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Texas Holdem Top Hands Playing Texas Holdem is as much a game of stradagy and psychological profiling as it is just betting the cards in your hand. If you have not immediately begun to profile the players at the table just as soon as you sat down then maybe poker is not a game for you. They are few if any of the top players who make it to the final table without bluffing...a lot. Be Looking For These Types Of Poker Players The tight passive style player does not like to take risks. For instance, He will not raise or reraise before the flop with a pair of Aces in the pocket. He sits on his money and on his hands and never gets value for the good hands that he catches. He may win modest amounts from time to time but will loose over the long run. Without maximizing his profits in the hand or two an hour that he plays he is on a downward slope. It is slight but it is still going down. You can almost always get the tight passive player to fold the winning hand if you play aggressively against him. From time to time he will beat you with the nut flush or straight, but not often. The loose passive player keeps entering the pot waiting for the miracle hand. He will get it once in awhile but will not bet it up to it's potential. Calling this guy is a good bet. He starts out playing lots of crap hands and ends up following them all the way to the river. They are still crap but he will call you just to, "Keep you honest." If you run into a guy who is loud, opinionated, and puts the bums rush on all the women at the table you can bet he will think that all of his cards are the best and will not hesitate to bet them. He would not be caught dead limping into a hand. He thinks that, If they are good enough to hold, they are good enough to raise. Just hope that you get good cards while he is playing. He plays aggressively all the time and tends to over value his hand. When you get a good hand, slow play him. He will bet like a maniac and expect to intimidate you with his play. Imagine his suprise when, in the final betting round, you raise. The best money winner is the guy who plays it tight and is very aggressive when it is time for it. He has read all the players. knows the odds on the hands that they might hold. Knows where his hand fits into the higher Archie and not afraid to risk some money. Is not afraid to vary his betting pattern enough to steal some hands. Look for this guy to bluff an hour or so after he sat down at the table.  Pocket Pairs From time to time you are going to be dealt pocket pairs. Play them, but play them carefully. Pocket Aces are the best pre-flop hand. After the flop things can be very different. Pocket kings are almost as good as the Aces but you have the Ace over card to worry about on the flop, the turn, and the river. Be careful. Pocket Queens and Jacks have even more over cards to worry about. That is what you do and limp in if you can. Suited Aces You are going to end up without a flush about 95% of the time with these cards, but with Ace thru Ten you have a 50% shot at flopping and ace,king,straight, a straight draw, or a flush. Black Jack Hands When you are just starting out playing Texas Holdem play only what I call the Black Jack hands. Those are the cards that add up to 20 or 21. Aces are eleven and face cards are ten. Playing this tight is not going to make you a lot of money. While it will not make you a fortune it will reduce your losses while you learn to play the game. Poker is a game almost magic in it's subtly. You have tons of stuff to learn and do not want to pay a high price for the lessons. The Bluff In Texas Holdem Poker There are times to bluff and times not to bluff. Some people cannot tell the difference. You most certainly want to get caught bluffing a time or two a night just to make sure that you do not get pegged as a tight player. A very good bluff that does not even look like a bluff is raising before the flop with Big Slick Ace/King. Before you do this you must be mindful of your position on the table. Cool, if you are the dealer or acting just before the dealer but of less use as you travel back toward the blinds.   Before you decide that you are going to bluff. Look at the reward if you pull it off. How much money is in the pot? Some people call this pot odds, and have a whole lot of complicated calculations to make before they decide. I just look at it. There is either a large stack of chips or a small stack. If there is a large stack of chips I will attempt a bluff. Bluffing is simply selling an idea. The idea is that you have the best hand. It helps a lot that your opponent can see right on the table that there is a possible straight or flush. Is there a pair? You might have three of a kind or a full house. Don't show your hand to any spectators in an attempt to bluff. Everybody knows that if you show your hand after the cards are on the table then you are probably bluffing

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