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Plenty of articles and books cover how to pick the best games, how to choose
starting hands, and how to figure out pot odds, but quality advice about playing
Texas holdem after the flop is lacking. On this page we cover a variety of
situations on the river in Texas holdem games.

The page is designed as a group of quiz questions grouped together followed
by the answers grouped together on the second half of the page. We encourage you
to attempt to answer all of the questions before reading the answers to see how
you do.

While it may seem like a quiz wouldn’t be the first choice for advice about
Texas holdem river play, the way the answers are presented helps you learn how
to improve the thought process behind the decisions. Being told the best answer
can be helpful in many situations, but if you learn how to come up with the
right answer yourself it often helps you learn a great deal more.

Quiz Questions

Quiz Question 1

You’re playing in a limit Texas holdem cash game, flopped a straight, and
have been betting and being called by a single opponent. The river made a flush
possible and you know nothing about your opponent. You’re first to act. What do
you do?

• Bet
• Check

Quiz Question 2

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 1 except the game is no limit
Texas holdem. You’re relatively short stacked. What do you do?

• Check
• Make a normal size bet
• Move all in

Quiz Question 3

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 2 except you and your opponent
both have deep stacks. What do you do?

• Check
• Make a normal size bet
• Make a double the normal size bet
• Move all in

Quiz Question 4

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 1 except you know your opponent
well. She’s one of the best Texas holdem players you know and is a consistent
winner. She rarely makes big mistakes. What do you do?

• Bet
• Check

Quiz Question 5

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 2 except your opponent is the
same one in quiz question 4, a good player. What do you do?

• Check
• Make a normal size bet
• Move all in

Quiz Question 6

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 3 except your opponent is the
same one in quiz question 4, a good player. What do you do?

• Check
• Make a normal size bet
• Make a double the normal size bet
• Move all in

Quiz Question 7

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 1 except you know your opponent
well. She’s one of the worst Texas holdem players you know and is a consistent
losing player. She always makes big mistakes. What do you do?

Poker Quiz Questions And Answers For Kids

• Bet
• Check

Quiz Question 8

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 2 except your opponent is the
same one in quiz question 7, not a good player. What do you do?

• Check
• Make a normal size bet
• Move all in

Quiz Question 9

You’re in the same situation as quiz question 3 except your opponent is the
same one in quiz question 7, not a good player. What do you do?

• Check
• Make a normal size bet
• Make a double the normal size bet
• Move all in

Quiz Question 10

In a no limit Texas holdem cash game you have a straight and the board just
paired. You’ve been the aggressor throughout the hand and your opponent just
raised all in after you made a standard size bet. Your opponent is an excellent
player and is capable of making advanced plays of any kind. The pot has $1,500
in it and you have to call $300. What do you do?

• Fold
• Call

Quiz Answers

Quiz Answer 1

It’s always a bit scary when a flush card hits on the river and you don’t
have a flush, but it doesn’t always mean your opponent has hit a flush.

In a limit Texas holdem game in this situation you need to bet.

The worst thing that can happen is your opponent raises. Because this is only
a single bet in a limit game you have to call if they raise because of the pot
odds. Most of the times when your opponent raises at the end it means they hit
their hand, but at this point in the hand the pot is large enough in comparison
to the bet you must call that it’s profitable to call in the long run.

Many times your opponent will fold to your river bet or call with a weaker
hand. Top pair and two pair hands will often pay you off in this situation, more
than making up for the few time you lose. When you have a straight it’s often
hard for an opponent to put you on the hand, so they often assume you have a
pair or other made but weak hand.

The nice thing about limit Texas holdem is it limits the amount you must risk
in tough situations like this. The key to profitable play in Texas holdem on the
river is the same as in every other area of the game. You need to learn how to
determine if a situation has a positive expectation or negative expectation and
act accordingly.

As you’ll learn in some of the following quiz questions, making positive
expectation decisions can get trickier in no limit play. But the decision making
process is the same. Determine the chances of different outcomes and compare
them to the amount you can win and the amount you must invest.

In limit Texas holdem when you reach the river against a single opponent it’s
almost never the right decision to fold to a single bet. The positive
expectation calculation almost always requires a call in this situation.

