A distressing trend I’ve noticed in the online Texas Holdem community is that players seem to willingly follow strict guidelines, when they learn Texas Holdem and start playing the game. Many seem to treat Texas Holdem like blackjack, where there is always optimal strategy for each particular situation.

Try to believe me that Texas Holdem Poker is simply not the case. All those guidelines, holdem tips and books are just some general advices, which purpose is to improve your basic skills, expand in-depth understanding of the game and its niceties. Even if there were a book or a guide containing an exhaustive description of all possible situations and right decisions, you wouldn’t be able to read it, because it would consist of at least ten thousand books, five hundred pages each. Texas Holdem is a game of people and a game of situations, where no optimal and pre-defined strategies are applicable. All world champions you’ve seen on TV vary their play and always make decisions on the spot. Even if you’ll follow the best winning Texas Holdem strategy ever, you will fail, because all your moves and decisions will be quite clear and predictable for your opponents, as well as they will not include some specific aspects that weren’t mentioned in its source.

The only right way to become a winning Texas Holdem player is to understand the guides and books you read and build your own strategies based on that guides, your own experience and particular situations. This means that you shouldn’t blindly follow somebody’s tips – your goal is to analyze the situation, recall what strategies were recommended for this particular case and correct them according to some specific factors and aspects that weren’t mentioned in the books. The ability to do so comes with much of practice and attention to your flaws. Try to analyze each mistake you make and think how you would play your hand if you knew your mistake before you made it.

Hand history and statistics available in almost all online poker rooms can appear to be very handy for in-depth analysis of your play. Analyzing each hand you play will give you an idea of how often you make right decisions and how often you correctly judge your opponents.

Only a confident player can expect to win. Be creative playing Texas Holdem Poker and don’t worry if your decisions violate any of those books and guidelines you’ve read. Winning Texas Holdem player is able to combine general Texas Holdem knowledge together with situational judgment skills, while losing player blindly follows the guidelines.

Also recommended:

1. Depositing Money into an Poker Player Account and Cashing Out