Play Better Poker

Poker is not a game of luck.  Sure luck is involved in what cards come your way.  Not every hand you get dealt is going to be Pocket Aces.  However by skillful plays that puts you only playing hands that are mathematically expected to be profitable, the luck is taken out of the equation. There will be times when you win hands you should not and times when your mathematically favored hand loses.  This is not luck but rather variance.  Once you understand this, you will realize that you can WIN poker in the long run through good play.  The five basics to playing poker are these

1.       Fold More

2.       Fold some more!!!

3.       Play in Position

4.       Be Aggressive

5.       Be Patient

Steps 1: I guarantee that you are too loose of a player.  While you are just a beginner at playing poker you will feel the urge to get involved in a lot of hand just to see some action.  Yes on TV they play a lot more hands but you are not a top poker pro and you have not spent years fine tuning your ability to read situations.  Because of that I recommend you only play a select few starting hands, and if the flop comes full of scare cards, don’t be afraid to fold there as well!  The biggest mistake most people make in poker is playing too many hands and playing the hands they do play too far into the pot.  Just because you have put a lot of money into a pot doesn’t mean you can’t fold. 

Step 2: Fold some more!!! Seriously most top players are only playing about 20% of the hands they get.  I know it just feels like you are sitting there losing money to the blinds but I swear you will get paid off when you do hit the right cards.  Once you get the hang of being rock tight you should start expanding and bluffing more when you are in the right places to do so.  This will disguise when you have an awesome hand.

Step 3.  Play in Position.  Okay so this one is the first semi difficult concept you will have to master to become a great player.  You HAVE TO play in position.  You should play tighter when you are the small blind, big blind or first two or three players after that.  If you are in the middle you can play a little looser and if you are the last one or two players or deal you can play even loser still.  This is because as you go further around the circle you will know more.  As the big blind you wont know if anyone behind you is going to move all in so you would not want to try and limp in with a small pair.  However if you’re the dealer, if you can limp in for 1 or 2 big blinds go for it since if you hit trips on the flop you can easily win. The more you know about how the people before you have bet the more you know about how you should bet.  Thus always play in position

Step 4: Be aggressive. The only way to win money is to spend money.  It seems counterintuitive to keep betting more and more but the only way to win pots is to bet more.  You should almost never check. You should either raise or fold.  If you allow more people to see the flop cheaply when you have a monster hand you are allowing them to win.  Here is why.  Say you have AA and they have 22.  You check preflop and they see the flop for 1 BB.  They hit another 2 and you lose.  If you have three bet or put in another large raise they would not have called and you would have won the pot.  The more you raise the more people you force out of the pot and the greater the odds are that you win.  This concept is easy to read but it is hard to put into action.   Be confident when you think you have the best hand and start being aggressive.

Step 5.  Be patient.  It is frustrating sometimes to wait for just the right situation but doing anything less will not be profitable in the long run.  So work on being patient.  Do not get involved in hands you can’t win.   It will be hard, but I guarantee the fat payout you get will be worth it. 

Following these 5 steps will not make you a World Series of Poker winner but It will certainly make you a better player than the average joe on the street.  Remember poker is a game of skill and in the long run can be beat!  Who knows maybe one day with a lot of hard work and practice you will be a WSOP Champion!