When Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of poker main event in 2003, it was instrumental in launching the professional poker career of many players. It’s not because of anything that Moneymaker did after the tournament. It’s because the win came at a perfect time to ignite the poker boom.
- How To Play Texas Holdem At Home
- How To Play Texas Holdem Beginners
- How To Play Texas Holdem At A Casino
Texas Hold'em is a popular kind of poker in which each player is dealt two hidden cards and hopes to combine this 'hold' with 3 or 4 from the community pool of five dealt cards that are shared to make each player's best five card hand. The hands that you choose to go into battle with in Texas Hold’em are vital. That said, starting hands are only one part of the game. Position is a major factor when it comes to deciding which hands you should play. In general, you can widen your starting hand range the closer you get to the Button. Texas Hold’em poker is everywhere these days — on TV, online, and in clubs and casinos. Before you sit down to a game of Texas Hold ’em, make sure you’re in good shape to be successful — take care of non-poker issues and check your physical, mental, and financial status. During the game, you need. When playing Texas Holdem poker, every player is dealt two cards face down – these are called your 'hole cards'. Then there is a round of betting where you can Check, Bet or Fold. This stage of the game is known as pre-flop and what you should do is dependent on those hole cards, or starting hand. Unlike most casino games where you bet, get your cards, and then it's over, with Texas Holdem you get some cards, make a bet, get some more cards, bet again if you like, and continue this process a few more times. You can bail at any point, which is called folding.
A combination of media coverage, availability of poker games online and in land-based poker rooms around the world, and an amateur poker player in Moneymaker who won his seat in the WSOP at an online satellite poker tournament created the perfect storm.
Many things have changed in the poker world over the past two decades, but you can still become a pro poker player easier today than at any time before Moneymaker beat Sam Farha at the final table in 2003.
Here are four ways you can play like a Texas holdem poker pro. 888 poker official site.
1 – The Opposite Rule
Texas holdem is the most popular variation of poker, and it’s easy to learn how to play. But this doesn’t mean that it’s easy to be a professional holdem player. You have to learn how to play well in many different areas, and there are few hard and fast rules when it comes to strategy.
Many people preach that tight and aggressive play is the best way to win, but this isn’t true in every situation. The reason why tight play is usually better than loose play is because most holdem players play loose. But the best way to play when you’re at a table filled with tight players is to play looser than your opponents.
The best Texas holdem players are able to adapt their game and strategy to fit the situation. Most of the time, the best strategy is the opposite of what everyone else is doing. This works better in some situations than in others. This is why it’s so important to learn how to make adjustments in different situations.
Overall, tight play is better than loose play. When you play loose, you play hands that don’t show a long-term profit. When you play tight, you fold most of the unprofitable starting hands, so you play mostly profitable hands.
But when everyone at the table is playing tight, you can win more when you loosen up your starting hand selection. Just don’t overdo it, or that eliminates your advantage.
When it comes to aggressive play, most of the time, the best strategy is to play aggressively when you enter the pot. When you play in an aggressive manner, you bet and raise and force your opponents to make more decisions.
But when you’re playing against a table full of aggressive players, it’s more profitable to sit back with your best hands and let your opponents trap themselves. You still need to turn on the aggression in the correct situations, but you don’t have to play every hand aggressively to turn a profit.
You can’t use the opposite rule in every situation, but you need to learn how to adjust your strategy based on profitability in every situation.
2 – Odds and Expectation Rule
It’s almost impossible to be a winning professional Texas holdem player without using odds and expected value. Amateur poker players tend to resist learning about and using pot odds, but once you learn how to use them, you never have to study them again.
Many poker players think it’s hard to learn how to use odds, but it’s easy once you decide to do it. You can learn everything you need to know about poker odds in a couple hours, and with a few additional hours of practice, you can build a skill that you can use for the rest of your life.
Once you learn what poker odds are and how to use them, the next step is learning how to use pot odds to make profitable decisions. This is an easy transition once you understand odds, and this is one of the big differences between winning and losing poker players.
The final step is to learn what expected value, or expectation, is and learn how to use it for every decision you make. Expected value is the long term average value of a decision.
Every decision you make at the poker table, from folding or entering the pot before the flop to calling or betting on the river, is either profitable or unprofitable.
The key is to learn how to determine the long term value, either positive or negative, for every decision. When a play has a positive expected value, it means that you make a profit in the long run making the play. When a play has a negative expected value, it means that you lose money in the long run.
