Texas Hold'em

Hold'em Tournament Play

Roy ‘The Boy’ Brindley, one of Europe’s most successful Hold'em tournament players, is here to help raise your poker game

 
maximise your chances by playing winning strategies and ensuring you’re only ever in the pot when you’ve got a very good chance of taking it down

What do you need to play winning poker? Patience and the ability to outwit your opponents are key attributes, but above all else, poker’s a game of skill. It’s the reason the same names win big year after year.

You can split players roughly into two camps: those who have the above attributes and are lured back through the thrill of victory and financial gain; and the less successful players – invariably losers in the long run – who play for fun and in the vain hope of getting lucky. Put the two together and you’ve got a recipe for a fine game of cards.

Obviously you want to make sure you’re in the winning group. And, while you can’t completely remove the element of luck, you can maximise your chances by playing winning strategies and ensuring you’re only ever in the pot when you’ve got a very good chance of taking it down.

Every month I’ll take you through specific elements which will improve your all-round game, starting with the basics of Texas Hold’em. Always play with these rules in mind and you’re in with a good chance of seeing your bankroll steadily creep up.

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Don't get attached to these hands

‘They were suited!’ Way too much emphasis is placed on suited hole cards. Consider this: A-Q against 10-10 is a 43.1 percent underdog whereas A-Q against 10 -10 has only a 2.6 percent better chance of prevailing. A lot of players seem to think the added edge of suited cards is something like 20 percent. When I see the likes of Q-4 suited played I think of the old proverb of tipping manure from a rocking horse.

Never fall in love with a hand

Forget the time you won a big pot with a certain starting hand – such foolhardy superstition is absolutely guaranteed to cost you a lot of chips and even competitions in the long run. If that’s your style stick to three-card brag.

Any Ace

The classic novice mistake is to play any hand featuring an Ace. Next time you hold A-5, A-6, A-7 and the like, stop to consider what the only people who will contest a raise will be holding. It’s simple: those that have an Ace with a better kicker then yours and those holding a pocket pair invariably higher than your side card (or kicker). In either of these scenarios you’re a huge underdog and capable of slaughtering yourself if an Ace comes on the fl op. If it doesn’t you’ll be reduced to making a bluff in order to win the pot and the probability of that succeeding is not good.

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