The Mini FTOPS tournament series is starting soon on Full Tilt Poker. There is over $6 million in guaranteed prizepools. There are 27 events in total with buy-ins often as little as about $22.

If you fancy trying to win one of these coveted events and a bit of money too then signup to play on Full Tilt and get a bonus up to $600. The majority of events are Texas Holdem so if you are a holdem fan this is a good one for you.

Event #1
Wednesday March 10th 21:00 ET
$20 + $2
NL Holdem
$350,000 Guaranteed

Event #2
Thursday March 11th 13:00 ET
$24 + $2
PL Omaha Hi/Lo Knockout
$75,000 Guaranteed

Event #3
Thursday March 11th 21:00 ET
$50 + $5
NL Holdem 3xShootout
$35,000 Guaranteed

Event #4
Friday March 12th 13:00 ET
$20 + $2
NL Holdem
1 rebuy and 1 add-on
$300,000 Guaranteed

Event #5
Friday March 12th 21:00 ET
$20 + $2
Limit Holdem 6max
$75,000 Guaranteed

Event #6
Saturday March 13th 13:00 ET
$50 + $5
PLO 6max
$150,000 Guaranteed

Event #7
Saturday March 13th 15:00 ET
$10 + $1
NL Hold ‘em Rebuy
$350,000 Guaranteed

Event #8
Sunday March 14th 13:00 ET
$12 + $1
NL Holdem Knockout
$250,000 Guaranteed

Event #9
Sunday March 14th 15:00 ET
$50 + $5
NL Holdem Heads Up
$200,000 Guaranteed

Event #10
Sunday March 14th 17:00 ET
$30 + $3
NL Holdem
$600,000 Guaranteed

Event #11
Monday March 15th 13:00 ET
$20 + $2
Omaha H/L
$60,000 Guaranteed

Event #12
Monday March 15th 21:00 ET
$100 + $9
NL Holdem
$400,000 Guaranteed

Event #13
Tuesday March 16th 13:00 ET
$30 + $3
NL Holdem 4xShootout 6max
$150,000 Guaranteed

Event #14
Tuesday March 16th 21:00 ET
$50 + $5
HORSE (Mix of Holdem, Omaha, Razz, Stud, and Stud Hi-Lo)
$100,000 Guaranteed

Event #15
Tuesday March 16th 21:00 ET
$20 + $2
NL Holdem turbo
$200,000 Guaranteed

Event #16
Wednesday March 17th 13:00 ET
$20 + $2
7-Game (Mixed of 7 different games)
$50,000 Guaranteed

Event #17
Wednesday March 17th 21:00 ET
$30 + $3
NL Holdem 6max rebuy
$350,000 Guaranteed

Event #18
Thursday March 18th 13:00 ET
$20 + $2
NL Holdem Cashout (you can cash out some of your chips mid-tournament)
$60,000 Guaranteed

Event #19
Thursday March 18th 21:00 ET
$20 + $2
Stud
$40,000 Guaranteed

Event #20
Friday March 19th 13:00 ET
$20 + $2
NL Hold ‘em 6max
$200,000 Guaranteed

Event #21
Friday March 19th 21:00 ET
$30 + $3 Razz
$50,000 Guaranteed

Event #22
Saturday March 20th 13:00 ET
$250 + $16
NL Holdem, Ante From Start, 2 Day Event, 6max
$600,000 Guaranteed

Event #23
Saturday March 20th 15:00 ET
$10 + $1
PLO Rebuy
$150,000 Guaranteed

Event #24
Saturday March 20th 21:00 ET
$50 + $3
NL Holdem Super Turbo 6max (blind speed is super quick ie it’s a crapshoot)
$75,000 Guaranteed

Event #25
Sunday March 21st 13:00 ET
$24 + $2
NL Holdem Knockout 6max
$300,000 Guaranteed

Event #26
Sunday March 21st 15:00 ET
$20 + $2
PLO Heads Up
$40,000 Guaranteed

Main Event
Sunday March 21st 17:00 ET
$50 + $5
NL Holdem
$800,000 Guaranteed

Basic Texas Holdem Strategy

What are the aspects of basic strategy that you need to be successful in online poker rooms?  While knowing the basics won’t guarantee victory, it will give you a good foundation that you need if you are to become a strong player over the long term.

Hand Selection in Texas Hold’em

The first thing you need to learn about Texas hold’em is that
you need to have stringent starting requirements. In early position,
you should only be playing very strong hands like aces through jacks,
AK, AQ and KQ. In middle position, you can play more pairs and other
big cards, and in late position you can consider very small pairs and
cards that are suited and connecting, like 4s5s. Remember that if you
start out with the best hand, you are more likely to end up with the
best hand, so if you only play hands where you are likely to have the
best hand starting out, your chances of long term success should
increase.

Position in Texas Hold’em

Why does it matter what position you are in when deciding whether or
not to play? Consider that if you are in early position, meaning one of
the first to act, and decide to play a hand like 55, you are really
hoping to see the flop cheaply to find out if there is a 5 in it. But
if you flat call, there may be six or seven people after you who like
their hand enough to raise. Now you will probably have to throw your
hand away and that money was wasted. On the other hand, If you decide to play a hand like 6c7c on the button, the flop comes ace high and everyone checks to you, you might be able to win the pot with a bet, since no one has shown strength, even though you have nothing.

