Some Misconceptions About Texas Holdem
As the most widely played Poker variant in the world today, Texas Holdem, nevertheless is still not completely understood by a lot of people, and these include several players new to the game. To be able to play a better game, you will need to rid yourself of these misapprehensions.
Of the false assumptions made about Texas Holdem, the most common would definitely be that it is all about the starting hands. Go to any Internet Poker strategy guide and you will see that there will be a lot of pages devoted to hand charts and rankings.
What you will immediately notice is that these rankings differ from one Texas Holdem online site to another, and this is due to the fact that these hand rankings and grouping are totally subjective. The fact is that the hand values change according to the game.
Texas Holdem full ring, short hand, heads up and tourney games are very different from one another, and so are the value of the hands.
Related to this misapprehension is the obsession with flop percentages. It is true that you will need to limit the time you see the flop in Texas Holdem, but for the most part, you will win the pot after the flop.
Pre flop play is important, and so are starting hands, but not to the extent that you cannot win if you are dealt a 77 or AJ. The fact is that starting hand values are more important in games like Omaha Holdem and its variants.
Yet another false belief, and one that leads to losses in Texas Holdem tourneys, is that of acquiring as many chips as possible once the game begins.
The fact first that at the onset, you should be content with just playing it tight, and letting the other players slug it out. In the early stages, the players will be too aggressive and you will likely just get caught up in the action and lose a lot of chips.
Only in the middle portions of the tourney should you be inclined to set about acquiring chips. It will be easier too because the blinds will go up and force the others to play it tight.
These misconceptions have cost a lot of players a lot of games and even more money. You should, if you are just starting out, learn to steer clear of them, and the sooner you do, the more easily you will learn how to win in Texas Holdem.
