• Holdem Betting Strategy
• Learning Texas Holdem Poker Strategy

It’s been said that poker is easy to learn but hard to master. This page will give you some tips to help you become a winning poker player, with general poker advice and strategy for players new to the game, as well as some more advanced concepts to consider once you have a good handle on the basics.

Most regular punters are familiar with the Martingale strategy, even if not by its exact name. Even today, when nearly all of us have access to incredible computers with an inexhaustible supply of information on every topic, there is still debate on this betting strategy.

Casino fans around the world have all heard of this system. The casinos found on https://www.netentcasinonodepositbonus.com/netent-casinos/games/video-poker/ have no doubt all been used to experiment with the strategy over the years.

There is also debate on the difference between theory and practice. Some argue that the Martingale strategy only works on paper but doesn’t stand a chance in the real world due to the large bets that are sometimes needed.

History and How it Works

You typically want to three-bet to about 2.5 times the initial raise when you are in position and to about 3.5 times when you are out of position. If someone raises to 500 and you are in position. For the strategic impact of betting, see poker strategy. Poker positions at a 10-handed table. In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Basic Strategy: Tips: Position: Starting Hands: Bluffing: Betting: Money Management. It's all well and good knowing when to bet and raise, but if you don't know how much money you should be betting and raising when the action is on you, then there is a pretty big hole in your game. Use this quick and easy guide to find out how big your bets should be for the next time you sit down at a no limit Texas. Betting in poker - A no limit hold'em betting strategy guide Poker revolves around betting. Betting in poker can serve several functions and betting patterns in poker can be very complex. This certainly holds true in no limit games in which you cannot only decide whether to bet or not, but are also free to bet whatever amount you wish to.

So what is the Martingale betting strategy and where did it come from? You might be surprised to hear that it is in fact from France in the pre-revolutionary era. It was a massively popular strategy amongst roulette players from that same time period.

The key to the Martingale betting system is to use it in a game where the odds of success are in the region of 50% every time. If you win the bet then your next bet remains the same size. On the other hand, if you lose then you double the bet size.

This doubling gives you the chance to win back your lost stake from the first bet. If you win the second bet then you reset your bet size back to the original size and the system starts from the beginning.

If you win your first bet your bet size remains the same. It only increases after a losing bet.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? After all, what are the chances of not hitting a win once every few bets. If only it were so simple.

Games to Use the Martingale Strategy on

The classic example for the Martingale system is betting on red or black on a roulette table. This is as close to 50% as you will likely see for a game. The exact odds are 48.6% for European roulette and 47.4% for an American wheel where there are a green 0 and 00.

Blackjack, baccarat, and craps are all suitable as well.

Some of you might already be thinking about sports betting using this strategy where the odds are rarely 50%. As you will see below this is not as simple as you think.

Issues with the Martingale Strategy

The principles of the Martingale betting system are as sound as you could wish for. Mathematically, everything checks out just fine. The problem is that people massively underestimate just how often bad runs happen.

Most gamblers, particularly those who never look deep into any betting related mathematics, would assume that in almost every case a result such as seven or eight in a row losses would be the worst expected run.

Could you imagine a roulette wheel landing 10 or more times in a row on red? Well, it does happen, and a lot more frequently than you expect.

The other issue is the huge sums required to keep the system going, and not to mention that fact that it might get difficult to get your money on in the first place if the bet is massive.

Imagine using this system for horse racing where you bet on the favourite every time. It sounds unlikely that a series of races would extend by more than a few until a favourite won, but again, it does happen frequently enough.

If your unit size is $1 and you lose 11 bets in a row, you will have to bet $1,024 just to clear your losses. It’s up to you if you have the stomach to hold out on such a streak. We wish you luck!

Summary

If you try the Martingale strategy out, a couple of things are guaranteed to happen. Firstly you will experience some massive streaks of good fortune, and you also receive a vivid wake-up call about the reality of how often your luck can turn sour and for how long.

Appreciate that there is a reason why this system isn’t being used by all and sundry.

Before you try any kind of new betting strategy, you should do a test using play chips. Don’t forget to check out NetEnt for some casino suggestions where you can try the games out for free.

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In a prior installment on Badeucey, we established a set of guidelines for the starting hands we should tend to play given that we were the first player to enter the pot. In this issue, the focus will be on what hands are playable when the pot has already been opened, and the factors that should be considered in order to determine if our holding is better played as a smooth-call or as a three-bet.

Pat Hands

Whenever you hold a playable pat hand, it is almost always in your best interest to reraise the opener and try to get the pot heads-up. A seven low with at a good three card underneath such as 2 3 5 6 7 increases the odds of scooping against a single opponent.

Some caution needs to be exercised with eight lows such as 2 5 6 7 8 and 3 45 6 8 where we essentially have no badugi hand. If we are up against an early position raiser, both of these hands should probably hit the muck.

This advice may seem overly tight, particularly with 3 4 5 6 8, however a solid player opening from early position will often either have a badugi or a very strong three-card badugi that they mostly plan to showdown unimproved. If our opponent is intent on going to the end regardless what happens in the hand, we are getting freerolled from the beginning.

