This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
People ask me all the time, can you actually win at Texas Holdem these days?
Well, I am not going to sugar coat it for you, Texas Holdem games are not super easy anymore.
In fact, as a professional Texas Hold'em player myself for over a decade, I have gone through a lot of ups and downs.
However, there are 8 proven formulas that I have used over and over again to create massive long term winnings.
And I think they will help improve your results as well.
All 8 of these Texas Hold'em tips are highly practical and actionable. Try them out in your poker games right after you finish reading this article.
Let’s get right into it.
Texas Holdem Proven Formula #1: Play More Hands in Position
Texas Hold'em is a game that is all about position.
The closer you are to the dealer button, the better the chance of playing in position post flop, which gives you a huge advantage.
Playing in position means being the last to act in a betting round.
Here’s why you should aim to play most of your hands in position:
Here’s why you should aim to play most of your hands in position:
A) To gain more information
If you’re the last to act in Texas Holdem, you get to see what your opponents do first, while they have no idea what you’re about to do.
Poker is a game of incomplete information, so the player with the informational advantage will come out on top more often than not.
This is a simple trick pros use to win at Texas Holdem almost every time.
B) To control the pot size
Playing in position gives you the final say at the price of the pot.
If you have a strong value hand, you can bet or raise to inflate the pot size. If you have a mediocre or a drawing hand, you can just call or check behind to keep the pot size smaller.
C) To realize your equity
Your hand equity refers to the percentage chance of winning the hand if all the players took their hand to showdown.
When playing in position, you’ll be able to reach showdown more often, which allows you to realize your equity.
Better yet, you can bet or raise to try to push your opponents out of the pot, and deny them their equity realization that way.
So how do you play more hands in position?
You simply open-raise more hands in late table position, and play less hands in early table positions.
The table positions are always relative to the dealer button, so late table positions are the ones that are closest to the button.
When you’re playing on the button in particular, you will ALWAYS have positional advantage post flop.
This is why the button is going to be your most profitable seat by far.
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Texas Holdem Proven Formula #2: Enter Most Pots With a Raise
If you’re the first player to enter the pot, you should always do so with an open-raise.
The standard open-raise is 3 big blinds. So if you’re playing a $1/$2 cash game, for example, you should open-raise to $6.
A lot of amateur poker players make the mistake of open-limping instead of open-raising.
To open-limp means to just pay one big blind instead of making a raise.
They usually do this because they want to see a cheap flop, but this “strategy” often ends up backfiring.
Here’s why you should always open-raise when you enter the pot:
A) To build up the pot
In poker, most of the money you’ll make will come from your strong hands where your opponents have a weaker hand that’s willing to pay you off.
So if you get dealt a strong hand, your best bet is to build up the pot with it as soon as possible.
The bigger the pot you build up preflop, the easier it is to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.
B) To discourage multiway pots
A multiway pot is a pot in Texas Holdem with more than two players involved.
When you open-limp, you are inviting other players to limp behind you, which can often lead to multiway pots.
The more players involved in the pot, the harder it is for you to actually win the hand, since every additional player will have some small chunk of equity against you.
Ideally, you want to get to the flop against only one, maybe two opponents.
This will make it a lot easier for you to win the hand, whether or not you actually connect with the board.
C) To get initiative
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (or c-bet for short) on the flop.
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should usually fire a c-bet on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to do so.
When you open-limp, on the other hand, you have no initiative in the hand, and you don’t have the opportunity to make a c-bet, which puts you at a disadvantage throughout the hand.
Again, some players think it’s cheaper to just pay one big blind and try to see a cheap flop, but the downside to this approach is that you’re often going to get raised.
This means you have to pay another bet anyway, only this time you’re doing it without the benefit of being the preflop aggressor.
It’s a proven Texas Hold'em formula for success (and more profitable) to just make an open-raise yourself.
This puts you in the driver’s seat throughout the hand, and it’s letting your opponents know that they need to pay up if they want to get involved in a hand with you.
As I actually proved this with millions of hands worth of data in my first book.
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Texas Holdem Proven Formula #3: Isolate the Weaker Players With a Raise
We’ve already established why you should always open-raise when you’re the first player to enter the pot.
If you see a player limping into the pot, chances are you’re dealing with a recreational poker player.
These players primarily play for fun, and make little to no effort into actually improving their game.
This means you should aim to get involved in the hand with them at every opportunity, and take advantage of the many mistakes they’ll likely make.
And the best way to do so is to make an isolation raise preflop.
An isolation raise (or iso-raise) for short is an open-raise preflop made against the player who open-limps into the pot.
