Most Important Advices for Limit Texas Hold’em:

1. Play only premium starting hands which means you should see no more than 20-25% of the flops in a regular game.
2. Seldom bluff: Before you bluff be fairly certain that your opponents are holding a weak hand.
3. Selecting a table: Beware of tight/aggressive tables (low profit, high volatility) and stay away from strong players in general because they will read you and take your money. Look for loose games where at least 30% see the flop on average and play their hands too far.
4. Fold in time: This will help you save money. Don’t draw if you see that you are beat and the pot isn’t worth a call.
5. Draw only when you have pot odds: only call a bet if the pot justifies the call.
6. Vary your play: Bet/raise on some calling hands and from time to time limp on “raising hands”. To avoid predictability in your playing style, do this before and after the flop.
7. Always analyze your relative strength in your hand, which means making a habit out of anticipating what your opponent is holding and re-evaluate when more information is revealed during the game’s progress. You must get “under the skin” of your opponents if you want to be truly successful.
8. When you are in a late position, be quick to steal pots: When not many players are left in the game and it has been checked around to you, the chance to take the pot in the last or late position may arise but you should only do so if it looks as if the board did not benefit anyone. You should also be certain to consider the type of players left in the pot.
9. Just as your opponents will try to learn your playing style, you should do the same with your opponents: Pay attention to which hands your opponents re-raise with, whether they call all the way or with weak holdings, how they play pocket-pairs, how they play their draws, what kinds of hands they call/raise with from early position, and what kind of hands they check-raise with.
10. It’s important to have a good kicker: It’s important to have a good side card to your highest card. Weak side cards, or kickers, can cost you in the long run.
11. Bet or raise when warranted: Don’t just call. The structure of this game invites drawing hands, which might even bet into you. If you think you have the best hand you should always bet/raise. It is not a good idea to give away free cards.

Texas Hold’em Deceptive Plays

 Playing a deceptive game is important because it makes you a less predictable player. If your opponents notice that your bet/raises always mean you are strong or your checks always mean you are weak, they will have an advantage over you.

The Free Card

When you are last to act or in last position you can raise with a drawing hand on the flop. Doing so usually causes your opponents check to you on the turn giving you the opportunity to check (if your hand doesn’t get any better) or bet (if you hit your draw). By playing this way you will save some money if your hand hasn’t improved and make some money if you hit. This move will backfire, however, when you are re-raised on the flop. In such situations, it will cost you money but it will still be a good play because you will have obtained valuable information and have a draw to a better hand.

The Check-Raise

 If it is your turn to act and you are holding a good hand, you should check in the hopes that an opponent will bet so that when your turn comes again you can raise. Take for example a game where you are in an early position and are holding #Ah-#Qs. The flop is As-#Qh-#6s. You and three other players in middle position check. Next, a player in late position bets and you rise. Check rising is done in order to make it too expensive for the drawing hands, like a gut-shot straight shot or over cards, to call. You also gain the initiative in the hand when you check-rise from an early position. If your opponents still call, you will at least gained information regarding the strength of their hands and forced them to pay as much as possible for trying to outdraw you.

The Semi-Bluff

 Semi-bluffing is when you bet or raise even though your hand is not likely to win at that time and have several outs to outdraw your opponents if you get called or raised, while at the same time still hoping you will win the pot right there. For example, assume you are in late position holding #Jh-#Th and the flop shows #Ks-#6h-#2h. This layout gives you a flush draw with nine outs. Three other players remain in the pot and they all check to you. You bet without having the best hand but since all three players checked you have learned that they have weak hands and might fold pocket-pairs, a pair of sixes or twos. Even if you do get called, you still have nine outs to the flush and possibly an additional six outs to win if you hit a J or a T, equaling 15 outs total. If called and it is checked to you on the turn, you have the choice of taking a free card if your hand didn’t improve.

The Slowplay

 Sometimes it is correct to slowplay if you are holding a strong hand. In other words, you might check or call on one betting round with the intention of betting/raising in later rounds. Players commonly make do this on the flop in Hold’em because they want to lure in players and raise on the turn or river where the bets are doubled. Beware, however, because this tactic has the potential to backfire if you let players take free cards that beat your hand. Often players will slowplay too often, causing them to lose pots they would not have lost if they had not slowplayed. This is a mathematical disaster since you lose a pot you would have won had you bet/raised and now you must payoff an opponent who has beat you.

In general, you shouldn’t slowplay in the following situations:

1. It is a large pot.
2. A free card can beat you.
3. There are a lot of opponents in the hand.
4. It is unlikely that a free card will give your opponent a second-best hand.