Best Of Texas Holdem
A pair of aces, also known as 'pocket rockets' (and sometimes 'American Airlines') is the best starting hand for Texas Hold 'em. Be wary of how many other players enter the pot, as more players increase the likelihood of someone beating your aces.
Play Texas holdem poker: Texas poker is a fast and lively game with Holdem being one of the most popular types of poker played today. Each player starts receives two hole-cards which are dealt face down. After that, each player receives additional cards that are dealt face up. The winner is the player that has the best combination of cards. Pocket Aces – statistically the best starting hand in Hold’em – are less than a 75% favorite against 2 or more opponents according to my Texas Hold’em hand rankings. If you’ve ever played Texas Hold’em you already know how important starting hand selection is. Play Texas Hold'em Poker Online. Play fast-paced, high drama Texas Hold'em for real money at the best poker sites online. We know real money Hold'em is exciting and rewarding, so we've reviewed the best online poker rooms, sourced the top bonuses and looked into every game type so you don't have to. Texas Hold'em Online Poker Sites. Texas Hold'em is easily the most popular form of online poker in 2021. It's simple to pick up, the action can be fast and furious, and it can be played in cash games, Sit 'n Gos, or tournaments.
When Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of poker main event in 2003, it was instrumental in launching the professional poker career of many players. It’s not because of anything that Moneymaker did after the tournament. It’s because the win came at a perfect time to ignite the poker boom.
A combination of media coverage, availability of poker games online and in land-based poker rooms around the world, and an amateur poker player in Moneymaker who won his seat in the WSOP at an online satellite poker tournament created the perfect storm.
Many things have changed in the poker world over the past two decades, but you can still become a pro poker player easier today than at any time before Moneymaker beat Sam Farha at the final table in 2003.
Here are four ways you can play like a Texas holdem poker pro.
1 – The Opposite Rule
Texas holdem is the most popular variation of poker, and it’s easy to learn how to play. But this doesn’t mean that it’s easy to be a professional holdem player. You have to learn how to play well in many different areas, and there are few hard and fast rules when it comes to strategy.
Many people preach that tight and aggressive play is the best way to win, but this isn’t true in every situation. The reason why tight play is usually better than loose play is because most holdem players play loose. But the best way to play when you’re at a table filled with tight players is to play looser than your opponents.
The best Texas holdem players are able to adapt their game and strategy to fit the situation. Most of the time, the best strategy is the opposite of what everyone else is doing. This works better in some situations than in others. This is why it’s so important to learn how to make adjustments in different situations.
Overall, tight play is better than loose play. When you play loose, you play hands that don’t show a long-term profit. When you play tight, you fold most of the unprofitable starting hands, so you play mostly profitable hands.
But when everyone at the table is playing tight, you can win more when you loosen up your starting hand selection. Just don’t overdo it, or that eliminates your advantage.
But when you’re playing against a table full of aggressive players, it’s more profitable to sit back with your best hands and let your opponents trap themselves. You still need to turn on the aggression in the correct situations, but you don’t have to play every hand aggressively to turn a profit.
You can’t use the opposite rule in every situation, but you need to learn how to adjust your strategy based on profitability in every situation.
2 – Odds and Expectation Rule
It’s almost impossible to be a winning professional Texas holdem player without using odds and expected value. Amateur poker players tend to resist learning about and using pot odds, but once you learn how to use them, you never have to study them again.
Many poker players think it’s hard to learn how to use odds, but it’s easy once you decide to do it. You can learn everything you need to know about poker odds in a couple hours, and with a few additional hours of practice, you can build a skill that you can use for the rest of your life.
Once you learn what poker odds are and how to use them, the next step is learning how to use pot odds to make profitable decisions. This is an easy transition once you understand odds, and this is one of the big differences between winning and losing poker players.
Every decision you make at the poker table, from folding or entering the pot before the flop to calling or betting on the river, is either profitable or unprofitable.
The key is to learn how to determine the long term value, either positive or negative, for every decision. When a play has a positive expected value, it means that you make a profit in the long run making the play. When a play has a negative expected value, it means that you lose money in the long run.
