How to Win Consistently at Texas hold em

Here's how to play good and bad hands, how to bluff, how to bet, and how to win at America's most popular poker game. Hopefully this article will help you play better and win more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Cards

1. First, learn the hands you should and should not play. Remember that most of the time you will fold your hand before the ante or after posting the small blind. Hands that should be played: Any pocket pair, any suited face cards, connected face cards, connected and suited cards. Hands to avoid: Ace-anything under 10, unsuited and unconnected cards lower than 10, face card and card under 10. Those are obviously not the only hands you shouldn't play, but often people chase face cards. Be patient, its a marathon not a sprint.
2. Instinctively, the belief is that if you get good cards, say pocket kings, you should make a large bet before the community cards are shown to prevent other people from having a chance to beat you by luck. But research shows that such a strategy is not the best. It is actually better to make a moderate bet and let others see more cards, because it you more chances to bet and bring more money into the pot.
3. Bluffing: There are two kinds of bluffs
   
   1. Betting in weakness to feign strength
   2. Betting in strength to feign weakness
   
   To win at poker, you must do both. If you never bluff, then everyone will fold when you actually have a good hand. Losing a little here and there to keep others off balance with your betting is worth it. Once in a while you have to buy yourself a win with a bluff. If people don't fold and you end up getting beat, oh well, at least they know you're not afraid to bluff; it keeps them guessing.
   
   The second kind of bluff is the best. Once you stumble onto a great hand, whether after the flop or pre-flop, wait to see if other people bet. if they do, just check-call everything until the last opportunity. If they stop betting after all the cards are down, it's your chance to bet big because they are committed to the pot and it's harder to fold. This is how tournaments are won.
4. If you're up, try playing hands that aren't face cards but are suited and have a straight draw. Since people who play tight may only play with high face cards, you might just pick up something on the flop and win with low cards.
5. Keep your emotions in check. Players who are losing sometimes go into "tilt", which means they get flustered and make bad choices, while the players who are winning reap the benefits. Sit a couple hands out and regroup. Better yet, know that losing is part of poker and don't get frustrated or let them see you sweat.
6. Pay attention to everything other people do. Monitor how they bet, especially if you're not in the hand to see how they play certain cards. If you're really savvy, you can pick up on some tells that can help you read what they are doing. Something to do while not in a hand is to guess what everyone has based on how they bet and what the community cards are. As you get better at guessing hands, you'll be a better player when you get into a hand.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have trouble with gambling and want to stop, you can volunteer yourself to be banned from casinos by calling the casino or visiting the casino's website.