Poker Strategy – Longhand Limit Texas Hold’em

This section will give you the basic strategy at winning at longhand, limit holdem (limit holdem with 8 or more players). This section is intended for the beginner, so he or she can win at the lower limits (2-4 or less).

Starting Hands/Preflop:

This is where most beginners make mistakes. Simply, they play too many hands. What beginners fail to recognize is that longhand limit holdem is a game of PATIENCE. As sad as it sounds, you literally can just wait to be dealt the quality hands, and just win with those.

So what are the good hands? David Skalansky, a poker expert, groups hands into 8 categories. I’m going to simplify his method a little bit for you. The main difference between my ratings and his ratings is that I don’t separate the suited cards. The only reason I do this is for simplicity. Furthermore, being suited tends to not be a big deal, except for connecting hands and category III hands. Being suited is nice, but it’s just a bonus, it doesn’t change the actual value of the card that much. On any given board, there is a 5% chance a suited hand will form a flush by the river. So in general, you will win close to 5% more pots with a hand that is suited than unsuited.

Texas Holdem

Category I

AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK

These are the best hands, bar none. You should raise or reraise with them preflop. If you hold AA, you especially want to jam as much money into the pot as possible

Category II

TT, 99, AQ, QK

These are good hands, but they aren’t amazing. You generally need help from the board. Almost always in low limit, you will need to hit a set with TT or 99 to win.

Category III

AJ, AT, KJ, QJ, 10J

These are good hands. However, be careful playing AJ, AT, KJ as these hands are vulnerable to losing to a higher kicker (i.e. if an ace is on the board, but someone else has AK, you would lose because he has a higher ‘kicker’). You should generaly play these hands only if they are suited.

Category IV

88, 77, 66, 109, 98, 87, 76 (only play the connecting cards if they are suited)

These hands are ok, but generally don’t win. They need a lot of help from the board.

Category V

small pocket pairs (i.e. 55, 44, 33, 22)

Category I hands should almost always be played. The only exception if if you hold AK or say JJ and you are positive that someone has KK or AA by the way they are raising (in other words, the person is a very tight player but is acting like a maniac preflop). These hands in general should be raised from any position and you want to get a lot of money in preflop. However, remember, for AK you need to hit an ace or a king. So do not get in a raising war with one person because that person likely has a pocket pair already.

Category II hands should generally be played. These hands do best with less people, so you should raise to knock people out. Do not jam the pot though (i.e. reraise) b/c these hands have little value before you see the board. Do not call 3 bets cold with these hands (if you raise, then someone reraises, call, but do not call if someone raised, then reraised, and then it’s your turn.) The reason you do not call 3 bets cold is because you clearly do not have an advantage going into the flop. THE ONE THING TO REMEMBER IN LIMIT HOLDEM IS YOU WANT TO HAVE AN ADVANTAGE GOING INTO THE FLOP. Go ahead and call one raise in late position, unless the raiser was in early position and is a very good player (he probably has you beat with a category I hand).

Online Poker Training

Category III: Treat these hands with caution. They are easily beat by category I or II hands, so these hands are best played with fewer people in the pot who do not hold category I or II hands. In other words, raise to knock people out, but do not call a raise.

Category IV/V: these hands are very different. You want a large, multiway pot. The reason being is that 95% of the time, these hands are trash. However, 5% of the time, these hands are amazing (i.e. if you hit a straight, flush, or trips). Therefore, you want to be paid of big when you actually hit something with these hands, which is why you want a lot of people in the pot. Example: you hold 67, the board is A58, you call a bet on flop, 9 comes on turn and then you jam the pot. Thus, you want to commit as few chips preflop with these hands as possible while hoping that many people go into the flop. Thus, if you are the dealer, and one guy is in with a raise, fold. However, if you are the big blind, and 5 people have called a raise, go ahead and call and see the flop.