The advanced strategy is designed for the player who has some experience at Texas Hold'em and wants to take the next step. Over the next few sections, we will discuss specific strategies and tactics for the following: advanced starting
In this section, we begin with starting hand requirements and playing after the flop.
Advanced Starting Hand Requirements
In the game of Texas Hold'em, many different factors influence almost everything you do. Some are facts, and some are educated guesses. One of the most influential considerations in a Hold'em game is how your opponents play. Their playing style should cause you to adjust your starting hand requirements. Here are two examples -- both extreme -- to illustrate this point.
Example 1: Somehow you find yourself playing Hold'em with Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier, and Chip Reese. These nine players are arguably the best poker players in the world. Basically, you have no chance to beat them in this game in the long run.
Your starting hand requirements should be significantly tighter than your normal selections. You should probably play nothing worse than a pair of tens in this game because you know that all of these players can outplay you after the flop. When you enter a hand, you want to know that you have one of the best hands, if not the best hand, going into the flop. This game is a
Example 2: You are playing with nine tipsy college kids who are practically telling you what their hands are after the flop through their actions. Every time you are beat after the flop, you lay down your hand because you can tell by their actions that they have stronger hands, and every time you have the best hand, they pay you off by calling all your bets until the end. In this game, you can loosen up your starting hand requirements because you always have a good idea where you stand and can collect the maximum amount with your good hands. This is what is usually called a loose/passive game and can be the most profitable situation to be in.
As you can see, the way your opponents play is something you should always be aware of. In addition, starting-hand selection is not the only area of your game that this will force you to modify.
Play After the Flop
How you decide to play a hand after the flop depends on what you have and what you may end up with after the last two community cards are in play. It also depends on how many other players are still in the hand, how they play, and your position and table image. If you have nothing on the flop and it looks as though you won't win even if you hit part of your hand on the turn or river cards, your best option is to check or fold to a bet. For example: You have K-Q, and the flop comes A-3-6. In all likelihood, at least one of your opponents has an ace, and it is possible one of them has two diamonds. Even if a king or queen hits on the turn or river, you probably will not win the hand. This should be an easy fold to any bet.
What do you do if you hit part of the flop? Let's use the same starting hand as above: K-Q with a flop of T-J-6. You have flopped an open-ended straight draw and hold two over cards ('over' refers to cards in hands that are higher than the highest card on the table). Any ace or nine will give you the best hand (a straight), and any king or queen may give you top pair.
Note that if a king or queen does come, it may give one of your opponents a straight or a pair with a higher kicker. Nevertheless, this is a perfect opportunity for a semibluff. You may get an opponent with a better hand (say a pair of nines) before the turn to fold. In addition, even if your bet is called, you have an excellent chance to improve to the best hand.
Another example is if the flop is A-Q-7. You have middle pair -- a pair containing the second highest card on the board -- (which could be the best hand) with a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. In this situation, checking and calling one bet to see what the turn brings is recommended.
One last example: You have middle pair with nothing else from a flop of A-K-8. Player A will often bet into this flop to see where he/she is. If another opponent reraises, Player A often folds unless that opponent is a very loose player. If, however, you are last to act and it is checked to you, take a free look at the turn to see if your hand improves.
Checking to see the turn for free, however, may not always be the best play. The other option is to raise. Often when you raise in this situation, no matter what comes on the turn, your opponents will check to the raiser (you), and you can see the river for free. The added advantage is that it only costs you a small bet because you bet before the minimum bet doubles on the turn. Good poker players are aware of this advanced play and sometimes use it.
Now let's take a look at those situations where you hit the flop. In most low-limit Hold'em games, fancy plays, such as check raising (to check and then raise if an opponent bets), fail to gain much, if any, advantage. For this reason it is recommended to bet when you think you have the best hand. Continuing with the example below: Your hole cards are K-Q, and the flop is K-8-6.
You have top pair with a good kicker. If you are first to act, bet. If someone bets into you, raise. Only if a solid player reraises you should you consider folding this hand. The only hands that are ahead of you at this time are trips or a player that had AK in the hole. If the player who reraises you raised before the flop, he/she may hold AK, but if there was no pre-flop raise, it is unlikely anyone holds AK.
