Experienced players claim Texas Hold ‘Em numbers among the easiest poker games for beginners.  Beginners don’t feel quite so certain.  Like all poker games, Texas Hold ‘Em challenges players to assemble winning hands—combinations of pairs, three-of-a-kinds, flushes, and straights.  The dealer shuffles and deals cards from a single deck, but most players agree that Texas Hold ‘Em defies “card-counting.”  Players work with seven cards—two dealt just to them as their “hole” cards, three “communal” cards dealt face-up to the entire table and called “the flop,” another communal card called “the turn,” and a final face-up shared card called “the river.”  Between the dealers’ offerings, players wager according to what they hold and what they predict the dealer will offer-up next.  Texas Hold ‘Em ranks the value of the hands the same way as “stud” and “draw” poker games.  Higher face-values beat the lower ones, “suited” combinations of cards always beat mixed combinations, and a Royal Flush, naturally, beats everything. 

Like most card games, Texas Hold ‘Em is probably easier to play than to explain, and all players agree on two basic principles for beginners: (1)play and practice often, becoming familiar with the game and its tricks, especially becoming familiar with wagering strategies.  And (2) watch the pros, picking up hints about strategy, odds, and techniques.  Beginners quickly discover watching the pros can become almost as engrossing as the game itself, and retired :Liverpool Football Club legend Jan Molby naturally numbers among the fans’ favorites.

Part of the posse of pokermeisters the pundits have dubbed “The Danish Invasion,” Molby started playing professionally after his retirement from big-time European soccer.  Before taking his seat at the gaming tables, Molby played on the Danish World Cup Team; and he had a much-celebrated ten-year career with Great Britain’s  Liverpool Football Club—one of the few players to spend his entire career with just one team.  The Liverpool club’s alumni directory boasts Molby was, “one of the finest midfield players of his generation,” calling him “the great Dane,” and raving he “combined subtlety and power. Molby’s passing, long or short, was wonderfully measured.”

Molby first attracted the poker world’s attention in February, 2007, when he played in paddypowerpoker.com’s “Liverpool Legends” tournament, knocking out fourteen other contenders, finishing in the top two and qualifying for the website’s much-publicized Irish Open. 

Molby continued to attract attention in prestigious poker circles when he played with other retired soccer stars on Britain’s ambitious “10Kings” poker website.  In July, 2008, the site hosted its first “Play a Legend. Be a Legend” Tournament, attracting media attention throughout Europe.  Speaking with the British press before the tournament, Molby quipped that poker play would provide great opportunity for pay-back against the football players who had “trampled” him early in his career; “I hope to kick them around a bit,” he said.  Strategic in poker as he was on the pitch, Molby predicted, “I’ll have a look in the early rounds while the blinds are small.  I think all the players will be aggressive in the early rounds, but I plan to have a look, see how they play.” As the “10Kings” Tournament proceded, Molby further proved his prowess and took home some very respectable pots.

Like Jesper Hougaard who came to high-stakes professional poker from a successful career in world-class table tennis, and like fellow Danish footballer cum pokerist, Molby capitalizes on his professional sports experience and his naturally competitive nature as he plays cards; but his poker remains as subtle, powerful, and  “wonderfully measured” as his passing.  His soccer experience taught Molby the importance of restraint, control, and especially focus.  “In football, you often have games where its all between the ears,” he told the British press. “In poker, it’s like that, and you have to be concentrated all night.  You make any lapses in concentration and people will spot your weaknesses and take your chips off ya.”