However, most accounts generally agree that it was French settlers who first played Poker in New Orleans around 1830. It may have been introduced to them by Persian traders, as it bears strong similarities with the 16th century Persian card game As Nas. The popularity of Poker meant that it quickly spread throughout the USA, along the transport routes of rivers and railroads. It became especially popular when played amongst cowboys in the Old West.

Texas Holdem, or Hold’em as it is also known, is today one of the most popular versions of Poker in the world. Although nobody is really sure where this version was first played, it seems clear that Texas was the state of origin! Some reports say that the first ever game was played in Robstown in the 1900s and it spread to Dallas in 1925. Texas Holdem has enjoyed widespread recognition ever since.

The popularity of Texas Holdem was widely increased in 1970. In this year, the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino was opened in Las Vegas by Benny Binion. Binion decided to take over a small invitational Poker tournament from Riverside Casino’s Tom Morehead. What as the name of the tournament? The World Series of Poker and the game of choice was Texas Holdem.

Binion focused on the gambling element of the game by devising the idea of rapidly increasing antes and blinds, so that a winner could be produced within a relatively short space of time. In 1972, 8 players took part in the World Series of Poker tournament; thirty years later, the 8 had increased to 800! This annual tournament is now recognised as the most important in the world. In the last five years, the increasing popularity of televised tournaments means that Texas Holdem has become a part of mainstream television.

Additionally, through modern innovations in technology, Texas Holdem Poker has branched off in new directions. Games can now be played directly through the internet, or even on a cell phone! The game’s simplicity and huge entertainment value have contributed to its popularity, which shows no sign of decrease. Texas Holdem is clearly the most famous Poker game in the world.

Most people, due to the exhilaration in playing the Texas Hold’em often forget the two most practical and essential facts that they have to know and this often results in a not so very satisfactory outcome. Having said this, first of the two things that you have to always bear in mind is that the two cards that you’re holding are your only chance of winning. Second thing you need to always keep in mind is that you and the rest of the players shared community cards - these are the cards that are put faced up for all of the players to see. In Texas Hold’em you have to keep your mind focused on what the other players put in the community cards.

In playing Texas Hold’em, it is important to stay cool. Do not give your opponent a slightest hint of what your card might be composed of by your physical reactions. Since psychology plays a big part in this game, it is recommended for you not to show any kind of emotions at all because more often that not your reactions to your cards in your hand will give your opponents the information that they need in order for them to beat you.

The next for you to do is to distinguish and understand the pair of cards that you are holding. How do you really know if the pair of cards you have are the good pair? Your cards are good if you have two different cards in hand that are both less than 10. When you have this pair especially if they belong in the same suit, this will actually give you a huge probability that you will get good flush or straight.

When it comes to Texas Hold’em odds, it will increase in a significant level if you are willing to at least experience a string of poor hands or bad luck. Waiting patiently for the good hands to come in your way will in fact give you a big advantage in increasing your chances of winning the Texas Hold’em pot. When you are faced with flop, don’t get too easily discouraged because there is a tendency along the way that the wheel of luck might change in your favour.

As the game progresses, two out of seven players in a table of Texas Hold’em game will be left to play against one another. When the game is down to two players, there is a big possibility that you will beat your opponent. This is because of the fact that as the number of your rivals decrease, the potential of your opponent holding a strong hand also goes down. Being a bit aggressive in this kind of situation might help you win the pot.

Don’ expect to read a book or two on Texas Holdem, and be an expert. That is not the way it works. This is not something you learn from books! Knowing how to play is essential, naturally, but not enough. Why not?

To be successful in Texas Holdem you need some strategy, certainly – and you must learn to play not only your own hand, but that of the other players.

For any strategy to be effective you must include in it your opponent’s strategy as well, and then adapt your own to win.

This is the difficult bit of developing your Texas Hold’em strategy there is no optimal hand to play like in Blackjack; you have to BEAT your opponent.

So, you must first however learn all the basics:

1. What the odds are

2. Bluffing

3. Slow play

etc

Then all you can know about your opponents and how to play them!

