Texas Hold'em For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Everything’s Bigger In Texas: Welcome to Texas Hold’em! 5 Chapter 1: A Bird’s-Eye View of Texas Hold’em 7 Considering Why You Want to Play 8 Working with Game Dynamics 9 The importance of position 9 Playing move by move 10 Moving Up a Notch 13 Gleaning your opponents 13 Playing the roles 14 Figuring in math 15 Places You Can Play 16 Home games 16 Casinos and poker rooms 16 Online 17 Chapter 2: Ranking and Reading a Hand 19 Hand Rankings 19 High card only — no pairs 21 One pair 21 Two pair 21 Three-of-a-kind 21 Straight 22 Flush 22 Full house 22 Four-of-a-kind 22 Straight flush 23 Royal flush 23 Reading a Hand 23 Straightforward hands 23 Subtle hands 24 Counterfeiting 26 Paying a Hand 29 The winner 29 Tie hands 30 Chapter 3: Just Tell Me How to Play: Texas Hold’em Basics 31 The Order of Play 31 The Dealer Button 32 Dealing the Cards 33 The hole cards 33 The flop 35 The turn 35 The river 35 The showdown 36 Posting Blinds 38 Betting 40 Spread-Limit Hold’em 41 Limit Hold’em 41 Pot-Limit Hold’em 42 No-Limit Hold’em 43 The Importance of Your Bankroll 44 Recommended bankroll sizes 44 Moving up and moving down in limits 46 Poker Etiquette 48 Handling your cards 48 Handling your chips 50 Playing in turn 51 Tipping the dealer 51 Keeping an eye on the game 51 Watching your manners 53 Part 2: Texas Hold’em: Play By Play 55 Chapter 4: Beginning with Two 57 The Importance of Position 58 Early position 58 Middle position 59 Late position 60 The hands you should play, by relative position at a table 61 Considering the Players in a Hand 64 Keeping track of the number of players 64 Watching the types of players 65 Hands You Should and Shouldn’t Play 67 Probable winners 67 Quite possible losers 67 Borderline hands 69 Using “Fold or Raise” to Make a Call 69 Chapter 5: Flopping ’Til You’re Dropping 71 Fitting or Folding 71 Great flops 72 Good flops 72 Very borderline flops 73 Downright dangerous flops 74 Just plain bad flops 74 Betting the Flop 75 Sizing up the table for a bet 76 Making the bet 77 Calling a Bet 78 Raising the Dough 80 Check-Raising 81 Getting a Free Card 84 The free card setup 84 Defending against a free card 85 Chapter 6: Taking Your Turn 87 Watching a Hand Fill Out 87 To check-raise or bet: That is the question 88 Made flushes: The notable exception 89 Watching for “hidden” improvements 91 Keeping Track of the Action 92 Determining a hit 93 Comprehending the miss 94 Chapter 7: Dipping in the River 97 Plotting Your Course During Final Betting 97 All checking, no dancing 98 Walking through the firestorm 99 Betting in moderation 100 Deciding if you’re being bluffed 101 Showing a Hand or Not? 102 Watching for Mistakes 105 Part 3: Movin’ On To Higher Stakes: Advanced Strategies Of Hold’em 109 Chapter 8: Playing the Players 111 Classifying Players 112 Aggressive versus passive players 112 Tight as an oyster or loose as a goose? 113 Combining your evaluations 114 Looking for Tells 117 Watching the right place at the right time 117 Who’s acting and who isn’t? 118 Watching other people’s hands 118 Listening to what people say 120 Involuntary reactions 122 Failing all else 122 Zeroing In on Specifics 124 Figuring out the table in order 124 Looking at individuals 125 Chapter 9: Bluffing: When Everything Isn’t What It Appears to Be 127 The Basics of Bluffing 128 Your turn not to tell 128 Don’t bluff people worse than you 129 Making your bluff count 130 When to Bluff 131 Bluffing based on your image of “predictability” 131 Looking at your hand from the outside 133 Bluffing in the right game 134 Who to Bluff 136 Preying on weak personalities 136 Taking advantage of other situations 138 The Semi-Bluff 139 When to semi-bluff 139 Why semi-bluff? 