Online No-Limit Texas Hold'em Poker for Beginners - Part 5

Playing Good Hands, How Much to Bet?

In the chart above, S&M have arranged the hands into groups. Each grouping has different rules to follow. S&M put forth a general guideline that is still in use today, and makes great sense.

Generally speaking, for group 1 and 2 hands, you want to raise 4 bets pre-flop. In No-Limit, this means 4x the big blind. Group 3 hands you want to raise 1 bet, just to eliminate the riff-raff, or enrich the pot.

I would say, group 4 to 6, I would look at your position, and how much they are asking to see the flop.

Group 7&8 you ONLY want to limp-in, and mostly, ONLY from LATE position. I don't know about ONLY playing 7's and 8's from late position, but ANYWHERE you play them, you need to play them with DISCIPLINE.

Assuming you limped it in with only paying the big blind, you need to know to FOLD if you do not hit a 4-card flush draw, trips, or 2 pair. DISCIPLINE. Do not chase ANYTHING but the flush. If everyone just checks it around, then yeah, stay in the hand, but definitely don't call a raise.

There are correct ways to play the top hands, and you NEED to know how to play them in order to get the value you deserve from them. They are rare, and hopefully, if you get them, you will get some sucker that lets you double or triple up with them.

You need to KNOW YOUR TABLE. If you are playing an SNG, and you get AA and raise a 15 blind to 75 and get zero callers, then the game is pretty darn tight. You will need to remember that for later. But, if you raise the 75 with AA, and get 5 callers, you obviously undershot and have a good chance at losing.

In a real money game, with $.50 blinds, I've seen everyone fold to a $2, but 6 people call to a $1. Sometimes, with the better hands, you just end up eating the blinds. Which is just fine later in an SNG game when the blinds are up there. In a ring game where the blinds stay the same, you don't want to make only $0.75 every time you get AA.

You need to know your table and see how much money to get callers, and how much to get folders. Hopefully, you won't be dealt any of these group 1's or 2's until a few hands in so you can get a feel of how tight, or loose, the table is. Generally, at a $6 SNG, the table is pretty loose. For a 75-chip bet, you will usually get 2 or 3 callers, which is just fine.

Playing Group 1 Hands

Lets start off this section by showing you, and explaining the top hands chart the young college phenom came up with:

Table 4 - Mean Rank Order of Hands

Number of Players at River

Rank	Hand	2	3	4	5	6
1	AA	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
2	KK	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
3	QQ	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
4	JJ	14.4	4.8	4.4	4.3	4.0
5	AKs	5.0	5.4	5.4	7.2	26.6
6	TT	26.4	11.0	8.0	6.0	5.8
7	AQs	9.2	8.6	8.6	11.8	33.0
8	AJs	9.2	8.6	8.6	11.8	33.0
9	AK	7.5	7.8	10.0	26.2	40.0
10	KQs	11.2	12.2	18.2	18.0	20.0

As you can see, this is the mean rank order of the top 10 hands in hold 'em. The numbers across the top tell you how many folks are in to see the river card. The numbers in the boxes are the hand rank fluctuations. This was determined with heavy betting being involved, and in LIMIT hold 'em, i.e. no fold'em hold 'em.

Because you can only raise so much, one bet, in Limit, more people can stay in the pot. If you want someone out in No-Limit, you make it VERY expensive for him to stay in and see cards. This chart makes a lot of sense though, and is still quite useful for explaining how to play the top hands in no-limit hold 'em.

As you can see, the top 3, AA, KK and QQ hold their value regardless of how many folks see the river card. These are the best hands in the game. Then we get to JJ.

JJ is listed as the 4th best hand in the game, but in a 2-player match up, it is equivalent to the 14th best hand. The way it played out in the computer is that if a player ended up one-on-one with JJ, and bet aggressively, they lost a LOT more than with QQ or higher.

But, with 6 people in, it realizes its rank as the number 4 hand. For 6 people to be in to see the river, I imagine the community cards were all runners and everyone was shooting for a straight. JJ is a good hand in that scenario, as the jack can be used as the low end of the highest straight or the high end of the middle straight.

