give someone else a bigger full house (i.e. if they were holding K-5 or K-7).
Example #2
- Strengths – You have flopped an open ended straight draw (5678), and a flush draw. Put simply, you’ve flopped a great drawing hand.
- Weaknesses – The weakness is that you need to hit. If the hand stopped here you have nothing but 8 high and would certainly be beaten.
- Opportunities – This hand offers great opportunities, and the best outcome would be to hit a 4 or 9 on the turn or river for the straight, as this would give you the nuts (if it isn’t a spade).
- Threats – While this hand gives a flush draw, it would be a low flush and therefore vulnerable to a higher flush. While a flush is better than a straight, the straight would place your hand in a stronger position. The lesson here is that you don’t always want the highest possible poker hand ranking for yourself, but to have one better than your opponents.
Example #3
- Strengths – It’s a rainbow flop and you have a pair of aces, the highest pair available.
- Weaknesses – Your kicker is weak. You could be losing to a lot of hands. Even though you hold suited cards, there is no possibility of hitting a flush.
- Opportunities – Another Ace would give you trips and another 5 would bring two pair.
- Threats – Due to the weak kicker this hand is always vulnerable and could get you into a lot of trouble. This is a prime example of why playing Ace-rag is not a good starting hand, because you never really know where you are.
From Nuts to Nowhere!
Let’s imagine you’re playing poker and the following happens:
What’s your hand at this point? Well, you have flopped the nuts with an Ace high straight. If you were to perform a SWOT analysis at this stage it would be very healthy. The only slight danger is the potential flush draw. Let’s imagine you bet and get called, and the turn brings:
You no longer have the nuts because the board is now paired. Let’s imagine you still believe you’re winning and you get to see the river card:
This is a terrible river card. Not only does the river bring another club, meaning a possible flush, it also double pairs the board. You’re now losing if any of your opponents have just a single Queen or Jack, or two clubs. You’d also be losing if someone held TT, let alone a pair of Jacks or Queens for quads.
Conclusion
The above hand example just goes to show how important it is to read the board and understand the strength of your own hand based on the information available to you. Remember that the more experience you have playing poker, the quicker and easier it will be to read the board and assess the relative strength of your hand.
Even experienced poker players make mistakes from time to time. As a beginner to poker you might mis-read the board every now and again – but it’s natural to make mistakes when you’re learning new skills. Just be aware of the texture of the flop at all times and use the information available to you – and use it wisely.
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By Tim Ryerson
Tim is from London, England and has been playing poker since the late 1990’s. He is the ‘Editor-in-Chief’ at Pokerology.com and is responsible for all the content on the website.