If you want to be a professional Texas holdem player, focus on mastering odds, pot odds, and expected value. Once you master these areas, you’re going to be a winning poker player now and in the future.
3 – You Pick Your Opponents
The most well-known poker pros are tournament players, because tournaments are the main format shown on television. But many of the same pros you see on TV also play in cash games, and some poker pros specialize in cash gameplay.
When you play tournament poker, you have to play against the other players in the tournament, but when you play cash games, you have choices about where you play and who you play against. The most successful poker pros know how to find profitable games.
Poker pros usually play in traditional poker rooms, and many of them also play online. But you also can find them playing in private games. The goal is to win money in the long run. The way to do this is to play better than most of your opponents.
While it’s important to build your skills and ability so you’re better than most players, this isn’t the only way to make sure you’re one of the best players at the table. Find and create opportunities where you’re playing against weak poker players.
If you can go to the poker room and find tables filled with weak players, you can make money there. But you might be able to make more profit by finding private games filled with bad players, or create your own private games where you control who plays and who doesn’t get invited.
You can start using this strategy right now, no matter where your poker skill level is at this time. Even if you’re not the best poker player you can be yet, you can still win consistently if you make sure you’re always one of the best players at the table.
The most profitable poker pros aren’t necessarily the best poker players in the world. The most profitable poker pros are the ones who win the most money, and one way to do this is by winning against bad players.
4 – Play Within Your Bankroll
Professional poker players know that they have to manage their bankroll. If you run out of money, you can’t play, and if you can’t play, you can’t win. Good and bad Texas holdem players have ups and downs. Sometimes, bad players win for a short time and good players lose for a short time.
If you’re a profitable Texas holdem player and can stay in the game long enough, the profit will follow. But you have to play within your bankroll so you can stay in the game long enough to reach your long term profit potential.
The best bankroll situation is to have enough money to play in any game that offers long term profit that you can find without worrying about going broke on a downswing. A few poker players have a bankroll this big, but most are forced to play below certain levels because of bankroll restraints.
As your skills improve and you gain experience, you’re going to learn a safe total bankroll range. Until you learn from personal experience, you should have 20 to 30 times the average buy-in amount for tournaments and no limit cash games, and 200 to 300 times the big bet for limit cash games.
Conclusion
If you want to be a professional Texas holdem player, you need to learn how to adjust your game using the opposite rule, master odds and expectation, pick your opponents whenever you can, and play within your bankroll.
These are the things that pro players do, so you need to implement them when possible. You can also check out this page on 5 Texas Holdem hands and how to play them for more Texas Holdem poker tips!
You can start improving your results today by doing a better job of picking your opponents. The best long-term strategy is to become a master of positive expectation, because every great poker player uses expectation to turn a long-term profit.
Texas Hold’em has often been referred to as the Cadillac of Poker, and if that’s true, Caribbean Hold’em Poker is definitely a hybrid model.
The game combines the two card hands and the use of five community cards that make Texas Hold’em such a challenge; while incorporating the one on one element of other table games like blackjack and baccarat.
The result is an action-packed game that comes at you fast and furious, and one that also requires strategic analysis and card sense to make the proper decision on each hand.
For a visual look at what real money Caribbean Hold’em poker is all about, take a look at Bovada Casino’s game page to see how the game functions in a legitimate online casino.
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How To Play Texas Holdem At Home
Learn More About Caribbean Hold’em
Caribbean Poker Variations
Caribbean Hold’em (or Caribbean Holdem) Poker is one of the three Caribbean inspired table games that have captivated the attention of gaming enthusiasts around the world during the last decade.
By pitting the player against the house, in the form of a lone dealer, the game resembles blackjack in many ways, but from the first time a flop falls, you’ll definitely know you’re playing Hold’em.
However, instead of taking your chances against eight other opponents at a proper poker table, and playing against the card sharks and pros waiting to devour your chip stack if you make a mistake, Caribbean Hold’em Poker offers limited betting (and thus limited risk), along with only one opponent to beat in the dealer.
Small Bets – Big Wins
Fans of Caribbean Hold’em Poker also love the prospect of placing a small side bet on the progressive jackpot, hoping to turn a measly $1 into thousands more, just by completing a huge hand like a straight flush or Royal Flush.
The idea that your Caribbean Holdem strategy can help you bet small and win large is a big part of this game’s appeal because even when you don’t dabble on the progressive jackpot, your basic ante bet can reap large returns when you make big hands against the dealer’s qualifying hand.
