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As a rule, you rarely have a completely strong combination on the flop. Your hand will be weak, thus it will be either without a draw or with a draw. Depending on the possibility of further improvement and the strength of your combinations, you can determine the strength of the draw. When you have a draw-hand you should remember that its strength on flop is more than on the turn. That is why we would recommend aggressive playing poker on flop if you have a draw. Your draw will lose on the turn to any ready combination.

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AA and KK are the best starting combinations in texas holdem. According to statistics, these are the most profitable combinations. That is why a player with these hands on the preflop looks forward to getting a good win. This is the main problem with these hands, because it is always very difficult to fold hands like these even when a player realizes that he will probably lose. A typical mistake for new players is getting into the game without a raise with AA and KK. The player doesn’t usually fold easily and lose much. Don’t be discouraged if you win just a small amount with this hand. This can occur often, but you should be afraid of losing a lot. This is common when you just take blinds with AA or KK. Also it is important to note that you should try to play against at least one or two opponents on the flop. AA and KK are just a pairs and there are many stronger combinations. The more opponents you have, the higher is the possibility that someone will draw a combination like that.

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The combinations AK, JJ and QQ have many similar features. That is why this article follows the previous article about an Ace-King combination. JJ and QQ hands have nearly the same strategy on the preflop. The single difference is that they are a little stronger than AK if there is no all-in on the preflop. Players will see only three cards of the flop but not all five cards. On the flop these pocket pairs are stronger than AK.

The features of these hands are the same as a hand with AK. See the article about the AK combination.

Here are a few examples of typical situations, which will help you better understand this strategy.

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This article discusses how to play when you start out with an Ace-King combination. This combination is very strong whether you are dealt two cards of the same suite or off suite. There are only two starting hands in Hold’em that are stronger than AK - AA and KK. Other hands are at least the same strength as AK. However, though this hand is so powerful, it can cause problems for those who are inexperienced and don’t know how to play it right.

How to play with this hand:
1) It is not wise to play with the whole buy-in on the pre-flop if you are playing against an unknown opponent.
2) You should play your whole stack on the pre-flop if you are playing against an unknown opponent if he has stack no more than 60BB.
3) Raise on the pre-flop or re-raise if there has been a raise.

The following examples are all taken from real games.

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The turn & river are the most expensive streets in Texas Holdem. Mistakes you make in these stages can lead to big loses, but you could also gain a big profit. First, you should carefully read the articles about pre-flop – flop game to make fewer mistakes on turn – river. This will help you figure out how to play in various situations.

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Your game on the flop is closely connected with how you play on the pre-flop. Often, if you raise to get into the game, it means you have to continue the attack on the flop. When you raise on the pre-flop, you are letting your opponents know that your cards are rather strong. Try to win the pot on the flop even if you don’t have winning cards. If you stop attacking on the flop because your cards aren’t great, it will be obvious to your opponents. The bet on the flop after the pre-flop raise is called a continuation bet or a cont bet. The size of this bet should not differ from the size of the bet when the flop suits you. If you follow this rule, it is more difficult for your contenders to find out if you are bluffing or not. The size of this bet should be between 2/3 of the pot up to the pot size.

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A good pre-flop strategy is the key to your success in Texas Hold’em for low limit games on short-handed tables. With the right pre-flop strategy you will minimize possible problems later in the game. You also will be able to systematize and simplify your play.

Tight-Aggressive Pre-flop Strategy (TAG).

Pre-flop strategies may vary widely depending on the level of contenders playing and their style and. If most opponents at the table play tightly (only with strong hands) you may play more aggressively on the pre-flop. Tight opponents pay less and rarely get in the game. Aggressive play means using half-bluff and winning more pots on the pre-flop without waiting for a good hand. If you want to play aggressively, your pre-flop statistics according to Poker Tracker should be 20/15. When you are at a table where the majority of players have a loose style of play, in other words, when they get into the game with marginal or weak hands, it will be hard for you to play aggressively on the pre-flop and even harder on the post-flop. For instance; a raise with low pocket pairs (22-66) in an early position on a tight table is, of course, a profitable game because you can often take blinds or have only one opponent on the flop and win the pot by continuously betting. If there are many loose players at the table, you are called more often. So, playing low pocket pairs in a bad position against a number of opponents is not profitable. The best advice is to limp low pocket pairs if you are in an early position at such tables. In a situation like this your pre-flop statistics should be 20/10 according to Poker Tracker. How aggressive your opponents are also influences the pre-flop strategy. If the table consists of many aggressive players even if they are loose players, raises on the pre-flop are very common. You shouldn’t limp often when getting into the game.

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This will be the first in a series of articles about low-limit, shorthanded games, meaning limits from NL10 to NL50. In these articles, we will discuss the basic strategy of the game. Preflop and postflop will be described in detail. We will also consider the most difficult pocket hands and the best way of playing them. To gain a better understanding of these games, we suggest reading these articles carefully before you start.

Have you already won your first bankroll on a micro-limit, full-handed table? Maybe you already have $200-300 in your account and want to go further. The best idea is to switch to shorthanded tables (six players max) to play low-limits NL10. The strategy of playing preflop-postflop will be given later. An NL10 game differs greatly from an NL50 game, but the basic concepts are the same. The difference is in the number of weak contenders who could potentially provide you with a lot of money. Now your job is to keep moving from NL10 to NL50, following the rules of bankroll management.

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Calculating pot odds is one of the most helpful tools to becoming a better poker player. All good players in a high limit game know how to calculate pot odds. Though it’s not the only key to success, it is an integral skill to have and of utmost importance in keeping you from making simple mistakes.

It’s nearly impossible to calculate the pot odds during a particularly complicated hand, which is why it’s important for a player to continuously analyze his hand before making the next move. Doing this helps you retain that information for future hands/games. You will soon feel more comfortable making quick decisions and often notice that you will begin to act without much analysis. This is certainly an important topic to pay close attention to.

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A turn is the most important stage in taking control of the bank. It is when you must make the important decision as to whether you will increase the size of the bank based on a strong poker hand or call the bet on a weaker hand. If you are hoping to draw a combination, you will want to make seeing the river as inexpensive as possible. Mind that if there are many players in the pot you may increase it having even not complete combination. Though, that is quite difficult for newer players to do.

In most cases, a player on the turn should clearly plan what he will do on the river. That is why, when playing the turn, it is best to think about all the possible plays your opponent could make in various situations from the beginning of the game to the end.

This guide will go over different situations and explain what a suggested play would be.

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