The Hutchison Point System for Texas Holdem is an excellent beginners guide to starting hand selection. While learning this system will not make you a favorite at next year's World Series of Poker, it will most definitely give the new Texas Holdem player an idea of the value of the pocket cards he or she is holding.
Texas Holdem Rules: Learn How to Play in under 10 minutes. Texas Holdem is the most popular variant of poker and the one we recommend beginners start with. Once you have a good understanding of Texas Holdem, other poker variants are quite similar and will be easier to learn. The object of Texas Hold em poker is to create the best five-card hand. Poker Basics and Hand Rankings. For those unfamiliar with poker rules and the game of Poker, along with others who might want a refresher, this is the most basic of basic poker. The various games are based on this. Poker is a game of five card hands dealt from a 52 card deck of standard playing cards. All poker hands consist of exactly five cards.
Why is this important? The main reason players lose money in poker is because they play too many cards. This system limits the number of starting hands to cards that have a much better than average chance of winning. While this guide will not help you with many aspects of Holdem, including flop, turn and river play, it will simplify the process of which cards to hang onto and which to dump before the flop. This, in my opinion is the biggest challenge for players new to the game, and thusly a good edition for the general strategy section.
The Hutchison Point System
After being dealt your pocket pairs, assign the following values:
Ace = 16 points
King = 14 points
Queen = 13 points
Jack = 12 points
Ten = 11 points
All other cards are worth their “face value.” (ie. 5 of hearts is worth 5 points, etc)
Additional Qualifiers:
Pocket Pair = +10
Same Suit = +4
Connected = +3 (ie. 9-10, or Jack-Queen. No gaps.)
One Card Gap = +2 (ie. Jack-King)
Two Card Gap = +1 (ie. Jack-Ace)
What the numbers mean:
If your total is:
30+ Premium cards, that can be played from any position, if there are no raises.
27+ These cards can be played from Middle or Late position, provided there are no raises.
25+ Should only be played from late position, if there have been no raises.
To raise or call a raise, you should have a point total of:
34+ In early position
31+ In middle position
29+ In late position
Examples
Ace-Ace: That would be 16+16 for the two aces, and an additional +10 for their being a pocket pair. Thats a total of 42 points. Obviously strong and playable!
Queen-Jack suited: 13 + 12 for the cards, +4 for suited, +3 since they are connected. A total of 32. You could call the big blind with this hand in any position, but if there is a raise, you should only call the raise in middle or late position.
10-6 suited: 11 + 9 for the cards, +4 suited = 24 points. Fold them! This is a perfect example of a hand that many beginning players will call with, hoping for a flush or miracle straight draw. They will almost always lose, and even when the straight or flush is made, there is good chance that a higher straight or flush will take the pot.
Hutchison Statistics
The creator of this formula states that in simulations, only playing 30 point hands yielded a win rate of 17% in a 10 handed game where every hand is played to the river. Obviously, if you played every random hand, you would have an average win rate of only 10%. Thats a 70% increase.
In conclusion, one should note that the game of Texas Holdem is extremely complex, and a simple formula such as this certainly does not do justice to all of the other variables that determine winning and losing players. But even given the complexity of the game, it cannot be emphasized enough that the #1 mistake that beginners make is playing too many hands. If you have only lost money so far in Holdem, this is almost certainly at the root of the problem!
The Hutchison Point System makes starting hand choices much easier to decide upon and should result in a much healthier bank roll for the beginner in low limit holdem.
For the full article and disclaimers by Edward Hutchison, click the following link:
If you are looking to gain an advantage over other players in World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem, you came to the right place. This list contains very useful tips, tricks and cheats that will help you during your gameplay in World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem.
Always have enough chips on hand.
The currency in all poker games is in the form of chips with a face value on them. In World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem, you start your game with $15,000 in chips; however, you can get an extra $15,000 worth of chips by logging in with your Facebook account. This means that you will have a total of $30,000 in chips, all for free. Just like any other poker game, you are able to earn more chips by strategically playing poker and winning.
If you are not familiar with the basic rules of poker, you should definitely read about it on the internet. There are a lot of websites that offer complete guides for free, teaching you the basics of poker, when to bet, raise and fold. By understanding the basic rules of poker, you will also be well on your way in earning a lot of money in World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem. You should always have enough chips on hand, before you join a lobby.
Whenever you feel like you have a strong hand, you could always raise, in order to let your opponents know that you mean business. However, just as I stated above, you should always have enough chips on hand, because there could be a re-raise. In case this happens, it means that you either have to raise your bet as well, or fold and lose all of your chips.
Poker Texas Hold'em Zynga
This also means that you should never call, unless you think you are able to raise with the current amount of chips that you are holding. Only play the hand, whenever you think you have the best one. As a general rule in poker, you always want to make others pay to draw out on you, instead of you paying to draw out on them before.
Choose the correct difficulty level.
By playing World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem, you earn experience points, which leads to you leveling up. By leveling up, you are able to join tables with higher stakes, which also means that you can either win big or lose hard. It is important that you should never choose a too difficult table with very high stakes, just because you have won several hands before.
You should first play on easier tables and win a lot of chips by doing so. When you feel comfortable enough and have enough chips to lose, you should consider joining a table with some higher stakes. Playing poker online is not the same as in the casino, which is why you should never play the game when you are emotional. This could lead to you not being able to think correctly, and you will most likely make a lot of bad moves and lose a lot of chips.
Folding doesn’t make you a loser.
Many people seem to feel embarrassed whenever they fold, due to the fact that there is a social pressure on poker players. However, you should never feel forced to continue playing, especially if you have been dealt a bad hand. You will most likely not be able to improve it, and you do not need to try to be a hero by betting anyways.
Even if you were dealt a very good hand, and it seemed like you were going to win the pot, but at the end, your opponents could still beat you if they have been dealt an even better hand. You should not feel sorry for yourself and just know when to fold, even if it means that you are going to lose a lot of your chips, which are in the pot.
Don’t go overboard with your bluffs.
Because of the fact that playing online poker is a different experience compared to real poker in a casino, you will most likely see a lot of players that always seem to go all-in. This is why it is important to always observe your opponents when you are playing World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem, and never lose your cool while playing the game.
If you do not go overboard with your bluffs, you will be able to make it more difficult for your opponents to read you, and know when you are actually bluffing. Because of the fact that you cannot see each other’s faces, every move that a player makes is very important. You should only bluff occasionally and never go overboard with them.
Low on chips? Ask your friends!
You should not be afraid to connect your Facebook account with World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem, because it also allows you to play with your friends. Whenever you are low on chips, you can always request more from your friends. They are able to send you small amounts of gifts, in the form of chips.
If you do not own a Facebook account, you could always make a fake one and use it to cheat in World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem. You can make multiple fake Facebook accounts and add them as your friends, which allows you to send at least $30,000 in chips to your main account. However, by using this cheat, your account is in danger of getting banned.
Texas Holdem Poker Practice
Don’t forget to spin the Mega Bonus Wheel.
The developers of World Series of Poker – Texas Holdem have implemented a spinning wheel into the game, which you can spin for free the first time. By spinning the Mega Bonus Wheel, you are able to earn up to $480,000 worth of chips, if you are lucky enough. After you have taken advantage of the Mega Bonus Wheel for the first time, you will have to pay to use it again. The higher your bonus level is, the more chips you can earn.
Poker Texas Holdem Strategy