Gameplay and Mechanics to Help You Win
To learn more about the gameplay and mechanics involved in a session of Caribbean Hold’em, look no further. This detailed guide was designed to turn novices into know it alls in just a few minutes, by teaching you the rules of Caribbean Hold’em Poker, walking you through example hands and covering all of the possible scenarios you may encounter along the way, and successfully teaching you how to play Caribbean Hold’em Poker.
Proper Strategy
Finally, once you’ve brushed up on the rules of Caribbean Poker, you’ll find a strategy section containing useful Caribbean Hold’em Poker tips for players trying to decrease the house edge and play the game profitably.
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How to Play Caribbean Hold’em Poker
When you begin a game of Caribbean Hold’em, you’ll probably feel like you’re sitting at a blackjack table. The layout is very similar, as you’ll see betting squares in front of your area, along with spaces for your hand, the dealer’s hand, and the community cards.
1. Placing an Ante Bet
The game begins when you place a mandatory ante bet, and this can be any amount you choose depending on your bankroll limitations. Many players enjoy Caribbean Hold’em Poker for just $1 per hand, while others like to bump the action up to $5 or $10 per hand or even more.
2. Dealing the Cards
After you’ve made the ante wager, an action performed by simply clicking the chip amounts you’d like to bet, clicking deal will cause the dealer to distribute two cards face up to form your hand, and two cards face down to form their own hand.
3. Check if you Won Against the Dealer
Finally, the dealer will place three cards face up in the middle of the table, and just like traditional Texas Hold’em Poker, these crucial community cards are known as the flop.
Winning at Caribbean Hold’em
The objective of Caribbean Hold’em Poker is to form the best five-card poker hand, by combining either one or both of your two hole cards with the community cards on board. For example, if you ante up and are dealt an ace and king, while the flop comes down queen jack-ten, this five-card combination gives you the Broadway straight.
A more likely scenario, however, would see you receive something like a queen and ten, with one more ten arriving on the flop. In this case, you’ve made a pair of tens at minimum, with the chance to improve your hand on the arrival of the next two community cards.
Those two cards can only hit the felt in certain conditions though, and this forms the basis of Caribbean Hold’em Poker as a game of practice and strategy.
After you ante up and take a look at your two hole cards, along with the flop, the time has come for you to make a choice: you can either fold (when your two cards fail to connect with the flop) while surrendering your ante bet, or you can call and see the next two community cards. In order to call, you must place an additional wager equal to exactly twice the amount of your ante bet.
So, if you’ve decided on an ante bet of $5, and you like the look of your hand after the flop, calling to play the hand out will cost you $10 more for a total wager of $15. On the other hand, if your hole cards are marginal and you’d rather move on to the next hand, folding and surrendering simply costs you the ante bet.
Calling & Folding
You’ll be calling more often than folding in this game (see the strategy section below for guidelines on how to make this decision correctly), and when you do, the dealer will place two more cards face up along with the flop. At this point, the hand is fully dealt, and your best five card poker hand is compared with the dealers to determine the winner.
The standard poker hand hierarchy is in place, so one pair beats ace high, two pair beats one pair, three of a kind beats two pairs, and so on.
Proper Caribbean Hold’em Poker Strategy
As is true with most table games, one of the biggest strategic elements you can rely on is basic discipline.
Caribbean Hold’em Side Bets
You’ll undoubtedly want to try out the progressive jackpot side bet, especially with a running banner displaying the jackpot amount as it inches higher. And while these bets can be a fun diversion on occasion, winning at Caribbean Hold’em Poker requires you to avoid this bet whenever possible.
Below you will find in-depth information on Caribbean Hold’em sidebets.
Folding When Necessary
You’ll stay on the right side of variance simply by making the most logical choice given the five cards exposed on the felt. By comparing your two hole cards to the flop, and assessing the relative strength of your holding, you should be able to fold when situations are unfavorable to you.
Players who lose consistently at Caribbean Hold’em Poker simply play every hand they’re dealt while refusing to fold, but statistical analysis has shown that winning players are folding around 19 percent of their hands. This means roughly one hand out of every five you see should be folded. The key is deciding which four hands to keep.
Practice Before Playing
One useful resource to practice for a Caribbean Hold’em Poker session is this hand strength calculator. By plugging in any two card hand you’re interested in, along with various three card flops, the tool will spit back accurate data on your expected value should you choose to fold or to call.