The next hand is the big slick, AK, suited. This hand holds it's value against up to 2 other opponents, but after that it starts to slip. This hand is helped greatly if there is the flush draw in its suit on the board, as you own the nuts in that case. As you will read below, the big slick is a bear of a hand.

The sixth ranked hand, ten-ten, is valued about the same as JJ. It loses its value in head to head, but if 5 or 6 are in, odds are the cards higher than it are spread out among the bettors, and TT is a pretty good hand. I will reveal below the "correct" way to play pocket pairs. Most importantly, JJ through 22.

The seventh hand, AQ s, never realizes its rank. And, as you can see, with a lot of people in, it's a very bad hand. This hand's strength is primarily in its suited aspect. It's still an ace with a good kicker, but if there is a K on the board, you can guess you are behind in the hand.

With the regular slick, just AK, you can see that it is about twice as "bad" as the same cards suited. Up to a point. With 4 others in, AK suited only loses two spots. AK unsuited loses 16 spots all the way down to 26. That's not good. It's still a good hand, but only with a decent flop.

As you will notice, most of these hands get worse and worse the more people are in. The exceptions are TT and JJ. These hands get better with more people in. Do you want to play them against a crowd? Not really. Especially not if there are any higher cards on the board. I will explain how to play these top hands in depth in the following paragraphs.

AA

By far the best hand in the game. It works against 1 person, or 6. But, you don't want to play it against 6 every time. Watching WSOP, you see a lot of the guys slow play aces. It looks great, when all of a sudden, they've baited the other guy in, and WHAP! All-in! They turn them over, and the look on the guy's face with A Ts is always priceless.

The guys on the WSOP can slow play aces, and I'll tell you why you can't.

At the bigger blinds, say day 4, day 5 of the WSOP, there mostly are only good players left. Generally, good players have the discipline of only playing good hands. When they get good hands, they bet them. Which is my first RULE.

RULE 1: BET YOUR HANDS!

If you watch, the guy that slowplays the aces is either on the button or in the blinds. If he's in the blinds, it does him no good to come out firing, as most all will fold, and he'll only collect the other blind and the ante. He wants to double up with AA. So, in the blinds, he can watch all the initial betting. Hopefully, one, and ONLY one of the other guys will come out betting. Then he just calls and sees the flop. Check, check, check. He just lays in wait until the other guy decides to make a play.

The other place is on the button. You get to see everyone come in. If some guy in position 4 comes out firing, everyone else behind him will lie down, and the button calls. #4 fires again, call, call, and call. This is advisable, as the AA's are only going against one other opponent. Unfortunately, in low buy-in SNG's, you don't have this option. If you try, you will usually be against 4 or 5 people, which is not good if you don't get a good flop.

To play AA, you need to raise 3 or 4 times the big blind. With AA, it doesn't matter what your position is, though, if you are under the gun, you could try to just call the big blind, then if someone raises, you go over the top, or call. This is risky though, as you may accidentally let everyone see the flop. If that is the case, hope for an ace.

If the blinds are 15, put in 60, 75 or 100. If the blinds are 30, put in 100, 125 or 150. If it's at 50, put in 150 or 200. Again, know your table. If a 60 bet will get 4 callers, but a 100 bet will get 2, bet the 100. If a 75 bet will get zero, but a 60 will get 3, take the 60 with 3 callers. You want to collect all the chips, and weed out low hands.

If the flop doesn't give someone else a good hand, raise, raise, raise. If it looks like there could be a flush draw, RAISE EVEN MORE. You want to knock anyone trying to make a straight or flush draw against you, out. Or make it really expensive for them.

How much to raise post flop? Generally, ½ the pot. So, if three players are in, and you raised to 125, there is now, say 375 in there. If you are trying to keep someone from chasing the flush, put in double what the pot has, or go all-in.

If you don't catch an ace on the flop, you jump your raise to 150-200. Hopefully, one or more will drop. Then there is, say, 700 in there, and the turn card doesn't pair the board, and it isn't an ace, you want to bet at least what you bet last time, if not some more. In this case 200-350. Or, if you are a bit worried, you can try to knock the other guy out by putting him all in. If you are the big stack.

