As a person starting out in Texas Hold’em No Limit poker, one of the best things you can do for yourself, whether playing live or online poker, is to learn to read your opponents and their cards.
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The first step towards this may be to learn to read the community cards – the board cards that all players can see and use to make their best 5 out of 7 cards.
Indeed, when playing in online poker rooms where you cannot see your opponents, this is one of the best preliminary pieces of information you will have to decipher how your hand stacks up against your opponents’.
In Texas Hold’em No Limit poker, each person gets 2 of their own hole cards. Of these two cards, let us consider the possible combinations that you can have:
a. a pair
b. connected cards like 8 and 9
c. suited cards – e.g. 4 and Q of ♥
d. a combination of the above, e.g. suited connectors like 8 and 9 of ♥, or Ace-King offsuit
e. none of the above, like 2-7 offsuit
This understanding will allow you to read the board in Texas Hold’em No Limit poker. So, for example, if the flop comes out as A♥, K♥ and 10♠, the following are the possible combinations you can be up against:
a. triple Aces, triple Kings, or triple 10s
b. two pairs (Aces and Kings, Aces and 10s, or Kings and 10s)
c. a straight to Ace
d. 4 cards with the ♥ suit (one short of a flush)
e. one card short of a possible straight flush (A♥, K♥, Q♥, J♥ and 10♥)
f. and so on
Similarly, you can read the possible combinations you can be up against on the turn and the river.
Once you have learnt this, you will appreciate the value of reading the board in Texas Hold’em No Limit poker – you can determine how your cards compare with your opponents. In particular, you will know when you have the best possible hand of all the cards and be able to bet or slow play accordingly.
In summary, the key to reading the board in Texas Hold’em No Limit poker, whether playing live or online, is simply to appreciate that you make your best 5 out of 7 cards to determine whose cards are best. As such, if each player only gets 2 hole cards which you cannot see, you can pretty much become aware of the possible combinations that you may be up against, and to compare how your hand is doing against your opponents’.
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