When I first started playing Texas Hold'em I thought all games were created equal. I figured that if I could win at a single table Sit-N-Go that I could win a tournament, but I was wrong. There are many forms of Texas Hold'em and nowhere could I find a simple Texas Hold'em guide to explain the difference. I found out, quickly, that playing a physical game with people actually sitting at the same table was completely different from playing poker online. In the same way, a cash game was a different animal than a tournament.
First let's look at online poker, since that's where most people start out when playing. Playing online is easy and convenient, but can be very frustrating. You are very limited when it comes to reading your opponents. After all, when's the last time you saw a player's avatar flinch when you hit them with a big bet. Getting tells from a player online is much more difficult and subtle. Regardless of the kind of game you are playing, the only tells you can get online is from their betting patterns. It is possible to get a little information if the player is stupid enough to use the online chat feature, but most are smarter than that and never communicate online.
If you are playing a live game, tells are much easier to come by. One trick I learned from Annie Duke is to talk to the other players as much as possible BEFORE the game begins. Ask them about themselves. Get them to talk about the things they like outside of the game. Don't talk about poker. Getting the player to open up about their other interests will give you a good baseline to determine when the player is bluffing during the game. What they say is unimportant. It's how they say it that you want to make mental notes about.
Whether you are playing online or live, the format of the game will change the way you approach it. In a multi-table tournament you'll want to slow play the first third of the game. It's not a good idea to be wild and loose in the early stages of a tournament. Take your time and let the other players eliminate each other while you study how the survivors play. A single table Sit-N-Go should be approached as if it is a mini tournament. Start out by folding a lot of hands and watching the action around you. You can learn a lot about the other players that will be invaluable in the later stages.
Cash games are completely different. The blinds never increase, so there's no pressure to build a big stack to survive the game later on. All you need to do here is stay ahead of the blinds and antes, making sure that you leave with more than you had when you sat down. While tournaments and Sit-N-Gos are built around a series of hands to eliminate players, cash games are more a hand to hand game. This doesn't mean you ignore how the other players handle themselves in certain situations, but each hand is a new game, unlike tournament play.
The most important thing to get from this Texas Hold'em guide is that each type of game needs to be approached differently. The strategies you use to win in a cash game could eliminate you in a tournament and visa versa.
First let's look at online poker, since that's where most people start out when playing. Playing online is easy and convenient, but can be very frustrating. You are very limited when it comes to reading your opponents. After all, when's the last time you saw a player's avatar flinch when you hit them with a big bet. Getting tells from a player online is much more difficult and subtle. Regardless of the kind of game you are playing, the only tells you can get online is from their betting patterns. It is possible to get a little information if the player is stupid enough to use the online chat feature, but most are smarter than that and never communicate online.
If you are playing a live game, tells are much easier to come by. One trick I learned from Annie Duke is to talk to the other players as much as possible BEFORE the game begins. Ask them about themselves. Get them to talk about the things they like outside of the game. Don't talk about poker. Getting the player to open up about their other interests will give you a good baseline to determine when the player is bluffing during the game. What they say is unimportant. It's how they say it that you want to make mental notes about.
Whether you are playing online or live, the format of the game will change the way you approach it. In a multi-table tournament you'll want to slow play the first third of the game. It's not a good idea to be wild and loose in the early stages of a tournament. Take your time and let the other players eliminate each other while you study how the survivors play. A single table Sit-N-Go should be approached as if it is a mini tournament. Start out by folding a lot of hands and watching the action around you. You can learn a lot about the other players that will be invaluable in the later stages.
Cash games are completely different. The blinds never increase, so there's no pressure to build a big stack to survive the game later on. All you need to do here is stay ahead of the blinds and antes, making sure that you leave with more than you had when you sat down. While tournaments and Sit-N-Gos are built around a series of hands to eliminate players, cash games are more a hand to hand game. This doesn't mean you ignore how the other players handle themselves in certain situations, but each hand is a new game, unlike tournament play.
The most important thing to get from this Texas Hold'em guide is that each type of game needs to be approached differently. The strategies you use to win in a cash game could eliminate you in a tournament and visa versa.
Texas Hold'em - A Guide to a Game to Fit Your Style
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