How To Play High Stakes Poker

If you’ve flipped on the TV anytime in the last decade, from ESPN to the Travel Channel and all points between, chances are you’ve seen tables of twenty-somethings tangling over thousand dollar pots playing the game of Texas Hold’em. While the pros plying their trade on the small screen can make the game seem pretty complicated, agonizing over intense decisions and computing complex calculations under their breath, in reality Texas Hold’em is among the easiest forms of poker for beginners to learn. If the mere mention of flops and flushes leaves you befuddled, and you don’t know the big blind from the button, this handy guide to playing the game of Texas Hold’em poker will have you check-raising and calling down in no time.

The first step in learning any new game should always be acquainting yourself with the vernacular used by experienced players. Take note of the terms found in the following glossary of Texas Hold’em poker terms, because every hand you eventually play will include these key colloquialisms.

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Now that you know the language of Texas Hold’em, following the actual action of the game should be a cinch. As the man once said, Texas Hold’em only takes a minute to learn, but a lifetime to master, and truer words have never been spoken. In that spirit, let’s spend the next minute or so walking through a hand of Hold’em together, learning how the game is played before we spend our lives trying to master it.

1. HIGH STAKES POKER: Season 4 promises to be the richest cash game on TV. Get set because the last seven episodes of this new season will showcase $5 million+ on the table. Once again the world's top players and personalities face-off against newcomers putting-up at least $100,000 of their own cash in a private, no-limit game of Texas Hold'em.
2. Find all the best poker apps and mobile poker sites to play for real money and for free. Download the free apps for Android and iPhone and play poker! High Stakes Poker S8 E10: Ivey Gives Up.
3. These are the most successful high stakes poker players at the rooms Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars. The high stakes results reach back to 2007 and based on cash game play at stakes $25/50NL.
4. It’s important to be prepared both mentally and physically for a long grind any time you start a tournament, but especially so in a high roller that will require a long time to play, and usually multiple days, particularly live. No matter the format, try to be well rested and at least get a good night’s sleep the night before playing.

Whether sitting at a casino or at home playing your favorite online poker room, the landscape of a Texas Hold’em game remains the same: Up to 10 players sitting around a table exchanging chips on a rotating basis. When you take your seat you will purchase a stack of chips in conjuncture with the table stakes you are playing, with a pair of hole cards coming your way almost immediately after. Each player then squeezes their hole cards and takes a peek, committing the hand to memory before capping the cards with a protector. For this example, let’s say you look down to find the K♠ Q♠. Leaving the strategy of hand values for another discussion, sufficed to say this hand is one you would like to play. In this case, you next decision will be to simply call the big blind bet, which acts as the minimum bet throughout the hand, or to raise the stakes. In a typical $1-$2 No-Limit Texas Hold’em game, you should probably toss in at least $8 smackers to push other player’s off their hands while still getting one or two suckers to bite.

After you have placed your bet, the action proceeds in a clockwise motion around the table, with each player either folding, calling, or raising the last bet. When the action reaches the player on the big blind, and they make their choice, the preflop phase of the hand is finished and the dealer will burn a card before revealing the flop. If a raise has been made, however, and nobody elects to make the call, the raiser earns the pot right then and there and everyone moves on to the next hand.

The flop breathes a bit of life into every hand of Texas Hold’em, as every player still holding cards now has a wealth of possibilities at their disposal. For our running example, let’s imagine the flop falls with the K♥, the 10♠, and the 3♠. By matching the King-Queen you have as hole cards with the three cards on the flop, you form a pair of Kings with a strong Queen kicker. Upon further study you also notice that the two spades on board combined with your spades in the hole give you four cards to a possible flush. With a fairly strong hand already made, and the possibility of drawing to an even better flush, you will likely continue with this type of hand, but the decision to check, call, raise, or even check-raise, and the ramifications of each choice, give the game its trademark complexity.

After betting on the flop is completed, the action will repeat itself, but this time only one card (the turn) will be dealt. Again, this additional piece of information will compel each player’s next action, as they will either decide to bet their hand, release it to the muck, or forge onward with a bluff. For the sake of our fictional hand, if another spade falls on the turn you have made a king-high flush and are nearly sure to have the winner. On the other hand, if a blank comes off and you are left with your original pair of Kings, it may be time to consider a retreat in the face of strong resistance. The strategic betting to take place on fourth street is considered pivotal to many Texas Hold’em aficionados, because with just one card to come, most marginal hands can be bullied by big bluffs. Needless to say, the turn is a point where many players get burned by advanced maneuvers and sophisticated moves.

The final card used to complete your hand is the river, and as the name implies, this is where you will sink or swim. Obstinate opponents who held onto bottom pair can improve miraculously on the river, and the majority of grumbling about suckouts occurs on this card. When betting on the river has come to a close, the players remaining in the hand head to the showdown and turn their cards over to see who’s best. For imagination’s sake, let’s say the final board reads K♥–10♠–3♠–J♦–A♥ with two spades in our example hand. In this instance, you have missed your flopped flush draw, but with Broadway cards on the turn and river your Queen has materialized into an unbeatable nut straight. Going all-in would certainly be advisable in this spot, as nothing your opponent may hold can beat your cards.While the flop and the turn are certainly crucial streets in Texas Hold’em, draws are missed or made, and destiny is delivered on fifth street.

