Top Poker Strategies
Nowadays, playing online casino games is everyone’s favorite pastime activity. There are so many engaging games that you can enjoy, and without a doubt, one of the most popular ones is Texas Hold’Em. Millions of people all around the world embark on the journey of taking part in online poker, and if you are interested in becoming one of them, keep on reading.
Don't Bluff Just For Bluffing's Sake. A lot of beginners understand that bluffing is a part of poker, but not exactly how. There's is no rule that one must bluff a certain amount or at all during a poker game, but many players don't feel like they've won unless they've tried a poker bluff.
Firstly, depending on your poker skills you might want to check out this introduction into live Texas Hold’Em. If you click here for more info, you will learn about some basic features of the game that will help you get a grasp of it. Once you are done reading, you should return to this text, because we are going to give you some tips and discuss some strategies that will improve your game and help you win every time.
1. Where do you sit?
This first strategy might seem a little odd, but let us explain why your position at the table is important. As you probably know, for many reasons, the dealer is the stronger player in the game, and one of the reasons is the fact that he bets last. This means that he has all the information and it is up to him to change the entire course of the game.
- Up until recently, poker players often fell into one of two camps: those who use GTO strategies, and those who use exploitive strategies. Now, most of the top players combine the two, using GTO as a default baseline strategy and exploiting when the time is right. Texas Hold’em Poker Strategy.
- The Masterclass: Top 10 Poker Tips for 2019. Before you read on, know these two universal truths: EVERYONE was once a beginner. Change is possible, if not inevitable. So, do you want to play poker like a pro? Obviously, you do.
Persons who get to go first are considered to be the weakest ones since there have got no information hence it is hard for them to create an immediate strategy. However, the person sitting on his right has the opportunity to raise the bet and eliminate the dealer out of the game, therefore becoming the strongest player.
2. Be smart…
So, most people who enter want to win, as soon as possible. Not only is it a great ego boost, but they also want to establish themselves as best players. Still, winning is not always an option, especially if you have just started learning about the game. The best thing you can do is to be smart about your every move. What are we talking about?
Well, instead of thinking about a strategy that is going to help you win, you should come up with one that is going to ensure you eliminate small players and win small pots. It is always better winning constantly than losing everything immediately because this is something that is probably going to happen.
You should start slowly. Give yourself a chance to observe others, figure out whether they are bluffing or not, their style and strategies, and then turn the tables around and use it against them. Once you have forced out weak players and you get a strong hand, you can play more aggressively. You have the best chances of winning by changing your style often and tricking others.
3. Know When to Fold
This one should be obvious, still many people refuse to surrender. This is due to our nature – we all want to win, right? However, an important quality that makes the difference between a good and bad poker player is to know when to fold.
If you are ever in doubt about what you should do and how to proceed with the game, our advice is to lay down. If you don’t do this, not only do you risk losing but also other participants might call your bluff thus completely ruing your chances of winning.
4. Know When to Raise
If you have been playing poker for some time now and are confident in your strategy and certain that you know all the features of the game, then you probably want to raise more often. Besides making the game more intense you are also increasing the sum of money can win. Let us tell you about some situations where you should definitely do this.
First of all, do it if you have the best hand. Clearly, this is something that you can never be certain about, which is why we have emphasized that this is something that only experienced players should do. This is the best way to eliminate the weak players and also raise the stakes and increase your chances of winning.
Secondly, some people raise in the early rounds to scare others and also to collect more information about their hands.
Thirdly, you can do this when bluffing. If you have nothing but you think that you still have a chance of winning by tricking other players that you have a strong hand, and of course, if you are good at it, then you should definitely bluff.
5. Should You Go All-in?
Without a doubt, this is the most exciting part of playing poker. You get that adrenaline rush and if you win you feel like you are on top of the world. On the other hand, oftentimes chances of losing are the same as chances of winning, so this is another thing that you have to be smart about.
It doesn’t matter how addictive this feeling can get, you should never do it unless you know for certain that you have the best hand. Similarly, you can also go all-in if you know that your bluffs have been successful meaning that this is not the expected part of your strategy. By staying on the safe side during the entire game, you can trick others into believing that you wouldn’t do this unless you are sure that you are going to win.
6. Be aggressive
Obviously, this is something that depends on your skills, but in order to win, you will have to double if not triple your starting stack. As you can imagine, the only way to do this is to establish yourself as the leader and this is something that you cannot do by being careful.
Choose your strategies methodically, and try to increase your stack from the beginning of the game. You should only start playing defensively if you are close to being eliminated from the game.
Conclusion
To sum up, these are some major things that you have to consider and also master if you want to play poker successfully. Clearly, this is something that takes time to learn but you can always improve by inquiring about different strategies and thinking of the way how to best incorporate them in your game.
Finally, do not forget about the tells. Usually, it doesn’t matter how great your bluff is if you have any tell signs other participants won’t have any trouble reading you like an open book.
If I were teaching a new player to play no-limit hold’em, and my goal were to get this player up to a professional level of play, how would I do it? What would my lessons look like?
Let’s say I had only three months to do it. With most people, I will admit, it would be a tall order. The learning curve is steep these days, and I don’t think everyone could make it from zero to pro in that short a time.
