Basic Poker Strategy
Welcome to our Poker Strategy guide. Here we won't inundate you with tons of strategies, tips, and hints that probably won't even apply to your style of betting. Instead, we will briefly explain the Pre-Flop, Post Flop, and Short Stack strategies, so you better understand the theories behind No Limit Texas Hold Em and why these moves can help you play better Texas Hold Em Poker and win games.
The Short Stack Strategy
The Short Stack Strategy (SSS) teaches you how to play Poker with a small amount of chips. To use this strategy effectively, you should find a table with Players that have a lot of chips and buy in for a small amount. There should be at least 7 Players at the table and at most 2 of them should be short stack Players as well. You should buy into the Poker game with 20 Big Blinds. If your short stack is less than 15 Blinds, increase it to 20 before resuming play. If your stack increases to more than 25 Big Blinds, your best bet is to cash out and leave the table.
When you sit down at a table, you have the option of posting the Big Blind right away or waiting until it reaches you. You should choose the latter option and wait. You need a minimum amount of buy-ins to play at a given limit. You can move up to a higher limit if you have 30 Buy-ins in your bankroll. If you only have 30 Buy-Ins, you have to move down a limit. If your limit is too high, you will go broke. If you don't move up a limit, you will lose out on winning opportunities.
The Short Stack Strategy - Pre-Flop
How do you play before the flop? Well, the first thing to do is to look at your cards and decide if you want to play in the first round of betting. Your position at the table influences your betting. If there are many Players between you and the Dealer, you will have to act quickly. There are 4 different types of Player positions - Late, Middle, Early, and Blind (going in a counter clockwise position) - at a Poker table. The Dealer and the Player to his right make up the Late positions, so there are 2 Late positions at a Poker table. The 3 Players in front of the Late position make up the Middle position, so there are 3 Middle positions at a Poker table. The next 3 seats make up the Early positions, so there are 3 Early positions are a Poker table. The last 2 positions are the Blind positions. The Players who post the Blinds are in the Blind position. Remember that you must always count counter clockwise when determining your position at a Poker table. These positions are based on a table with 10 Players. If there are less than 10, you should not count a seat when determining your position.
When deciding when or how much to raise, if no one has raised before you, you should follow 2 simple rules: 1) you should always raise to 4 Big Blinds and 2) you should raise an additional 1 Big Blind for every Player that has already called. Do not count the Big Blind, because he did not voluntarily put in his hand. .
When deciding which cards to play, if no one has raised before you, you should:
- Play Pocket Jacks or better (i.e. Pocket Queens, Pocket Kings, Pocket Aces, and Ace/King), if you are in the Early Position.
- Play Pocket Nines or better (i.e. Pocket Tens, Pocket Jacks, Pocket Queens, Pocket Kings, Pocket Aces, Ace/King, Ace/Queen), if you are in the Middle Position.
- Play Pocket Sevens or betteer (i.e. Pocket Eights, Pocket Nines, Pocket Tens, Pocket Jacks, Pocket Queens, Pocket Kings, Pocket Aces, Ace/King, Ace/Queen, Ace/Jack, King/Queen), if you are in the Late Position or in the Blinds.
- Fold if your hand is not listed above for the respective positions.