Syndi N Poker: TEXAS "Holdem" STYLE

Here are some tips for playing No Limit Texas Holdem if you are a novice player looking to play in a tournament. I had some help with these tips. I referred to my library of Texas Holdem books. I came across Daniel Negreanu's book, POWER HOLD'EM STRATEGY. In this book he divides chapters/topics up by having fellow professionals write on the subject matter at hand. This particular chapter was written by Evelyn Ng. Here is a recap of what she had to say for you novice players with a twist of my own. Keep in mind that this is for the NOVICE player only and to have you stay around for a long time. These tips should be strictly followed to be effective. Without further a due... here we go!

1. Raise preflop between 4 and 5 times the amount of the big blinds. The sole purpose of doing this is is to steal the blinds. If you are playing against professional tournament players... they want to see the flop as cheaply as possible so they can out play you later on. Trust me, they will out play you simply because you won't know you are being outplayed, lol. If the other players don't have a premium hand, they will fold (more times than not).

2. Don't vary from your betting. If you change the way you bet because you might have a stronger hand and you want someone to call... it tends to show betting patterns. The professionals will catch this right off and bust you out of the tournament before you know it.

3. You have 2 options and 2 options only: Bet or Fold. This takes the hard decisions out of your hands. It's real simple. Bet accordingly with the 5 times the amount of the big blind or fold your cards. The amount may be much higher depending on the preceding players. More on that next.
Example: blinds are 100/200. 5 times big blind is 1,000. That should be your bet.

4. If you have 1 to 2 limpers in front of you should bet 7 times the amount of the big blind. Since this is for novice players and you might not know what a limper is, here is the definition. A limper is someone who just calls whatever the minimum big blind is. The same example if blinds are 100/200. 1 person limps in for 200. You need to bet 1,400.

5. If you have more than 2 limpers in front of you should bet 9 times the amount of the big blind. This may seem to be a lot of chips but again, you are wanting them to fold so you can steal the blinds. You don't want them to call you and have you get outplayed on the flop, turn, or river.

6. If you have a raise and of course it is still preflop, you should re-raise 5 times the raise amount that is facing you. This will tell you if that person definitely has a premium hand or not. It also pushes the decision back on the other player. Never just call...remember tip #3, "BET OR FOLD". An example of this would be: Blinds are 100/200. Another player raises to 400. This makes your re raise to come out to be 2,000. Now depending on your chip count... pay close attention to the next tip.

7. Use the 25 % Rule. What is the 25% rule? Good question. It is when at anytime your standard raise represents 25% or more of your stack size, you should go all in. Here is an example: Blinds are 100/200. You have 3,700 and your standard 5 times the amount of blind bet is 1,000. Since 1,000 is more that the 25% of your stack you should push all in. The reason to do this is to take the big decision from your hands and putting it in your opponents. Hopefully they will fold and you still the blinds. If not... at least you won't be out played. You will see it to the end.


These tips don't mean to do them every hand. Only follow these tips if you plan on playing the hand from the beginning. By no means does this mean play every hand. Utilize this with premium cards and you should do well. Hope that this will help you to improve your Texas Holdem No Limit tournament play. Best of luck to you!