Biggest Mistake while playing Texas Holdem POKER
The BIGGEST MISTAKE you can make while playing
no-limit Texas Holdem is to focus too much on your
cards...
If you're playing draw, stud, limit, or any other
form of poker, then it's important to concentrate
on MATHEMATICAL ODDS and PROBABILITIES.
But no-limit Holdem is different.
MUCH different.
You can be a math WIZARD and know the odds of
every possible scenario in the deck... but it
won't do you much good at the no-limit table.
Hell, you can even know how to COUNT CARDS... but
I'll still knock your socks off and take your rent
money if you face me heads-up.
Because no-limit Holdem is a game of PSYCHOLOGY.
To win, you must learn how to play the PLAYERS,
not the CARDS.
The reason no-limit Holdem is so different from
other types of poker is because it's possible to
bluff HUGE pots and go ALL-IN...
And the only thing that separates YOU from your
OPPONENT is just two down-faced cards that are
dealt at the beginning of each hand.
That's it. Just two cards.
The reality is this...
No-limit Holdem is PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE, and if
you want to WIN, you've got to learn how to get
INSIDE THE HEADS of your opponents.
You've got to know them better than they know
themselves... and predict their every move.
But how?
There are a lot of strategies and techniques
around identifying "poker tells".
A poker TELL is a habit or mannerism of a player
that is a "giveaway" to the strength or weakness
of their hand.
Like a twitch of the nose... a crack in the
voice... a shaky leg... or a rapid pulse...
Tells like these are IMPORTANT.
And you must learn how to spot them and take
advantage of them.
But there's one tell that's MUCH, MUCH MORE
IMPORTANT... and it has NOTHING to do with body
language, voice, or mannerisms.
In fact, this tell is technically not even
classified as a "tell".
But it WILL give you a read on your opponents.
What am I talking about?
BETTING.
Stay with me here.
BETTING is the KEY to getting a read on your
opponents...
It is through BETTING that you find out the
strength or weakness of another player's hand,
which is how you WIN in no-limit Texas Holdem...
BETTING is how you get inside your the heads of
your opponents. Especially the ones you've never
met or played against before.
Now, I'm not talking about just ANY kind of
betting...
I'm talking about the bets YOUR OPPONENTS make IN
RESPONSE TO THE CONDITIONS AT THE TABLE.
Think about online poker, as an example.
How do the pros quickly and consistently win at
ONLINE POKER... where you can't even SEE your
opponents?
That's right... The answer is BETTING.
You've got to watch and STUDY what each player
does in response to the action...
This is true no matter WHERE you play no-limit
Holdem... whether it's online, at home, in a
casino, or in a tournament.
Now notice how I said IN RESPONSE to the action...
This is the key.
Because you can't get a good read on an opponent
every time they make a bet.
The best time to get a read is when they have to
REACT TO ACTION AT THE TABLE...
When they have to make a DECISION.
Because this is the time when they're NOT in
control of the hand...
For example, let's say the action is to Drew to
call a $10 bet...
Does he fold, call, or raise?
Does he hesitate, or immediately make a decision?
If he makes a raise, he's representing a good
hand, and takes control of the action...
If he hesitates and then calls, there's a good
chance his hand is weak...
If he immediately calls, he may have something or
be on a draw...
You get the point.
You can get a read on your opponent when your
opponent has to REACT TO ACTION.
Unfortunately, your opponent won't always HAVE TO
react to action at the table.
In fact, your opponent will often take CONTROL of
the action and force YOU to make a decision.
Which means everyone will get the chance to get a
read on YOU...
And that is NOT what you want.
So how do you counter this?
How do take control of the action AND force your
opponent to a decision?
The answer is this:
FEELER BETS.
Feeler bets are bets made in order to "see where
you're at" in the hand.
They're named "FEELER bets" because they allow you
to "feel" out the strength or weakness of your
opponents...
And they're a CRUCIAL part of becoming good at
Texas Holdem poker.
Let me demonstrate with an example...
Let's say you're fifth to act in a $1-2 no-limit
game at a 10-man table.
You've got over $200 in your stack.
You look down at pocket nines.
You're not too excited about your position right
here, but you've been on fire the whole game. The
action is on to you to call the blinds.
This is where you make a FEELER BET... which would
be a pre-flop raise in this situation.
"$10 to play", you say as you splash the pot with
ten white $1 chips.
This feeler bet accomplishes four things:
1. You get to find out who's strong and who's
not...
2. You get control of the action at the table...
3. You're not allowing your opponents to get a good
read on you...