Quiz Answer 2

In no limit Texas holdem you have to be a bit more concerned about losing to
a flush because you can lose a much larger amount of money in comparison to your
stack size than you can in limit play. But you still have to play a strong hand
like a straight in all but the most dangerous of situations.

In this situation you’re relatively safe because of your short stack. Even if
you have to get all in, the odds are, in the long run you’ll win often enough to
make it profitable because of the limited exposure the short stack creates.

If you move all in it can keep some weaker hands from calling, in turn costing you money.

If your opponent moves all in you’re probably beat, but once again because of
the short stack you need to call. If you have a deeper stack you might need to
make a different decision, as you’ll see in the next quiz.

Quiz Answer 3

In order to maximize your wins in the long run while playing no limit Texas
holdem you have to play your best hands in a way that lets you win as much as
possible. A straight is a strong hand and you need to play it like it’s going to
win until it’s clear that you aren’t going to win.

This doesn’t change just because you and your opponent both have deep stacks.
You need to make a bet on the river in this situation assuming you’re winning
the hand.

This means you need to make a standard size raise.

A standard raise will often get called by one pair, two pair, and three of a
kind hands. If you bet too much some of these hands will fold.

The problem is when you raise and your opponent suddenly makes a raise. If
it’s a reasonable size raise you need to call based on the pot odds most of the
time. But if your opponent makes a large raise and / or moves all in for a large
amount it can destroy the pot odds.

This is where knowing more about your opponent is helpful. In this situation
you don’t know anything about your opponent so you have to make an educated
guess.

You know how much is in the pot and you know how much you have to call.
Compare this ratio against how often you think you’ll win the hand when you call
to make the best play you can.

Example

The pot has $1,000 in it and your opponent moves all in for another $500. So
if you call it costs you $500 and when you win you get back your $500 and $1,500
more. This means to break even you have to win one out of every four times. In
other words you need to win 25% of the time to break even, and more to be
profitable.

To play the situation four times it costs a total of $2,000, and when you win
you get back $2,000. This is how you know you have to win one out of four times,
or 25% of the time, to break even.

Will you win one out of four times in this situation? Is there a chance your
opponent is bluffing at least 25% of the time?

The other thing to keep in mind is if your opponent has a set they may play
the hand the same way, thinking they have the best hand because they don’t think
you have the straight.

In this situation it’s close, but because you don’t know your opponent a call
is probably the best play. But if the pot odds are much worse it quickly becomes
a folding situation.

Quiz Answer 4

The fact that your opponent is a good player is somewhat muted by the limited
exposure you have of only being at risk of losing a single additional bet if
they raise.

Just like some of the situations discussed earlier, even a good opponent will
call with a weaker hand sometimes because the pot odds are good enough to
warrant a call, and a good opponent will even raise every once in a while on the
river with a weaker hand.

The few times your opponent hits a flush you’ll simply have to pay them off.

Quiz Answer 5

This becomes slightly trickier, but your short stack sizes protect you much
lie in limit play.

The best play is to make a normal sized raise and put the
pressure on your opponent.

If she hits the flush she’s going to move all in, but
she’ll also make the same play sometimes with a hand you can beat.

Just like in limit Texas holdem, the best play is to make a standard raise
and call if you get raised.

Quiz Answer 6

This is one of the most difficult situations you’ll ever be in while playing
Texas holdem. This illustrates why position is so important. You have to act
first so you have to either bet or check.

When you check it gives your opponent an opportunity to make a play for the
pot because you’re showing weakness, but if you bet it gives your opponent an
opportunity to extract as much money as possible out of you when they hit the
flush, or make a large move on the pot representing the flush.

The best players can sense weakness and they know how to apply the exact
amount of pressure to make your decision difficult.

Once you consider everything, the best play is to make a standard size bet.

This can create a tricky situation, but it’s still the best play.

When you bet three things can happen. When your opponent folds or calls you
don’t have to make an additional decision, so they’re easy. But when they raise
you need to make an important decision.

It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that you should fold if they raise
because they’re a good player, but the opposite is actually true.

A good player is good enough to make a raise in this situation if they
determine they have a good chance of getting you to fold, even if they have a
weaker hand.