After an hour or so using this calculator, you’ll likely see your innate card sense suddenly improve, because you’ll encounter situations that you’ve played before.
Caribbean Hold’em Poker Side Bets
The key Caribbean Hold’em Poker side bet is the progressive side bet, which is a feature in RTG casinos. Players might encounter other side bets when playing similar games like Casino Hold’em or Ultimate Texas Hold’em, so we’ll discuss those under the Caribbean Hold’em poker side bets listed below. Adding a progressive side bet changes the basic Caribbean Hold’em strategy. When you study Hold’em Poker tips, stick to pages which discuss RealTime Gaming’s Caribbean Hold’em Poker strategy specifically.
Also, keep in mind that progressive side bets change Hold’em Poker odds from 2.16% to 6%. The house edge remains a comparable or better than most games with progressive jackpots or lottery-style payouts.
Caribbean Hold’em Poker Sidebets
- Progressive Side Bet: RTG casinos feature Caribbean Hold’em Poker and Caribbean Stud Poker, which share the same progressive jackpots. Lynton Limited casinos such as Bovada, Slots.lv, and Ignition Casino have had jackpots as high as $127,000, while some Caribbean Hold’em jackpots are as high as $129,000.
- Casino Hold’em Side Bet: In casinos that don’t use RealTime Gaming software, you’ll find a fixed jackpot side bet which pays 100:1 the original wager for a royal flush. Other 5-card hands of a pair-or-better have payouts, too.
- Ultimate Texas Hold’em Side Bet: Ultimate Texas Hold’em was invented by Roger Snow of Shufflemaster and is found in Bally Technologies casinos. The Ultimate Texas Holdem side bet has a fixed jackpot of 500x the bet for a royal flush, plus payouts for a straight-or-better.
- Heads’Up Holdem Side Bet: Heads’up Holdem is a table game found in Galaxy Gaming casinos. Its side bet is quite similar to the Ultimate Texas Hold’em sidebet, with a 500x payout for a royal flush.
- Poker Pursuit: Poker Pursuit is a variation of Caribbean Hold’em Poker played at Microgaming casinos, such as Betway Casino. Poker Pursuit plays like Caribbean Hold’em Poker, but has a fixed jackpot side bet which pays 1000:1 for the royal flush.
- Live Casino Hold’em Side Bet: Golden Nugget Online Casino in the New Jersey gaming market just launched Live Casino Hold’em. The payout table for the side bet is the same as online Casino Hold’em, with 100:1 on the royal flush.
As you can see, the progressive side bet on Caribbean Hold’em Poker is far more rewarding than fixed payouts on the other versions of the game. For Caribbean Hold’em Poker, players will be interested to know that the side bet also pays for a straight flush, 4 of a kind, full house, flush, and straight. Here is the full list of Caribbean Holdem Poker payouts.
Caribbean Holdem Poker Payouts
The dealer’s hand must rank at a pair of fours or better to qualify in Caribbean Hold’em Poker. Knowing what makes a qualifying hand is essential in this game because your call bet and the associated bonus is only paid out when you beat a qualifying dealer’s hand.
For example, when you make a flush but the dealer only produces a pair of threes or any hand lower than a pair of fours, your ante bet will be paid out at 1 to 1, but the additional call bet is simply returned to you as a push. In this scenario, you would have been entitled to the 2 to 1 bonus payout on your ante bet for making a flush, but since the dealer did not qualify, your ante bet would be paid at 1 to 1 instead.
When your hand beats the dealer’s non-qualifying hand, ante bets are always paid out at 1 to 1, but ante bets can produce bonus payouts when you make big hands against a dealer’s qualifying hand.