Blending your Strategy with a Winning Psychology

The key to winning will be in your state of mind, and your psychological outlook to the game.

Why?

Because in Texas Hold’em the best hand doesn’t always win. This is a basic mistake many players make.

If you bluff or play too times you will be easily discovered by the more experienced players.

They will find out, and you will lose.

For Texas hold’em nothing is more important than practicing!

To get Texas Hold’em strategy correct, you need lots of practice.

The whole game is full of psychology, and you must “read” the other players correctly. No book can teach you this.

You will succeed, but only if you have real experience, for money.

The free games will not put you in the correct psychological frame of mind. Everyone plays different for money.

When you lose money, it hurts. When you win it is sweet.

When you play for real, each mistake or error in strategy can cost you. You must know what this means and how it feels. There is no substitute for experience.

So, begin at the lower or minimum bets, and then increase your bets as you gain in experience and skill. Also, don’t go against the really experienced players…you will only lose.

Strategy Guidelines for Texas Hold’em.

1. From the resources on the net read as much as you can about the basic tips, the odds and successfully applied strategies. There is no shortage of them on the net. However, keep in mind what ever strategy you choose must have a correct psychological attitude.

2. Understand your opponent, study him well, and then fix your mind on how to react to him, or make him react to you. If you do this, you are half way to victory already.

3. As you begin, keep to the small bets, and lower limits. Work out your strategy here for the lessons will cost you in losses. In the end, you will gain valuable experience and start winning.

4. As in the world of sports, you need the correct attitude. Find it, use it, and stick with it. It will be your tool for success.

5. Don’t be in a hurry to win patience is the key, you can’t develop your skills without plenty of practice and this does NOT mean free games. This is a slow process. You need to build up skill, attitude and feel the game as natural. Also, play only for money, as you will play differently.

And do not underestimate the value of the right attitude. This more than anything else will defeat your opponent.

Anyone can learn how to play, but winning takes hard work, dedication, and tenacity…

In the game of Texas Hold’em, there are no short cuts or easy winnings.

If you want to in you must devote your time to a lot of practice be prepared to lose money.

However, if you can form and hold the right attitude, and know the basics of play, with practice you can and will win.

The Proper Way To Play AA In Texas Hold ‘Em

Most beginners and even some intermediate players get so excited when they see this hand as their hole cards that they usually shove all of their chips in the middle, forgetting the most important fact that they are to play this hand in a manner that maximizes their potential profit.
As the action goes around the poker table and the other players do the normal routine of raising and calling the optimal play here would be to simply call with this kind of hand in the attempt to conceal the strength of your hand and portray it as if you have a drawing hand - something along the lines of A-10 or K-J suited.

However, once the flop is shown you must be leery of its composition. A flop of 9-4-Q with no similar suits is an excellent flop and usually allows a pre-flop raiser to make an automatic continuation bet for about half of the pot. The best play here would be to check in order to indicate weakness or at best a pair of queens with a medium kicker at best. Hopefully, the pot should be offering you 3-1 odds at this point anyway thereby maximizing your play of this hand.

No matter what card shows up on 4tht street (also known as the turn), you must be more aggressively and over-bet with action that is twice the current pot in order to indicate that you want to steal the pot. You can enhance this deception by appearing jittery and nervous as if you truly are trying to make a desperate bluff. However, if your poker acting skills aren’t ready yet then simply over-betting will more than likely be enough to draw your opponent in as they will sense weakness based on the fact that you are attempting to block their pot odds. Usually this results in a call because the other player believes you are making a grievous error in your play.

By the time 5th street (the river) hits if everything has gone accordingly up to this point you should be ready to take down the pot because your opposition most likely won’t have trips or two pair based on the analysis that he/she didn’t make a larger sized bet in the first place (normally this is around the size of the pot). One caveat to this style of play is to remember that this will only work against good players and not beginners who call seeming call bets without any thought to pot odds or the number of outs remaining for their cards to hit.