Against the best Texas holdem players the smaller the raise the more
dangerous the hand becomes. When a good player has a winning hand they start
planning on how to get as much out of the hand without making their opponent
fold. A small raise usually is designed to get a call. A small raise also is
small enough that the pot odds require a call.

On the other hand, if your opponent is good enough to recognize that you’re a
strong player the may make an oversized bet that looks like a bluff when they
have a flush to get you to call.

Quiz Questions General Knowledge

If your head is spinning, it’s because when you play out of position against a
good player it’s easy to get taken advantage of. This is a perfect example of
why you do your best to avoid this situation by not playing out of position.

If you find yourself in this situation and face a raise all you can do is
look at the pot odds and try to guess your chances of winning the hand. You’ll
find that you usually have to call the raise but being profitable is tricky.

Quiz Answer 7

As we discussed in answers 1 and 4,

It doesn’t matter if your opponent is good or bad; the most profitable play is
to bet. If your opponent raises simply call. In the long run you’re going to
show a profit.

Quiz Answer 8

Making a normal size bet is the best play in this situation and calling a
raise of all in are the most profitable ways to play this hand against a poor
opponent. You’ll find that a poor opponent will be more likely to raise in this
situation with a weaker hand, so this adds more to your overall profit. Of course
they also chase more flushes than other players so they’ll hit the flush and
take your money sometimes to.

Quiz Answer 9

Against a weak opponent the best play is the same as against an unknown
opponent.

You need to make a standard size raise and see what your opponent does.

When they fold or call you’re in good shape. If they make a reasonable raise
you need to call because of the pot odds, but when they move all in it almost
always means they’ve hit their flush.

But you still need to try to determine your pot odds and your chances of
winning. Poor players are often unpredictable so it’s hard to accurately guess
what they have.

This is another example of how playing out of position can cost you money.
Even a poor player can use position to their advantage, even if they don’t
understand why it helps them.

Quiz Answer 10

The only hands that can beat a straight helped by the board pairing are four
of a kind and a full house. This is such a small range of hands and the pot is
offering five times what you have to call.

But just as important as what can beat you is what other hands an opponent
might have with the board pairing where they’d make this play. They might have
hit three of a kind or two pair, but they also might have missed everything and
are trying to steal the pot at the end with a bluff.

You’ll make this call and lose occasionally, but you may be surprised at how
often you win the hand. In comparison to the pot odds you’ll win more often than
you need to do so to break even.

Conclusion

It’s important to learn how to play well on the river if you want to be a
winning Texas holdem player. While most of the quiz questions and answers on
this page are similar, they illustrate how you must view all of your decisions
on the river.

By learning how to think through each river hand listed above you can use the
same process to find the best play in most situations. Use all of the
information you can, including the ability of your opponent, how the hand has
played out, and the stack sizes, to make the best decision. The more you
practice and think about these river situations the better your long term
results will be.

Texas holdem players who hope to improve their game have
questions. We’ve collected the top 10 questions we’ve seen and
provided in depth answers below. We offer them to you here so
you can learn from them, just like the original players who
asked them did.

We recommend reading them all, even if you think you already
know the answer to one or more questions. You never know when
you learn something new or have an answer spark a new thought in
your mind that leads to a winning breakthrough in your game.

I see other players bluff all the time and win, but
it seems like every time I bluff I get called. How can I get my
bluffs to work better?

Answer

One thing that jumps out right away is you say it
seems like you get called every time. Any time you find yourself
saying something seems like it’s happening you should instantly
start tracking your results. Keep a small notebook and start
making a mark each time you bluff and then record if the bluff
was successful or not.

How do you know other players are bluffing? Are they showing
you their bluffs or are you assuming that they’re bluffing?
Never assume an opponent is bluffing unless you see the actual
cards.

Finally, it’s almost certain that you’re bluffing too much.
The reason we can say it’s almost sure is because almost every
player bluffs too often. If you want to be a successful bluffer
you need to pick your spots carefully and not bluff very often.

If you turn over a winning hand most of the time when an
opponent calls you’ll find that many of them will start
respecting your bets more. When they start folding too much to
your bets is when you need to start working in some bluffs. Once
they start calling more you need to tighten up more and stop
bluffing for a while.