The times that you hit a really big hand on the flop give you the opportunity to play a few different ways. In most low-limit games, it is best just to bet every chance you get as someone holding the second best hand will pay you off by calling you through the river. If, however, you hit a monster (great hand) and there are two or more opponents still in the hand, you may be able to extract extra bets if you play correctly. As in most situations, it pays to know how your opponents play. Let's look at a situation and technique that can win you extra bets with your best hands.
Let's say you hold a pair of nines and the flop is A, A, 9. You have flopped a full house, and it is likely that one of your opponents holds an ace for trips. Many times in this situation it is correct to check or call instead of raising on the flop. For one thing, if none of your opponents holds an ace, whenever you bet, they will all fold unless they are very poor players. If you check on the flop and everyone checks behind you, just bet on the turn. You have lost nothing, and possibly someone has picked up a draw to a second best hand. If someone bets into you and there are players behind you, by just calling instead of raising, the players behind you may call the single bet but may fold if you raise. In this situation, the player who bet into you will almost always bet into you on the turn because you showed weakness by just calling on the flop instead of raising. After a bet on the turn, you can either raise, or if you are fairly certain of a bet on the river, just call, and then raise on the river. Remember that the bets on the turn and the river are twice what they are on the flop.
After the flop comes the turn and the river. Advanced strategies for playing the fourth and fifth cards are discussed in the next section, as well as what you should do if you flop a 'monster.'
For more information about Texas Hold 'Em Poker and other variations, try the following links:
- Texas Holdem Poker Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen Free
- Texas Holdem Poker Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen 2017
- Texas Holdem Poker Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen Center
Texas Hold'Em Poker Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen. Gustav 'Gus' Hansen is a professional Danish poker player who lives in Monaco. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Texas Hold 'Em Poker: Volume 2 - Advanced Strategies DVD (2005) Gus Hansen cert at the best online prices at.
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hand requirements, play after the flop, play on the turn, play on the river, flopping a monster, stealing the blinds, stealing the button, raising, isolating an opponent, bluffing, and player categories, as well as a short discussion on no-limit Hold'em.
In this section, we begin with starting hand requirements and playing after the flop.
Advanced Starting Hand Requirements
In the game of Texas Hold'em, many different factors influence almost everything you do. Some are facts, and some are educated guesses. One of the most influential considerations in a Hold'em game is how your opponents play. Their playing style should cause you to adjust your starting hand requirements. Here are two examples -- both extreme -- to illustrate this point.
Example 1: Somehow you find yourself playing Hold'em with Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier, and Chip Reese. These nine players are arguably the best poker players in the world. Basically, you have no chance to beat them in this game in the long run.
Your starting hand requirements should be significantly tighter than your normal selections. You should probably play nothing worse than a pair of tens in this game because you know that all of these players can outplay you after the flop. When you enter a hand, you want to know that you have one of the best hands, if not the best hand, going into the flop. This game is a
tight/aggressive game, filled with outstanding players, and is the least profitable situation to be in.
Example 2: You are playing with nine tipsy college kids who are practically telling you what their hands are after the flop through their actions. Every time you are beat after the flop, you lay down your hand because you can tell by their actions that they have stronger hands, and every time you have the best hand, they pay you off by calling all your bets until the end. In this game, you can loosen up your starting hand requirements because you always have a good idea where you stand and can collect the maximum amount with your good hands. This is what is usually called a loose/passive game and can be the most profitable situation to be in.
As you can see, the way your opponents play is something you should always be aware of. In addition, starting-hand selection is not the only area of your game that this will force you to modify.
Play After the Flop
How you decide to play a hand after the flop depends on what you have and what you may end up with after the last two community cards are in play. It also depends on how many other players are still in the hand, how they play, and your position and table image. If you have nothing on the flop and it looks as though you won't win even if you hit part of your hand on the turn or river cards, your best option is to check or fold to a bet. For example: You have K-Q, and the flop comes A-3-6. In all likelihood, at least one of your opponents has an ace, and it is possible one of them has two diamonds. Even if a king or queen hits on the turn or river, you probably will not win the hand. This should be an easy fold to any bet.
What do you do if you hit part of the flop? Let's use the same starting hand as above: K-Q with a flop of T-J-6. You have flopped an open-ended straight draw and hold two over cards ('over' refers to cards in hands that are higher than the highest card on the table). Any ace or nine will give you the best hand (a straight), and any king or queen may give you top pair.
