Once you receive your two cards, there is no time to waste and your thinking cap must be firmly placed on your head. When playing real money, its important to weigh all options and you must ask yourself some serious questions.

How much money do I have?
How much should I wager?
How many other players are there?

There are some major factors involved during the pre-flop. If the table holds four to six players, this will more than likely increase your odds. If the table holds a maximum of ten, this greatly decreases the odds. However, it should be said that, when ten players are at the table, the challenge is greater and a lot more money will be up for grabs.

Quickly glance at your two cards, and then quickly forget about them. Now, let the gears turn in your head and try to guess what the other players may be holding. This is very important in pre-flop strategy. Your hand is least important, its what they have that matters. Look closely at the following scenario and dont forget to play for free first to practice and gain some skill.

Scenario: You are at a table with 4 opponents and your dealt a Queen of Spades and a seven of Diamonds. Because of the low number of players your odds are greatly increased, but dont get too excited just yet. You are depending on the Queen at this point and you will now place the required wager. Once the bets are placed around the table, you are now faced with a choice. You may want to check, or raise.

The safest course of action is checking, but remember the amount of players. If you do choose to raise, make sure its a low, or a decent amount. Going all-in is foolish at this point. You risk everyone around you folding and that is an undesirable result. Your main objective is to win some serious cash. There is of course the chance that another player may raise the stakes first, so once again you are faced with a decision. Like stated above, remember your odds are greatly increased because of the number of opponents.

Now comes the community cards and lets say for example, a six of Diamonds, King of Spades and two of hearts is dealt. You may think its a loss and not worth the risk, but once again remember the amount of players at the table. In fact, these are great cards in relation to your hand. The King of Spades is of interest because the dealer may still put out an Ace of Spades, or Jack of Spades.

Dont forget about your seven of Diamonds! The dealer may put out a five or possibly an eight of Diamonds. Most importantly, the community still requires two more cards to be dealt. Now, we place some bets once again and once again you are faced with a choice. This is a simple choice; if the game is just starting and your bankroll is full, then why not give it a go? If however, your bankroll is low and you are almost broke, you may want to reconsider.

Now the stakes will change. Your opponents will no doubt get the ball rolling and some will start the bluffing ¦including you! You can let them know at this point; you may or already have a winning hand. Let the first round of bets go round, and before your check, increase your wager by a fairly small to medium amount. Wait and see what happens, the odds are in your favor and there is no doubt that one or more opponent will call it.

The next community card is dealt and there before your excited eyes, is another Queen. You now have a pair, with a Queen high. Your chances have just increased significantly, but lets be careful with your next wager. Once again, if your raise too much, you risk the small amount of players folding to soon. Let the bets go around and now raise the stakes, remember not too much. If an opponent raises more, then see it. If more is placed on the table, then see that to.

Finally, the last community card is dealt and low and behold, its a Queen. If you are at home, please feel free to jump for joy and scream as loud as you like. If at a real table in a real casino, keep a blank face and shut up! You now have a three of a kind, place the bet and go head to head if you so choose. If a player goes all in, you go all in. Odds are you just won a nice big piece of the pie or in this case the entire.

That was easy right? It may have seemed like it, but keep in mind the amount of players at the table. Putting the exact same scenario against a full table of ten, changes everything. It becomes much more intense and much more challenging. Your odds have decreased, now you have to guess what nine others may be holding. Your two cards do matter at this point.

If you get a two of hearts and four of diamonds, the hand is low and to be honest not that great. Unless the dealer puts down three or three , the chances will be slim. If on the other hand, your dealt two kings, or any high pair, your chances just got a whole lot better. There are two rules of thumb in Texas Holdem:

1.    The amount of players will increase or decrease odds
2.    Your own cards importance depends greatly on the number of players.

 To summarize, here are a few helpful tips to remember before play:

You get two cards and these cards set you apart from all other players. Everything depends on these two cards. Do you have a winning hand? It depends greatly on the community cards.
Community cards are laid on the table for all other players to see. At this point you can focus on yourself. You need to understand and focus on what these community cards mean to the other players. Keep your eyes open for straights and flush opportunities from your opponents.
It all comes down to the cards in your hand. Its a sure bet, you will start off with bad hands, but you have to be patient. The good ones will come through eventually.
Most of all, remember to enjoy your self and not take the game to seriously. As you well know, dealing cards is completely random.

As always, we recommend you try it for free first and build up your own strategy. Practice always makes perfect.