It’s also important to know your opponent’s playing
tendencies. Some players simply won’t fold for a single or small
bet. Once you learn this about an opponent you know to never
bluff them, but you also know they’ll pay off your better hands
every time.

On the other hand, some players are so scared that the fold
to any sign of aggression unless they have a strong hand.
Against these players you know you can bluff them with a weak
hand, but you also know you need to let them lead the betting if
possible when you have a strong hand.

One last thing that is especially important in no limit Texas
holdem is that a larger than normal bet in a bluffing situation
often doesn’t work as well as a smaller bet.

A smaller bet looks like you’re trying to get just a little
more form your opponent with a strong hand where an over bet
often looks like a bluff. Of course you still need to know your
opponents because some don’t think deep enough about the game
for this to work.

I’m a cash game player and am getting ready to
enter my first big multi table Texas Holdem tournament. Do you
have any advice that can help me?

Answer

The first thing you need to understand is the
difference between your edge on a series of hands in a cash game
and in a tournament. This is best shown using a couple examples.

Example 1

In a cash game you’re able to get all in on a
series of four hands. You have a statistical edge of 70%, 60%,
65%, and 55% in these four hands. You know from experience that
if you can consistently put yourself in these situations that
you make money. But for a tournament player you don’t have the
luxury of buying back in the three out of 10 times you lose the
first situation like you do in a cash game.

Example 2

In a tournament if you get all in with the same
four hands and same four chances of winning you’ll be knocked
out of the tournament a high percentage of the time. You’ll be
eliminated from the tournament almost 85% of the time. The way
to quickly determine your chances is convert the percentages to
decimals and multiplying them. .70 X .60 X .65 X .55 = .15015.
Convert this back to a percentage, 15.015%, and subtract from
100. This gives you the percent of time you’ll be knocked out,
which is 84.985%.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t play your hands with high
winning percentages, but you need to try to play them without
getting all in. Sometimes you have to pick up enough small pots
to give you enough chips so you can still have chips left over
when you lose the hands where you’re a favorite.

As you get deeper and deeper into the tournament it becomes
harder to avoid all in confrontations unless you’re among the
chip leaders. All you can do is play your best hands and
understand that sometimes you’re going to bust out. But the good
news is you can find plenty of tournaments to play and if you
consistently play well you’ll break through and win more than
you lose in the long run.

The next thing you need to decide is if you’re going to play
to get into the money or to win. Most players state they play
tournaments to win, but when it gets close to the money bubble
they start folding good hands in order to sneak into the money.

Example 3

You’re playing in a big tournament and the final 100 players
get paid. The buy in was $100 and the lowest paying place pays
$150. But the real money is at the final table. 110 players
remain in the tournament and you have an average chip stack.
This means you can easily fold every hand until you reach the
money.

Two players at your table have bigger stacks than you and
they are taking turns raising and bullying the table. Most
players are folding to their aggression because they want to
make the money. You face a raise from one of the big stacks and
have pocket kings. If you get all in against them and lose you
miss the money.

How are you going to play the hand? What if you have pocket
queens, or pocket jacks, or ace king?

If you’re truly playing to win you need to try to get all in
with pocket kings. Only one hand I a favorite against you and if
you can double up your average chip stack it puts you in a good
position to have the chips needed to win the tournament.

It’s not for us to tell you how to play and there’s not a
right or wrong answer when it comes down to deciding if you want
to play for the money or to win. But you do need to think about
it before you start playing in tournaments.

If you’re first goal is to get into the money you might even
fold pocket aces in the example above. You also need to think
about where you cut off your starting hands in a situation like
this one if you’re playing strictly to give yourself the best
chance to win. Pocket jacks and ace king are somewhat weak in
most cases if you have to risk your tournament life, but only
you can make this decision based on what you know about your
opponents and the situation.

Right after the final player busts out who isn’t in the money
many of the short stacks start taking risks to either double up
or bust out. At this point you can play your best hands and
quickly increase your stack size many times.

Another thing to remember is that there’s no one right way to
play in order to win tournaments. Many good players play very
tight in the early rounds and look to double up with their very
best hands while others are able to play a loose / aggressive
game early and do well. You have to find the style that fits
with your abilities and work to improve it at all times.

