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Master Texas Holdem
Texas Holdem is a great poker game that everyone seems to be playing nowadays. Texas Holdem is an easy game to learn, but mastering this poker standard is another matter entirely. How can you master Texas Holdem?
You've got to start by learning the basics. Make sure you understand the rules and understand them well. If you're getting all of your Texas Holdem knowledge by watching the game on television, you're not getting the whole story. This is because most of these broadcasts are edited for television and only show the final table of no limit Texas Holdem tournaments. While watching these events is fun and a good way for you to get a feel for the game, you should be aware that actually playing Texas Holdem is a lot different from what you are seeing on television.
For one thing, you must be aware of the distinction between fixed limit and no limit Texas Holdem. In a fixed limit game, the amount that can be bet on each round is set in advance. For example in a $10/$20 limit Texas Holdem game, you can bet or raise $10 before and on the flop, and $20 on the turn and river. No more, no less. In a no limit game, you can bet as much as you have at any time. What this means is that you can afford to play a much wider range of hands in no limit Texas Holdem, because when you flop a huge hand you can win an enormous pot, more than enough to make up for the times you saw a flop with a marginal hand and had to fold. In a limit game, the pots often do not get big enough to justify playing marginal hands.
For another thing, cash game play is very different from the tournament play you see on television. Rising blinds and small stacks of chips often force players to make moves in tournaments that they would never make in a cash game, where the blinds are fixed and they are unlikely to be forced to put in all of their chips with a random hand. Conversely, a player may decline to make a high percentage call that they would make easily in a cash game because it would put their tournament life at risk.
So if you can't master Texas Holdem by watching it on television, how can you master it? Study and practice! There are plenty of great books on Texas Holdem that you can read to learn some excellent strategies for the game. After that, you just have to play. Start out with limits that are comfortable, but not so comfortable that you will be tempted to just gamble and not play your best game. Once you start beating that game consistently, think about moving up to higher and more challenging limits. In the end, while watching and reading about poker is great, in the world of poker there really is no substitute for experience, so get out there and start playing.
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Master Texas Holdem : Poker Player
