How to Get Good At Texas Hold’em Poker

I’m currently in Bossier City, Louisiana, for the RunGood Poker Series. I have realized a few obvious things during this trip. One, of all the 70+ poker rooms I have played in, this is by far the biggest bingo poker game I have ever seen. Playing bingo poker is not “How to get good at Texas hold’em poker”, and it certainly doesn’t fit into our poker rules for winning.

What Is Bingo Poker?

Bingo poker refers to poker games where the players are just gambling. There is no thought process to their thinking. I’ll give you some examples of what I have seen since I’ve been here…

#1. In a cash game, a player called off $295 with Tc 2x. The traditional poker games here in general are nuts. I played for two hours on my first night here and every single hand went to a flop. Not only that, but there were 3-5 players to the flop on almost every hand.

#2. I have seen a lot more in the Texas Hold’em poker tournaments, though, and the rest of these points will all refer to those Texas Hold’em poker tournaments. The first one, and believe it or not, far from the craziest, was when a player called a 23x BB pre-flop raise with 22 and flopped a full house to knock out the 23x BB with AA.

The guy who called is cuckoo, but if you look closer, you will see that so is the guy who raised 23x the BB with the best of all poker hands in the game. He played it as though he didn’t want a call despite the blinds being low.

#3. A player called my jam with AK on this flop: J22.

#4. At the second final table (the table before the final table), Seat 5 raised 5x the BB, which was half of Seat 8’s chips. Seat 8, who was the short stack at the table at the time, jammed it. Seat 5, who had Seat 8 covered 9:1, folded, showed 55, and said, “I think you have king-queen, I can’t call.” I’m still scratching my head on this one.

#5. A player called off his stack (25 BBs) with K4-off.

Planet Bingo

Can someone please tell me what planet I’m on? If you played the example poker hands above the way the locals played them, you would never learn how to get good at Texas hold’em poker. Here’s the crazy thing.

Many of the players here who play bingo poker think they’re great players. There is no possible way that someone can play this style of poker and be profitable. It’s not possible over the long haul.

I played the One Day tournament yesterday and finished 12th of 129. This isn’t spectacular, but I’m hoping the information below will teach a beginning poker player how to get good at Texas hold’em poker.

When I started writing this article, I had no intention of sharing information from 19%, which is a poker experiment book I have been working on. But you have to be adaptable, and I truly believe this approach will help a beginning poker player with how to get good at Texas hold’em poker.

How to Get Good at Texas Hold’em Poker: 19%

The premise of 19% is to see only 19% of flops (very basic) to determine if it will be profitable. The idea is that seeing that percentage of flops will keep you out of trouble.

On the other hand, this is a poker experiment book; therefore, is seeing that percentage of flops going to prevent you from winning poker tournaments? Will this poker strategy lead to increased cashes but fewer straight-up wins? I don’t know the answer any more than you do because this was Tournament #46.

Well … I do know some things because I have picked up some patterns that should definitely help any beginning poker player with how to get good at Texas hold’em poker and poker strategy in general, but I can’t reveal those patterns at this time.

I’m not going to reveal the Flops Seen or buy-in for reasons I can’t reveal at this time. The notes might seem random, but you will catch on quickly.

Tournament #46 | RunGood Bossier City | One-Day Tournament

Seat 6: “Here we go! Bingo! Bango! Bongo!”

Dude just called off his stack with 43s for 30 BB.

KK in middle position.
UTG +2 raised to 500 on 100 BB.
Another player called.
I raised to 2200.
Both players folded.
A few good players at the table.

98 hand.
Two callers.
Whiffed flop.
Bet pot.
SB called. Of course! Can I ever get away with a bluff here? Ever?
Board To Turn: 622K
Fortunately, the SB bet into me for half my stack.
Easy fold.
I said, “Nines are no good” and folded as though I had nines.
He showed QQ.
Good thing that king came on the turn.

Dealers with soft voices talk to me from across the table. Since there is music here (plus voices and chips), I have no clue what they’re saying. I just smile and nod.
Bingo!

Ac Qc
I raised (don’t remember how much).
Two callers.
Active player in SB.
Flop: Q8Q
They checked to me. I also checked.
Turn: 3
All checks.
River: 2
SB and BB checked.
I used bluff mannerisms and bet 1/4 of the pot. I did this because it looks like I don’t want to risk much with my “bluff.”
He jammed.
I called.
Dealer didn’t table his cards. (I pointed this out because they were already in the muck)

A6 on button.
Called 4k all-in when I had 19.2k.
On the prior hand, the all-in player mentioned to his neighbor that he would have won the hand because a queen hit the flop and he was very close to jamming. This played a huge role in my call. But BB open-folded an ace. Villain tabled QJ.
Board: 682 (good)
Turn: Q (bad)
River: Q (more bad)

66
Raised to 2300 on 800 BB from UTG +1.
Two callers.
Flop: 922
I bet 4k.
Two folds.

One hand later, one of those folders leaned over and asked, “Ace-King?”
I said, “If you tell me what you had, I’ll tell you the truth, I promise.” If I ever say this, I’m telling the truth.
He said, “I had an overpair.”
I said (surprised), “You had an overpair? I had sixes.”
He said, “I made a bad fold.”