I’d have to make compromises. I couldn’t try to cover every possible situation. I’d have to find the important bits and skip the rest.
I’d also have to tailor the lessons a bit to a specific type of game. The most important skills in some game types are not as important in others. With this in mind, here are what I think my top five lessons would be for a new player trying to beat the $2-$5 no-limit hold’em games in Las Vegas.
Lesson No. 1. Don’t limp into pots ever. And don’t call preflop three-bets unless you are trapping with an ultra-premium hand.
Limping into pots, calling the preflop raise, and then check/folding the flop when you miss is an enormous leak. It’s also one that nearly every player who hasn’t been specifically coached out of it exhibits.
In my opinion, most players would see an immediate improvement in their winrates if they simply refused to limp in with any hand, especially if they chose to instead fold most of these hands.
For most players, refusing ever to limp means playing much tighter, particularly from out of position. Until you’re already an established pro player, tighter is better.
Lesson No. 2. Don’t pay off big turn and river bets.
This lesson might be different in some types of games, but in the Las Vegas $2-$5 games, it’s easily a candidate for the single most important piece of advice. Do not pay anyone off. When someone makes a big turn or river bet or raise, your one pair hand (or whatever other hand you’re thinking about calling with) is a bluff-catcher. That means, in the great majority of cases, your opponent won’t be trying to make a value bet with a worse hand. Either you’re beat or your opponent is bluffing. And players in these $2-$5 games do not bluff often enough to make calling worthwhile.
So you don’t pay off. I know it can be frustrating to feel like you’re getting muscled out of a huge pot, but the fact is, most players in these games do very little muscling. They try to make hands, and then they bet the hands they make. A big bet usually means a big hand. You don’t need to call to find out for certain.
Lesson No. 3. Your opponents will limp into pots, call raises, and check/fold flops. Take advantage of this weakness by raising lots of hands with position, betting the flop, and often also betting the turn.
It’s a simple play, but it’s one that generates a very consistent profit in these games. Players play too loosely preflop, are too willing to call preflop raises after limping in, and are too willing to check/fold the flop or turn if they miss. With many players, you can ignore your cards and raise the limps, bet nearly all flops, and bet most turn cards as well.
Say two typical players limp in a $2-$5 game. You raise to $25 on the button. Both limpers call.
The flop comes 10 8 2. They check, and you bet $50. One player calls.
The turn is the 5. Your opponent checks, you bet $120, and he folds.
In this scenario, and in many like it, it doesn’t matter what you have. Your opponents are beating themselves by playing call/call/fold so often. All you have to do is put the bets out there and let your opponents run repeatedly into the brick wall.
Yes, there is some nuance to this, and some boards are better bets than others. But against many opponents at the $2-$5 level, most flops, turns, and even rivers are good bets. Keep betting until your opponents prove to you that they won’t beat themselves by folding too much.
Lesson No. 4. With value hands, don’t try to blow opponents out of pots. Instead, play most value hands with the goal of keeping a player in through the river.
Value hands — hands like top pair, two pair, or any other hand you think is a favorite to be best — lose their value when all your opponents fold. If you win without a showdown, you might as well have been holding 7-2. (See Lesson No. 3.) With your value hands, you generally want opponents to get to the river.
Most players like to see showdowns if they feel like they can see them without losing too much money. No one likes to fold and think, “What if I was good?” If your opponents get to the river, often it’s an easy sell to get them to call a final value bet (as long as you don’t make it too big).
Top 10 Poker Strategies
Calling these value bets is one of the biggest mistakes that $2-$5 players make. (See Lesson No. 2.) Allow your opponents to make this mistake.
Most players try to end hands early when they feel like they have the best hand. “Don’t want to get drawn out on,” they think. But this is backward thinking. End hands early with strong bets when you have nothing but a weak draw. Allow hands to reach showdown when you actually have something to show down! (Makes sense when I put it that way, doesn’t it?)
If I have top pair, I’d much rather get called for $30, $50, and $80 on flop, turn, and river than get called for $30 and then blow my opponent out of the hand with a $100 bet on the turn. The chance to win $160 with the hand instead of $30 outweighs the risk that I’ll get outdrawn.
What Is The Best Poker Strategy
Lesson No. 5. Think every hand about what strategies your opponents are using and how they’re thinking, and (almost) ignore the two cards in your hand.
I’ll put it bluntly. Most $2-$5 players beat themselves. They tend to play strategies that are extremely transparent, overly simplistic, and inflexible. You can beat some of these players simply by betting every time it’s your action (See Lesson No. 3.) You can beat other of these players simply by waiting for hands that beat top pair/no kicker and then making value bets. (See Lesson No. 4.)
Your job as a poker player is to identify the strategy each opponent is using and deploy a counter strategy. In many cases, the two cards in your hand become irrelevant. My experience is that the players that are always thinking about their hands never figure it out. It’s the players who are thinking on the next level that do. ♠
Top Poker Strategies
Ed’s newest book, Playing The Player: Moving Beyond ABC Poker To Dominate Your Opponents, is on sale at notedpokerauthority.com. Find Ed on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.