140 You’re Caught — Now What? 141 Chapter 10: Maximizing Your Win: Check-Raising and Trapping 143 Mastering the Art of Check-Raising 143 Bluffing on a check-raise 143 Playing a good hand on a check-raise  144 Considering a check-raise 145 Check-raising round by round 146 Trapping through Slow Play 147 Timing a slow-play 147 Understanding the Theory of Two 148 Executing the slow-play 149 Maximizing Your Returns 150 Deciding when to sit back 150 Rafting the river: Check or bet? 150 Chapter 11: Camouflaging Your Play and Dodging Traps 153 Setting Expectations throughout a Game 153 Setting a style 154 Changing your style 156 Avoiding Pitfalls 157 When aggressive players merely call 157 Raising and reraising after rounds of checking in Limit 159 Judging when you’re dominated 159 Chapter 12: Considering Mathematics 161 Differentiating Fact from Fiction in Math and Poker 162 Knowing that close enough is good enough 162 Understanding players is better than understanding numbers 163 Taking a Shortcut with Math 165 Counting your “outs” 165 Calculating your pot odds 167 Combining outs and pot odds 168 Using quick math tricks 168 Considering implied odds 169 Flipping a coin 170 Using Math to Your Advantage 174 Memorizing a little goes a long way 174 Calculating deeper 175 Chapter 13: Advancing Your Knowledge 179 Playing with Game Theory 180 Grasping the meaning of game theory 180 Understanding how to use it 180 Cashing In on Equity Theory 183 Cross-breeding the animal of psychology with the beast of mathematics 183 Going back to square one 190 Part 4: Casinos, Card Rooms, and the Internet: Places to Play Hold’em 191 Chapter 14: There’s No Place Like Home: Playing in Private Games 193 Determining the Level and Type of Play 194 Identifying stakes and games 194 Playing with friends 196 Meeting strangers 197 What You Should Give 197 Skimming the pot 198 Bringing on the refreshments 199 What You Can Get 199 Enjoying the situation 200 Watching the action 200 Looking for the unusual 201 Chapter 15: Opting for the Internet: Online Games 205 Choosing a Site 206 Narrowing down your options 206 Transferring money 208 Exploring the bonuses 208 Watching Your Back 211 Being wary of the robot revolution 211 Spotting collusion 212 Chapter 16: Harrah’s, Here I Come: Playing in Card Rooms 215 Playing in a Professional Card Room 215 Introducing the staff 216 Getting started 218 Exploring your possibilities 219 Avoiding Common Mistakes 222 Betting properly 223 Playing in turn 223 Raising properly 223 Minding your own money 224 Playing only your hand 224 Trying to Score a Jackpot 225 High-hand jackpots 225 Specific-hand jackpots 225 Bad-beat jackpots 226 Qualifying for jackpots 227 Chapter 17: Competing in Tournaments 229 Coming to Grips with the Differences 230 Tourney basics 230 Rebuying and adding on 234 Prize structures 238 Understanding Your Chip Position 239 Your position at your table 240 Your position in the tourney as a whole 240 Playing Your Way Through 241 Shifting tables 241 Maneuvering relative to the herd 241 Seating adjustments 245 Bursting the bubble 245 Adjusting Your Play for Prizes 246 Keeping your eyes on the prize 246 Splitting the prize money 248 Part 5: The Part of Tens 251 Chapter 18: Ten Differences between Online and Real-World Play 253 Not Telling in Live Action 254 Adjusting to the Speed 254 Understanding Position 255 Taking Up Space 255 Getting at Your Cash 256 Becoming “Serious” in the Real World 256 Adding Up Online Mathematics 257 Tipping the Dealer 257 Changing Your Venue 258 Keeping Track of Your Online Cash 258 Chapter 19: (Almost) Ten Common Mistakes 259 Playing Too Many Starting Hands 259 Playing Tired 260 Playing Too Low or Too High a Limit 260 Coin-Flipping Too Often in Tournaments 261 Ignoring What You Know about Players at Your Table 261 Becoming Impatient 262 Staying Too Long in a Tough Game 263 Letting Your Emotions Get the Best of You 263 Treating Your Internet Money Like It’s Fake 264 Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Improve Your Home Game 265 Upgrading Your Deck 266 Chipping Up 266 Chowing Down 267 Lighting Up 267 Venting It All 267 Trashing the Place 268 Wiping Out the Badness 268 Standardizing Chairs 268 Getting Tabled 269 Renting Your Game 269 Chapter 21: Ten Bad Beats 271 Red versus Spudnut 271 Woman Beaten by Madness 272 Hellmuth Yanks His Hair Out 272 Nuts about Flushes 273 Moneymaker 273 Moneymaker, Part Deux 274 When Wheels Go Flat 274 No-Limit Means No-Money 275 Mr Aggressive versus Johnny Conservative 275 Not All Beats Are Bad 276 Chapter 22: Ten Things You Can Do to Improve Your Hold’em Game 277 Studying Your Way Up 277 Showing Off Your Game 278 Keeping Track of Your Bankroll 279 Exercising 279 Digging into the Math 280 Reading Poker Websites 280 Scoring a Free Magazine 281 Throwing in the Towel 281 Meditating 282 Playing Other Games 282 Glossary 283 Index 291