If two or more players limp in front of you, making a raise is still considered an iso-raise.
As the name suggests, the goal of the iso-raise is to isolate the weaker player, and play a heads-up pot against them post flop (ideally in position).
A heads-up pot in Texas Holdem is a pot with only 2 players involved.
Unlike your standard open-raise, you should size up your iso-raises to make it more likely that other players will fold their hand preflop.
You don’t have to worry about the recreational player folding their hand, because they will usually play way too many hands preflop, and they will happily call with just about any random hand.
The standard iso-raise size is 3 BB + 1 BB per limper.
So 4 big blinds for 1 limper, 5 big blinds for 2 limpers and so on.
You can bump it up 1 additional big blind if you’re playing out of position, or if you’re up against a particularly bad opponent and you want to get the pot growing as quickly as possible.
Texas Hold’em Example Hand #1
You are dealt K♦Q♦ in the SB (small blind). A recreational player open-limps in the MP (middle position).
Don't know what MP is?
See my free poker book for a complete listing of all the seats at the table, and how to play each one.
Back to the hand...
What should you do: ???
You should iso-raise to 5 BB.
This is a good spot for an isolation raise, because you can get called by a lot of weaker hands you have completely dominated.
As for the bet sizing, you make it 4 big blinds for one limper, plus an additional big blind since you will be playing the hand out of position.
Again, if you’re up against a very weak opponent, you can bump it up an additional big blind to get the pot growing right away.
If you want to know how to use exploitative bet sizing to crush your opponents preflop, check out my preflop bet sizing cheat sheet.
Texas Holdem Proven Formula #4: Make a C-bet on Most Flops
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (or c-bet for short) on the flop.
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should usually make a c-bet even though you’ve missed the flop.
If you only c-bet the flop when you actually connect with the board, you may become overly predictable to your opponents.
After a while, they will just stop giving you action every time you make a c-bet.
This is not an issue when you’re playing against weaker players who simply aren’t paying attention, but it becomes a big leak against more observant players.
This is not an issue when you’re playing against weaker players who simply aren’t paying attention, but it becomes a big leak against more observant players.
To counteract this, you need to throw out an occasional bluff c-bet (aka a light c-bet) to always keep your opponents guessing.
The reason why light c-bets in Texas Holdem are profitable is the fact that your opponent is just as likely to have missed the flop as you did.
In no-limit hold’em, hands miss the flop completely 2 out of 3 times on average.
And since you have the range advantage, you can often credibly represent a lot of strong hands on the flop.
This means your opponent will usually have to fold unless they happen to hold something decent, which usually won’t be the case.
That said, you don’t necessarily want to go overboard and c-bet on just about any flop texture.
It’s usually better to light c-bet on dry flop board textures, where it’s less likely your opponent has something good enough to call you down with.
You should also look to c-bet with hands that have at least some chance of improving on future streets, as this gives you more than one way to win the pot.
Texas Hold'em Example Hand #2
Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt A♣Q♣ in the MP (middle position). You open-raise to 3 BB. SB (small blind) calls.
Pot: 7 BB
Flop: J♥5♣2♦
Villain checks.
You: ???
You should c-bet 3.5 BB.
Even though you’ve missed the flop here, you should still go for a c-bet in this spot.
The flop texture is very dry, and there aren’t a lot of ways your opponent could have connected with the board.
Even if they call you with some Jx hand, you can still outdraw them with an Ace or a Queen, giving you a top pair hand.
You also have backdoor straight and flush draws, so your hand is far from hopeless if your c-bet gets called.
Texas Holdem Proven Formula #5: Double Barrel When You Pick up Equity
Light c-betting the flop in Texas Holdem is a very effective strategy any good poker player should have in their arsenal.
However, sometimes you’re going to encounter opponents who won’t easily give up after a simple c-bet.
So what do you do on the turn if your hand didn’t improve? Do you just give up the hand altogether?
It depends on the situation, but yes, sometimes you just give up the hand and count your losses.
If your hand didn’t improve at all, and your opponent doesn’t seem willing to give up the hand, you don’t want to keep throwing good money after bad.
But more often than not, you should still keep applying the pressure with another bet on the turn.
When you bet the turn after c-betting the flop, this is known as a double barrel.
Double barreling for value is pretty straightforward: you keep betting when you have a strong hand that can get called by a lot of weaker hands.
Double barrel bluffing is a bit trickier, but it can be a very effective strategy if you do it the right way.
When you fire another shell on the turn, it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your opponent, as you’re letting them know that now they actually need to have a decent hand if they want to continue.
If they called you on the flop with a weak range to begin with, they’re going to have a hard time calling you the second time.
