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 "Machines don't understand sacrifice, and neither do morons." -- "Chief" in Hardware (about chess)
Along with the dramatic increase in popularity of poker in general, and Texas Holdem in particular, comes a tidal wave of new players who may not be newbies to poker itself, but definitely are beginners in comparison to experienced players. These beginning players have been influenced significantly by what they have seen on television. While this is cool and all, from a practical standpoint it has some disastrous implications for the beginners wanting to learn how to play Texas Hold'em.
To be blunt, if you watch Tiger Woods hook a three iron around a dogleg, over a sand trap, and then stop it on a dime on the green, don't try this at home, kids. That's not to say that all poker shown on television is Tiger Woods-like. Far from it. Some of the TV play is hopelessly bad -- if only because even the best players sometimes make terrible plays.
The thing newbies need to is that the poker hands we see on TV do not well represent what makes a great poker player. First and foremost, the truly great players in all game disciplines master the fundamentals. Ted Williams, Earl Anthony, Magic Johnson, Cheryl Miller, Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova... all these folks spent hours and hours on fundamentals even AFTER they were superstars. In fact, great players devote much of their time to improving at those fundamentals they aren't particularly good at.
Like any other game, Texas Hold'em has fundamental/basics that aren't very flashy or readily apparent, but must be mastered (and continually mastered) before excellence can be achieved.
expectation. This involves having as a coincidental goal the winning of pots, but that is not the main goal, and certainly not the focus of our efforts. We simply want to get our money in with the best of it. Win or lose, good luck or bad luck, that really is not the point. Let the bad players fixate on the results. You should fixate on doing the right thing.
Having the discipline to do the right thing all the time (more or less) is the basic of the basics.
why and how to play hands, not the simplistic what to play. Learning how to play Texas Hold'em means learning to understand the reasons you are doing the "what" you are doing.
Fundamentals win ball games and poker games and games of every sort. Let the suckers try to buy lunch with their egos. You should focus on the basics of making thoughtful bets when you have the best of it, and then you can focus on buying lunch with your profits -- profits courtesy of the bad players, the ego players, and the players who simply don't work on the fundamentals enough.
There is no reason answer, or chart, or diagram you can refer that teaches you how to play Texas Hold'em, if you want to win that is. But following the various links here will lead you through the web of related concepts you need to master.
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