Holdem ++ Rules

The onset of Covid-19 induced lockdown saw poker get a massive boost. Players from across the country tried their hand at the most popular poker variant, Texas Hold’em. After two long years of grinding, and loving the variant, poker players started looking for other options and that’s when online poker platform Adda52 introduced, Hold’em++.

What’s different from traditional Texas Hold’em is that players are given more opportunities to win a pot. Wondering how? Keep reading.

Hold’em++ is an extremely easy-to-play game. The objective is for players to create a five-card hand using the hole cards that they are dealt. While just like Texas Hold’em, you will be given two hole cards but the actual twist is when the community cards will be dealt. In the traditional Hold’em game, at turn and river, one card each is dealt. While in this variation, you will be dealt two cards each on both the streets. Other than this massive twist, everything else remains the same in Hold’em.

Here are a few reasons why you should try your hand at Hold’em++

• This is one of the newest poker variants and hence there is lesser competition as compared to mainstream Texas Hold’e,m.
• The odds of making a better hand has increased considerably.
• The turn and river cards now have a lot of weight and have bigger chances of improving your hand.
• Better chances of winning and taking home a much bigger pot.

So, let’s get started on the rules of this novel game?

Each player receives two face down cards, which are also known as hole cards.

After the cards are distributed, the pre flop betting begins. This is the first round of betting which starts immediately with the first player sitting left to the player on the big blind. Every player has the option to call, raise, or fold as per the card they’ve received.

Once the betting is over, the flop is dealt, which means, three cards are kept face up. Post this, another round of betting takes place and then the fourth street opens, which means two cards are dealt on the turn cards. Right after this, one more round of betting takes place where the fifth street opens and the two final river cards are revealed.

During this course of betting, if any player folds, their gameplay stops then itself. The remaining players fight for the pot, as after the final round of betting, it is a showdown.

The grinder who has the best five cards walks away with the pot. Wondering how to get the best five card combination?

How to create the best 5-card combination?

In total, there are four ways in which you can use your community cards to make the best possible 5 cards combination.

Combo 1: Flop + 1st Turn + 1st River

Combo 2: Flop + 2nd Turn + 2nd River

Combo 3: Flop + 1st Turn + 2nd River

Combo 4: Flop + 2nd Turn + 1st River

For instance, if you are dealt 8♥,K♥ hole cards and the community cards are – Flop (8♣,2♥,3♣), Turn (9♥,A♦) and River (K♦,10♥). Now your 4 hand combinations are:

Combo 1: Two Pair – 8♣,8♥, K♥,K♦, 9♥

Combo 2: Flush – K♥,10♥,9♥,8♥, 2♥

Combo 3: Full House – 8♣,8♦,8♥,K♥,K♦

Combo 4: Three of a Kind – 8♣,8♦,8♥,K♥,10♥

So, Full House is the best 5 card combination in this hand. This Hold’em ++ lets you look at multiple options and gives you more chances to win.

The increasing number of players in the poker industry and the amount of money that is getting pumped on a daily basis is the sole reason why new variants are getting introduced. Poker is fun to learn but it takes regular practice and several improvements along the way. As you play through various levels of this game, you start discovering new playing styles, which help develop unique tactics to deploy in various situations of the gameplay. In this section, we bring to you some Hold’em++ poker strategies and styles of gameplay that you can implement to beat your opponent while playing live poker games or online poker tournaments.

Poker playing styles

If you intend to become a great Holdem++ player, you must first start by observing your opponents’ style of playing poker. To help you, we have categorised the playing styles in two forms:

Tight Play vs. Loose Play

Play only some hands on the table to denote a tight play while loose play comprises a bunch of both, good and bad hands. Someone may play extremely tight if he is short on money or is more focused to win without much loss. Loose poker players usually play casually for fun.

Aggressive Play vs. Passive Play

A player raising every now and then in a poker game denotes an aggressive style of playing while passive players tend to either call or check more often than they raise and bet. Sometimes playing aggressively is also considered as a bluff to induce a fold by the opponents having better hands.

Poker Tips for an enhanced gameplay

Either you play poker for fun or to win moolah, some tips always come in handy during the game. We list a few crucial poker strategies and tips for beginners as well as seasoned pros which will refine your gameplay. The important thing, before you head to play poker online or on live felts, is to decide whether you’ll be playing for fun or to win because this mindset shapes up your whole game plan. Once decided and joined the game, you should consider and practise the poker tips given below.

