If I were teaching a new player to play no-limit hold’em, and my goal were to get this player up to a professional level of play, how would I do it? What would my lessons look like?

1. No Limit Texas Hold'em Strategy
2. No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategy

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Let’s say I had only three months to do it. With most people, I will admit, it would be a tall order. The learning curve is steep these days, and I don’t think everyone could make it from zero to pro in that short a time.

I’d have to make compromises. I couldn’t try to cover every possible situation. I’d have to find the important bits and skip the rest.

Let's now take a closer look at Texas Holdem strategy and the pattern that is essential for beginners to learn. The chart shows how many hands you are supposed to play depending on which position you sit in at the table. Example: You are sitting as player 6 to the left of the dealer button and you have a king of spades and a 7 of spades.

I’d also have to tailor the lessons a bit to a specific type of game. The most important skills in some game types are not as important in others. With this in mind, here are what I think my top five lessons would be for a new player trying to beat the $2-$5 no-limit hold’em games in Las Vegas.

No Limit Texas Hold'em Strategy

Lesson No. 1. Don’t limp into pots ever. And don’t call preflop three-bets unless you are trapping with an ultra-premium hand.

Limping into pots, calling the preflop raise, and then check/folding the flop when you miss is an enormous leak. It’s also one that nearly every player who hasn’t been specifically coached out of it exhibits.

In my opinion, most players would see an immediate improvement in their winrates if they simply refused to limp in with any hand, especially if they chose to instead fold most of these hands.

For most players, refusing ever to limp means playing much tighter, particularly from out of position. Until you’re already an established pro player, tighter is better.

Lesson No. 2. Don’t pay off big turn and river bets.

This lesson might be different in some types of games, but in the Las Vegas $2-$5 games, it’s easily a candidate for the single most important piece of advice. Do not pay anyone off. When someone makes a big turn or river bet or raise, your one pair hand (or whatever other hand you’re thinking about calling with) is a bluff-catcher. That means, in the great majority of cases, your opponent won’t be trying to make a value bet with a worse hand. Either you’re beat or your opponent is bluffing. And players in these $2-$5 games do not bluff often enough to make calling worthwhile.

So you don’t pay off. I know it can be frustrating to feel like you’re getting muscled out of a huge pot, but the fact is, most players in these games do very little muscling. They try to make hands, and then they bet the hands they make. A big bet usually means a big hand. You don’t need to call to find out for certain.

Lesson No. 3. Your opponents will limp into pots, call raises, and check/fold flops. Take advantage of this weakness by raising lots of hands with position, betting the flop, and often also betting the turn.

It’s a simple play, but it’s one that generates a very consistent profit in these games. Players play too loosely preflop, are too willing to call preflop raises after limping in, and are too willing to check/fold the flop or turn if they miss. With many players, you can ignore your cards and raise the limps, bet nearly all flops, and bet most turn cards as well.

Say two typical players limp in a $2-$5 game. You raise to $25 on the button. Both limpers call.

The flop comes 10 8 2. They check, and you bet $50. One player calls.

The turn is the 5. Your opponent checks, you bet $120, and he folds.

In this scenario, and in many like it, it doesn’t matter what you have. Your opponents are beating themselves by playing call/call/fold so often. All you have to do is put the bets out there and let your opponents run repeatedly into the brick wall.

Yes, there is some nuance to this, and some boards are better bets than others. But against many opponents at the $2-$5 level, most flops, turns, and even rivers are good bets. Keep betting until your opponents prove to you that they won’t beat themselves by folding too much.

Lesson No. 4. With value hands, don’t try to blow opponents out of pots. Instead, play most value hands with the goal of keeping a player in through the river.

Value hands — hands like top pair, two pair, or any other hand you think is a favorite to be best — lose their value when all your opponents fold. If you win without a showdown, you might as well have been holding 7-2. (See Lesson No. 3.) With your value hands, you generally want opponents to get to the river.

Most players like to see showdowns if they feel like they can see them without losing too much money. No one likes to fold and think, “What if I was good?” If your opponents get to the river, often it’s an easy sell to get them to call a final value bet (as long as you don’t make it too big).

Calling these value bets is one of the biggest mistakes that $2-$5 players make. (See Lesson No. 2.) Allow your opponents to make this mistake.

Most players try to end hands early when they feel like they have the best hand. “Don’t want to get drawn out on,” they think. But this is backward thinking. End hands early with strong bets when you have nothing but a weak draw. Allow hands to reach showdown when you actually have something to show down! (Makes sense when I put it that way, doesn’t it?)

