It wouldn’t be an exaggeration when we say that the country’s economy is now begun to be impacted by the flow of capital in and out of the gambling industry. Indeed, an entire society is becoming hooked to gambling in general, poker in particular, and Texas Hold’em in specific.

National television broadcasts prestigious poker tournaments live; and a few channels have been launched recently that beam exclusive, poker-only programs for all twenty-four hours. One channel has even gone to the extent of strapping “heart monitors” to bring the pulse of the star players to the viewers. “Lipstick” cameras showing every participant’s personal cards to the viewers (and not to the players’ opponents!) – at the start of each game, is now passé.

Chats in pubs and bars earlier used to revolve around conquests in wars and boasts of amorous affairs. Nowadays, it revolves around boasts - whether true or fictitious - of wins and miraculous swings due to a lucky turn card or an out-of-the-blue river card that brought that pot of gold into one’s hands. A person’s IQ or EQ or sports achievement or the Ivy League university admission is not enough – in fact it doesn’t count these days. It is their knowledge about the Texas Hold’em game that matters. Rattle off a few statistics, mouth a lot of mumbo-jumbo about the rules and tips and tricks of the game in any social setting, and see your stock rise in the eyes of your onlookers!

J And, one of the mumbo-jumbo you need to know about the game is the opening strategy. And, your opening strategy plus the strategy for the rest of the game is usually decided on the following factors:

• Your position at the table, vis-à-vis the dealer.
• The hole cards that you are dealt with.
• The size of the pot.

Your position at the table, relative to the dealer is a crucial factor. Since in most games, the dealer position itself revolves from player to player (unless the casino has a full-time dealer exclusively for this purpose, in which case the “starting” position shifts with every game), each player’s positional dynamics changes game after game.

The ones sitting to the left of the dealer are early position players. This position is usually considered to be a disadvantage, because they are not able to observe the actions of their opponents before playing their own hand. In this position thus, calling or betting on a weak hand might be very costly, if the later players raise – indicating that they happen to have stronger hand than you do. Similarly, early-position players with a strong hand invest their own money to raise and increase the pot size, and have to keep their fingers crossed for the later players to match them eyeball to eyeball.

Players to the right of the dealer, including the dealer, are late position players. This position gives a lot of strategic advantage, as the player can then observe the actions and deeds of all the players before making a decision. Of course, the dealer themselves are in the strongest position, since they play the last in every round of the game. In this position thus, players can even decide to play a weak hand if there were no bets or raises before them – if theirs is a weak hand, then so must the others’. In the same token, late positioners with strong hands can increase the pot size by betting or raising, forcing other players to either call or fold.

What hands are considered strong, and what are considered unplayable? Hole cards that are suited and higher ranked – such as Aces (A), Kings (K), Queens (Q), and Jacks (J) increase the power of your hands, along with a tenner (10, or T). If you happen to have AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT as your hole pair, you are a sure-fire winner in this particular game (of course, if you happen to have a JJ or a TT, while somebody has an AA, and the flop produces an A on the table, then rest assured that the pot shall not be yours.) In fact, there are whole tables available on the web which divide opening pairs into three different categories – high-powered, medium-powered, and low-powered. Any thing other than these pairs – you are best protected by folding.

The size of the pot decides your gambit to an extent. A small pot calls for passive playing … calling, checking, calling, checking … is the way to go. When the pot size is big, an aggressive bet/raise/fold approach can yield dividends. There are a lot of hyper players out there – yes, even amongst the Poker legends! – who bluff their way to the pot a lot of times with weak hands … instances such as these abound. At the same time, aggression can also lead to compulsive decision-making. So, unless you have full control of your urges and your impulses … it is best to pause and take deep breaths before taking the right decision.

After all, it is your money out there in the pot. All of it!