Many people play Texas Holdem on the "odds." The odds are the chance that anyone will have a certain hand. Winning poker hands are based upon odds. The odds of getting a straight flush, for example, are one in 100,000. The odds of getting a pair are about fifty percent.

You cannot accurately calculate the odds or count the cards when playing Texas Holdem or any other poker game. People all have "systems" on how to bet, but in order to be successful at this game, you need to be flexible and also know how to read people. You also need to play conservatively but know when it is bet to take a chance. Even the very best poker players lose 25 percent of the time.

Poker is a game of skill but there is also a percentage of luck involved. Just like life, you never know the cards that you are going to be dealt.

There are ten players allowed at a Texas Holdem table. Each gets two pocket cards and five cards go in the center as the community cards. There are 52 cards in a deck of cards. With 25 of them gone, that means that there are 27 cards still in the deck. No one, unless they are clairvoyant, can tell what is in the deck.

When playing Texas Holdem or any other type of poker, it pays to be more observant than analytical. You should watch other player and gauge their reactions to their cards. You are all aware of the five community cards so if someone is betting heavily, you should have a pretty good idea of what they may have in their hand. Or are they bluffing? In Texas Holdem, like all poker, people sometimes bluff.

You can tell, however, if someone else is bluffing by what they may have in their hand. If you have the King and the Nine of Hearts for example, and the ten and Jack of Hearts are part of the community card, and someone is betting like they have the Royal Straight Flush, you will know that they do not because you have the pocket cards. You also know that they do not have four Nines or four Kings because that is what you are holding. However, they may not be bluffing but may have two Jacks in their hand. Three of a kind often wins in a Texas Holdem game.

Texas Holdem poker requires you to be observant of others and their reactions but also to concentrate on your own hand. If, after the flop, you have a pair of Jacks or better in your hand, you should stay in the game as you have a good chance of winning. Although you may be able to bluff for a certain amount of hands, sooner or later someone is going to call you and you will end up losing.

D.R. Tupniak
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