And if they called you with some sort of a marginal hand, now they will have to consider if their hand is strong enough to play for a big pot.
There’s also the implicit threat of you firing a third shell (triple barrel) they need to contend with.
A lot of players in low stakes Texas Holdem will call on the flop with a relatively wide range, but they will usually give up on later streets if they don’t have a really strong hand (which won’t be the case most of the time).
Texas Hold'em Example Hand #3
Let’s use the previous Texas Holdem example to figure out whether or not a double barrel is a good idea.
You open-raise preflop with A♣Q♣, and you c-bet this flop: J♥5♣2♦
Villain calls.
Pot: 14 BB
Turn: K♣
You: ???
You should bet (double barrel) 7 BB.
This is one of the best turn cards to double barrel bluff on.
Not only did you pick up a lot of equity, as you now have the nut flush and straight draws, it’s also a scare card for your opponent.
A scare card is the one that connects well with your perceived range, while making your opponent’s range weaker at the same time.
In this example, a King is better for your range than for your opponent’s range, because you have a lot of strong Kx hands in your range, like AK, KQ, KJ and so on.
So if your opponent has a pair of Jacks, now their hand is relatively weaker, and they will have a hard time calling you down a second time.
These days, it takes more than waiting around for the nuts to be a profitable long term winner.
You also need to know how to win pots even without a particularly strong hand.
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Texas Holdem Proven Formula #6: 3-bet Your Strong Hands Preflop
We’ve talked about the benefits in Texas Holdem of getting to the flop as the preflop aggressor.
However, you won’t always have the chance to open-raise first, as your opponents will sometimes open-raise before you.
When that happens, you have a couple of options to consider.
Most players simply default to calling in these spots, but this is not always the best option.
It’s statistically more profitable to get to the flop as the preflop aggressor, so calling preflop automatically puts you at a disadvantage.
If you're using a good free HUD, you can check these stats yourself.
Chances are, you'd be surprised by how much more you earn when betting and raising compared to calling preflop.
This is why it’s important to add 3-betting into your preflop arsenal.
To 3-bet preflop means to raise after another player open-raises.
Example:
Someone raises to $5 and you re-raise to $15 with A♦K♦
If somebody raises against your 3-bet, that’s called a 4-bet, then a 5-bet and so on.
When you’re first starting out, you should keep your 3-betting range value-heavy.
This means you’re mostly 3-betting with your very strong hands, like premium pairs and strong broadways.
The goal of the value 3-bet is to get your opponent to call and get the pot growing as quickly as possible.
3-bet pots are usually a lot bigger than single-raised pots, so it’s a lot easier to play for stacks post flop.
This is why you should mostly 3-bet with your strong hands, since you want to set yourself up in spots where you can stack your opponents if you get a favourable flop.
As you get more experience in Texas Holdem, you can gradually start adding 3-bet bluffing hands into your range.
This way, you balance your range and you make sure your opponents can’t get any accurate reads on your hand strength.
The standard 3-bet sizing is 3 times the open-raise if you’re playing in position, and 4 times the open-raise if you’re playing out of position.
The idea behind sizing up your 3-bets when playing out of position is that you want to charge your opponents a premium if they want the luxury of playing out of position against you.
Also, a bigger 3-bet decreases the effective stack sizes, which makes post flop play a bit easier, as well.
Texas Hold'em Example Hand #4
Texas Holdem Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt J♥J♦ in the BB (big blind). Villain open-raises to 2.5 BB from the CO (cutoff).
You: ???
You should 3-bet to 10 BB.
In this spot, 3-betting is more profitable than flat calling, because you want to get to the flop as the preflop aggressor.
You also have a premium hand, and you can get called by a lot of hands you’re comfortably ahead of.
Since you’re playing out of position, you should size up your 3-bet to (at least) 4 times the open-raise.
This will get the pot growing nicely, and it will make your post flop decisions easier, as well.
Texas Holdem Proven Formula #7: 3-bet Light Against Stealing Attempts
When you’re first starting out with Texas Holdem, it’s best to keep things simple and stick to value betting your strong hands.
To bet for value means betting when your hand is comfortably ahead of your opponent’s calling range.
In other words, you’re value betting every time you expect to get called by a lot of weaker hands.
The problem with this approach is that it can become fairly obvious if you’re playing against players who are paying attention to your betting patterns.
This may not be a problem if you’re playing against a bunch of recreational players, but it can become an issue once you start climbing up the stakes and facing tougher competition.
In order to counteract this, it’s a good idea to start adding a couple of bluffing hands into your 3-betting range.
Unlike value 3-bets, the goal of a bluff 3-bet is to get your opponent to fold right away and take down the pot preflop.