But, if the board pairs, with say, K's, Q's, or 10's, you can pretty much assume someone has 3 of a kind. This is why you want to get it down to one or two people pre-flop. Odds are they are staying in with AK, AQ, AT, or more likely, KK, KQ, KT, KJ and most likely suited. That way, when the flop comes, 8 4 J, you know you can raise at will. If the board pairs, or even if there is a Q, a K or a J up there, you have to be a bit careful if someone has pockets.

If you raised correctly, and got one or two callers, and you catch an ace on the flop, it is going to be tough to beat you. Again, look at the cards. Make sure there isn't a straight draw, or a flush draw. If there is, you need to BET and BET BIGGER. You want to drive folks out that are trying to draw a hand that will beat 3 aces.

If there is neither of those, NOW it is time to slowplay.

You want to get as much out of this guy, these guys, as you can. When they see that ace up there, and you check it, or if they check to you and you check, you give the impression that you have K's or Kx and are now afraid of the ace.

AGAIN, DO NOT CHECK IF THERE IS A FLUSH DRAW AGAINST YOU!

Or even a mid-high straight. If your opponent is holding Kx and sees you check, he will see if he has 2-pair or not. What you are hoping for is a guy to actually have the 4th ace and something else, say AJ suited. With your check, he will assume, hopefully, that he is now the leader with Aces and a high kicker, and will try to milk you.

If you see the turn card, and there are 2 of the same suit out there, you may want to go over the top of any bet and make sure he folds shop, or make it excruciatingly expensive for him to try to complete his supposed flush. Don't get beat by the flush, or straight, without doing your best to knock him out.

Also, if slowplaying because the ace came up on the flop, and the board pairs, you now have a full house. Let him draw to the flush or straight. There is little chance he is betting because he has 4 of a kind, especially if the board pairs with low cards. Only make token bets, or calls, and hope the flush comes up. If it does, make a small bet, and let him come over the top of you. Don't just let him check.

Too many times, I've gotten the ace on, say, the turn, with a low pair shown on the flop, gotten all excited and overplayed, driving everyone else out in an attempt to quell the draw toward the flush. The flush wouldn't have beaten the full house with 3 aces. The only thing that will, in that scenario, is 4 of a kind.

If you have aces, and bet them correctly, and the board pairs low, and you get a 3rd ace for your full house aces full of X, and still get beat because someone was paying, and holding low pockets, that is a bad beat. It is a bad beat even if it's Q's or K's, but at least, you know why they were holding them through the raises.

KK

A lot of beginners think that the KK is a terrible hand because they keep losing with it. The way to play this hand is EXACTLY as above with the AA. You play the KK from any position with a 3x or 4x raise pre-flop. The only thing you have to look out for is if an ace falls. If you raised correctly pre-flop, and you have one or two in with you, there is a pretty good chance of either or both having an ace. At this point, you have two options.

The first, and right thing to do is to check, and when they raise, fold it down. It's hard to muck 2 kings, but you pretty much have to. You are beaten unless a K comes on the turn or river. If they are slowplaying their pair of aces, take as many free cards as you can. If you can catch the 3rd king because some yahoo decided to be sneaky, they are beat. Most will raise, and if they do, I wouldn't chase them. There are only 2 cards in the deck that can help you at this point, so the odds are very much against you.

The second, and more aggressive, way to play is to keep betting like you have AA. If you bet KK exactly as you bet AA, and you had one of these hands previously at this table, they won't know exactly what you have.

The reason to keep betting, and betting big, is to make them question their kicker. It may end up costing you, but if they just followed you in with, say A9s, and the flush isn't a possibility, and you keep hammering away, you may make them crack and fold by making them think you are in with AA, AK, AQ, AJ, or AT.

This works quite well actually against folks that have the ace and the ten or lower. You most likely WON'T be able to make someone with AK, AQ or AJ fold it down. These folks are assuming they have high pair, high kicker, and no amount of money you throw at them will deter them.

