Texas Hold'Em Wisdom for Winning

By Gene Cardo

This book will teach you proven ways of winning and, by using the revealed secrets, you will learn to play a more powerful game of Texas Hold'Em. You will find the strategies easy to use and they will give you terrific results. If you memorize all of the strategies, you will become a very respected and feared player at the table. There are other books available to assist you in becoming a better player. However, this book will show you a more consistent way of playing and winning. These strategies are for those who already possess basic poker skills but wish to develop a more advanced plan. It also covers the process for those of you that are beginning players. Let's get started!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gene Cardo
• Release date: Apr 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201530419

Gene Cardo

I started playing poker when I was very young. I had to teach myself how to beat my parents, grandfathers, uncles, aunts, and brothers. We played on a weekly basis. As a child, I always looked forward to us playing poker. It was not unusual for us to play all night long. As a youngster I never got tired. We never played for much money. Back then you had to learn by the seat of your pants. As I grew older, I had to learn how to overcome losing, which wasn’t easy. Let’s say I hated to lose and I’m a much better winner. I became very skillful. I fell in love with Texas Hold’Em and continue to play often. I wrote this book so that you may acquire the skills that I have developed over decades of playing Texas Hold’Em. Best of luck to you. Play well, and WIN! WIN! WIN!!!!!!!!!!

Book preview

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO TEXAS HOLD’EM

Let me first explain how the game is played and the terms used while the hands are in progress. This should assist you when you first sit down to play. If you are an experienced player, this chapter may not be of any help to you. Just bear with me and I will get to the more advanced strategies later. There is a glossary at the back of this book for those unfamiliar with Texas Hold’Em terms. 

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Big and Small Blinds

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The above illustration shows you a normal poker table used in most casinos. The dealer sits in the middle of the table and the players are seated from one to nine starting to the left of the dealer. In order to start the game, the dealer must determine who will be the starting player. This is done by dealing a card face up to each player, starting with the first player to his left. The person who receives the highest card will become the starting player. The dealer places a button in front of that player. The first person to the left of the button will put in the small blind and the second player left of the button would put in the big blind.

At the conclusion of each hand, the button moves one player left, and that person now becomes the starting player. Each player sitting at the table will become the starting player as the button moves left at the end of each completed hand. For this example, we will be playing $1 and $2 No Limit Poker. The small blind would put in $1 and the big blind would put in $2. The dealer will then proceed to deal out cards, one at a time, starting with the small blind. Each player receives two cards face down. 

Betting

From this point on all betting will start with the small blind position and in turn everyone around the table will get their chance to check, bet, raise, or fold. To stay in the game the small blind must increase his bet to a minimum of $2, since the small blind only put in $1 to start.

Let’s assume that the small blind decides to bet $10. Everyone to his left will then make their decision to fold, call that $10 bet, or raise. Anyone wishing to raise that $10 must double the $10 and put in at least $20. Now, everyone to the left of that $20 raise has to fold, call the $20 raise, or make another raise to at least $40. Some poker rooms allow unlimited raising, and others only allow three raises.

Important First-Hand Strategy

If you have just sat down to play and the betting was as I described it, you should fold your hand and watch the proceedings. Unless you are holding a very strong hand, which I will describe to you later, don’t get involved. This is a time to study each player and how they react to this type of betting. You will find that every player has their own style of betting. The more you know about each player’s betting habits, the better your chances become to win your share of pots like this. Just like a person’s signature, or fingerprints, every player’s betting habits will be different. As this pot unfolds, make mental notes of what you see.  Remember how each player reacted and what was the final outcome.

The FLOP

After everyone has made their betting decisions, the dealer will continue by turning three cards face up. Before doing that, he will take the top card and set it aside. This is called burning a card. Turning over those three cards is called the FLOP. Those three cards are community cards that every player who called all the previous bets can use, along with the two cards each player was dealt before the FLOP.

At this point, the player left of the button, who is the small blind, must decide whether to check, or bet. Everyone left of the small blind must then react to this decision.

The TURN

The players will then go through the same betting procedure described above. The dealer will then burn a card, and deal one card face up to go with the other three. This card is called the TURN, or fourth street.

The RIVER

The same betting sequence occurs. The dealer will then complete his dealing by burning another card, and turning a fifth card face up. This is called the RIVER, or fifth street.

Final Bets

The last round of betting occurs and, from the remaining players, a winner will be determined. The player who made the final bet, or raise will show their hand first. The remaining players will either throw their hand away, or expose a better hand. The dealer will determine who has the winning hand and award all the chips that were in the pot to that player.

Assessment

When the winning hand was shown, would you have beaten that hand if you had stayed in and played? Also, were you close, or spot on as far as what the winning hand was before the two cards were exposed? If you were close, or spot on, this is a good sign of your poker instincts. If you can evaluate what the possibilities were and what the actual winning hand was, you will make very good decisions as you move forward. Try to be very attentive to all the activity that occurs with each hand as it is play out.

Remember these three words; FLOP, TURN, RIVER. They will be used many times as we go through this book and learn the strategies that will make you a consistent, long-term winner.

Chapter 2

GUIDELINES

Let’s start with some basic rules that will make you a consistent winner in the long run. Read these over and over until you have a firm grasp of them. By following these rules you will eliminate many of the reasons most players remain steady losers.

Rule #1  Statistically you should play less than 15% of all the hands that are dealt to you, unless you are receiving exceptionally good cards. Since there are only 169 possible hands that you can receive, this should give you around twenty-five starting two cards to play.

Rule #2  After the FLOP, around 70% of the winning hands will already be made. If those three cards that made up the FLOP didn’t improve your hand, you must fold. Your chance of improving your hand with the TURN and RIVER cards is somewhere around 30%. This means that someone sitting at the table will improve their hand enough to win the pot only three in 10 tries with the TURN or RIVER cards. Since seven out of