This article introduces No-Limit Texas Holdem poker, contains general overview of Texas Holdem rules and betting structure and provides valuable tips, strategies and many in-depth aspects of the game. No-Limit Texas Holdem is a game of basic strategy, general tactical skills applied in most types of poker and a battlefield for intense psychology.

First of all, let’s go over basic No-Limit Texas Holdem strategy. The first two things to figure out, when entering a no-limit game are:

What types of players are at the table?
How many players see the showdown?

You need to answer these questions before getting involved in a really hot action. Let’s discuss both in order to simplify your task.

Types of players.

The players are usually divided into four groups: tight-passive, loose-passive, tight-aggressive and loose-aggressive. The first modifier (tight/loose) denotes the number of hands usually played by a person, while the second modifier (passive/aggressive) characterizes the person’s betting style. However, I think that for No-Limit Texas Holdem, the loose-aggressive group should be additionally subdivided into 2 smaller subgroups: solid players and maniacs. Let’s discuss each of these player types.

Tight-passive players do well in fixed-limit Texas Holdem games, but they don’t usually win a lot in No-Limit Texas Holdem. This happens, because tight-passive players often underestimate full value of their winning hands. Consider the following tactics, when playing against this type of players:

Bluff at the flop: put in a raise preflop and then try to steal the pot at the flop.
Consider folding, when they get in action. Tight/passive players won’t get in action unless they have something up their sleeves, so if they do, it is more likely that they have something really worthy.

However, if they bet rather weakly, this can man that they’re either on a draw or have a comparatively weak hand. In this case you should continue playing if you hold decent cards.

Benefit from your control, but don’t go too far with your bluffs. You should still fold all worthless hands preflop and if you’ve made a flop bluff – think twice before making one more bluff at the turn. Besides of this, you can grab a lot of cash, when playing against this types of players, when you hold a really decent hand.

Moreover, you can quickly turn such players into calling or folding stations. Note that in case if one of such players that has been turned into a calling or folding station still makes a lot of money against you, then you are doing something seriously wrong. In this case, try to analyze your play and locate the problem. Generally, this type of players is common and you will definitely play against quite a few.

Loose-passive players will almost always hope that you’re bluffing into them, so they will call you often holding the second-best hand, which is one of the most frequent beginner mistakes in No-Limit Texas Holdem. This is why you won’t meet a lot of these players at No-Limit tables – they quickly lose money and leave the game. The simplest recipe of success, when you are lucky to play against this type of player is just making mid-sized bets, when holding a decent hand.

Loose-aggressive maniacs are players that buy a fair share of pots. Nevertheless, they often get themselves trapped and lose their entire bankroll in a couple of hands. The major difference between loose-aggressive maniacs and good loose-aggressive players is that loose-aggressive maniacs lack patience and discipline (key skills for each and every Texas Holdem player). They enjoy juicy and thrilling action of No-Limit Texas Holdem so much that they frequently get themselves trapped too easily and quickly waste their money. Needless to say that players of this type are very rare.

Strong loose-aggressive players often seem just like loose-aggressive maniacs, but in fact they are extremely dangerous, especially for Texas Holdem beginners. Such players lose plenty of money in pots, but at the same time that buy a lot of pots and win huge ones. Their success is based on good evaluation skills and well-timed bets.

A simple trick, effective when you play against this type of players is to take them down into one huge pot. Since loose-aggressive players tend to play a lot of hands, especially in shorthand games, they often play second-best hands. When you trap them in this situation, your goal is to make sure that you won’t let them go too easily. Another useful tip is not to confront with these players in games, where the money are to meaningful to you (i.e. the games, where the bets are too expensive for you). That’s because you shouldn’t let them scare you financially, when they make large bets or raises. Your bankroll must be able to handle huge reraises and numerous calls at these guys.

The players of this type do well only when everyone has large stacks and on the contrary, if you or these players have small stacks, then you have an advantage, because it limits their ability to bluff.

Tight-aggressive. I think that this is the best style of play for No-Limit Texas Holdem, which I keep to and going to teach it to you. However, I should warn you that tight-aggressive players have two problems: they’re bluffed rasily and they’re rather easily read by experienced opponents.

The next concept to discuss is the showdown percentage and its affection on decisions regarding your opponents. This concept is critical in No-Limit Texas Holdem, because since No-Limit Texas Holdem lends itself to bluffing, you can win a lot of money by simply stealing tight players’ pots.

