Texas Hold'em Introduction

There has been an enormous surge in the popularity of Poker - and Texas Hold'em as an online poker game is finding a massive increase in traffic of new players looking to learn or perfect the game, away from the regular and traditional casino environment, in one that does not require real money and does not expose them to the 'threat' of experienced poker players! 

Television and the movies have played a significant role in creating and spurring this interest on, with scenes of high rollers and poker faced cool players.  However from a practical point of view this is quite disastrous! It is as if a new-comer to golf attempts a Tiger Woods hit-a-dime-on-the green shot.  TV / movie poker is usually stunt poker, that does not really show what makes a great poker player great.  The great poker players have all spent hours mastering... the basics.  As with the masters in all games - from Tiger Woods to Michael Schumacher to Ted Williams - all have spent hours practising the basics and improving those basics that hey are not good at or have not quite perfected.

As with any other game, Texas Hold'em and the game of Poker has basics that are not flashy or obvious, but basics that must be mastered (continually) for excellence to be achieved.

Discipline. No skills or talent will have any effect if a player does not have the ability to follow through. If the player knows that he should not tilt, but does so anyhow - Discipline is a weak point and he will not be as a good as poker player as one who is disciplined!  He may be more talented and more skilled, but could actually be much stronger. It is not possible to be too disciplined.

The bet is the atom of poker. The bet is the building block of a good or bad poker game - when playing for money of course.  Players with major ego urges, rather than money urges, have different priorities and are actually playing the wrong game entirely.  The bet forms centre stage for all ring game poker concepts. The player is not trying to win pots, but rather attempting to get the best of it, on bets. The player is wagering money and making bets, all with a mathematically favorable expectation;  that has a fluke goal of winning pots - which is not the main goal or focus of the players' playing efforts. Bad players can only fixate on results - of bad / good luck and winning or losing.  Good poker players fixate on playing the right way and doing the right thing at the right time - discipline. Having the discipline to do the right thing all the time (roughly) is the basic of the basics.  Poker tournaments on teh other hand, play by different rules; where winning through rounds and being the only lone winner is a tournament concepts that does not transfer to ring games.

The blinds. Poker is known as the thinking person's game. When bets are made ad hoc and without thought, either by bad players or when "forced" via game rules (as blinds or antes), this is the basic money at stake in the game. Thoughtful play must thus focus particularly on the bets that are made thoughtlessly, and attack the bad players, and attack the blinds. These thoughtful players will also have an edge over semi-thoughtful players, and have an enormous edge over thoughtless bets (made by thoughtless or bad players or by any player forced by the rules to make the bet).

Limit versus No Limit. The Hold'em Poker shown on television is usually No-Limit tournament poker, which is vastly different from Limit ring game poker - in fact much like chalk and cheese is! Most of the winning tactics used in No-Limit tournaments are also generally ineffective or counter - productive in Limit Hold'em ring games. A fur coat looks fabulous, but because it is on the animal, fulfilling its' real purpose, where it should be. 

The basics must not be ignored or glossed over.  They are the building blocks of the game and the building blocks for the players' bets and egos don't buy anything!  Discipline when implementing the basics allows for thoughtful betting to make the best use of a good hand, and the best us of ego players, thoughtless players, bad layers, hasty players, lazy players, know-it-all players etc etc