It seems like when I watch Texas Holdem on
television that there’s a great deal of action, but when I play
I get bored because it takes so long between good hands. What’s
the deal with this?

Answer

Remember our advice from the first question when you
start saying that something seems to be happening? The problem
with this situation is you don’t get to see all of the hands
when watching Texas holdem tournaments on television. They film
a bunch of footage and then edit it all of the boring hands, so
you only see the action hands.

The ESPN coverage of the World Series of Poker only consists
of a few hours and the tournament lasts several days, with
hundreds of tables running at the same time during the early
rounds.

The next issue is you say you get bored. This is a dangerous
thing for a holdem player. When poker players get bored they
tend to play too many hands. This leads to playing hands that
are weaker than your opponents, reducing your overall chances of
winning.

You should never get bored while playing holdem. If you
aren’t involved in the hand you need to be watching and
collecting information about all of your opponents. Watch what
hands they end up showing down and how they play in every
situation.

Do they only raise with their best hands or do they mix it
up? Do they bluff too much? Are they tight or loose?

Every little bit you can learn about how someone plays is an
extra chance you have to make money from them in a later hand.
Winning Texas holdem players seek and use every little advantage
they can possibly find.

A single big hand can be the difference between a winning and
losing session, so knowing a single thing about and opponent can
be the difference between being a winning and losing player.

I want to be a professional poker player. What
advice can you offer me?

Answer

The jump from a recreational or part time poker
player to a full time pro is a huge one. It requires a change in
focus, dedication, time, mental attitude, and lifestyle. No
matter how good your results have been playing part time, if
you’re not completely ready you run a high risk of failure.

Let’s talk about the financial considerations of becoming a
professional Texas holdem player before moving on. You need to
have at least six months worth of living expenses in reserve
before making the jump, and a year’s worth is better. This needs
to be completely separate from your bankroll.

Your bankroll needs to be a minimum of 30 buy in’s if you
play no limit and 300 big blinds if you play limit. Twice this
amount is much better. This may seem like its overly cautious,
but when you’re a pro you have no life line of a job to replace
money when you have a bad streak. And never make the mistake of
thinking you won’t have a bad streak. Every poker player has ups
and downs.

You never should use your living expense fund for poker and
you should never use your bankroll for anything but poker. Set a
regular time to look at your progress and take profit from your
bankroll as it grows. The best system in our opinion is as
follows. We recommend this system because your goal should be to
grow both your living expense account and your bankroll.

At the ends of every month look at the amount of your
bankroll in comparison to the previous month. If you’re down
then do nothing except look for holes in your game and improve
them. If you’re up for the month split the amount you’re up and
put half in your living expenses account and leave half in your
bankroll. Over time you should be making enough to extend your
living expenses beyond a year and keep them there and steadily
increase your bankroll. Your bankroll is your life so you must
protect it in every way possible.

Example

You start the month with $12,000 in your living expenses and
$30,000 in your bankroll. During the month you spend $2,000 out
of your living expenses and your bankroll grows to $36,000. You
put $3,000 in your living expenses and leave $3,000 in your
bankroll. Your new living expenses amount is $13,000 and your
bankroll is now $33,000.

The next month your bankroll is $35,000 at the end of the
month and you spend $2,000 on living expenses. Your new living
expense amount is $12,000 and your new bankroll amount is
$34,000 because you put $1,000 in each account.

The next month you break even playing so your bankroll is
still $34,000 and after spending $2,000 on living expenses your
living expenses account is at $10,000.

In the next month you have a strong showing and end the month
with $42,000 in your bankroll. You spend $2,000 on living
expenses, put $4,000 in your living expenses and leave $4,000 in
your bankroll. Your new living expense amount is $12,000 and
your new bankroll amount is $38,000.

Notice that even though you’ve had three winning months and a
break even month your living expense account hasn’t grown. Your
bankroll has increased by $8,000 so you’re doing well, but the
living expense account is stagnant. At this point you need to
decide if you continue with the current plan or start building
your expense account. It may be prudent to transfer another
$2,000 from your bankroll to your living expenses. But once you
do that the money is gone forever from your bankroll, so make
sure you think it through.

This system is designed so you never have to worry about
money while playing. If you worry about your finances while
playing you’re not going to be focused on what you need to do to
win.