When the decisive showdown arrives, there are often minor disputes over who has to show their cards, and whom they must show to. Simply put, the player whose river bet has been called must turn their hand over, regardless of whether or not they are the winner. When a player’s final wager is called, their hand is effectively called out and they must reveal their hole cards to the table. However, when the action is checked down on the river, the first hand turned over typically determines if subsequent hands will be shown. If a player shows down the nuts, their opponents will usually opt to muck their cards, rather than surrender valuable information to an observant enemy. Lastly, during the showdown you should always turn over both of your hole cards, even when only one is being used to form your final hand. The edict of “show one, show all” is supreme in the realm of Texas Hold’em showdowns, so respect tradition and show them if you’ve got them.

Table Of Contents

'High Stakes Poker' was back last night on PokerGO, but in a departure from the past few episodes, it featured a mostly new crew of players.

Gone were the likes of Tom Dwan and Jason Koon, who were at the center of much of the prior action, and in their places were Phil Ivey and Doug Polk, making a rare appearance outside his favored online battleground. A few holdovers like Phil Hellmuth and Jake Daniels were back, though.

Action started off at $200/$400 and pretty much without a straddle the entire time.

Here's how stacks looked early on:

Hellmuth Bluffed Off of Kings

Hellmuth opened the action with a limp from early position holding . He opted not to spring the trap preflop, though, just calling when James Bord popped it to $2,000 a couple of seats over in the cutoff with .

Pogo High Stakes Poker

Everyone else folded, and the flop came . Bord continued with a decent-sized bet of $3,000 and Hellmuth stuck around for the turn. Hellmuth checked again and Bord barreled big with $15,000, more than the $11K pot.

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'I'm just gonna bluff it off now,' he declared.

'This kinda doesn't feel fair,' Hellmuth griped. 'Man. I almost stuck the whole hundred [thousand] in before the flop.'

'I wish you did.'

'I don't have anything at all,' Hellmuth said, flashing the kings and mucking.

'Good fold,' Bord said, casually tossing in his rags, much to the delight of the rest of the players.

'Good play Bordy,' Hellmuth allowed.

Bluffing into a Straight Flush

Hellmuth limped in late position with , Brandon Steven made it $2,100 in the small blind with , and Bord called with in the big.

Hellmuth let them go heads up to . Steven bet $3,000 and Bord called. Steven nailed the on the turn and bet again with $5,000. Bord responded with a sizable raise to $17,000. Steven stuck around with a slowplay but Bord didn't put any more money in on the river, so Steven cursed and showed his nutted hand with a smile to win the $45K pot.

'Didn't have another barrel in ya, huh?' he asked.

'I had value,' Bord replied.

Old-Fashioned Three-Barrel from Dwan

Steven opened to $1,100 early with and faced a three-bet to $4,000 from Dwan, who had recently sat with what looked like $100K, on the button with .

He peeled and they went to a flop of . Dwan flicked in a $5,000 chip and they continued to the . Steven check-called another barrel of $14,000, and the river bricked off with the . Dwan had $62K left, a bit over the pot, but he opted for a smaller bet of $30,000.

Steven snapped it off and Dwan could only shake his head and show his bricked combo draw, with Steven winning a pot worth $107,000, the biggest of the session thus far.

Aces Cracked?

John Andress took Phil Ivey's seat and hadn't been down long before he looked at the dream: on the button. Bord already had opened to $1,100 with , so Andress made it $3,500.

They went heads up to . Andress bet small with $2,500 and Bord check-raised to $10,000. Andress peeled and the turn was a . Bord fired a pot-sized bet of $30,000 and Andress continued to the river, which brought the .

Andress had only about $57K left with almost $90K in the pot, and he snap-called it off when Bord shoved. Bord knew immediately something had gone wrong.

'A cooler then?' he asked as he tossed his sevens in. 'Yeah.'

Ship the $203,200 pot to Andress for the dreamiest start possible.

Massive Cooler

Hellmuth opened in the hijack to $1,100 with the , Bord called on the button with , and Polk tagged along out of the big blind with .

The flop arrived to give Polk and Hellmuth straights. But it was Bord putting in money with $2,000 after they checked to him. Polk made it $7,000 and Hellmuth moved all in, splashing a pile of $5,000 chips casually in there.

'How much is that?' Polk said with a smile. 'I'm almost certainly calling but let's just see how much it is first.

'This is insane. It's just such a monster raise. Phil, whaddya got over there?'

It was $97,200 and Polk winced as he continued thinking.

'Phil, I'm considering making a very big laydown here,' Polk said. 'Very, very big laydown.'

'I mean, I could easily have...' Hellmuth trailed off.

'What could you easily have?' Polk asked skeptically. 'You just bet a lot into very, very little.'

'I could have a set.'

'Could you have a set? I don't think you could have a set here. Come on Phil, you're better than that.'

'I could have the blockers, the tens.'

'God, now you're busting out blockers. If I fold this and I'm wrong, oh my f****** lord.'

'I mean I think I'm either dead — and I think I'm dead a lot, given this — or like, you just have a ton of equity against me. This is gonna look so dumb if this is...this is completely absurd. He has to get through him then he has to get through me. Nah, this is just a fold.'

He tossed his hand in, much to the shock of some of the other players. Steven in particular wondered how he could let it go.

'If he's got queen-ten, he's got queen-ten. Pay the man and let's go on to the next hand.'

Commentator Gabe Kaplan called it the greatest laydown in the history of the show.

Relive the hand here:

Stacks to End the Episode

Remember, High Stakes Poker will air every Wednesday but is only available to PokerGO subscribers. If you’re not currently subscribed, you can get a monthly subscription for $14.99, a three-month plan for $29.99, and an annual subscription for $99.99.

_{*Images courtesy of PokerGO.}

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  Doug PolkGabe KaplanHigh Stakes PokerPhil HellmuthPokerGOCash Poker

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  Phil HellmuthGabe KaplanDoug Polk