TEXAS HOLD'EM TIPS
FOR BEGINNING PLAYERS

tons o' tips!

Tips for selecting a poker table

Which table should I sit at? Many players don't take this decision very seriously but it's considered by many experts to be the most important decision in poker. You must find a table with players you can beat to make money. It's that simple. If the top ten professional poker players in the world sit down to a little Friday afternoon game, they do it because it's a challenge. You won't find these guys sitting together when it's time to make money.

Tip One: Consider the Limit: Never join a table with limits that are over your head. If a bad beat in a hotly contested pot will take a serious percentage of your bankroll then you should find a lower limit game. You'll normally find better players at higher limits, making it tougher to find a profitable table. In general if the betting size scares you, then you probably won't play you're best game anyway.

Tip Two: Consider the Rake: Another important factor. Online poker rooms (and casinos for that matter) have higher rakes at lower limits. They make take up to 10% of each pot in a .25-.50 cent game. That's a serious percentage to overcome. Many of the poker sites will give you a far friendlier rake at the $2-4$ limit and some even at the $1-2$ limit, making it worthwhile to move up to these limits to prevent being gouged by the poker room. You can beat the extremely low limit games because the quality of play is so poor. But believe me, it will be a slow grind filled with annoying bad beats. Check the rake percentages on the low limit games at your poker site and keep them in mind when choosing a table.

Tip Three: Find Players You Can Beat! This is much simpler in an online setting than it is at a casino. Take advantage of it! You can join the table and watch for as long as you like before sitting down. The players usually won't even know you're there. If you're a tight/aggressive player with rigorous starting standards you should look for a table with plenty of callers before the flop, some of whom will be calling with trash hands or even (oh, happy day!) every hand. If a high percentage of them are folding after the flop, then bingo, you've found a honey hole! If they're all gambling all the way to the river you might want to avoid the table. Your pair of Aces is not a great hand against 6 other players who are all looking for a miracle straight or flush. One of them will probably make it.

Tip Four: Don't Hesitate to Move Tables: In low-medium limit online hold'em games the player turnover rate tends to be high. You'll often find a great table only to see the "fishes" being quickly replaced by more competent players. When this happens you should quit the game and find a new pond. This is often easy to forget because better players make for a more interesting game. You'll be reluctant to quit because you're having fun. Forget that. Go find a table with boring, lackluster players. Then take their chips!

Page 2: Starting Standards

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