Before making the switch you need to ask yourself a question.
Have you played enough, and tracked all of your play long
enough, to know for a fact that you’re a winning long term
player? Most players make assumptions instead of tracking
everything. Unless you know 100% that you’re a winning player
you need to get better before trying your hand as a pro.

The next area you need to think about is your goals. You need
to have a goal beyond growing your expense account and bankroll.
You need to have specific goals every month and year for how
much you want to win. When you combine your goals with tracking
your results you learn how much you need to play and at what
level.

Example

You play limit Texas holdem and are able to win on average
one big blind per hour. Your goal is to win $6,000 per month and
you’ve been playing 20 / 40. At this rate you need to play 150
hours during the month. This works out to roughly 35 hours per
week.

This also tells you that if you want to make more you either
need to win more per hour or play more hours. Winning more per
hour can be accomplished by increasing your rate of big blind
wins per hour or play a higher limit with the same big blind
wins per hour.

Playing this way becomes a grind, which many players realize
is as bad as or worse than having a regular job. This requires a
mental toughness and dedication that many players simply don’t
have for the long term. Consider this before making the switch
to full time play.

Finally you need the support of your family and everyone else
in your life. This is often overlooked, but if you have
relationships of any kind with a non-poker player they have to
understand how you make money.

One way to still have a relationship and be a professional
player is to schedule a day or two completely off every week.
This is good for both your relationship and your mental health.
Playing poker seven days a week is a form of torture for most
players.

Winning players travel to where the best games are located
and play when these games are available. This means if a game
you can beat is two hours away and starts at midnight and runs
for 18 hours you need to be able to be rested before the game,
be in good enough health to play, and have the understanding and
support from everyone in your life to be able to do it on a
regular basis.

My friends all play No Limit Texas Holdem, but
Limit Holdem seems like a simpler game to win. What’s your
opinion on this?

Answer

You should play the game that lets you win the most
per hour. This goes beyond choosing between limit and no limit
play. This also includes being willing to play at the limits the
offer the most return. The most profitable limit may not be the
highest limit your bankroll can afford.

Example

You have a large enough bankroll to play $1,000 buy in no
limit Texas holdem or 50 / 100 limit. You’re an overall winner
at both, but your results are better as a limit player. At 50 /
100 limit you win a half a big bet per hour, but at 30 / 60
you’re able to win a full big bet per hour.

This means at 50 / 100 you win $50 per hour, but at 30 / 60
you win $60 per hour. You clearly should be playing 30 /60. If
you can win two big bets per hour playing 20 / 40 you should be
playing 20 / 40.

No limit Texas holdem offers the chance to win large amounts
when you win, but it also has a bigger variance than limit
holdem. The amount you can win per hour over the long run is
better for some players in no limit, but not for all players.
And even if you can win more per hour playing no limit you may
be more comfortable with the lower variance of playing limit.

Both games are mathematical in nature, but often limit Texas
holdem seems more straightforward. If you’re able to remain
patient, only play your best hands, use position to your
advantage, and understand odds, outs, and pot odds completely,
then you can follow a fairly simple script and grind out profits
playing limit holdem.

But the same can be said for no limit Texas holdem. So the
answer to your question is really which one do you feel more
comfortable playing, or which one shows you the best results?

We hate to give answers that aren’t specific, but in this
case you really need to decide which offers the best options for
you. One solid piece of advice we can offer is it doesn’t matter
what your friends or others think or say. The only things that
matters are your results.

I want to start hosting a weekly Texas Holdem game.
What do I need to get started?

Answer

The only things you must have to start are a place to
play, enough playing cards, tables, and chairs to run the game.
Of course having a few other things can be helpful.

In addition to having the things mentioned above, having a
unique set of chips players can use and a software package to
track the blinds and levels are the next two things we
recommend. You can find free and low cost software packages for
Texas holdem tournaments by doing a quick search online.

Chips are available in many places, but you need to be
careful about what you buy. The best chips are ones that are
unique to your game. If you use common chips how are you going
to stop a dishonest player from sneaking chips in from outside
the game? Custom chips are expensive, but you can also buy
stickers to print and place on inexpensive chips.

