There is not a “best” strategy for Texas Holdem due to the fact that there are too many variables involved but there are some widely accepted strategies that will increase your likelihood of winning most of the time. We will go into the basic elements of these strategies starting with hand selection.
Hand Selection
When playing Texas Holdem it is best to select the hands you play carefully. If you call the blinds with very weak hands all the time you will most likely lose your money very fast. The flop percentage at a table is the average percentage each player sees the flop. Tables with higher flop percentages tend to be tables that are easier to win money from. In Texas Holdem the best starting hand is AA and the worst is 27 off suit. As a basic guide here is a list of strong starting hands.
It is very important that you know when to lay down a strong hand. If someone makes a large raise pre-flop and you are holding 66, you should fold. If you get dealt an ace, your other card (the kicker) plays an important part in how you should play the hand. Most people raise with hands like AK or AJ, so if you are holding A4 and an ace comes on the flop I would be cautious about investing too much money into the pot since you have a weak kicker.
If you have AK and another player has 77 the odds are pretty much even, but if you have 88 and the other player has JJ there is only a small chance you will win so do not over value pairs. I would rather have AK than JJ due to the fact the odds are only slightly in favor of JJ and because if I don't pair up I can easily fold my hand but the person with JJ will most likely call every bet because some people jus cannot lay down large pairs. Lets take a look at some simple betting strategies.
Betting Strategies
In Texas Holdem you will not get dealt pairs very often and the will not pair up on the flop every hand. This means there is a lot of folding and bluffing. Most bluffs occur on the flop, if a player raises pre-flop and the flop doesn't help his hand he will almost always still bet in hopes of everyone folding. If you are playing short handed (6 players or less), the amount of bluffing increases a lot. If a player bluffs on the flop and gets called by another player he has two choices, bluff again or check. If he checks the other player will most likely bet causing the bluffer to fold. If he bluffs again and gets called again the other player will most likely call on the river and win the hand unless the first player gets lucky and catches a stronger hand.
Fixed Limit & No Limit Texas Holdem
It is very important to remember that people play very differently in fixed limit (FL) Texas Holdem than they do in No Limit (NL) Texas Holdem. In NL, players like to use large bets to scare other players out of pots but in FL this is not effective since there is a cap on how much you can bet. In NL you usually get a lot more people seeing the flop and in FL a lot more people see the river. I always suggest newer players to start off in small stakes FL Texas Holdem and after they play there for a while to move to small stakes NL Texas Holdem.
Blind Levels & Bankroll Managment
Playing at the right blind levels is a very important factor and can make the difference between winning and losing. You should always have 10 times the minimum buy-in for a table. It the minimum buy-in at a table is $50 and you only have $250 than you should play at a smaller limit. If you have a limited bankroll other players can use their larger bankrolls to push you around and scare you out of pots. I have seen this many times, players facing a large bet fold when they have large hands because of the fact if they lose they will only have a small amount left to play with. Bankroll management and letting your bankroll control how you play are two very different things. You never want to let the amount of money you have scare you away from a pot you think you will win.
