Basic Tips for Texas Hold’em – The Preflop

This blog is for the beginning player in Texas Hold’em and the first recommendation is that you play online at low-limit tables. This way you won’t get in over your head with the card sharks. There are many online table where the limits are $1.00 or less. These are the tables I am talking about when I say low-limit tables.

The tips and suggestions here are aimed at players who sharpen their skills at these low-limit tables, or are they are sometimes called micro limit tables.

In my previous blog on Texas Hold’em I explained the pre-flop and the flop and the river and such terms. Now I just want to let you in on a little secret. About half the players at a table will put down their money just to see the flop. This is because at the micro limit tables, it does not cost a fortune to see the flop and many of the players at these tables are learning the ropes of Texas Hold’em. This means that they are prone to a basic beginner’s mistake they call when they should fold because their cards are so bad.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the preflop:

You probably should fold during the preflop two out of every three hands. You need to have a strong hand to get to the flop. What’s a strong hand, you ask? It is a hand with a strong pair usually involving an ace. Basically an ace with anything else is a strong pair. A king-queen or queen-jack would also be a strong pair. Let’s face it, if you are not strong now, when the flop shows up, any strength you get from it will also be a strength for the other players too. Assume the other players only stayed in because they had a strong hand and the flop is good. They are already ahead of you. If the flop strengthens your weak hand, think of what it would do to their strong hole cards.

Next time: the flop and what to do.