Another way to play it, if you are leading in chips, and the flop comes with an ace, is to instantly put in enough chips to force the other two all-in. This makes them assume you have AA or AK, which will be tough to beat with an ace on the flop. Faced with being eliminated, they may fold it down with a low kicker.

Without an ace in the mix, just keep pounding away. It is very rare for a guy to have KK and have an AA against him in the same hand. It happens, and it hurts when it does, but it doesn't happen very often.

QQ

With QQ, you also raise it as with KK or AA. Again, if the Ace or King is on the board, and you raised properly, you are already beat. Hope the guy/guys you went in with try to slowplay it. That way, when you check, they will let you see a card for free. Don't get caught up if you do make your trips though. With an A or a K already on the board, there is a good chance they have 3 of a kind also.

AK

The big slick. By far THE most overrated hand in the game, and a hand it is tough to win with. This hand TOTALLY relies on the flop. The "correct" way to play this is to OVERBET it. Unfortunately, when you do get a caller, they usually have a pair, and you are about dead. You can hope they have QQ or lower so you still have your 6 out cards. That is the correct way. The ONLY time I play it that way, is when the blinds get big, over 100, and there are only 4 or 5 left at the table.

The way I prefer to play it is to just limp it in, or maybe just a single bb raise. This will get rid of folks with 2 6 and other really crappy hands. If you don't get an A or a K, and someone bets it up, fold it down. In this case, you haven't put a lot into the pot, and it's just another case of the slick gone badly.

If you don't get a matching card, you only have ace-high. But, if you do get an A or a K, check it around, or a minimal raise, and see if anyone bets. If they do, you can go over the top. I would wait for someone to steal, or bluff at it.

Beware the flush draw or straight draw though. Especially the flush draw. If there is a flush draw, you should try to make it quite expensive for them to chase. If the flush draw doesn't happen, you know you won't be able to milk them after the river card, so you have to milk them earlier. If it does hit, don't invest much more than the minimal bet.

If someone is a maniac and puts it all in, you will need to know the player. If they get the "supposed flush" on the turn, and go all-in, most likely it is a bluff. Why would you try to keep people out with the flush, except to keep the board from pairing? You need to know the player.

Good luck with the big slick. It's a bear of a hand.

JJ

This hand is a strong hand that many folks get beat with. It is a dangerous hand. The easy way to play it is to limp it in, or preferably, especially at the low blinds, give it one raise. If there is nothing but rags on the board, you are most likely in the lead and you can bet.

You may want to over bet at that point to, hopefully, drive out the folks with A, K, or Q before they get their pair. Or you can slowplay it and hope for a 3rd J, making you tough to beat.

With trips J's in this scenario, where you can limp it in, you will be very tough to beat. You don't see many folks slowplaying AA, KK or QQ. If you get the J on the flop, HOPE that there is a higher card with it. You will be able to bet, and since the K, Q, or A was matched, you will probably get some action.

The other way to play this hand is to TOTALLY over bet it. If you have a decent sized stack, throw all your chips in. Or bet 4 or 5 times the big blind. Do this especially in late position. Hopefully someone won't have AA, KK, or QQ, and someone with, say, AQ will call you. (If you are in late position, if someone had those better hands, hopefully they will bet them, and that should deter you from going all-in.)

Even if the folks with the higher pairs do call, it's a coin flip to see who will make their hand. They own the tie, unfortunately. Or you won't get a call and steal the blinds. I wouldn't suggest this when the blinds are 15 or 30, as you will most likely be only making the blinds as your profit. But, when the blinds are 100 or above, this strategy works pretty well. If they don't call, you get the blinds. If they do call, in a short-handed game, they usually only have Ax and are trying to double up. If the Ace doesn't fall, they are in big trouble. Personally, I prefer to slowplay them, until the blinds get to 50 or more. Then I over bet them.

TT-22

JJ can be included here also. All of these pairs don't really do well until you get trips, then it's go time. Or do they? The conventional way to play these pairs is to follow the crowd. If nobody is betting, maybe give it one raise of the BB. But, for the most part, limp it in and see the flop.