It’s also nice to have quality playing cards, but the higher
quality cards can be expensive. And you need to examine the
cards after every tournament to see if any have been damages or
marked.

The last thing to consider is whether or not you’re going to
provide dealers for the tournament. Dealers add more expense to
the game but they also help reduce cheating. If the players have
to deal some of them may cheat.

The problem with running a Texas holdem tournament is it can
be expensive, and if you charge an entry fee to cover your
expenses you’re breaking the law in many places. In most
jurisdictions if you’re charging any type of fee for entry to
the game you’re running an illegal gambling operation.

We’ve seen some creative ways that organizers have tried to
get around this, but we’d hate to have to fight in court using
them. Here are a couple that we’ve seen used.

One of our editors played in a weekly tournament where the
buy in was $100 and you paid a $20 fee. The organizers prepared
a nice meal for every player and claimed the $20 was for the
meal, not the game. But the problem was you couldn’t just play
for $100, you had to pay for the food.

Another ploy is to call the place a club or organization and
the extra money on top of the buy in is a membership fee. In our
non-legal opinion, the courts are probably not going to look
kindly on these types of things if you get caught.

We realize that poker tournaments are being run all over the
place and most of them are never bothered by the cops, but that
doesn’t mean you can’t be arrested and charged. This is
especially true if a player feels they’ve been cheated and
complain to the authorities.

We’re not offering legal advice, but make sure you consider
all of the possible ramifications before you start hosting a
game.

I have a hard time figuring my odds, percentages,
and pot odds during a game. Are there any shortcuts you can
recommend to make it easier?

Answer

The easiest way to make a close guess to your chances
of winning hand after the flop is to use the following trick.
Learn how to count your outs first. This is easy and most
players can learn this quickly.

If you have four to a flush you know the deck has nine other
cards of your suit. So you have nine outs.

Once you know how many outs you have if you still have the
turn and river you multiply your outs by four. If you just have
the river to come you multiply you routs by two. This gives you
roughly the percentage chance you have of winning the hand.

In the example above of a flush draw and nine outs, the
estimated chances with both the turn and river to come are 36%
and with just the river to come is 18%. The true odds are 35%
and 19.6% so you can see that this quick trick gives you a
strong estimate of your chances.

The next trick is to learn the most common situation and
memorize them. The flush draw in the example above is a common
one, as well as an open ended straight draw, two pair or three
of a kind improving to a full house, and having two over cards
with hopes of pairing one of them.

You also need to have an idea of how your percentage chances
of winning or hitting your hand relate to the pot odds. Pot odds
are simply the comparison of the amount of money in the pot and
the amount you have to call in order to stay in the hand. When
you compare your chances of winning with the pot odds you can
determine if it’s profitable or not to stay in the hand.

If the pot has $100 in it and you have to call $20 and you
have the flush draw mentioned above after the flop, the pot odds
are favorable to call. You’re going to hit your flush a little
over one out of every three times based on the 36% chance. We
now know that your actual chance is 35%, but the estimate is
close enough.

This means that every three times you win once and lose
twice. So if the pot has more than two times the amount you have
to put in then the pot odds are in your favor.

If you’re in the same situation but on the river instead of
before the turn you have a 18% chance, really 19.6%, so this is
roughly one out of every five times.

This means that you’ll win once and lose four times out of
every five. In other words your pot chances are four to one. The
pot is offering five to one odds, with $100 in it and you have
to call $20, so the pot is offering a better return than your
odds of making the hand. This means you need to call.

Pot odds can be intimidating, but if you start with the
simple steps we just covered you’ll quickly learn to determine
your chances of winning and if you should play or fold in most
situations.

I play No Limit Texas Holdem recreationally and do
pretty good overall. I track my play and win a little more than
I lose and am considering playing more. But I have a good job
and don’t plan to ever play full time or professionally. Should
I try to invest more time and effort into poker or just be happy
with my current results?

Answer

First of all, let us say congratulations on being a
winning Texas holdem player. It’s not as easy as many make it
seem, so you’re ahead of the majority of players.

Concerning the rest of your question, this is getting
dangerously close to letting someone else tell you what to do
with your life. We can offer advice on what you can do to
improve your game, but it sounds like you’re somewhat happy with
your current situation.