Seat 3 to me: “My ex-wife just texted me that she’s bra shopping for her new titties.”

KQ hand iso bluff.
Called.
Folded turn.
Every freaking time!

On the next hand, I knew my opponent had KQ when I had air. I bluffed the river and he called me with king-high. This is one disadvantage to being seen as a pro. They will sometimes call you because they think pro=bluffer.

This is correct sometimes, but I usually have it when I bet. I’m a little more open in these poker tournaments because I have to adapt to the style of play. Adaptability is something you want to adopt. It’s how you get good at poker.

Bango!

T2 open-raise from button.
BB shoved.
Never ends.

As 4s hand.
Check-raise semi-bluffed all-in with nut flush draw.
Called.
Hit an ace on the river.

I raised with A4s.
“Auto caller to my left,” I said, pretending to complain to the dealer. He didn’t care or find any humor in it.
“I got a pair,” the player to my left said, “I have to call to see if I hit.”
Flop: J84
I bet out and said, “I have a similar situation.”
I wasn’t lying.
He folded.
Player to my right also folded. He heard the same conversation.

T4o.
Energy Dude showed me a bluff when I whiffed. I find this amazing because I have never seen anyone bluff before.

Nut flush draw check-raise jammed on flop with Kd Qd.
Called by AKo on this flop: Jd 2h 2d.
Didn’t hit flush but we both rivered a full house and chopped.

QQ.
Raised 10k pre-flop.
Called by one player.
I had 22.5k behind and shoved dark.
Flop: Kc 4c 9s.
Villain tanked.
I hoped he didn’t have a king.
While tanking, he said, “Pick me, Leshonda.”
Leshonda was the dealer.
After that comment, I knew it was a flush draw.
He called.
Turn: 4h
River: 2h
Big pot.

Js Ts
Raised 3.5x BB.
Flop: AA6
Bluff got through.

AT. Raised to 12k.
Gut told me to do it.
Tight player jammed for 30.5k.
I tank-folded.

Kh Qh.
Raised to 14k on 3k BB.
Cutoff called.
I didn’t like that cutoff called. It hurt my feelings.
Flop: 68Q-rainbow
After two checks on rag turn, I bet 45% of the pot on river.
Cutoff called.
I liked that cutoff called earlier.

Misdeal, not misdeal with a card going under the barrier. Short stack had AQ. I had TT. Would have been snap-call for me. Short stack complained, but if that card doesn’t get lost under the barrier and we go to battle, he might have busted. He ended up winning the entire tournament. Funny how things work.

Energy Dude raised half short stack’s stack (hope that made sense). Energy Dude had him covered by about 8:1. Short stack jammed. Energy Dude folded 55 and said, “I can’t call. I had you on kind-queen.” Huh?

Bongo!

AQ UTG +2.
UTG limped.
I raised to 22k on 6k BB.
Everyone folded UTG, who raised to 44k.
I knew this was KK or better.
I folded.
It sucked.

ATo.
Called an all-in.
Same hand.
Chopped.

Qh Jh.
Called half my stack vs. Energy Dude, who kept jamming light. This time, he had AJo.

I flopped a flush draw, but brick, brick on the turn and river. This was an interesting situation, and analyzing poker hands, poker players, and situations is also how you get good at poker. My thinking in regards to poker strategy on this hand was the following.

He had bad jamming light and I was below the average chip stack. I also knew that this was a good spot to gamble, especially since the BB + ante would be eating up my stack. If I lost the hand, I would look to go for a pay jump, but I had 77 on the next hand and jammed, which was called by TT. The dude with TT flopped a set, which was not fun.

12th of 129.
Net: $338
Overall Net: Classified.

An Amazing Thing That Wasn’t So Amazing

There were no bingo poker players at the final two tables. Not one! There were a few nits, which are very difficult to find in Bossier City.

Here’s a Texas Hold’em poker tip for you: If the nits made it that deep and all the bingo players were gone, what does that tell you? While we are using extremes, it does tell you that playing tight is going to give you a better chance at winning than playing loose.

Playing tight earlier in your career is how to get good at Texas hold’em poker. It slows the game down and allows you to see and evaluate everything. Some people have the belief that “You have to be in it to win it.”

Taking this approach is not how to get good at Texas hold’em poker. I would recommend playing in low-stakes poker games and low buy-in poker tournaments as training. This step-by-step approach fits into our poker rules for winning.

Final Thoughts

This will be my shortest conclusion yet: bingo players don’t win over the long haul. Playing this style is not how to get good at Texas hold’em poker. Playing patiently so you can evaluate and process every player and hand is how to get good at Texas hold’em poker.

♠ pokerjournal.org

How to Get Good at Texas Hold’em – FAQ