Winning At Low Stakes No-Limit Hold'em Cash Games - First Time at the Casino

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Jonathan Smith

The first time you play live poker at a casino can be intimidating. You are going to be sitting down with strangers who all want to take your money. Understanding how navigate the poker room and the flow of the game, including terminology, will allow you to focus on your game and perform at your best.

The minute you sit down at the table, other players will size you up and how they perceive you will influence the action. With experience, you can use how people perceive you to your advantage, but as a beginner your goal is to blend in as a competent player familiar with the rules and etiquette of the game.

In one of my favorite movies, "Ronin," Robert De Niro's character feigns a trip to the restroom of a bar before he sits down in order to unlock the back door and prepare an exit. When confronted, he responds "Lady, I never walk into a place I don't know how to walk out of."

Ronin

While you may not be planning a heist, you should familiarize yourself with the environment before you put yourself in jeopardy. And, believe me, you (your money) is in jeopardy.

In this article I will cover the basics you need to know before you step into the poker room:

1. Establish Goals

First, why do you want to play poker? Are you having a fun night out with friends and a little lubricated with alcohol or are you there to win money? You may have a different answer one day from another, but every choice you make that day follows from honestly answering that question.

If you simply want a fun evening and are unlikely to play frequently, set a budget and don't go over it. If you get lucky and win, you leave happy. If you lose, you might leave with less money but you probably had some excitement and have stories to tell.

However, if you want to play profitable poker, you are going to need to be disciplined and focused. There are lots of styles of play that can consistently win you money, but you will need to learn the fundamentals and build on your skill level so you can apply the right techniques in different situations.

2. Know the Game

Anyone can get a seat at the table; regardless of their skill level, and at low stakes poker you truly see a wide variance. You'll encounter players on their last $100, looking to play bingo; experienced regulars who are tough to beat; retirees who are willing to sit at the table for hours and only play the best hands; and everything in between.

I once encountered a new player who watched a hand play out and clearly was confused that "a flush beats a straight?" I locked eyes with a few other players to acknowledge that I heard him correctly. Not a single person commented, but it was clear this guy was a target and he lasted less than an hour before his chips were gone.

Let's recap the basics of No-Limit Hold'em.

Each player is dealt 2 cards face down ("hole cards"), and then community cards are dealt into the center of the table. Players can use any combination of their "hole" cards and the community cards to make the best 5-card hand. The player with the best hand at showdown wins the pot. There are five community cards but they are dealt in stages: the flop (3 cards), the turn (1 card), and the river (1 card). That means that there are four rounds ("streets") of betting: preflop, flop, turn, and river.

Flop

A♣
♣
A♣
J♠
♠
J♠
2♦
♦
2♦

Turn

A♣
♣
A♣
J♠
♠
J♠
2♦
♦
2♦
3♥
♥
3♥

River

A♣
♣
A♣
J♠
♠
J♠
2♦
♦
2♦
3♥
♥
3♥
A♠
♠
A♠

If you get to showdown (all the cards are dealt, all betting completed), you win if you have the best hand with any five cards. And depending on your hole cards, the winning hand can postentially change on each street.

The hand rankings are as follows:

  1. Royal Flush: A♠K♠Q♠J♠T♠
  2. Straight Flush: 9♦8♦7♦6♦5♦
  3. Four of a Kind: Q♥Q♦Q♣Q♠3♦
  4. Full House: J♣J♠J♦3♥3♦
  5. Flush: 9♥7♥5♥4♥2♥
  6. Straight: 9♦8♣7♥6♠5♦
  7. Three of a Kind: 8♦8♣8♥3♠2♦
  8. Two Pair: 7♦7♣4♥4♦2♠
  9. One Pair: 6♦6♣4♥3♦2♠
  10. High Card: A♠T♦Q♣9♥2♦

There is much more to the game in terms of strategy, but this is the absolute basics of hand rankings that you need to know before you sit down at the poker table.

3. Choose the Right Casino

If you live in a part of the country with multiple casinos (or poker rooms), each of these rooms may cater to diffent types of players. They often have promotions that vary daily, and some rooms may have a better selection of games than others. Before you go, do some research online and read descriptions, reviews, and promotions. The two most popoular apps/sites are Bravo Poker and Poker Atlas. As always, a visit in person is the best way to get a feel for the room and the players.

As a beginner, it is important to look for poker rooms that have a mix of player skill levels. While low stakes games are often filled with inexperienced players, you will also encounter good "regulars" who play frequently and are very skilled. A lot of higher stakes players may play low stakes while they are waiting for a higher stakes game to open up and their skill level and aggressiveness can be intimidating. If you feel like you aren't at a table you can beat, you can always ask the floor for a table change.

You will win more (or lose less) by finding the better game that matches your skill level. Game selection, especially as a beginner, is very important and may be as important as your skill level while you are learning.

4. Registration

When you arrive at the casino, you will need to put your name on a list with the stakes you are willing to play. If tables are available, they will give you a seat right away. If not, you will be called for a table based on the order from the list. On weekends and special events, the lines can be long at popular times.

To avoid the line, if you have a players loyalty card (free), you can often register for a seat at the table in advance. This is a great way to avoid the long lines and get a poker table more quickly when you arrive at the poker room. You still have to let the staff know you have arrived, but the order of the list will be based on when you registered not when you arrived. The loyalty card is usually worth it, as you get points for playing that can be used for food, drinks, or even free play at other games.

5. Game Flow

Most commonly, the number of players at a table is 8, but you may see tables with 9 or even 10 players. Below is a representation of an 8-handed table.

1
D
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Each seat at the table is numbered from 1 to 8. The player to the dealer's left is in seat 1 and the player seat increments from 1 to 8 around the table clockwise from the dealer. The seat number is primarily used by the staff to identify players and their seats but is useful to know if you are instructed to sit at a specific seat at the table.

6. Position

One of the most important concepts in poker is position. Position is determined based on the location of the dealer "button." Since there is one dealer and players can't deal the cards like at a home game, the button is used to represent the dealer position and rotates around the table after each hand so that all players take turns in each position (and post the blinds).

Once the button is in place, each seat now has a name based on its position relative to the button.

SB
BB
UTG
+1
LJ
HJ
CO
B
D

The names of the positions are as follows:

In addition to the position name, often positions are categoriezed into 3 groups:

As you become a competent poker player, you will learn how to adjust your strategy based on your position at the table. The later your position, the larger the advantage you have over your opponents because you have more information about their likely holdings before you have to act.

7. Stakes

The stakes in poker refer to the amount of money that players are required to put into play and are expressed in terms of the dollar amount for the blinds. For example, if you register to play $1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em, that means that the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $2. You will see multiple tables with different stakes such as $1/$2, $2/$5, $5/$10, etc.

The higher the stakes, the more money you will need to bring to the table for the minimum buy-in but also to play effectively. Each level will have a different minimum and maximum buy-in amount. For example, at $1/$2, the minimum buy-in is often $60 (30 Big Blinds or 30BB) and the maximum buy-in is often $300 (150BB). You may find a rare game with an uncapped buy-in, but this is rare and not relevant as a beginning poker player.

In general, you will want to buy-in for at least 100 Big Blinds (100BB). That will give you enough room to account for some downswing in chip value but not have to adjust your strategy too much based on your stack size.

Conclusion

In this article, you should have learned some of the absolute basics of playing poker in a casino. You should have enough familiarity to navigate the casino and find yourself at a poker table. However, how to win is the topic for another day.