In order to get better at Texas holdem you’re going to need
to dedicate more time and effort to the game and that time has
to be taken away from something else. Only you can decide if
you’re going to be happier making these changes or if improving
your poker results will make you happier.

Being a good recreational player and having a good job you
enjoy is a good thing. But having a full time job and being a
really good poker player are rarely found together.

If you want to try to improve your results start by taking an
extra 30 minutes a day and dedicate it to improving your holdem
skills. This can be spent reading about how to be a better
player, studying other players, or researching articles online
designed to improve the weak spots in your game.

Do this for a month and then try to judge your results and if
you’re happier than before. Let us warn you about trying to
judge your happiness though. This evaluation can be somewhat
subjective and change based on other things in your life.

You should also realize that many people who are good holdem
players have quit their jobs to play full time and found they
hated the grind. Even some winning players have went back to
doing something else for a living and playing as a hobby. Being
a full time poker player isn’t easy and it isn’t always fun.

I play in a weekly No Limit Texas Holdem tournament
and many players move all in every time they have Ace King. I
try to never get all in with Ace King, but I’m not very
experienced and am beginning to think I might be playing wrong.
Can you help me?

Answer

Don’t worry, just because everyone else seems to be
doing something it doesn’t mean you’re wrong. In this case
you’re the one who’s playing correctly, not your opponents.

In most situations the best you can hope for with ace king is
a roughly 50 / 50 chance of winning. When you hold ace kin
against a player with a pair lower than kings it’s basically a
toss-up. But if you hold ace kin against a pair of aces or kings
you’re dominated.

You don’t win Texas holdem tournaments by getting all in with
50 / 50 hands. If you play only four 50 / 50 hands during a
tournament all in you only have a 6.25% chance of still being
alive.

Focus on hands that give you a much higher percentage chance
of winning and winning smaller pots to build your chip stack so
you don’t have to get all in often.

You also need to understand that most Texas holdem players
lose over the long term. This means that just because everyone
seems to be doing it, it doesn’t mean it’s going to win in the
long run. Learn how to determine if a situation is profitable of
not so you don’t have to rely on what others are doing.

I’m a Texas Holdem player and often get frustrated
when players make bad plays but end up winning. I know in the
long run I make money when I play hands as a favorite, but I’m
considering switching to Omaha 8. Is this a good idea?

Answer

While it’s true that Omaha 8 is a more predictable
and straightforward mathematical game, you’re still going to
face the same irritations because players are still going to
make bad plays and sometimes they’ll still win.

The key in Texas holdem, or Omaha, or any other game of poker
is to put yourself in a positive expectation position as often
as possible and then let the long term percentages play in your
favor. If you do this you’ll suffer some ups and downs, but in
the long run you’re going to win more than you lose.

The reason Omaha 8 is more predictable than Texas holdem is
because of the amount of information you have during each hand.
In Texas holdem you know the identity of two cards before the
flop, your hole cards, and five cards after the flop, your two
hole cards and the three on the flop.

In Omaha you know the identity of four cards before the flop
and seven cards after the flop. The added cards reduce the
possibilities for the rest of the hand and after the flop you
have five of the seven cards you’re going to be able to use to
make your hand.

All of this means that for players who have a deep
understanding f the mathematics behind poker Omaha is somewhat
easier. But the same player can use the same math to be a
winning Texas holdem player also.

The only reason you should consider switching from Texas
holdem to Omaha 8 is if you can make more money in the long run
playing Omaha than holdem. You need to learn to deal with the
frustration of playing against bad players, because the only way
you make money at the poker table is by playing against players
who are worse than you.

You say you know that you make money by playing hands as a
favorite, but this doesn’t seem to be satisfactory to you. We
suggest stepping back and trying to look at poker as a way to
make short term investments instead of as a game. Short term
investments can increase or decrease, but if you make the smart
investment more often than not they make a positive return over
time.

Summary

Being the best Texas holdem player you can be requires
dedication and constant study. One of the best ways to learn new
things is by reading the questions and answers of other players.

Take a few moments to write down the things you learned from
the questions and answers above. By writing them down while
they’re fresh in your mind you won’t forget anything important
and it helps ingrain the lessons in your mind.