©2006 Publications International, Ltd. This is a good hand for a semibluff. |
Another example is if the flop is A-Q-7. You have middle pair -- a pair containing the second highest card on the board -- (which could be the best hand) with a backdoor flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. In this situation, checking and calling one bet to see what the turn brings is recommended.
One last example: You have middle pair with nothing else from a flop of A-K-8. Player A will often bet into this flop to see where he/she is. If another opponent reraises, Player A often folds unless that opponent is a very loose player. If, however, you are last to act and it is checked to you, take a free look at the turn to see if your hand improves.
Checking to see the turn for free, however, may not always be the best play. The other option is to raise. Often when you raise in this situation, no matter what comes on the turn, your opponents will check to the raiser (you), and you can see the river for free. The added advantage is that it only costs you a small bet because you bet before the minimum bet doubles on the turn. Good poker players are aware of this advanced play and sometimes use it.
Now let's take a look at those situations where you hit the flop. In most low-limit Hold'em games, fancy plays, such as check raising (to check and then raise if an opponent bets), fail to gain much, if any, advantage. For this reason it is recommended to bet when you think you have the best hand. Continuing with the example below: Your hole cards are K-Q, and the flop is K-8-6.
©2006 Publications International, Ltd. This is a safe hand to bet. |
The times that you hit a really big hand on the flop give you the opportunity to play a few different ways. In most low-limit games, it is best just to bet every chance you get as someone holding the second best hand will pay you off by calling you through the river. If, however, you hit a monster (great hand) and there are two or more opponents still in the hand, you may be able to extract extra bets if you play correctly. As in most situations, it pays to know how your opponents play. Let's look at a situation and technique that can win you extra bets with your best hands.
Let's say you hold a pair of nines and the flop is A, A, 9. You have flopped a full house, and it is likely that one of your opponents holds an ace for trips. Many times in this situation it is correct to check or call instead of raising on the flop. For one thing, if none of your opponents holds an ace, whenever you bet, they will all fold unless they are very poor players. If you check on the flop and everyone checks behind you, just bet on the turn. You have lost nothing, and possibly someone has picked up a draw to a second best hand. If someone bets into you and there are players behind you, by just calling instead of raising, the players behind you may call the single bet but may fold if you raise. In this situation, the player who bet into you will almost always bet into you on the turn because you showed weakness by just calling on the flop instead of raising. After a bet on the turn, you can either raise, or if you are fairly certain of a bet on the river, just call, and then raise on the river. Remember that the bets on the turn and the river are twice what they are on the flop.
After the flop comes the turn and the river. Advanced strategies for playing the fourth and fifth cards are discussed in the next section, as well as what you should do if you flop a 'monster.'
For more information about Texas Hold 'Em Poker and other variations, try the following links:
- To see all of our articles on poker rules and advice, go to our main article on How To Play Poker.
- Some Poker Basics are essential before you sit down at the card table.
- For a more complicated version of hold 'em, learn How to Play Omaha Poker.
- Get to know the previous 'most popular game in poker', in How to Play 7-Card Stud Poker.
Good to Know Before MIT 15.S50 Begins
Poker / Texas Hold’em Rules
Obviously, you should know the ranking of the poker hands, and how cards are dealt in texas hold’em. Know the terms straight flush, four-of-a-kind (or quads), full house (or boat), flush, straight, three-of-a-kind, two-pair, pair, high card; know preflop, postflop, flop, turn, river.
Betting Rules
- You should know how betting in poker works. Understand the terms bet, raise, call, check, fold, and all-in. Check-raising means checking and then later raising in the same betting round.
- Know what a blind is. There will be a small blind and a big blind each hand.
- Know that preflop, the big blind is last to act. On each postflop betting round, the small blind is first to act, and the dealer is last to act. Know when a betting round ends (eg. if all players check, then the betting round ends).
- Other good terms to know for positions are cutoff (right of the dealer), hijack (right of the cutoff), under-the-gun (the person left of the big blind; first to act preflop).
Texas Holdem Poker Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen Free
Mathematical Concepts
In class we will run through an example to illustrate the terminology you should know.
- Suppose the pot has $500 in it, and your opponent bets another $250.
- You may call his $250, in which case cards are flipped over:
- If your cards beat his, you win the whole pot of $500 + $250 (that he just put in) + $250 (that you just put in) = $1000. You profited $750 from this gamble.
- If his cards beat yours, you get $0 back. You lost $250 from this gamble.
