Strategy Tips

Play in loose games with weak players in them
The long-term profit in poker comes from exploiting your opponents’ mistakes and predictable tendencies. So, you should choose games where you have an edge.

The criteria to consider when deciding which table to play include:

• A high percentage of players who see the flop;
• A high average size of the pot;
• Weak players in the game.

Play aggressively
Playing aggressive poker involves betting and raising when you have an advantage over your opponents. This can be when you have better cards, better position or when you have better poker ability than them.
If you neglect to bet, an opponent who might have thrown away his cards may get lucky and receive a card that beats you. Moreover, if you only bet when you have a very strong hand, your opponents will know you have a good hand and won’t call unless they have a strong holding themselves.

Position is important
Poker is a game of obtaining information and position determines how much information you have about how the hand is developing. Acting last is an advantage as you will have gained information about your opponents’ hands, but they will not have gained any information about your hand. Good position allows you to play more hands.

Adjust your play to your opponents
Poker is a people game where the money comes from exploiting your opponents mistakes. Adjusting your strategy to your opponents is very important. For instance, against someone who bluffs a lot, you should be willing to play with weak hands. While against someone who almost never bluffs, you should only play with strong hands.

The larger the pot odds the more you should play
Pot odds are the relationship between the size of the pot and the size of the bet. The larger the pot and the smaller the bet, the lager the pot odds. When the bet is small in comparison to the pot size (high pot odds), you should be more inclined to continue your hand.

Think before you act
Poker is a game of decisions. Taking time to consider all your options leads to more good decisions.

Recognize the best possible hand
As a Hold’em player, you must be able to read the community cards (the board) and recognize how your hand compares with your opponents’ possible hands, in particular the best possible hand.
With certain community cards, many players in the hand and/or a lot of action (betting and raising), the potential for many different strong hands increases.

Bet most of your (strong) draws
A draw is a hand that is incomplete and needs further cards to become valuable. Betting your draws (semi-bluffing) is profitable by the combination of the probability that your opponents might fold immediately and the probability that you could improve to the best hand and win anyway.

Observe the Action
When you are not involved in a hand, spent your time observing those opponents involved in the hand in order to ascertain their playing habits.