If someone raises to 75 or 125, meaning a good, high pair or high suited connectors, it is often still a good idea to call and see the flop. If you flop trips, bet it up. If you don't get trips on the flop, and nobody else really goes at it, you can wait for your card.

If you can limp in a pair, and there really isn't much action, and no overcards to your pair, you are most likely leading. The key is to get trips. Trips is a good hand, but beware of the flush draw. If you go in with, say, 99, and flop a 9, but there are 2 suited cards, bet it hard. You want to make it expensive for the other players to try to get the flush.

They will still most likely chase it, and if the 3rd suited card hits, and the board doesn't pair, it's time to check it around. Limp pairs in, and bet it hard when you get trips. This is the conventional way. The more "new-school" way is a bit extreme. I will explain it below.

Playing Low Pairs (and the slick) All-in

Have you ever seen where everyone is just posting the big blind, with few raisers, and all of a sudden, someone pushes their stack of 700 all-in? Then everyone folds in turn. You make some comment to yourself like, "What an ass. I hope someone calls him next time and puts him out."

I know I used to think that too. What was actually happening, most likely, is that he had a pair. Maybe a "high pair". In this case, I mean JJ, TT, or 99, or maybe AK. I would say MOST of the time that is the case. Rare is the case that someone would "waste" AA, KK, or QQ with just the possibility of raking the blinds.

AA, KK and QQ, as you can see in the chart, hold their value regardless of how many people are in at the river. Think about it. If you have AA, and nothing but rags come up, as long as the board doesn't pair low, you have the winning hand. Same with KK, or QQ.

If the community cards come in high, you have most all hands beat. The exceptions, of course, are when you have KK, or QQ and an ace is on the board. You know you are behind. But, if you catch your K or Q, you will most likely win the hand.

High pairs are good hands, and as explained above, if bet correctly pre-flop, should only be up against other decent hands. It is RARE when you bet up 125 on KK, and someone calls with AA. More often, folks call you with Ax or Kx suited looking more for the flush.

Although there was one time that I was short-stacked, and went all-in with QQ pre-flop. Three others went all-in also pre-flop. As we revealed, one had AA, the next had KK, and lastly the other guy had AK. I was amazed, but happy I still had my 2 outs in the deck, whereas, AA knew he wouldn't get any better. Nobody caught anything, as you'd expect, and I was out. So it does happen. It's just not very likely.

With pairs JJ on down, throwing it all-in is a pretty good way to make at least the blinds, and maybe double-up.

Let me explain.

Say you have 55, pocket 5's. (P5's) It gets to you, and you go all-in. Most of the time, everyone will fold. You then rake the blinds and whoever called the blinds. But, if someone calls, you have an instant showdown.

In this case, let's say you raised in early position and the guy behind you called your all-in with AA. You think you are dead. He thinks you are dead. This is NOT the case at all. At this point, all he has is the "tie" if nobody catches anything. You have EXACTLY the same odds of making trips as he has of catching a 3rd ace. That's a coin flip.

So, you think, since there are still 5 cards to be revealed, you only have 2 cards in 48 to beat the AA. That's about a 4% chance, impossible. Not so. You still have 5 draws at that 4% chance with every card that ISN'T a 5 making your percentages better. I have lost PLENTY of times with my opponent only having that 4 or 5% chance with ONLY the river card left. So it isn't impossible, it's a coin flip.

You also have to take the board into consideration and your suits. If either, or both, of your 5's are different suits than his aces, you can win with a flush if 4 of your suited cards come up. Also, pre-flop, you have a MUCH better chance at a straight than AA.

With 5's, you are the high card in A-5, the low card in a 5-9, and the middle card on all straights in between. You have 5 straight possibilities. With AA, he only has two straight possibilities, and if you have 55, his low straight has to be perfect. The only cards on the table could be 2 3 4 5 and one other, non-pairing card.

Or the board could create a straight, or a flush, and you'd split. Say, 7-J, or 8-Q. Or any straight, really, as long as you or he weren't the ONLY owner of the straight. So, you aren't dead by any means, pre-flop.

