Starting to win

The perfect guide to winning fixed limit Texas hold'em

Read through this thoroughly in order for you to at the end of the article understand what I am driving at.

When you read books within the subject fixed limit Hold'em, even the best sellers, the starting hand tables and strategy often for playing at somewhat higher levels are applicable. The playing theory is therefore discussed from a perspective where your opponents are expected to be fairly good players. On the internet people on the other hand are like mad when it comes to throw money into the pot at the lower levels and therefore a tight strategy where you stick to the best hands is the best way to be successful - at least for you as a beginner. The starting hands I have pointed at completely ignores marginal hands which in the long run do not give any good results even if you play them well.
In many books about poker you are recommended to play these marginal hands in the first place to give you a somewhat loose table image while you in reality play tightly.
The situation on the Internet is that the players on the low limit levels very often ignores your table image completely – they change tables and do not pay much attention. Many of them probably surf around on the internet while playing. On practically all the tables intended for fixed limit with the limits $0.5/$1 between 50 to 80% of the players see the flop every round. The best thing for you is then to just sit and wait for the strongest hands that have the best chances to make it through the whole round. As you play only the premium hands the money in the pot will make your odds to see more cards after the flop higher. (What is meant by odds and how does it work?).

Remember: If your opponents cause trouble for you even at these tables you can always find yourself a more favourable table.

The starting hands that are recommended here are hands that I have played a lot myself at low-limit level and I know they give good results.

By getting rid of many marginal hands you save a lot of time, you might even get very bored (boredom can be cured) but believe me – you will make a profit in the long run as long as by not spending money on hands where you risk making wrong decisions with hands with which not even a good player will make a profit worth mentioning.
Later on I will explain the game at the flop, which in the first place will be shown with the help of pictures and comments to make you understand
By avoiding the marginal, often very hard hands to play you will as mentioned above save a lot of time. When you have learnt the game properly and do not deviate from these starting hands and have learnt to calculate the odds (much easier than you think) and take your position at the table seriously and finally are intelligent enough to fold (in time) when you have bad hands – then you will be able to make decisions fast enough to play multiple tables. Combine multiple tables with the $100 monthly reload bonus* at Partypoker and/or other sites and you will be able to create capital fairly quickly and thus you will avoid the boredom many new players experience when playing low limit Hold'em as after all there is quite a lot of action when you play many tables at the same time. Boredom is the reason why most players with knowledge do not win. Patience is a must and this quality is what matters when you want to tell the difference between a good player and a winning player.
Don't forget that practise makes perfect. You have to start practicing at one table till you know how to play – otherwise you will lose four times as quickly instead!

I myself play at approximately 2BB (Big Bets) per table every hour and on average according to my way of playing. The generally accepted live poker result is 1BB/hour. On the internet the game is faster and it is possible to make about 3 BB/hour at the lower stakes if you concentrate on just one table. Finally I have added some stats (for the time being “only” 10,500 hands) regarding my hands when playing with the help of the marvellous program Pokertracker (more about this program later). 10,500 hands correspond to 45 hours of playing at four tables. This is really too little time to be able to exactly establish an exact win-rate. Winning low limit Texas Holdem by playing this way should however be evident.

Added value: By finally trying to handle multiple tables at the same time this means you can always use the low tables ($0.5/$1) as efficient filling stations for more chips and practice further at higher levels. If you lose your money there you simply go back and “refuel” money before you have run out of it. Remember to ALWAYS have at least 500 times the big bet in your bankroll compared to the table stakes! If you don´t have it - play at lower limits! Playing only at one table will as you see be time consuming and at the same time it is somewhat too risky jump to the higher levels immediately. It is harder to handle many tables with higher bets even if it is possible. I find it hard to find games where many players are willing enough to put money into the pot for this way of playing to be simple to handle bigger tables. There you instead have to put some energy into finding out how your opponents act in different situations and what ways of playing they use, in other words - there is a lot more of poker playing.

Remember – ”refuel” chips at many low tables, then you try at higher tables (if you want to) and later you return to a lower lever if you have started running out of chips.

Well, I think you will appreciate what I am trying to tell you if you only give yourself time to learn the game properly.

Go further to Position >>>