The Proper Way To Play KK In Texas Hold ‘Em

Unlike AA, KK needs to be played differently and for good reason. Although it is a strong starting hand in Texas Hold ‘Em it can still be beat by a pair of Aces. With that in mind, during the betting round of the pre-flop you need to act aggressively and hammer the pot as much as you possibly can. The intent is to make sure that only the top drawing cards and face cards will remain in the hand to see the actual flop. A good size bet in this instance would be about 4 or 5 times the size of the big blind.

After the flop arrives take care not to show any form of emotion or weakness in the event that the dreaded Ace lands on the board. As the pre-flop raiser you will need to make what is known as a continuation bet. This bet cannot be some low ball amount such as half of the pot. Instead you need to continue to show strength and throw in a value bet for about 2/3 the size of the current pot. Not only does this tell everyone at the table that you have a genuine hand it also conceals that you only have KK by making everyone else think you just paired your Ace.

If someone does call then you must mentally prepare yourself because most likely they will either have AK or AQ given the fact that they called your initial raise pre-flop. Naturally, this means don’t attempt to make a large bluff on 4th street, instead merely fold your hand if someone else bets the turn.

Don’t feel down or get upset if this is what happens because you must remember that poker is a game that is won by making the least amount of mistakes, not winning substantial pots. Also keep in mind that when you’re beat, you’re beat.

Texan Covered Wagons

For this unique party craft item you’ll need the following supplies; Pint Size Milk Carton, Construction Paper, Markers and/or Paint, 4 Bottle Caps or Lids from a Milk Jugs, Glue and Tape.

Begin this Texas Holdem craft item by cutting the milk carton in half from the very top opening, straight down to the bottom. Try to preserve the shape of the half carton; this will serve as your wagon base. Keep the half with the top point, and paint it brown. Allow to dry.

Make the wheels for your Texas Holdem wagon by painting the 4 bottle or milk caps black. You can also cut small circles from black or brown construction paper and glue them to the outside of the caps if you don’t have any paint.

Next, you’ll cut a piece of white construction paper about 8 inches x 5 inches. This will serve as the tarp or cover of your wagon. Glue it over the base of your milk carton wagon to make the cover. If it won’t stick, you can add some tape for reinforcement.

This makes youre Pinoner wagon for the Texas Holdem party. This wagon is very simple to make and and the kids will love it. You can bet they’ll be playing with these wagons all during the party. Plus, you can line the wagons with paper towel or parchment paper and use them to hold snacks and candies on the buffet at your Texas Holdem party. They add a really nice decorative touch.

Here are some Texas holdem pre-flop tips to help you win and win big!

Texas Holdem Pre-flop Tip 1 - Number of Players

Firstly, you need to consider the number of players at the table.

For example, with 10 players for example, there is a better chance of someone having a good hand, than in games with fewer players.

Players need to be more conservative and less aggressive larger games as more players mean the odds of you having the best hand decrease.

Texas Holdem pre-flop Tip 2 – Players Playing Style

Look at all the other players and how they are playing their hands. Adapt your strategy accordingly to take them on and beat them.

If you see a player is raising every hand pre-flop, you need to be playing tighter.

You can then remove them from the table when you have a good enough hand in the pocket pre-flop.

Texas Holdem pre-flop Tip 3 – Your Chips

If you only have a small number of chips play carefully and select one hand to bet on, hoping to get as many players involved as possible for a good size pot.

In reverse if you have a large amount of chips, you can afford to take the higher-risk higher payout bets and play in amore aggressive style as you have the bankroll to back you up.

Texas Holdem pre flop Tip 4 - Table Position

It’s a basic fact that players in late positions can influence

the size of the pot more than players in early position and you need to always keep this in mind.

This is critical in the pre-flop period.

If you are in early position you simply have limited idea of what other players have and this should dictate your play.

Players must be cautious when playing hands from early position.

Players in late position can play weaker hands with less fear of loss.

Texas Holdem pre flop Tip 5 – Know the Hands to play

Which hands are most likely to yield a win in pre-flop?

There is a lot of free material that will help you determine the odds, until they become second nature to you, so make use of them playing and calculating the odds in this period is critical.