If I have top pair, I’d much rather get called for $30, $50, and $80 on flop, turn, and river than get called for $30 and then blow my opponent out of the hand with a $100 bet on the turn. The chance to win $160 with the hand instead of $30 outweighs the risk that I’ll get outdrawn.

Lesson No. 5. Think every hand about what strategies your opponents are using and how they’re thinking, and (almost) ignore the two cards in your hand.

I’ll put it bluntly. Most $2-$5 players beat themselves. They tend to play strategies that are extremely transparent, overly simplistic, and inflexible. You can beat some of these players simply by betting every time it’s your action (See Lesson No. 3.) You can beat other of these players simply by waiting for hands that beat top pair/no kicker and then making value bets. (See Lesson No. 4.)

Your job as a poker player is to identify the strategy each opponent is using and deploy a counter strategy. In many cases, the two cards in your hand become irrelevant. My experience is that the players that are always thinking about their hands never figure it out. It’s the players who are thinking on the next level that do. ♠

Ed’s newest book, Playing The Player: Moving Beyond ABC Poker To Dominate Your Opponents, is on sale at notedpokerauthority.com. Find Ed on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.

No Limit Texas Hold'em is the most popular poker game in the world, and it is played in both tournament and cash game form. This page links to strategy articles for No Limit Hold'em cash game players, although many of the principles can apply to No Limit Hold'em tournament strategy as well.

In case you don't know, cash games are the opposite of tournaments: instead of playing with tournament chips, players actually buy in with cash-value chips, and can enter and exit tables whenever they like. The goal at a ring table is to win chips consistently, as opposed to the goal in a tournament where players try to accumulate every single chip. The following No Limit Hold'em strategy articles will get you on top of your game:

General No Limit Hold'em Strategy:

Here are some articles that will teach you the basics of No Limit Hold'em:

• No Limit Hold'em Tips - Read this article to get a quick overview of our best NL Hold'em tips.
• How to Spot Bluffs - Learn some quick tips on spotting opponents' bluffs.
• Buy-In Strategy - Find out if you're better off short-buying or deep stacking at NL Hold'em tables.
• Continuation Betting - The continuation bet may be the most important move in poker.
• Value Betting - Learn all about value betting, which is a great profit move to earn extra money.
• Double Barreling - Learn when you should double barrel on the turn, and when to give it up.

Playing Specific Hold'em Situations:

Also learn how to play specific No Limit Hold'em situations:

• Playing Big Pairs Preflop - Learn how to play Aces, Kings, and Queens in preflop situations.
• Playing Big Pairs on the Flop - Learn how to play Aces, Kings, and Queens on different flops.
• Playing Middle Pairs Preflop - Learn how to play 77-JJ in different preflop situations.
• Playing Middle Pair on the Flop - Playing a mediocre hand on the flop is tough - learn how here.
• Playing Small Pairs Preflop - Learn how to play 22-66 in different preflop situations.
• Playing Small Pairs on the Flop - Most people think small pairs are for making a set or folding.
• Playing Draws - Learn the best methods for playing flush, straight, and other combo draws.
• Making Sets on the Flop - Once you finally make a set on the flop, extract the most money.
• Playing Suited Connectors - Hands like 56s can be tough to play, but also win the largest pots.

No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategy

Playing Specific Hold'em Opponents:

Now learn how to play against specific No Limit Hold'em opponents:

• Facing a Preflop Raiser - Calling a preflop raise puts you in a tough spot - learn how to deal.
• Playing Against a Maniac - We've all encountered maniacs at the tables. Now you can beat them.

No Limit Hold'em Rules

If you have never played Texas Hold'em before, make sure to read our article 'The Rules of Texas Hold'em' before you dive into the strategy articles. That page will teach you how to play the game, and will help new players understand the rules and structure of Texas Hold'em. After you learn the rules, then you can read the No Limit Hold'em strategy articles above to get some great tips for winning at the tables.

Playing Tight/Aggressive

The best and quickest way to improve your No Limit Hold'em strategy is by adopting a tight and aggressive approach at the tables. What this means is that you wait for solid hands, and then play then aggressively. This allows you to win the most money, because when the money goes in you will have a solid hand, and you also won't be pushed around by other aggressive players because they will respect your aggression.

Play Within Your Limits

Another simple way to avoid going broke is to always remember your bankroll, and make sure to stay within its limits. For No Limit Hold'em ring games, you should keep at least 50 buy-ins for the stakes you play in your account at all times. If you are a $0.50/$1 player, you should have $5,000 in your account to avoid going broke. This may seem excessive for casual online players, but players serious about maintaining a bankroll follow that advice.

More Poker Strategy Guides: