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Texas Holdem Winning Strategies
There are a number of strategies that you can use to increase your chances of success when playing Texas Holdem. One strategy that can be effective but is often misused is the slow play. A slow play in poker is when you intentionally do not bet a very strong hand in order to mislead your opponents into thinking that you are weak and betting for you. This is a tactic that can be quite profitable in both limit and no limit games by trapping your opponents for many extra bets.
Where things often go wrong is when opponents slow play hands that are not strong enough to be slow played. For example if you have QQ and the flop is Qh 4c 3s, this is a great opportunity for a slow play. You not only have the nuts, but there are very few cards opponents can catch to beat you. The best thing that can happen is for one of your opponents to improve their hand, for example catching an ace on the turn if they have AK, AQ or even A3. This will probably commit them to the hand and earn you a huge pot. The worst thing would be for you to bet and have everyone else fold. Most of the time in this situation you will check and call, waiting for a chance to check raise later.
On the other hand, let’s say you have 99 and the flop is 9h Th Qc. This is not a hand to slow play. While you probably have the best hand now, since there are only four hands an opponent can hold that are beating you, this situation may not last. If a jack appears on the turn, anyone with a king or an eight will be beating you. If a heart comes, you may well be losing to a flush. You cannot afford to give away any free cards here, and should bet right away. On the other hand, if a nine or a ten comes on the turn, you may want to slow down again, as now you have a powerful full house.
It's also usually a mistake to slow play big pairs before the flop. Although there are circumstances when this may be a good play, in general, you want to make your opponents pay to beat your pair. If you don't, you could be losing to any flop imaginable and not know it.
Remember to slow play generally only if you have a very strong hand, one that will still beat other hands if they improve. If you do this, you can create very big pots when you have the best of it. Unlike other plays in Texas Holdem, you can slow play monster hands regularly. Since you will often be betting when you have a very good hand but not a monster, and often checking when you miss, checking a monster hand will not often give you away. Remember if you slow play a hand that can be easily beaten with the turn of one unfortunate card, you will end up costing yourself some money. Good luck.
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Texas Holdem Winning Strategies : Poker Player