Tip 6 – Waiting for the right play

Perhaps the most important pre-flop skill to learn is to be patient unemotional and play with discipline waiting for the right hand to play.

This means only playing when the odds are in your favor

You have to beat all the other players and on a table of 10 for example, the statistics will be that your hand is simply not good enough most of the time.

Everyone wants to play for big pots, but if you play too often you will end up a loser.

An advantage of being out of the pot, will mean you can study other players style from a detached point of view to give you valuable information on their playing style, to use against them later!

Texas Holdem pre-flop Tip 7 – Practice

As we all know Texas Holdem is a game of psychology and this starts in pre-flop.

It takes a good deal of practice to master the tips above. They are all easy on paper, but different when you are playing with real money on the line.

Don’t expect overnight results – Practice makes perfect, so play on lower stakes tables and work your way up to harder games as you gain experience.

In time you will be able to implement all the tips above and start to win big in Texas holdem.

First of all, if you are new to NL Texas Hold em, the Button position is the position of the dealer, designated by the “D” icon or chip that you see on your screen. The reason this position is so valuable is because it is the last one to act at the table in all subsequent action. Remember, poker is a game of incomplete information and it is a huge advantage to have the information of how everyone else has played the hand (meaning whether they bet or checked or folded) before you have to make a decision. You can tailor your play based on how your opponents played, regardless of your actual cards.

The Button is the position that many players will try to steal the blinds from if no one has opened the pot already. Raising into an unopened pot from the Button has gotten to be so common place in online poker that advanced players will not respect it anymore if they are in the Small or Big Blind. Therein lies the problem. Everyone wants to play from the Button, make raises, steal pots. However, like the continuation bet, more hardened internet players will not respect this play. A good player when faced with an opponent making a position play from the button, will many times respond by re-raising all-in, forcing the Button player to fold.

What you really need to do is learn to vary your play from the Button. (much like every other position!) The mistake that many players make is becoming too predictable from the Button. You simply cannot make the same raise every round from this position or you will get caught. However, much of what you do to vary your play will depend on the table you are at.

For example, if are you in a cash ring game with $1-$2 Blinds, what is the point of raising from the Button to try and steal $3? By doing that, you are many times just building a pot for your opponent! Rather than just making a raise from the Button because you have read that it is a good play, learn to analyze the situation you are currently in and make adjustments from there.

There is little or no point in stealing $3 worth of blinds in a low limit game, but if you are playing a $25-$50 game, it is obviously much more worthwhile.

This holds true for the early stages of a Sit n Go as well. Why try and steal $30 worth of blinds? You will get yourself into trouble more often than not, and for what? Small pots that don’t much matter one way or the other.

However, what about the late stages of a SNG or multi-table tournament? Much different. You want to steal at these stages from the Button as well as other positions. The Blinds and/or antes have become large enough to really matter and you can build your stack very quickly this way. Plus, you now have the added benefit of varying your play. Early on, you did not steal, now you do. Sort of a put the pedal down approach: start slowly and cautiously, and build into extreme aggression.

If you glean nothing else here, learn this: you must vary your play from the Button and how you vary it is situational. It greatly depends on the type of game you are playing, the point in the game you are at, the temperment of your table (the tendencies of the other players) and so on.

I have a couple of simple rules that I like to keep in my head in regards to playing form the Button:

1. Never do anything all the time with one exception! If you are stealing blinds from the button, and the Small and Big Blinds do nothing to stop you, continue doing it until they stand up for themselves. Once they finally get tired of it, quit and start varying your approach. If they don’t, simply raise and steal EVERY time until they do.

2. I will almost always call with ANY two cards into a pot of limpers. Again, you have the advantage of acting last and by limping in, the others are telling you they are not thrilled with their holdings. Many times if the Flop is a blank, you can steal the pot when the action is checked around to you post-flop. Be aware that the odds of being able to do this go down considerably the more players you have involved the hand. Also, every now and then the Small or Big Blind will wake up with a hand and raise and you will lose your bet.

