Texas Holdem Strategy - Longhand Limit

This is the basic strategy to win at Texas Holdem limit longhand. There really aren't that many tricky situations you will encounter. Just remember, the larger the number of people, the higher the likelihood that someone has the boss hand that is out there on the board, so be careful of that.

Starting Hands/Preflop

This is where most beginners make mistakes. Beginners fail to recognize that longhand Limit Hold'em is a game of patience. You need to wait to be dealt with quality hands, and then just win with those.

The only reason I do this is because beginners tend to play suited cards too much. Being suited is nice, but it's just a bonus, it doesn't change the actual value of the cards that much. These hands categories (based on the ones poker expert David Sklansky made), might help you avoid mistakes.

Category I
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK
These are the best hands.. You should raise or re raise with them preflop. If you hold AA, you especially want to jam as much money into the pot as possible.

You should almost always play these hands. The only exception if if you hold AK or say JJ and you are positive that someone has KK or AA by the way they are raising (in other words, the person is a very tight player but is acting like a maniac preflop).

These hands in general should be raised from any position and you want to get a lot of money in preflop. However, remember, for AK you need to hit an ace or a king. So do not get in a raising war with one person because that person likely has a pocket pair already.

Category II
TT, 99, AQ, QK
These are good hands, but they aren't amazing. You generally need help from the board. Almost always in low limit, you will need to hit a set with TT or 99 to win.

You should generally play these hands. These hands do best with less people, so you should raise to knock people out. Do not jam the pot though (i.e. reraise) because these hands have little value before you see the board.

Do not call 3 bets cold with these hands. The reason you do not call 3 bets cold is because you clearly do not have an advantage going into the flop.

Category III
88, AJ, AT, KJ, JQ, 10J, TQ
These are good hands. However, be careful playing AJ, AT, KJ as these hands are vulnerable to losing to a higher kicker (i.e. if an ace is on the board, but someone else has AK, you would lose because he has a higher 'kicker').

Treat these hands with caution. They are easily beat by category I or II hands, so these hands are best played with fewer people in the pot who do not hold category I or II hands.

Category IV
Ax suited (x means any small card), Kx suited (x should be 7 or higher preferably) 77, 66, 109, 98, 87, 76 (only play the connecting cards if they are suited and you can play hands with a one card gap- like T8 as well). These hands are OK, but generally don't win. They need a lot of help from the board.

Category V
Small pocket pairs (i.e. 55, 44, 33, 22)

These last two categories are very different. You want a large, multiway pot. The reason being is that 95% of the time, these hands are trash. However, 5% of the time, these hands are amazing (i.e. if you hit a straight, flush, or trips).

Therefore, you want to be paid of big when you actually hit something with these hands, which is why you want a lot of people in the pot. Example: you hold 67, the board is A58, you call a bet on flop, 9 comes on turn and then you jam the pot.

Thus, you want to commit as few chips preflop with these hands as possible while hoping that many people go into the flop. THus, if you are the dealer, and one guy is in with a raise, fold. However, if you are the big blind, and 5 people have called a raise, go ahead and call and see the flop.

Flop Play
Once you hit the flop, you will be in one of five situations:

1. You will be winning but have a beatable hand. You will have top pair, top kicker for example or an overpair (i.e QQ and the board is JT5). You want to jam the pot and knock people out. Thus, you want someone to bet to you and then to raise if you are in early position. If you are in late position and no one has bet, you must bet to knock people out.

2. You will have a boss hand. More than likely, you will have three of a kind or maybe even a full house on the flop. There is no reason to knock people out because you will probably win (unless you have trips and there's a flush draw out there, then you need to make them pay). In these situations, it's generally best to wait til the turn to really jam the pot, but jam the pot on the flop if you think a scary draw is out there that will beat you.

3. You will have the second best hand. If you follow my preflop strategy, this is unlikely, but it could happen. An example is if you have AQ and KQ4 is on the board. In this case, treat the hand as a drawing hand or simply fold, unless you really believe that you may have the best hand at the moment (this is unlikely in a larger, multiway pot because someone is bound to have the K).

4. You will have a drawing hand. An example is if you have two spades in the whole and there are two on the board. For these hands, you must use outs/pot odds. There is a detailed explanation of this in the shorthand section under 'flop tips.'