However, this strategy won’t work out fine if everyone would show you down at the river.
That’s why it is essential to figure out the showdown percentage before getting involved in hot action. This is especially easy if you play in an online poker rooms, because you don’t even need to watch each of your opponents. Just enter a game (sit out), go have a drink or something for 20-30 minutes and then just check game statistics (if available) or chat box in order to see how many hands came to the showdown.

Higher showdown percentage is better, because while it is extremely hard to bluff if everyone calls you down, you can make a lot of money by simply beating loose opponents, when getting a decent hand. The easiest way to make money in No-Limit Texas Holdem is to simply sell a decent hand, when you have it.

Good starting hands in No-Limit Texas Holdem
The types of good starting hands in No-Limit Texas Holdem differ from those considered good starting hands in Fixed-Limit Texas Holdem, because of the implied odds. Pocket combinations like KQ go down in value, since they’re unable to withstand too much pressure. That’s because even if you hold KQ and hit a K on the flop, you still may lose to a set, two pair or something better. Hence, if you get dealt big cards, you shall want to hit the pot at the flop, unless you think you have something really good, like AK in the pocket and K on the board or AK in the pocket and KK4 on the board. In this case you shall want to build a larger pot before taking it down.

Although some starting hands good for Fixed-Limit Texas Holdem games go down in value, some other hands, on the contrary, increase in value for No-Limit Texas Holdem. These are pocket pairs, suited connectors and all strong draws. Pocket pairs work well, because they’re rather sneaky and can often withstand much pressure. Holding pocket pairs you can bet aggressively if you have a set or an overpair, which are two hands that other players usually don’t expect. The reason for valuing suited connectors is that if you get some weird flop – you’ll generally get paid off.

For example, if you have suited 7 and 6 of spades, your opponent has A of diamonds and K of clubs and the flop comes A of clubs, 7 of hearts and 6 of spades, then you’ll get paid a lot more than you would actually lose to your opponent’s AK if the flop were A of clubs, 7 of hearts and 2 of diamonds.

Besides of this you can take down pots and conceal the actual value of your hand with semi-bluffing.

For example if you have suited 7 and 6 of spades and the board is J of spades, 5 of hearts and 4 of clubs, then people will probably put you on a J, if you bet on this flop. In this case your opponents will either fold or call and you will either hit the pot at the flop, or be able to draw a better hand that your opponents do not expect.

Also try to realize that the size of your stack greatly affects the types of hands you should play. Generally, big unpaired hands like KQ or AK are effective with smaller stacks and all suited connectors do better with larger stacks.

Betting tips for No-Limit Texas Holdem
Many No-Limit Texas Holdem beginners have no idea about how to bet properly and how much should they bet. Generally, your goal is to make your opponents, who have made hands that are weaker than yours to contribute more money into the pot. You also want to give players with drawing hands negative odds. And at the same time you shouldn’t trap yourself too. Take a look at the following example:
Say, you have 9of clubs and 9 of spades and the board is A of clubs, 9 of diamonds and 8 of hearts. In this case you want to put in pot-sized bets, because your opponents probably have something like a straight or maybe a pair of Aces. In case if your opponent has a straight, then you don’t want him to draw on the cheap and if he has AA, then he wouldn’t probably let go of them, so your goal is to take as much as you can.

Another example is when you have suited K and 6 of spades and the flop is A of spades, 9 of hearts and 5 of spades. In this case you should bet into this flop, but not too much. A proper bet will be enough to make weak players fold, unless somebody has an Ace, but even if they do, your bet may freeze them up and make them call. I would recommend betting a half-pot-sized bet in this case. By doing this you both buy your draw relatively cheaply and punish, if you’ll be lucky to hit a flush.

Bluffing in No-Limit Texas Holdem
The actual efficiency of bluffing in No-Limit Texas Holdem depends on the showdown percentage. The higher the showdown percentage is, the less bluffing is effective. If you are playing cheap No-Limit Texas Holdem games ($2/$4 or lower), where the players are generally loose, consider not bluffing, but punishing your opponents, when you have a strong hand.

Also recommended:

1. Table Image: Introduction
2. Introduction to Pot-Limit Omaha Hi
3. Introduction to Advanced No-Limit Texas Holdem
4. Low Limit Omaha Strategy
5. Texas Holdem’s place in poker Game Selection