But, if you play this correctly, you WON'T be up against those top hands. Now I will explain the correct way to play with this strategy.

First off, I wouldn't do this with, say, 44, 33, or 22. First because of the limited straight possibilities, but mostly because EVERYTHING that anyone calls with will be higher than your cards. This doubles his chances of catching his card.

JJ, TT, 99 are GREAT hands to do this with. The correct way to do this is in late position, preferably on the button. That way, you get to see if anyone gives the BB a good raise, or if someone else goes all in. That way, you can decide to play the conventional way or not.

A great time to do it is in late position with 4 or 5 callers to the big blind, or small raises. Then you just go all-in, they fold it up, and you rake it without showing what you had. Now they don't know if you just burned an AA hand, or bluffed with 72os.

The SECOND time you do it, you will most likely get a caller; just to see what hand you think is worth such a raise. The second or third time is a REALLY good time to do it with AA, or KK, or QQ. You will most likely beat whatever they call you with, and the others at the table will likely assume that's how you always play those pairs, and try to avoid you.

That works out GREAT for the end game with huge blinds.

What you are looking for, if played correctly, is someone with a lower pair than you that knows this little trick. He's taking his coin flip shot to double up, and more power to him. Just hope he doesn't get lucky.

More often your callers will be folks trying to limp in AK/AK suited, AQ/AQ suited, and AJ/AJ suited that didn't want to bet, but have decent hands. Especially if their suit comes up. In a loose game, or if someone is short-stacked, you will see callers with Ax suited.

If you do this with JJ, TT or 99, hopefully their off card is lower than your pair. To beat you, he is basically down to 3 cards. This is why I advise against doing this with really low pairs, like 44, 33, and 22.

If, say, you were all in with 44, and a short-stack calls with A5 suited, he's still going to need to get some luck, but his odds are doubled. He'll have 6 cards against your 2. Plus, he'll have the flush draw, and the straight draw. I don't really like your chances in that case.

If you were all-in with, say, 7's, he has to pair his top card which is 3 cards to your 2, so about the same odds. In that case, I'd be more worried about the flush. More often than not, when you do this, and are called, it will be against someone with an ace, and suited or someone with a pair.

Fortunately, most of the time you do this, it won't be called at all, and you can rake in the pot. That's why I usually won't do it until the blinds at an SNG are up to 50 and above. That way, if all you collect are the blinds, you are still making 75, and people think you are an idiot and can't play.

Where this works BEST is at the higher blinds, say 100 or 200, and you are short-stacked, but not low enough to get 5 callers. Say, the blinds are 100 and you only have 400. Go all in. In this case, regardless of position. Hopefully in late position where one or 2 other guys only called the BB. That way, if everyone folds, you have the 2 calls, the SB and the BB. That's 350. You basically doubled up without having to show a card. If only all poker were that easy.

Usually, when you are the short-stack, folks want you out. Some people take pride in how many folks they eliminated. I don't get that. It must be an ego thing. I take pride in playing well and winning money. Everyone could knock each other out as long as I'm left standing for all I care.

You will get these "Samaritans" that want to do the table a favor and rid the rest of your presence. Usually the large stack playing loose. You go all in with your 400 chips, which are a deterrent to someone holding on with 1200 or so, but if a guy has 3000, it is only an annoyance, and he calls. This is what you want. More often than not, these "Samaritans" will try to put you out with just about anything.

I saw a guy today try to do it with Q 5 os. The guy short stacked had 9's and it was no contest. These guys get a bit loose just trying to rid the table of the short stack, but what they actually do is double them up. If you are the big stack, don't be that guy. Let them earn their way back in the hard way. Or call if you have something decent. Heck, even ANY flush draw, with an A or K, is okay to call against a pair pre-flop.

I guess that that is enough about the game of pre-flop poker. You now know your hands, the ranking of the hands, and you have a good idea of your chances of winning with those hands. If you only play good hands, you have a much better chance of winning.

Now I will move on to your odds of winning with your hand post-flop.