How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem

1. The best position in Texas Hold 'Em is 'on the button.' When you're on the button, you're the last person to act in three out of the four betting rounds—after the flop, the turn, and the river. When it's your turn, you have full knowledge of how many other players are still in the hand, and you can make a much more informed decision on how.
2. This video will run you through the basic rules of Texas Holdem Poker and the 1st Round of Betting. Visit our online casino and try.
3. Bet sizing is an integral part of the No-Limit Texas Hold’em strategy. Since the game is played in no-limit format, you can bet whatever you want, whenever you want. Thus, you need to have a good plan for your bets and make sure every single one of them counts.
4. The aim of the game in Texas Holdem poker is to make the best possible decisions in terms of betting to ensure you win as many chips as possible over multiple hands.

1. How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Card Game
2. How Do You Bet In Texas Holdem
3. How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Games
4. How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Golf
5. How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Poker

You need to be careful of who you take advice from about
gambling. Players have all kinds of systems and superstitions
that can end up costing you a great deal of money over time.

This is as true for Texas holdem advice as any other game you
can find in a casino. So we don’t expect you to blindly follow
the tips and advice on this page, but we do ask that you
consider everything you read here and think about it before you
dismiss what you see.

Betting in poker - A no limit hold'em betting strategy guide. Poker revolves around betting. Betting in poker can serve several functions and betting patterns in poker can be very complex. This certainly holds true in no limit games in which you cannot only decide whether to bet or not, but are also free to bet whatever amount you wish to.

All of the advice found below will help you improve your
Texas holdem game, and most of it will help you become a better
overall poker player, no matter what game you play.

Have Fun

This may seem like generic advice, and you can rest assured
that you’ll be reading more technical sections below, but
there’s a reason we started with having fun. It can be
frustrating when you’re trying to learn how to play and when
you’re trying to improve. It can even be frustrating for
experienced players when hands don’t go their way.

But the point we’re trying to make is that frustration rarely
helps. It’s always better when you’re having fun, so try to stay
positive, focus on the good things, and try to keep having fun
while you’re getting better. I you start getting frustrated take
a break and try to clear your mind,

Pay Attention

It’s easy to get involved with conversations with the other
players at the table and try to find other things to do in order
to keep your mind occupied. If you play a tight game like you’re
supposed to do, it can get quite boring at the holdem table.

You need to always be paying attention at the table even when
you aren’t involved in a hand.

While there’s nothing wrong with visiting with the other
players, you can visit and pay attention at the same time.

You never know when you’ll learn something about an opponent
while watching a hand that you can use against them later in the
session or in another game in the future. The best players
always watch what’s going on in hopes of squeezing a small extra
edge out of a situation at some time in the future.

Never Stop Learning

This may seem like common sense, but most Texas holdem
players reach a certain point and decide they’re either good
enough or simply stop trying to improve. Poker is a lifelong
game and the best players never stop learning.

We mentioned players trying to squeeze a small extra edge out
of a situation, and that’s what never stop learning is about.
Always be looking for a way to improve and get better. This
requires constant study and effort. Look for new strategies,
books, and web pages that can help you find holes in your game
and learn new techniques to improve.

Focus on One Game

When you start winning on a consistent basis you can play
whatever you want, but as you’re learning to be a winning Texas
holdem player you need to focus on one game. What this means is
play either limit or no limit and play cash games, or multi
table tournaments, or sit and go tournaments. You should even
stick with the same close range of buy in amounts or limits.

When you jump from game to game while you’re learning how to
win it can have a negative impact on your results. Even though
you’re playing Texas holdem in each situation, each different
game requires slightly different strategies and playing
abilities.

The best players are able to play many different games and
limits without missing a beat. And if you focus on mastering one
game before adding a second one you’ll eventually be able to do
so as well.

Don’t Bluff Too Much

Almost 100% of Texas holdem players bluff too often. We know
this may seem like a shockingly high number, but it’s true. The
only ones who don’t bluff too often are the best professional
players, and even they can fall victim to over bluffing.

Just like it looks on television, bluffing your way to
winning a pot is just about as cool as anything you can do at
the table. But just because it’s cool doesn’t mean it’s
profitable.

The easy way to fix the bluffing too much problem is quit
bluffing. Simply don’t bluff a single time the next 10 times you
play Texas holdem. Then when you start bluffing again, only use
semi bluffs for the next 10 sessions.

You may be quite surprised at how your results suddenly start
improving. We’re pretty sure if you track your play you may
never start bluffing again. Or at least you’ll only bluff a
small fraction of the time that you used to bluff.