Unlike value 3-bets, the goal of a bluff 3-bet is to get your opponent to fold right away and take down the pot preflop.
For example:
They raise from the button, you should 3-bet (re-raise) from the big blind with A♥3♥
Bluff 3-betting (aka light 3-betting) is a very effective strategy, because you don’t have to rely on hitting strong hands to rake in an occasional pot.
By the way, check out my 5 best bluffing hands to learn more.
But what matters more than your hand strength (or lack thereof) are the playing tendencies of your opponents.
In most low stakes games, players will have a hard time reacting to rampant 3-betting aggression.
Players will either overfold or overcall against light 3-betting, so you need to make the right adjustments to your strategy.
If you’re playing against calling stations who almost never fold, you should dispense with light 3-betting, keep things simple and just value bet your strong hands.
But if your opponents react too timidly to 3-bets (which is often the case), you should start 3-bet bluffing a lot more!
3-bets usually get a decent amount of respect, and players will often fold to 3-bets especially if their range is weak to begin with.
So when you’re 3-bet bluffing, you should look to attack weak and wide open-raising ranges.
In other words, you should 3-bet more against late position open-raises.
That’s because most hands in these ranges won’t be able to stand the pressure of a 3-bet.
As for the bet sizing to use, the same principle applies to both value 3-bets and light 3-bets.
You make it 3 times the open-raise when playing in position, and 4 times the open-raise when playing out of position.
Texas Hold’em Example Hand #4
You are dealt A♠2♠ in the SB (small blind). Villain open-raises to 2.5 BB from the BU (button).
You: ???
You should 3-bet to 10 BB.
3-betting in this spot is preferable to flat calling for a few reasons.
If you call here, you will be playing out of position without the initiative, and you also have an easily dominated hand.
Worse yet, you’re not closing the actions, so the big blind can call behind you, forcing you to play against 2 opponents with the positional disadvantage.
The big blind can also 3-bet, which puts you at an awkward position.
Alternatively, if you 3-bet, you can often take down the pot right away.
You’re attacking a wide open-raising range from the player in the button, and a lot of hands in that range will be forced to fold to a 3-bet.
Even if you get called, your hand still has decent playability post flop, so you have a decent chunk of equity to fall back on.
See my Texas Holdem cheat sheet for much more on this.
Texas Holdem Proven Formula #8: Only Play Strong Starting Hands
If you want to quickly improve your Texas Holdem results, your best bet is to simply play less hands.
This may seem counterintuitive at first. After all, how can you win more by playing less?
The answer is simple: in Texas hold’em, not all starting hands are created equal.
Some starting hands simply have a better chance of connecting with the flop and making strong combinations post flop.
This isn’t rocket science by any means, yet a lot of amateur poker players are under the impression that every hand is a potential winner.
That’s simply not the case. Some hands are going to be profitable over the long run, but most of them are actually going to cost you money, no matter how well you play them.
So the trick is to only play hands that have a reasonable chance of connecting with the flop, and ditch the rest.
Here’s a general overview of starting hands you should play in Texas Holdem:
a) pocket pairs (AA through 22)
b) broadway hands (strong face cards like AJ or KQ)
c) suited Aces (like A♥8♥ or A♣5♣)
d) suited connectors (like 9♦8♦ or 7♠6♠)
These hands make up roughly the top 20% of all starting hands in Texas Holdem
The rest is junk and should be tossed right away.
This is just a rough guideline, of course.
The number of hands you can play profitable will depend on a lot of other factors, namely the type of opponents you are up against, your table position, the effective stack sizes and so on.
See my 21 Texas Holdem tips the pros don't want you to know for much more.
Can You Actually Win at Texas Holdem? - Summary
So can you actually win at Texas Holdem these days?
Yes, but you need to know the right proven strategies.
If you have a strong hand, you should almost always play it aggressively, in order to build up the pot and actually get paid off by your opponents.
However, since strong value hands don’t come around often in no-limit hold’em, you also need to win an occasional pot even without a particularly strong hand.
This is where playing aggressively can do wonders for your bottom line, as well.
Most of the time, players aren’t going to have anything decent in a lot of situations, which means you should always look for opportunities to push your opponents out of pots with a well-timed aggression.
In practice, this means trying to get to the flop as the preflop aggressor, then continuing the aggression by making a c-bet on most flops.
Try these Texas Holdem tips and let me know how they work for you.
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This article was written by Fran Ferlan
Poker player, writer and coach
Specializing in live and online cash games
For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at fran.redline@gmail.com
Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here
Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free Texas Holdem cheat sheet.