Predictability in Texas Hold’em

It’s important, especially in no limit games, to vary the way
you act in certain situations. If you always act weak, check-calling
reluctantly, when you have a big hand, and always bet out forcefully
when you miss the flop, opponents will catch on quickly. It’s crucial to keep opponents guessing with your patterns of betting and behavior.

Increasing your chances in the game of holdem.

There are a couple of very important concepts which apply specifically to Texas Holdem.   The first relates to pre-flop vs post-flop.

Texas Holdem is a community card game with just 2 starting cards, yet 5 more cards to come.

Therefore pre-flop you only have 2/7ths of your total potential playable cards, or 28.6%, however as soon as the flop is dealt you have 5/7ths of it, or 71.4%.   The moral of the story being, that playing more of your texas holdem post flop, and less pre-flop will lead you to much more confidence in your play and your hand value.

The second concept relates to post flop connectivity.   156/169 pre-flop hands are “unmade” hands ie non-pairs.   Therefore in the vast majority of occasions a player will be looking to connect with something on the flop.   And in the majority of those occasions he will actually miss.   This opens up very good opportunities to call with relatively nothing, but then to bluff someone off the pot post flop.   You will sometimes here this refered to as a stop-and-go.  You make the call, knowing you are going to push on the flop, relying on this concept of ‘it’s more likely they will not connect than they will’ and also knowing that even if they connect bottom or 2nd pair there is a good chance of still inducing a fold.

High Stakes Holdem hand 

Huge Texas Holdem pot between Durrrr and Phil Ivey, on Full Tilt Poker

durrrr holding $276,383
Ivey holding $177,930

durrrr posts $500 Small Blind
Ivey posts $1000 Big Blind

durrr raises to $3000
Ivey re-raises to $9000
durrrr calls

Flop Jh 4s 8c

Pot was $18K at this stage

Ivey bets $14,000
Durrrr raised to $37,600
Ivey raises to $84,200
Durrrr cleverly just calls

Turn 6h

Ivey all-in for $84,730
Durrrr calls

Ivey shows Kc Ks for the overpair to the board
durrrr show 4h 4c for a flopped set

River was an academic 9c

Durrrr scoops pot of $355,860.   Not bad for 1 minute of holdem.

The 50 Best Starting Hands in Holdem.  

When the starting hands are pitched by a computer against every other holdem starting hand, with bet-calls all the way to the river, this is the average big bets won by the starting hand.  No surprise to see AA,KK,QQ,JJ at the top

1. AA 2.32
2. KK 1.67
3. QQ 1.22 
4. JJ 0.86 
5. AKs 0.78
6. AQs 0.59
7. TT 0.58
8. AKos 0.51 
9. AJs 0.44
10. KQs 0.39
11. 99 0.38 
12. ATs 0.32
13. AQos 0.31
14. KJs 0.29
15. 88 0.25 
16. QJs 0.23
17. KTs 0.20 
18. A9s 0.19 
19. AJos 0.19
20. QTs 0.17
21. KQos 0.16
22. 77 0.16
23. JTs 0.15
24. A8s 0.10 
25. K9s 0.09 
26. ATos 0.08
27. A5s 0.08 
28. A7s 0.08
29. KJos 0.08 
30. 66 0.07 
31. T9s 0.05
32. A4s 0.05
33. Q9s 0.05
34. J9s 0.04
35. QJos 0.03
36. A6s 0.03
37. 55 0.02
38. A3s 0.02
39. K8s 0.01 
40. KTos 0.01
41. 98s 0.00 
42. T8s -0.00 
42. K7s -0.00 
43. A2s 0.00 
44. 87s -0.02
45. QTos -0.02 
46. Q8s -0.02
47. 44 -0.03 
48. A9os -0.03 
49. J8s -0.03 
50. 76s -0.03

Texas Holdem originated from Robstown in Texas.  It first came to light around 1900-1910.

In was in the 1960’s it first started to be played in the card rooms of Las Vegas (predominately at The Golden Hugget), and by 1971 it had become the adopted game of the WSOP Main Event (just 1 year after the WSOP started).

The gradual rise of the WSOP saw Texas Holdem gradually rising in popularity, but it was only as recent as 2003 when a combination of factors really exploded the popularity of the game.  Firstly the internet was increasingly getting into almost every household, and online sites where you could play holdem were becoming very established.  Secondly a player at one of those sites (PokerStars) qualified for the WSOP online and went on to win it.   That man was Chris Moneymaker.  A very apt name, considering he became a millionaire off the back of a $30 qualifier. 

These 2 factors exploded holdem on the world on an unprecedented scale.  The big Vegas pros were from then on outnumbered greatly at all WSOP events, and every online unknown started to believe in the dream.

There are 1326 unique possible starting hands in holdem.   But because As Qc is exactly the same as Ah Qd in rank (ie they are both AQos) then this number reduces down to their being 169 holdem hands, ranging from AA (the best) to 27os (the worst)

Welcome to the holdem blog of Play Holdem Online .net

This blog is all about holdem tactics, holdem tournaments, holdem events, holdem experiences, etc, etc

 I hope you will find it useful