Practice makes you perfect

One of the most important poker tips for beginners as well as for the experienced players is to practice the game continuously. Based on the performance in the games you play, you should plan further to enhance your skills by strategic gameplay. A continuous cycle of gameplay, analysis, and constant improvement is what makes a great poker player.

Have Patience

The most important skill a poker player requires in the game is patience. You should keep in mind that folding a bad hand doesn’t make you a weak player. In fact, it helps you from losing. Top Texas Holdem players often fold 75% of their hands before the flop opens; still they are the ones always on the top of the leaderboard. The idea is to only grind when you have an advantage.

Don’t hesitate to fold

The difference between a professional and a noob is that while the newbies tend to play most of their hands, pros play only 20-25% of the hands, folding to rest all. Folding weak hands is a very important poker strategy to win in the long term. You need to carefully analyse the strength of your poker hand and also calculate all the possibilities before betting. If you feel your cards are not good enough to form a winning hand, you must ensure that you fold. This saves your stack for further good hands which could win you the pot.

Mix up your play

If you always make good & smart decisions in poker, you will become extremely predictable for your opponents, which ultimately harms your bankroll. That’s the reason why you should sometimes mislead your opponents by your gameplay. Mixing up the style is a very crucial poker strategy which one should master in the course of time. If you do this randomly, you’ll become far less predictable player.. You may use All-in Tactics to bust out your opponents or may switch to Slow Play to deceive them. If you carefully mix up your gameplay, the chances of winning and taking the pot always increase.

Be a smart bluff master

Apart from all poker strategy, bluffing in poker to gain an upper hand on your opponent is a very important step. Although bluffing is effective at times, this strategy does not come handy if you are a poor player (players who often overestimate the force of their hands). Moreover, if you try to bluff your opponents repeatedly or regularly, expert players eventually sense your style and will know exactly when you are bluffing. If bluffing is not your forte, you can also try to semi-bluff the flop and turn, which is considered to be another wonderful way to counter aggressive opponents. You can take hands that are good (flush, straight and combo cards) and choose to play them however fast instead. This semi-bluffing strategy gives more ways to win the pot. You can take it away by either forcing them to fold immediately or making the best hand later.

Learn to avoid tilt

Emotions and body language play a key role in betting in poker and eventually shape up your victory or loss. Tilting can happen to any player and it is wise to take a break from the game for a while and start when you are feeling okay. Otherwise, playing emotionally leads to poor decisions and eventual losses. Moreover, your opponents may also use your own emotional moves against you to win the pot.

Bankroll Management

Managing your stacks on a poker table is important but you’ve also got to look after the amount that you actually have with you. This is when bankroll management heavily comes into play. Careful bankroll management is of utmost importance if you want to be a good as well as consistent poker player. It is also very important to keep stack sizes in mind when playing in tournaments. Besides just keeping your stack size in mind, you must also focus on the stacks of your opponents. Sometimes you will have passive players on your table, and it will be easy to win a lot more hands. However, tables with aggressive players usually try to use their stack size to put pressure on you.

Poker is a game that requires a lot of patience, hard work and constant dedication, especially when you want to play as a professional. Poker’s gameplay is something that one needs to practise consistently and study hard. This is why many players put in extra time and efforts into perfecting their poker skills every day.

Your position at the table also matters very much for your strategies. If there are aggressive players to your left, then it’s best to play selectively and choose only the best hands to grind. On the other hand, if there are any passive players to your left then play more aggressively.

It might sound like slow play is not good but it’s pretty much the opposite story against loose and aggressive players. The tight-aggressive players will barrel quite frequently, and you will want them to make this mistake on purpose when you hold a stronger hand.

Poker is a sport because it can be played for entertainment, it is competitive and always requires both physical and mental prowess in order to be consistent and win big hands at the highest levels. Multi-table online players are required to have acute coordination while on the other hand, live players need physical endurance and mental awareness to play tiring long sessions. A lapse in judgment due to tiredness can cost a player the entire tournament. This element of physical and mental exertion is what makes poker both competitive and entertaining, and further fits into the category of sport.

Making a decision in poker requires ample amounts of skill, and deciding to play a hand is one of the biggest decisions. No matter what, the players must always calculate the situation at hand. And this is how the skill works for every single sport in the world including in the mind sport poker.

Competitiveness is another area where poker qualifies as a sport. At the root of the game, one poker hand competes against another to find out who is the eventual winner. The best players efficiently recognize their opponent’s actions and immediately build up a counter strategy. There can be a hundred calculations and judgments that must be made in a single hand and each one of the actions analysed for information might help you identify the cards and their intention.

Holdem++ is the next best poker variant that most well known players swear by. When do you plan to try it?