3. Remember that the Blinds CAN actually have a hand. Many times players get so into playing their position that they fail to realize that the Small Blind and Big Blind can actually be dealt good cards. Do not make this mistake. Do not fall so far in love with playing position that you cannot get out of it. I have seen many players put out of action because they insisted on calling a re-raise with something like K-9 off suit and the Big Blind had K-K or something similar. It can happen.

4. I adjust my button play to fit the table. If I am at a table of limpers, I will put in big raises from the button more often. If I have aggressive players in front of me, I will fold more and be a little more picky because I know this aggressive player will make a large continuation bet after the Flop. I will need to have something strong in order to raise him. If I do not, I am likely just throwing away chips.

5. I like to employ a “reverse psychology” from the Button; if my holdings are nominal, I will make a bigger raise. In other words, I don’t really want to play the hand, I want to end it pre-flop. If I have a very strong hand, I might limp in or raise less to disguise this fact. I want to encourage some action here. How much action depends on who is involved in the hand and how strong my hand really is. Beware of this play especially online! If you are not careful you can encourage too many players to stay in the hand and end up with your pocket Aces being sucked out on by someone with 9-2 suited. It happens, be careful!

Overall, playing from the Button can be and must be, quite profitable. It is very important that you become skilled at it to improve your over all play. You do need to remember however, that there is more to playing from the Button than just raising every round.

Texas Holdem Costume Party

While you are sending out the invitations, just mention that every individual is going to wear a very interesting and different costume of their choice. The major purpose of having the participants wear such kind of costumes is to bring about a change in the trends of Texas Holdem Party Games. The different costumes are going to be a source of a good chat time for all the participants. The individuals who are wearing the most interesting costume are going to win the prize. As a prize you can give them a CD of the Best Songs of the year or any other gift that you can come up with.

Texas Holdem Dance

Texas Holdem Party is about mostly sitting and playing and this can just get the players feel tired. When you feel that the players are reaching that point, you need to tell them that everybody needs to just warm up for a little while and then switch on the songs and ask everyone to just dance for a moment and start dancing yourself and you will see that all of the participants are going to take part in dancing and then in a few minutes everyone is going to find themselves really active. There are no specific Texas Holdem dance steps, it is something that whichever way you want to dance you can and there are no specific steps to follow, just what you feel.

Every party needs a clever planning to move it in a way where everyone is involved in it and nobody is getting bored at any point in time and it would not be wrong to call arranging parties a science of its own, with its own rules and facts. As some parties can be stagnant in terms of sitting for long periods like the Texas Holdem, therefore the Texas Holdem Party Games must be thought out very carefully. You should bring the games into play from time to time according to the air of the party.

What truly makes these type of no-limit Texas Holdem tournaments so popular is the notion that the play is something similar to playing at a final table of a regular poker tournament. In fact, perhaps the only frustrating part is trying to find a Sit and Go (SNG) table that you can jump in on in order to play before someone else takes the limited amount of seats.

Every single major online poker playing site and poker rooms offer the opportunity to experience play at a Sit and Go format. Some players like to refer to these types of mini poker tournaments as satellites. When you combine that with the fact that anyone can buy into these events (meaning you will have players of all skill levels) you will understand why you need to develop a sound strategy prior to entering a SNG tournament if you expect to win.

There are many different types of Sit and Go tournaments but the two most dominate or widely played are the single table format and the multi-table tournament. Each offers its own unique style of play which makes it imperative that you familiarize yourself with all elements of the game. For those poker players that crave real excitement, there is even a “Turbo” style of play where the game speed is elevated at a much faster rate (5 minutes instead of the usual 15 minutes) with increasing blinds and a smaller amount of time for decisions to be made by all of the participants. As you would expect, this style of poker tournament is extremely challenging and requires a completely different level of play.

As a regular player of SNG tournaments I prefer to throw my chips into the two table format because they normally allow anywhere from 18 - 20 players and generally the available amount of prize money is higher than the actual single table format. Although the entry fee for these tournaments can vary from a low buy in of $5 to a high of $10,000 you need to understand that as the amount goes up to play so does the caliber of the players. So always make sure you are ready to advance to the next level prior to attempting to play in that game.