The situation is different when the initial raiser originates from the cutoff or later position as this range will be weaker and not as showdown bound. In that circumstance, we should three-bet 3 4 5 6 8 in the hope that the pot is played heads-up and our opponent chooses to fold sometime before showdown.

One-Card Draws

Any made badugi that is an eight or lower should be reraised for both value and protection. If the raise comes from a steal position, reraising a rougher nine badugi such as 4 6 7 9 is also correct especially if they are loose and often drawing three. Since the underlying draw of 4 6 7 draw is quite rough, keeping the nine is probably best.

Holdem Betting Strategy

Holdings such as 2 5 6 9 can go either way. In straight Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw we would always draw two in order to try and make stronger lows and any other nine we catch later on in the hand will help us in the same manner. However, in Badeucey discarding the 9 is forever eliminating one of our better badugi outs.

Therefore, with a hand like 2 5 6 9, we should tend to reraise and be flexible with our drawing decision depending on the remainder of the preflop action. If our reraise is successful in getting the pot heads-up we should probably keep the nine and draw one, and if it goes off multi-way we should opt to draw two.

When you hold very good one-card draws with a tri such as 2 3 5 7 or 2 3 4 8 where you plan to draw one, you also want to three-bet in the hopes of isolating your opponent. Even if we bump into a badugi, with premium draws to both sides your equity and playability is often quite good. In addition, we don’t want our reraising and drawing one range to be entirely comprised of badugis.

Three-Card Badugis (i.e. Two-Card Draws)

With three-card badugis, the decision between three-betting or just smooth-calling is often close. When making it we should take into account the opener’s position, your position, your hand, and the skill level of the players left to act behind you. For example, facing a somewhat tight early position opener with weak players in the blinds, flatting your entire three-card badugi range has merit in order to invite action players to enter the pot.

However, in most other situations it is usually best to reraise premium three-card badugis such as 2-3-5, 2-4-5, 3-4-5, 2-4-6, 2-3-7, and 2-4-7. There’s a value component to three-betting these hands in addition to increasing our scooping chances. In addition, as we discussed last issue, these hands effectively realize their equity relative to our opponent.

In particular, 3-4-5 gains tremendously getting the pot heads-up as it can win the badugi side unimproved, but can struggle to make strong lows due to potential straight draws. Hands such as 2-3-7 and 2-4-7 will not often win the badugi side unimproved, however, these holdings have strong two-way potential and three-betting them helps balance against doing so with only the lowest of our tri holdings.

Weaker three-card badugis should mostly be flatted and which hands are playable are a function of your opponent’s playing style, the position from which he opened, and your position. For example, if a tight player opens from first position and we are one seat over in the hijack we should fold a mediocre hand like 2-6-8.

While position helps, it’s hard to envision that our opponent is opening many worse hands thus we should not seek out an uphill battle with so many players left to act behind us. In this situation, the bottom of our continuing range would probably be holdings such as 3-4-6 and 2-4-8. These hands make stronger badugis than 2-6-8 and also have the potential to reduce our incomplete to a three-card four.

Learning Texas Holdem Poker Strategy

Blind Defense

From the big blind you are getting good odds to continue against a single raise, however, it is difficult to defend profitably with as many hands as you can in another game such as Omaha eight-or-better. In Omaha hi-lo, you can take a flop with a somewhat junky hand and have a villain’s A A 2 3 drawing nearly dead once those three cards come down. However, in Badeucey your rough draws will only make rough hands, thus when you are up against the very top of your opponent’s range no miracle can save you.

When an opponent opens from early position, we must respect that range and play somewhat tight. While we can probably defend with any three-card seven or a smooth eight we must resist the temptation to play rougher holdings such as 3 7 8 that have reverse implied odds.

Cutoff and button opens are weaker, thus given the pot odds we can mostly defend any holding that we would have opened from those positions had the situation been reversed. For example, we can defend un-suited 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, and 2-7 holdings as well as a two-suited hand such as 2 3 7. Three-card badugis such as 5-6-8 and 3-7-8 are borderline plays; calling a button raise is fine but it is probably best to fold them against a cutoff open.

It may not seem like we are defending a lot of hands but the responsibility is also borne by the small blind to ensure that an over aggressive late position opener will not automatically profit. Against a very loose raiser the best response is to punish them with more three-bets with your good hands as opposed to loosening up your calling standards significantly. In addition, someone playing too many hands from late position will often get punished later on in the hand as they are usually playing rough draws with reverse implied odds.

In Badeucey, getting too far out of line before the first draw will often cost you money in the later rounds. A solid foundation of starting holdings is required to successfully navigate the later streets. ♠

Kevin Haney is a former actuary of MetLife but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. He is co-owner of Elite Fitness Club in Oceanport, NJ and is a certified personal trainer. With regards to poker he got his start way back in 2003 and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. His new mixed-games website Counting Outs is a great starting resource for a plethora of games ranging from the traditional to the exotic. He can be reached at haneyk612@gmail.com.