4. You're getting a read on your opponents by
forcing them to make a decision...
Okay... so let's say the action around the table
continues as Nathan and Greg- who are both sitting
left of you- call your raise.
The next few players muck their hands, and then
Cindy, who is just to your right, jumps into the
action and calls.
You really didn't want this much action with your
pocket nines.
But hey, you've built up a nice pot, and you might
get lucky and spike on the flop.
Plus, everyone simply called your pre-flop raise
(no one came back over the top), which is a good
sign.
The flop hits:
K, 7, 4.
Not too great of a flop for you, but not that bad
either.
You would feel a lot better off without that King
on the board.
Cindy, first to act right now, taps her hand on
the table and checks to you.
This isn't surprising, since you took control
before the flop.
So the action is to you...
This is where most poker players would CHECK.
Big mistake.
Right now, you have absolutely NO WAY of knowing
who has the best hand at the table.
And that is PRECISELY why you must make a feeler
bet...
Think about it:
If you CHECK, you're portraying weakness to your
three opponents... letting them know that the flop
didn't help you.
Which gives one of THEM the opportunity to make a
bet or try to buy the pot.
And you still won't know where you stand.
So instead of checking, you throw out a small
FEELER BET that isn't going to get you into much
trouble.
This isn't a bluff.
This is just a bet to find out who has a real
hand and who doesn't. And it keeps you in a
position to WIN the pot.
"Thirteen dollars", you say as you push in a
stack of chips.
Remember, this FEELER BET isn't going to get you
into trouble. You're not going broke if you lose
this pot... because you've got over $200 in your
stack of chips.
And this is the ONLY WAY you've got a chance at
winning this hand.
Nathan and Greg both immediately muck their cards.
The action goes to Cindy now, who thinks for a
few moments while peeking at her hand a second
time. Finally, she calls your bet.
Your feeler bet worked well. You got rid of two
players... and you've got a read on Cindy now.
Because she called, you think she might be on a
draw or might have the King without a decent
kicker.
The turn card is an Ace.
This is GREAT for you.
It's great because you made that feeler bet...
Because you're confident that Cindy is NOT holding
an Ace. If she had Big Slick, she would've made a
pre-flop raise, rather than simply limping-in and
calling your feeler bets.
She checks again.
This is where you can take the pot down with a
real bet.
"Forty dollars", you say as you push in a stack
of chips.
Cindy folds, of course, and you rake in a nice
pot... all of which was SET UP through your two
feeler bets.
If you hadn't made your feeler bets, there's no
way you would've won the hand.
Because you wouldn't have scared out the other
players, you wouldn't have created good
positioning for yourself, and you wouldn't have
had a read on Cindy.
This is why I make feeler bets all the time... and
why you should too.
I throw out "feelers" with top pair, second pair,
bottom pair, or draws.
These bets are the only way I know whether I have
the best hand at any particular point in time...
Sure, I get re-raised often. And that's when I
fold the hand and lose the bet I just put in.
BUT THAT'S OKAY.
Because I found out EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED TO KNOW.
If you get re-raised after a feeler bet, then you
know you probably don't have the best hand at the
table... so muck it.
Losing the few dollars you made with your feeler
bet is perfectly fine...
Because it's MUCH BETTER than just CALLING bet
after bet without getting a read on your
opponents... and then losing after all the cards
get flipped over.
That's a SUCKER way to lose a pot.
And you'll go broke that way.
Plus, my feeler bets give me CONTROL and create
ACTION at the table...
If a nine had come out at the flop in the example
above, I wouldn't have needed to slow-play it...
And I wouldn't have been worried about having a
monster and not winning any money with it (which
happens to a LOT of amateurs)... because I had
already created action with my FEELER BET.
So the next time you play no-limit Texas Holdem,
throw out feeler bets consistently and use them
to your advantage.
Nothing too big... just enough to get a read on
your opponents and find out where you're at in
each hand.
You'll IMMEDIATELY realize the POWERFUL EFFECT
that feeler bets will add to your game.
Because you'll have HUGE stacks of chips in front
of you at the end of the night...
While EVERYONE ELSE will just be sitting there,
with their jaws wide-open, wondering how in the
world YOU BEAT THEM SO BADLY...
If you want to learn how to KICK ASS like this in
no-limit Texas Holdem poker... night after
night... then go to my website.
There you can read about more great techniques and
download my online eBook. You can download it
right now by clicking on this link:
Download The POKER EBook
Download The POKER EBook
About the Author
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