Tight Starting Hand Guidelines

Most players enjoy action, so they want to play as many hands
as possible. It gets boring sitting around watching other
players while you wait for a good hand. And it’s fine if you
want to play a bunch of hands. Just realize that if you play too
many hands you lose more money.

If you want to be a long term winning Texas holdem player you
need to practice tight starting hand guidelines. This means you
should probably be playing far fewer hands than you currently
do.

The only players who don’t need to play fewer hands are the
ones who already are posting long term wins.

To understand exactly what you should and shouldn’t play as
far as starting hands requires a much larger discussion than we
have space for on this page. The good news is we have a monster
page in our strategy section that covers everything you need to
know about starting hands. You should check it out as soon as
you finish reading this page.

For a quick idea of how many starting hands you should be
playing, the first thing you need to do is start tracking how
many hands you play now. A full ring game player should be
playing somewhere between 15 and 25% of their starting hands.
You should shoot for 20% or less until you become a winning
player.

Once you learn the ins and outs of winning holdem play you’ll
start recognizing the games where you can play a few more hands
profitably.

As a general rule of thumb, if you aren’t a winning player
you should start playing fewer hands. Keep reducing the number
of hands you play until you start winning.

Action may be fun, but winning money is more fun at the end
of the day.

Controlled Aggressive Play

When you play aggressively, by betting and raising often, it
forces your opponents to make more decisions. They have to
decide if they should call, fold, or raise every time you play
aggressively. Every time they’re forced to make a decision they
have an opportunity to make a mistake.

When your opponents make mistakes it helps you make more
money.

But you also have to be controlled while playing in an
aggressive manner. If you play aggressively too much you end up
making plays that cost you money in the long run. You need to
have a good hand to play aggressively so it’s important you
follow the advice in the last section. Combining strong starting
hands, that come from tight requirements, and aggressive play,
helps you become a winning Texas holdem player faster.

Play Against Inferior Competition

This tip is one that almost no one uses but makes so much
sense that you should consider having it tattooed on your arm.
If you want to start winning more at the Texas holdem table
starting immediately find a bunch of players who can’t play as
good as you.

Fill the table with amateurs, drunks, and whatever else you
can find. Just as long as your opponents aren’t very good,
you’ll look like a professional.

It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are at playing, simply
find players who are worse than you and you’ll start winning
more money right away.

Play Extremely Tight Early

This goes hand in hand with the next section and with the
earlier section about tight starting hand guidelines. Early
position, including the blinds, is the worst place to be in a
Texas holdem hand. You have to act before any of your opponents
and will often have a hard time controlling the hand.

This means you need to have a strong hand when you do decide
to play from early position. The strength of your opponents in
comparison to your skills also plays a part in what range of
hands you can play. But the tighter you play from early position
the better.

In some games you should stick to pocket aces, kings, queens,
and ace king only from early position. This sounds overly tight,
but early position play requires tight starting hand decisions
if you want to turn a profit.

Late Position Is for Winners

This might seem like a cute saying or it may have made you
smile when you read the title of this section, but it’s a
serious truth that every Texas holdem player needs to burn into
the front of their mind.

You should be playing around 75% of the hands you play from
late position. Make sure you understand that it didn’t say you
should be playing 75% of the late position hands you see. It
says that of all the hands you end up seeing a flop with, 75% of
them should be from late position.

Late position gives you the advantage of seeing what all of
your opponents do before you have to act and also lets you check
for a free card on the turn or river many times. These
advantages go a long way toward profitable play.

Make the Right Decision – Everything Else Takes Care of
Itself

One of the biggest mistakes made by inexperienced Texas
holdem players is basing their thoughts on how they played a
session on their monetary results. This may seem like the best
way to judge how you play, but it only gives you a true picture
over the long run.

The best players understand that they need to make the best
playing decisions in every situation and that no matter what
happens in a given hand or playing session doesn’t matter where
results are concerned. In other words, you can play a hand wrong
and still win it, but over time if you keep playing it wrong
it’ll cost you money. And you can play a hand correctly and
lose, but in the long run you win more by playing hands the best
way.

If you have pocket aces, raise from early position, a player
raises, you move all in, and they call, you’ve played the hand
as well as possible. If you can get all in heads up with pocket
aces before the flop you’ll win a great deal of money in the
long run on the hand.

But every once in a while your opponent will get lucky and
you’ll lose with pocket aces. But remember it doesn’t matter
what happens on this hand, as long as you play it right.

