They say Texas Holdem Poker is a game that takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. Well this Texas Holdem Strategy guide is your first step to learning some of those lessons, and the great thing is it should take just a few minutes!

Arguably the world’s most popular card game, millions of people around the world are playing Texas Hold em online in an effort to learn the game and to become better players. At 888.com’s Pacific Poker, you can even practice the following strategies for free in Practice Play before heading to the Money Play tables to put your new skills to work for cash!

Starting Hands

One of the best Texas Holdem strategies that new players should take notice of is starting hands. In Texas Holdem, each player is dealt two cards at the beginning of the hand; this is known as your starting hand. The best starting hand in Texas Hold em Poker is pocket aces {Ac}{As}. While you are only likely see this hand once in every 220 hands, it is wise to try and extract as much money from your opponent every time you do get dealt this monster.

Other good starting hands include big pocket pairs {Kh}{Kd}, {Qs}{Qc} and {Jd}{Jh}. With these hands in your possession, you should always be trying to get the maximum amount of chips into the pot before the flop.

Aside from big pocket pairs, the other great Texas Holdem starting hands are the big suited connectors. Hands such as {As}{Ks} and {Ad}{Qd} are always a great place to start in Texas Hold em. When dealt these premium hands, you can rest assured that aggressive play pre-flop is the best Texas Holdem strategy.

Aggression

Use aggression. You must always remember that it is always better to be raising or folding rather than continuously calling. One mistake many new players make when learning Texas Holdem Poker is that they often call in situations when they should either raise or fold.

By constantly raising or folding, you make it much harder on your opponents to play against you, as it is much easier to call a bet if the player in front of you has already called, but much harder to call when the player in front of you has raised. Aggression is a key Texas Hold em strategy and it will help you improve your game on many levels if you can learn this valuable secret.

Next time you are playing online poker at 888.com’s Pacific Poker, try to play an entire Sit and Go where you are not allowed to call at all. You raise or fold, never call. While there are obvious situations where you have to call, keep these separate and concentrate on scenarios where when you are faced with the three options, raise, call or fold.

In short: try to make raise or fold your only two options and see how that works for you.

Betting Strategy

One of the fundamental Texas Hold em approaches that players like to adopt is a betting strategy. It is always important to bet suitable sums at the right time. Many new players often get confused as to how much to bet or raise when they do get dealt the premium hands. A good guide is to try and raise what is in the pot. This can be seen easily at 888.com’s Pacific Poker by hovering your mouse over the chips in the middle of the table. When it is your turn to act, if you are thinking of betting but you are not sure how much to bet, bet the amount that is in the pot already.

Just remember this from all fundamental Texas Holdem tips - it is always better to be betting or raising than to be calling or checking.

Bankroll Management

At some point in time you may make a deposit at 888.com’s Pacific Poker and put all your Texas Holdem Strategy lessons to good use. One of the most important things to remember next is bankroll management.

A good guide is never to have more than 5-7% of your total bankroll in play at any one time. For example, if your first deposit is $100, then you should aim to play in $5 poker tournaments, or sit down at cash tables with $5.

This ensures that you don’t have to worry about big swings and runs of bad luck. Sometimes you will play perfect poker, but for one reason or another, you just won’t win. If you employ good bankroll management, you can help to avoid these bad swings and stay in the game. If you can stick to this very valuable strategy, then you will be playing poker for a very long time indeed.

Ok you’re now aware of the basics, so what are you waiting for? Start off in Practice Play, where you can test these simple strategies then when you’re ready hit Money Play to start cashing in on your skills! 888.com’s Pacific Poker software is free to download so…