Texas Holdem advanced strategy

Folding

Learning the discipline of when to fold cards will save you a lot of money over the course of your poker career. A good player will fold far more hands than he plays.

A player should typically fold their cards if the flop does not pair his high card(s), make three of kind, or flop two cards to a straight or flush.

A player should usually fold if the betting actions of another player(s) convince him that he is beaten, or if he does not complete his straight or flush draws after the last community card is dealt.

Checking

Checking is a play that has advantages and disadvantages. Often you might consider raising or folding rather than checking.

A player should typically check if the community cards have not helped him.

Drawing hands are often checked in the hopes of seeing the next card for free.

If a player is unsure of whether he has the best hand at the showdown, then checking is often the best course of action.

Calling

Calling is very similar to checking in that it has advantages and disadvantages. Often you should consider raising or folding rather than calling. Here's why:

A player typically shouldn’t call if the community cards have not helped him.

Drawing hands are often worth calling a bet in the hopes of making a straight or a flush. Drawing hands usually require a slightly bigger pot or lots of players in the hand, as the odds of completing your draw are roughly about 4-1 against.

If a player is unsure of whether he has the best hand at the showdown, then just calling a bet is often the best course of action.

BETTING / RAISING / RE-RAISING / CHECKRAISING

Betting, raising, and re-raising are instrumental weapons in a poker player's arsenal.

A player should bet, raise, or re-raise whenever he believes that he has the best hand. This is done to increase the amount of the bets in the pot and to protect the hand against drawing hands.

Players in late position may also bet or raise with strong drawing hands to either win the pot right away, or to enable them to receive a "free" card on the next betting round when all the players who act before them check.

If a player flops or later makes a very strong hand, then checkraising becomes a powerful play to get extra bets into the pot. Players must be very confident that someone else will bet after they check for checkraising to be a viable option.

Betting, raising, re-raising, and checkraising are powerful tools when trying to deceive or bluff opponents, but only when they are used sparingly.

Bluffing

Bluffing can often win pots, and it allows you to create deception and uncertainty in the minds of your opponents.

Bluffing works better against a smaller number of opponents, and often will not succeed against a larger number of opponents.

Do not bluff players who tend to call too much. Bluffs tend to succeed better against players who are more willing to make a fold.

Be careful of bluffing too much, as opponents will soon catch on and will not be fooled.