You have a gut shot straight draw after the flop and face an
aggressive player who keeps betting into you. You keep calling
hoping to hit one of the four cards to complete your straight,
but you aren’t receiving anywhere close to the correct pot odds
to call.

Sometimes you’re going to hit the gut shot straight on the
turn or river, but not enough times to make money if you’re not
getting the correct pot odds. You’ll hit your gut shot on the
turn four out of 47 times and if you don’t hit it on the turn
you’ll hit it on the river four out of every 46 times.

Focus on always making the best playing decisions and let
everything else take care of itself. The higher the percentage
of the time you make the right decision the more you’ll win in
your poker career.

The Simple Formula

It seems as if everyone is always looking for the shortcut or
simple formula. How else can you explain all of the money the
people selling get rich quick schemes continue to make? Some
call this the fast food culture. We want it and we want it right
now.

Texas holdem is fairly easy to play but it requires a great
deal of study and practice to become a winning player. But
there’s a simple formula that every winning player uses. And the
best news is you don’t have to wait until you have more
experience or learn more to start using it. You can start using
it today. Here’s the formula.

When you’re favored or ahead in the hand you need to maximize
the amount of money in the pot and when you’re drawing to a
winning hand or behind in the hand you need to minimize the
amount of money in the pot.

Don’t discount it because it seems so simple. The truth is
that even though the formula is simple, it’s not easy. But when
you combine the advice in the last section about always making
the right decision with this simple formula you’ll be amazed at
how much better your Texas holdem results are.

The next time you play Texas holdem think about every hand
you play in terms of where you are in each hand as it
progresses.

• Are you ahead or behind in the hand?
• How can you maximize the money in the pot or how can you
  keep the pot as small as possible?

Maximizing the amount in the pot isn’t as simple as betting
as much as possible. You have to bet the most possible while
keeping other players in the hand as well. If you move all in
and the other players fold you haven’t maximized the amount you
can win.

Of course if you’re playing limit Texas holdem you simply bet
and raise at every opportunity when you’re ahead in the hand.
And when you’re drawing and / or behind in the hand you check
and call.

The next challenge is determining when you’re actually
leading a hand and when you’re behind. The truth is that
sometimes even the best players don’t know where they stand in a
hand. But they usually have an idea and can make a good guess
using what they know, odds, and percentages to determine the
likelihood that they lead or trail at any point in a hand.

You’ll be able to use the same things to help you determine
where you stand in a hand as you gain experience.

Bankroll

Your bankroll isn’t directly related to your results at the
tables, but it can have direct consequences on your mental state
while playing. The general idea is you should try to have a
large enough bankroll that you can play in any profitable
situation that you run across.

The reality is that most players have a bankroll that
somewhat limits their opportunities. But the important thing is
you have to be able to play at a level and limit where you’re
comfortable. You never want to think about your bankroll or
money while playing Texas holdem.

This may sound funny because you’re playing with chips that
represent money, but when you start worrying about your bankroll
or money it impacts your game in a negative way.

Play at limits below what you think you can beat and use the
winnings to increase your bankroll. Never be afraid or ashamed
of stepping down a limit or two. If you ever worry about your
bankroll you need to play a lower limit immediately.

The lowest limits most live poker rooms spread are 1 / 2 no
limit or 5 / 10 limit. If these are higher than you feel
comfortable playing you can play at an online poker room for
stakes as low as .05 / .10. For $10 or less you can play at the
micro limits and not have to worry about your bankroll or money
at all while playing Texas holdem.

Conclusion

It’s easy to get a feeling of being overwhelmed when you’re
trying to learn how to be a better Texas holdem player. Even
when you’re reading a straightforward list of advice like you
found above it can get complicated quickly.

So to help you absorb and use all of the advice on this page
we suggest either printing it or bookmarking it, or both, so you
can review it again at least once a week until you’ve
incorporated all of the advice into your game.

Take a couple sections and work on them each week and before
you know it you’ll be winning more than you lose on a consistent
basis. We’re confident that any player who can successfully
incorporate all of the advice on this page into their game will
be a winning player.

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.

Get the PDF version of the complete Poker 101 guide for offline use (30+ pages of poker goodness). Use one of the buttons below to unlock:

Thank you for your support. Get your Poker 101 Guide here.

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

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.

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.

How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Card Game

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:

How Do You Bet In Texas Holdem

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

How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Games

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:

How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Golf

Common poker mistakes.

Or return to poker 101?

How To Properly Bet In Texas Holdem Poker

Last updated: 26 October 2020