- Or, you can fold, resulting in a payoff of $0.
- In this example, we say that you are getting 3-to-1 odds to call. When you win, you profit 3 times what you risk losing.
- Suppose the probability that your cards beat his is 10%. Then your expectation for calling is 0.1(+750)+0.9(-250)=-150. By calling, you expect to lose $150 in the long run. Your expectation for folding is always $0. Therefore, you should fold, since your expectation for calling is negative.
- Suppose the probability that your cards beat his is 50%. Then your expectation for calling is 0.5(+750)+0.5(-250)=250. By calling, you expect to earn $250 in the long run. Therefore, you should call, since your expectation for calling is positive. If you were to play this game a large number of times, your average payoff per game would be $250, with 100% certainty. This is called the Law of Large Numbers.
- We say that a gamble has high variance if it takes a large number of trials to converge to the expected average payoff per game. A gamble has low variance if it converges quickly. In general, high variance means high risk, and high risk usually means higher reward, ie. higher expectation.
Book Recommendations
Miller, Ed, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. Small Stakes Holdem: Winning Big With Expert Play. Two Plus Two, 2004. ISBN: 978-1880685327. Only for limit hold’em, but still one of the classic books in poker and written by mathematicians.
Slightly outdated, but very good:
- Harrington, Dan. Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play. Two Plus Two, 2004. ISBN: 978-1880685334.
- Harrington, Dan. Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 2: Endgame. Two Plus Two, 2005. ISBN: 978-1880685358.
Rodman, Blair, Lee Nelson, Steven Heston, and Phil Hllmuth, Jr. Kill Phil: The Fast Track to Success in No-Limit Hold 'em Poker Tournaments. Huntington Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-1935396314.
Reels 1, 2, 4 and 5 without ‘Soul’ spin once to reveal additional ‘Soul’ Symbol positions. At the beginning of the Soul Feature, reels 1, 2, 4 and 5 spin once each to reveal which symbol positions will guarantee ‘Soul’ symbols during the Soul Feature.
During this round if the Wild Queen substitutes in a win the pay for that win is multiplied by the Wild Queen multiplier.Super Feature – If 5 free games are re-triggered, at the conclusion of the initial 8 free game the Super Feature starts.
Texas Holdem Poker Advanced Strategies With Gus Hansen 2017
Nelson, Lee, Tyson Steib, Steven Heston, Joe Hachem, and Bertrand Grospellier. Kill Everyone: Advanced Strategies for No-Limit Hold 'em Poker Tournaments and Sit-n-Go's. Huntington Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-1935396307.
More entertaining than educational:
Hansen, Gus. Every Hand Revealed. Kensington Publishing Corp., 2008. ISBN: 978-0818407277. [Preview with Google Books]
Hansen, Gus. Every Hand Revealed. Kensington Publishing Corp., 2008. ISBN: 978-0818407277. [Preview with Google Books]
Not that practical, but theoretically very interesting:
Chen, Bill and Jerrod Ankenman. The Mathematics of Poker. Conjelco, 2006. ISBN: 978-1886070257.
Chen, Bill and Jerrod Ankenman. The Mathematics of Poker. Conjelco, 2006. ISBN: 978-1886070257.
Nazarewicz, Pawel. Building a Bankroll. Pawel Nazarewicz, 2012. ISBN: 978-0615589886. Mostly for full ring cash games.
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Post-flop: The Mathematics of Poker - Odds & Outs. Video to the Article. Introduction In this article. You already know 5 cards after the flop: your two starting cards and the three flop cards. However these would give your opponent a flush and therefore the better hand. These two cards are no longer of value to you, so we calculate.
Pre-flop, the odds of 2 players at a full 9-handed both being dealt a flush that materializes on the flop are about 1 in 500-600. However, if you’re calculating once a player has a flush already there is about a 10-20% chance of another player having a flush also. Holdem after Flop Outs, Percentages and Odds Chart. It might be interesting for you to note that when you double the number of outs, you get a number that is approximately the expected hit percentage of a single draw to your hand. For example, 8 outs equals about 16% (actually 17.02%) and 12 outs equals about 24% (actually 25.53%). You might find similar references or comparisons that you can use. After the flop you've seen 4 cards of your suit, and 1 of another suit. This leaves 9 cards of your suit, and 38 of a different suit; your odds of completing your flush on the turn are thus 9/47, or 19.14%.
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