If you want to be a professional Texas holdem player, focus on mastering odds, pot odds, and expected value. Once you master these areas, you’re going to be a winning poker player now and in the future.
3 – You Pick Your Opponents
The most well-known poker pros are tournament players, because tournaments are the main format shown on television. But many of the same pros you see on TV also play in cash games, and some poker pros specialize in cash gameplay.
When you play tournament poker, you have to play against the other players in the tournament, but when you play cash games, you have choices about where you play and who you play against. The most successful poker pros know how to find profitable games.
Poker pros usually play in traditional poker rooms, and many of them also play online. But you also can find them playing in private games. The goal is to win money in the long run. The way to do this is to play better than most of your opponents.
While it’s important to build your skills and ability so you’re better than most players, this isn’t the only way to make sure you’re one of the best players at the table. Find and create opportunities where you’re playing against weak poker players.
If you can go to the poker room and find tables filled with weak players, you can make money there. But you might be able to make more profit by finding private games filled with bad players, or create your own private games where you control who plays and who doesn’t get invited.
You can start using this strategy right now, no matter where your poker skill level is at this time. Even if you’re not the best poker player you can be yet, you can still win consistently if you make sure you’re always one of the best players at the table.
The most profitable poker pros aren’t necessarily the best poker players in the world. The most profitable poker pros are the ones who win the most money, and one way to do this is by winning against bad players.
4 – Play Within Your Bankroll
Professional poker players know that they have to manage their bankroll. If you run out of money, you can’t play, and if you can’t play, you can’t win. Good and bad Texas holdem players have ups and downs. Sometimes, bad players win for a short time and good players lose for a short time.
If you’re a profitable Texas holdem player and can stay in the game long enough, the profit will follow. But you have to play within your bankroll so you can stay in the game long enough to reach your long term profit potential.
The best bankroll situation is to have enough money to play in any game that offers long term profit that you can find without worrying about going broke on a downswing. A few poker players have a bankroll this big, but most are forced to play below certain levels because of bankroll restraints.
As your skills improve and you gain experience, you’re going to learn a safe total bankroll range. Until you learn from personal experience, you should have 20 to 30 times the average buy-in amount for tournaments and no limit cash games, and 200 to 300 times the big bet for limit cash games.
Conclusion
If you want to be a professional Texas holdem player, you need to learn how to adjust your game using the opposite rule, master odds and expectation, pick your opponents whenever you can, and play within your bankroll.
These are the things that pro players do, so you need to implement them when possible. You can also check out this page on 5 Texas Holdem hands and how to play them for more Texas Holdem poker tips!
You can start improving your results today by doing a better job of picking your opponents. The best long-term strategy is to become a master of positive expectation, because every great poker player uses expectation to turn a long-term profit.
Texas Holdem Poker Online in Canada
The best Texas Holdem poker sites online in Canada have high quality sites and software featuring a large player base, offer cash games, sit and go's as well as a lot of multi table tournaments. Good Hold em sites have interactive training and tips to improve your game, have weak competition and of course a big fat sign up bonus to play Texas Hold em for real money. Our experts have reviewed more than 50 of the top poker sites and have narrowed the list to a select few that will deliver the finest easy to use and most profitable online Texas Holdem poker sites. All sites offer a complete range and a variety of stakes for No Limit Texas Hold em, Pot Limit Texas Hold em and Limit Texas Hold em poker games.
Top 5 Texas Holdem Poker Sites
Listed below are the top 5 poker sites for Canadians to play Texas Holdem poker online for real money in 2021.
Poker Site | Features | Real Money Bonus | Learn More |
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888 Poker
| 100% up to $600
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Party Poker
| Get $40 Free
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Bodog Poker
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Americas Cardroom
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PokerStars
| 100% up to $600
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How to Play Texas Holdem Poker
Learn how to play Texas Holdem poker starting with the basics at PokerStars Poker School there is a lot of resources like this video for beginners to advanced players.
Texas Holdem Poker
Texas Hold em Poker is the world's most popular poker game and the main event for the World Series of Poker is offered at all online poker sites. Texas Hold em is played with two hole cards and 3 community cards. There are three variations of Texas Hold em: No Limit, Limit and Pot Limit Hold em.