The table below illustrates the bonus payouts for Caribbean Hold’em:
Hand Rank | Description | Raise Odds |
Royal Flush | A, K, Q, J, 10 of same suit | 100:1 |
Straight Flush | 5 cards of the same suit in sequence | 20:1 |
4 of a Kind | 4 cards of same rank | 10:1 |
Full House | 3 of a Kind, plus a pair | 3:1 |
Flush | 5 cards of same suit | 2:1 |
Straight | 5 cards in sequence, mixed suits | 1:1 |
3 of a Kind | 3 cards of same rank | 1:1 |
Two pair | 2 pairs of different rank | 1:1 |
One pair | 1 pair (2 cards) of same rank | 1:1 |
High card | 3 cards of same rank | 1:1 |
Here are the Caribbean Hold’em Poker Payouts for regular hands:
Hand | Payout | Odds to Get Hand |
Royal Flush | 100% of Progressive | 0.0001% Chance |
Straight Flush | 10% of Progressive | 0.0008% Chance |
Four of a Kind | $100, $150, or $500 | 0.014% Chance |
Full House | $75, $100, or $150 | 0.08% Chance |
Flush | $50 or $75 | 0.11% Change |
Straight or Less | No Payout | 76% Chance |
Caribbean Hold’em Poker Rules
Caribbean Hold’em poker rules are easy to learn. Playing a hand is straightforward, with several of the complicated parts of Texas Hold’em eliminated: bluffing opponents, reading opponents, calculating pot odds, or making the turn and river bets. Because the game is a simplified version of Texas Holdem, players quickly learn the rules and can focus on Caribbean Hold’em strategy. Absorb the rules below, the start to work on the Caribbean Hold’em tips and strategies that will help you optimize your Hold’em Poker odds.
Basic Rules of Caribbean Hold’em Poker
- Ante Bet: A new hand of Caribbean Hold’em Poker begins with an ante wager. Place this in the circle marked “Ante”.
- Progressive Side Bet: The player also decides to make the progressive side bet or not. This is a blind bet, with no knowledge of your hand.
- The Deal: The player and the dealer each receive two hole cards. Next, the dealer deals out 3 community cards — the flop.
- Call Bet: After the flop, the player must decide to make the call bet or not. The call bet must be two times the ante bet. If this bet isn’t made, the player loses the ante bet.
- Turn & River: Next, the dealer deals out two more community cards, which would be called the turn and river cards in Texas Hold’em.
- Best 5-Card Hand: Using your two hole cards and the five community cards, you must make the best 5-card hand. The dealer does the same.
- Dealer Qualifies: Before hands are compared, the dealer must qualify. To do this, the dealer must have a pair of 4s or better. If the dealer fails to qualify, the player wins 1:1 on the ante bet. The call bet is a push.
- Winnings Paid: If the dealer qualifies, then the hands are compared. If the dealer wins, the player loses the ante and call bets. If the player wins, he or she wins according to the ante bet pay table, while winning 1:1 on the call bet.
- Progressive Payouts: If the player wins according to the progressive side bet’s payout table, these winnings are paid to the player.
Best Places to Play Caribbean Hold’em Poker Online
The only way to play Caribbean Hold’em Poker are sites which use RealTime Gaming software. International casino gamblers might or might not have access to RTG casinos, so they should find the best places to play Casino Hold’em Poker online if that isn’t the case. For that reason, I include the best online casinos (for US and Non-US players) below, as well as one site which is available for players inside the United States and in the global online casino market.
Bovada: Best US Online Casino for Caribbean Hold’em Poker
Bovada uses RTG software, so you can play online Caribbean Hold’em Poker by placing bets between $1 and $500. The Caribbean Hold’em progressive side bet at Bovada Casino right now is $128,000, but it will continue to climb until a lucky player wins it. New players at Bovada Casino receive their choice between a $3,000 deposit bonus or a $5,000 bitcoin bonus.
Betway: Best Online Casino Hold’em Poker for Non-US Players
Betway Casino offers Poker Pursuit, which is Caribbean Hold’em Poker with a side bet that pays 1000:1 for the top card combination. Betway Casino also has Triple Pocket Hold’em Poker, which uses Texas Hold’em rules but does not have a progressive jackpot. Instead, you can ask for a re-deal twice (like draw poker), giving you 3 hands against the dealer’s two hands.
Betway has dedicated gaming sites facing various countries around the world, so the bet limits vary according to your country of residence. Poker Pursuit has a bet minimum as low as £1 or even 50p in some locations, while the bet maximum is £500. Betway Casino has a £1,000 deposit bonus for new players.
How To Play Texas Holdem Beginners
BetOnline: Best Online Caribbean Hold’em Poker for Non-US Players
How To Play Texas Holdem At A Casino
BetOnline Casino is the rare bird which is available for US players and international players alike. BetOnline’s Caribbean Poker is supplied by Betsoft, so it is similar to the games described above but has no side bet at all. The betting range on this game is $1 and $250. Players who want a side bet might consider BetOnline’s Caribbean Stud Poker, which includes a 100:1 payout for the top hand. BetOnline Casino has a welcome bonus between $20 and $1000 which can be spread across your first 3 deposits.