During my vast hours of time spent playing in these poker tournaments I’ve been able to identify several key areas that every player needs to ensure they are focused on if they intend to win any SNG they pay an entry fee to play in. I’ve been able to use these tips myself in order to consistently place in the money if I didn’t win the tournament outright.

1 - Playing Conditions - Always make sure you are able to adjust properly to the current playing conditions. What this means is as the blinds go up, the antes kick in and the number of remaining players decreases you will need to change your own style of play. Always be on the lookout for when you can take advantage of a player or situation based on your change in playing patterns.

2 - Position Is Everything - If you intend to finish in the money (normally top 3 or 4 for these tournaments) then you had better have a firm grasp and understanding of which hands to play depending on your starting position on the table. As with any tournament, early on you may want to play slightly conservative and only enter the pot with the best hands and then later open your range of hands to play as you see how the remaining players play in certain positions.

3 - Beating The Aggressive Players - Aggressive players can be found all over the place but fortunately for you they can also be beat by choosing battles that favor your hole cards. Wait patiently allowing the aggressive player to commit themselves to beating into you with your dominate hand and then take them down.

4 - Heads Up Play - If you ever intend to win the big money you will need to understand how to change your playing style once it gets down to yourself and another player for the championship. You must be able to increase your play to a more aggressive style in order to finally take all of your opponent’s chips. The difference in prize money between first place and second place should be more than enough motivation to get you fired up about mastering this type of play.

5 - Online Poker Tells - Some people believe that online tells don’t exist but they actually do and if you properly learn how to read them it can be the difference between making money and losing money in online poker. Always make sure to mark players that are tight and aggressive so you can avoid them unless you have a dominate hand pre-flop. Also make sure and note any players that appear to be loose in their style of play or weak at defending their blinds. All of this information will come in handy later in the tournament.

6 - The Art of Blind Stealing And Bluffing - Simply put you must know how to successfully bluff your opponents if you expect to survive the blinds and antes as they increase in the later stages of the tournament. Keep in mind that you can’t bluff weak players off their hand so don’t even bother trying.

By following these six simple tips you will increase your odds of surviving the early rounds of any SNG and find yourself making more money instead of simply being another fish at the table.

Texas Holdem is an exciting game with many twist and turns that come with it. While engaged in a game of Texas Holdem you will experience many bluffs, bad beats and skilled players employing texas holdem strategies. However, the most frequently asked question among poker player is “What are the winning hands in Texas Holdem?” Below I’ve listed the the winning hands in Texas Holdem according to the poker hand rank.

.. Royal Flush : The Royal flush beats every other poker hand. This is the ultimate hand in poker of course. You have a royal flush when you hold the 10-J-Q-K-A all of the same suit. Typically, you only make royal flushes a handful of times in your lifetime… But it does happens, I’ve hit it twice in the last three years!

..Straight Flush : A straight flush is a combination of five cards of the same suit in the same order. For example, 5-6-7-8-9 is a 9 high straight flush. What does the straight flush beat? Every possible hand combination except higher straight flushes (say 10 high) and the royal flush. If you have a straight flush the probably of you having the best hand versus one opponent on the river is way above 99.99%..

..Four-Of-A-Kind : This is when you hold four of the same card, say Q-Q-Q-Q-A.

.. Full House : A poker hand with three cards of the same rank and two cards of another rank

.. Flush : Any three cards consisting of the same rank together with any two cards of the same rank together..

.. Straight : Any five consecutive cards of different suits, meaning the suits don’t matter. The ace can count as either a high or a low card in this hand..

.. Three-Of-A-Kind : Any three cards of the same rank such as J-J-J-A-A.

.. Two Pair : This consists of two cards of the same rank together along with another two cards of the same rank.. One Pair : Two cards of same rank.

.. High Card : When you don’t have any of the winning poker hands above, your highest ranked card determines your poker hand. Remember in Texas Hold em the 5 best cards win.

The best way to learn the winning hands in Texas Holdem is of course to actually play Texas Holdem.