No Limit Hold em
In No Limit Texas Hold em there is no maximum to the amount that you can bet. You can go all in at put all of your chips at the table at any time.
Pot Limit Hold em
In Pot Limit Texas holdem the maximum bet is limited to the size of the pot.
Limit Hold em
For Limit Hold em the maximum bet size is 2X the big blind pre flop and fop and 4X the big blind for the turn and river. pot can be raised a maximum of four times per round of betting.
Related Poker Games
There are several varieties of online poker games for you to enjoy From Texas Holdem to Razz. The best sites for Canadians to play online poker games for real money, for free or for fun are ranked below in our comparative ranking based on game variety.
Omaha
Omaha is a variation of Texas Holdem where you are dealt four hole cards and your best hand consists of two of your hole cards and three of the community cards. Omaha is played in Limit and Pot Limit variations.
Omaha High
In Omaha High you are trying to make the best high hand like in Texas Hold em.
Omaha Hi Lo
Omaha High Low is played with an 8 or better qualifier for a low card.
Stud
Seven card stud is one of the most popular poker games online. Seven card stud has an ante that all players contribute to the pot and they are dealt 3 cards - two down and one face up. The low card starts the action. Four the fourth to 6th cards they are dealt face down with a round of betting after each card - the highest exposed hand starts the betting. On Seventh street the card is dealt face down and the highest exposed cards starts the betting. The last bettor shows his cards first in the showdown.
Best Texas Holdem Strategy
Stud Hi Low
In Stud High Low the best High hand and Low hand split the pot.
HORSE
Horse is an acronym for a set of poker games played in a series that includes Hold em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or better (Stud Hi Lo)
HOSE
HOSE is another set of poker games played in a series: Hold em, Omaha, Stud and Eight or Better.
Razz
Razz is seven card stud played for low only.
Video Poker
Video poker games online include Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Joker Poker just like in the VLT's in your bar at home. There are other variations of Video Poker available online too including Casino Hold em and Caribbean Stud. Find out more at the best casino poker online.
Best Texas Holdem App To Play With Friends
Top Texas Hold em Poker Tips
1) Don't Play too Many Starting Hands - Playing too many hands is the surest way to lose money in Hold em. If you are a beginner stick to the top ten starting hands (AA, KK, AK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, AQ, KQ). As your skills improve add a few more hands.
2) Learn How to Play your Position- Play fewer hands in early position and more in late position. Position gives you a huge advantage over your opponents allowing you to take charge of a hand.
3) If your playing on hope - fold - If you are behind in a hand or hoping to get a lucky card the odds are not in your favour, don't add more money to the pot. Save your chips to take more off your opponents next time. Never call an opponent in an attempt to keep them honest. Remember you can hope in one hand and crap in the other - guess which one will fill up first.
4) Learn the pot odds - you don't need to know these exactly but to know how many outs you have (cards left in the deck that would give you the nut hand) it will help you get more chips in the right hands and stay away from hands that are not in your favour. If you have 9 outs after the flop you have about a 36% chance of getting your card (multiply outs X 4). After the turn multiply the number of outs by 2 (on the same hand after the turn you would have 9 X 2 or 18% chance of getting your card. Don't call a bet that is larger than the % chance of you making the hand.
5) Be aggressive - Bet, Bet, Bet and Bet some more
6) Keep your bets the same sizes - If you are always raising the same amount or same % of the pot you are not giving away any tells on how strong or weak your hand is. Watch how other players bet. Usually big bets = strong hand.
7) Play at the right level for your bankroll - Bring 5% of your bankroll to the table for any one poker game and 2-3% for a tournament.
8) Play to Win Consistently - If your not winning move to a lower limit. If you are consistently winning move up one limit.
9) Don't Get Down by a bad beat - Bad beats happen - get over it. If you are playing when the odds are in your favour you will make money. Don't let the bad streaks get you off your game.
10) Don't' Bluff Big - Do Semi Bluff - Don't play on hope. A medium bet against a player you think will fold works, if it doesn't you have outs to make your hand on the next card and saved chips to put back in next time.