I thought it would be fun to write a poker tips post that offers advice that can be applied to all players, regardless of the games they prefer to play. Here are 11 of the best poker tips you’ll ever read:
1 – Don’t Let Other Players Scare You
No matter how new you are to poker, don’t be intimidated by the other players at the table. Not only will fear ruin your fun, but it will also cause you to lose. Fearful players always lose money. Most other real-money online players are bad at poker anyway.
They may have more experience at the table, but if you’ve read a lot of poker books or spent any time playing online and discussing strategies in forums, you’re probably already better than your opponents. You don’t have to be a bully, but you should avoid falling victim to bullying. So, put your game face on and don’t let the other players intimidate you. Choose your approach and stick with it.
2 – You’ll Lose Some Sessions
Think of poker as one long session of ups and downs. The individual sessions you play contribute to your overall wins and losses over the course of your life, but they show up big on the radar. In other words, when you play a 2-hour, 4-hour, or even 8-hour session and end up losing, don’t worry about it.
Even the best players have losing sessions. You can’t lock in a profit every time you sit down at the poker table. That’s just how it works. Instead, focus on whether you’re making good decisions and understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing. This means you’ve thought about what your opponent might have, and you believe the move you’re about to make has positive expectations.
3 – Be Willing to Take a Break
No matter how many times I assure you that you’re not a bad player just because you’re having a losing session, you’ll still feel frustrated and anxious for a while. You’ve been pocketed three times in a single session.
When you start feeling this way, take a break from the table and do something else for a while—preferably not craps.
Grab something to eat.
Go for a walk.
Head to the store.
Anything to clear your mind and reset your behavior before sitting back at the table. Your emotions play a bigger role in your decision-making than you’d like to admit, so be kind to yourself and control those emotions as best as you can.
4 – Play Within Your Balance
I sometimes see players who can barely afford the entry fee to a table sit down and almost immediately lose their entire balance.
Their goal was:
Sit.
Win a big hand.
Then leave.
This is not the way to approach the game. I’ll refrain from giving you specific advice on the limits you should play based on your balance. Instead, I suggest you think about how much money you’ll need to sit with to enjoy 3 or 4 hours of cards with some new friends. If you’re comfortable with these risks, you’ll make better decisions. Just don’t play at stakes so low that it doesn’t matter. That will lead to bad decisions too, and bad decisions in bad stakes games will still cost you money.
5 – Don’t Treat Casino Poker Like Home Poker
Casino players are usually more skilled than players in home games. Keep this in mind and stay ahead of the game when you play in an online casino. Also, casino poker games charge a rake. This is a percentage of every bet collected by the casino to pay for the space they “rent” to players. Usually, the percentage is just 5%, but the individual effects on players are significant.
If you’re really good but not the best among the players in a home game, you can expect a break-even situation. Over time, you’ll all get the same cards and play them with equal skill. But if you play in a raked game, and all the players have the same skill level, they’ll all gradually lose money until they’re broken. You make your profits in poker by being more skilled than the other guy. And it’s not enough to be just more skilled than your opponent. You need to be skilled enough to overcome the 5% rake on every pot.
6 – Play Poker Games You Know
If you’re playing poker in a casino, it’s easy to find a game you’re familiar with. Everyone knows how to play Texas Hold’em online these days, with the rise of online gambling, and all land-based casinos with poker rooms offer the game too. After all, Texas Hold’em is the most popular form of poker in the world.
But feel free to play Stud or Omaha if you prefer. Just make sure you’re familiar with the games first. If you’re playing in a home game that offers dealer’s choice, pay attention to the games being played. And when it’s your turn to deal, keep it simple and deal a game you trust you’re good at.
7 – Be Cautious When Drinking Alcohol
Casino poker rooms offer free drinks, just like the rest of the casino, but you should be more careful about participating in these company drinks than if you were playing slot machines. When you play slots, you’re probably going to lose your money no matter what happens. The only judgment you can show on slot machines is whether you play or not. But in poker, it’s important to make good decisions. And guess what happens when you drink alcohol?
Your judgment starts to deteriorate. Skip the alcohol if you’re playing poker. Drink coffee or water instead.
8 – Don’t Show Your Cards to Other Players
It’s easy to accidentally show your cards to other players at the table when playing poker. This is one of the easiest mistakes to avoid. All you need to do to avoid showing your cards to other players is to be careful. You don’t even need to pick up your cards from the table. All you have to do when looking at your cards is to fold the corners enough to see the proper order of those cards.
Never give away free information about your hand at the poker table. It only costs you money. Don’t reveal your cards after a successful bluff either. If everyone folds to you, they won’t pay for the information, so don’t give it to them.
9 – The Most Famous Poker Game in the World is Texas Hold’em – Learn to Play It
If you’re going to play poker, you need to go to where the action is. It’s great to be the best 7-card stud player in the world, but you’ll be extremely limited in where you can play and who you’ll play against, and you won’t make much money. On the other hand, you’ll find Texas Hold’em wherever you look.
The game isn’t difficult either. You get two face-up cards, then three community cards dealt to everyone, then another community card shared by everyone, and finally the last community card. You can use any combination of your hand and the community cards to form a final hand. Since this is where the action is, this is where you need to be too.
10 – Study the Game Well
The best way to get better at poker is to study. I’d suggest reading legitimate poker books from legitimate poker authors. Articles from PokerStrategy are a great place to start. In fact, I started my online poker career by reading a general gambling book from Two Plus Two titled “How to Win $100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living.” The book had a section on poker from which I took notes. Of course, I followed up by reading Texas Hold’em for Advanced Players.
This gave me the foundation of my poker knowledge. It’s hard to read many poker books. And you can find books on any subcategory you want in poker literature. You can find books about reading your opponents. You can find books on tournament poker in general. And you can find books by famous players – some better than others. The key thing when dealing with poker literature is to engage with the material thoroughly.
11 – Have Fun
I know professional poker players who say they’re not interested in having fun while playing poker. I know other professionals who still enjoy the game. I think most of my readers are recreational gamblers, which means that if they’re not enjoying themselves, there’s no point in continuing to gamble. But even if you aspire to be a winning player, why not try to enjoy it? Life is too short to do things you don’t enjoy, and that includes playing a game like poker.
Summary
These are the best 11 tips I have for players of any skill level. They may or may not apply to you, but they were all important ideas that contributed to my development as a poker player.