5. You will have nothing. An example would be if you have 66 and flop is AK7. You clearly are beat, just fold at the first bet.


This is where most beginners make mistakes. Beginners fail to recognize that longhand Limit Hold'em is a game of patience. You need to wait to be dealt with quality hands, and then just win with those.

The only reason I do this is because beginners tend to play suited cards too much. Being suited is nice, but it's just a bonus, it doesn't change the actual value of the cards that much. These hands categories (based on the ones poker expert David Sklansky made), might help you avoid mistakes.

Category I
AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK
These are the best hands.. You should raise or re raise with them preflop. If you hold AA, you especially want to jam as much money into the pot as possible.

You should almost always play these hands. The only exception if if you hold AK or say JJ and you are positive that someone has KK or AA by the way they are raising (in other words, the person is a very tight player but is acting like a maniac preflop).

These hands in general should be raised from any position and you want to get a lot of money in preflop. However, remember, for AK you need to hit an ace or a king. So do not get in a raising war with one person because that person likely has a pocket pair already.

Category II
TT, 99, AQ, QK
These are good hands, but they aren't amazing. You generally need help from the board. Almost always in low limit, you will need to hit a set with TT or 99 to win.

You should generally play these hands. These hands do best with less people, so you should raise to knock people out. Do not jam the pot though (i.e. reraise) because these hands have little value before you see the board.

Do not call 3 bets cold with these hands. The reason you do not call 3 bets cold is because you clearly do not have an advantage going into the flop.

Category III
88, AJ, AT, KJ, JQ, TJ, TQ
These are good hands. However, be careful playing AJ, AT, KJ as these hands are vulnerable to losing to a higher kicker (i.e. if an ace is on the board, but someone else has AK, you would lose because he has a higher 'kicker').

Treat these hands with caution. They are easily beat by category I or II hands, so these hands are best played with fewer people in the pot who do not hold category I or II hands.

Category IV
Ax suited (x means any small card), Kx suited (x should be 7 or higher preferably) 77, 66, 109, 98, 87, 76 (only play the connecting cards if they are suited and you can play hands with a one card gap- like T8 as well). These hands are OK, but generally don't win. They need a lot of help from the board.

Category V
Small pocket pairs (i.e. 55, 44, 33, 22)

These last two categories are very different. You want a large, multiway pot. The reason being is that 95% of the time, these hands are trash. However, 5% of the time, these hands are amazing (i.e. if you hit a straight, flush, or trips).

Therefore, you want to be paid of big when you actually hit something with these hands, which is why you want a lot of people in the pot. Example: you hold 67, the board is A58, you call a bet on flop, 9 comes on turn and then you jam the pot.

Thus, you want to commit as few chips preflop with these hands as possible while hoping that many people go into the flop. THus, if you are the dealer, and one guy is in with a raise, fold. However, if you are the big blind, and 5 people have called a raise, go ahead and call and see the flop.

Flop Play
Once you hit the flop, you will be in one of five situations:

1. You will be winning but have a beatable hand. You will have top pair, top kicker for example or an overpair (i.e QQ and the board is JT5). You want to jam the pot and knock people out. Thus, you want someone to bet to you and then to raise if you are in early position. If you are in late position and no one has bet, you must bet to knock people out.

2. You will have a boss hand. More than likely, you will have three of a kind or maybe even a full house on the flop. There is no reason to knock people out because you will probably win (unless you have trips and there's a flush draw out there, then you need to make them pay). In these situations, it's generally best to wait til the turn to really jam the pot, but jam the pot on the flop if you think a scary draw is out there that will beat you.

3. You will have the second best hand. If you follow my preflop strategy, this is unlikely, but it could happen. An example is if you have AQ and KQ4 is on the board. In this case, treat the hand as a drawing hand or simply fold, unless you really believe that you may have the best hand at the moment (this is unlikely in a larger, multiway pot because someone is bound to have the K).

4. You will have a drawing hand. An example is if you have two spades in the whole and there are two on the board. For these hands, you must use outs/pot odds. There is a detailed explanation of this in the shorthand section under 'flop tips.'

5. You will have nothing. An example would be if you have 66 and flop is AK7. You clearly are beat, just fold at the first bet.