Are you starting to become a poker player, but not sure how to beat the big wolves at the gaming table? Do not fear! We give you 10 poker tips that will improve your game.
Now that you are over the beginner stage, we have put together a list of some more advanced tips that you can use to refine your game. When you have all this in place, you will soon notice that the poker game is starting to pay off for you.
1. Be selective with the hands you choose to play
While as a beginner, you typically only play high-ranked hands, as a more advanced player you can vary your game. This makes you unpredictable and difficult to read to your opponents. In good position you can often play half-good hands, and offer some aggressive pre-flop if there aren’t too many opponents left in the pot (and no one has raised before you). This can often be enough to “steal the pot” and it infers whatever fear in the few who choose to watch the flop with you.
2. Follow the cards carefully
The common cards that are in the table in games like Texas Hold’em are alpha and omega when it comes to reading the game. You quickly learn to look for potential straights or flushes, so you can more easily read the other players’ actions and think about which hand they are holding.
3. Know how and when to bluff
Bluffing is an art in online poker, not least because you can’t see your opponents’ faces. If you play tight / aggressive then you can allow yourself to bluff relatively often if you play with a “lightly frightened” table where people dare not follow you too much. You have to adjust the bluffing to this criterion, and the more aggressive the table, the less it pays to bluff too often.
4. Observe the other players
As an advanced player you are now skilled enough to form a profile of your opponents based on their action pattern and style of play. You can take notes on each player in most poker clients, and thus you can note whether the player is bluffing a lot, playing tight or loose, aggressive or passive (or varied) and other relevant things. Such notes can be worth gold in a “showdown” where it is only you and one more left in the pot.
5. Choose the right table for your level
Of course, it is important that you still do not become too superfluous, and you should always choose a table where as many players as possible are worse off than you. That’s how you make money in poker, and it’s not about ego, but about making money. If you want matching and training for better players, it is best to participate in a tournament.
6. Do not play semi-good hands from an early position
This can be tempting at times, and especially if you have been sitting long without getting anything but garbage hands. Still, it is a bad idea to “limp” in with good hands. Chances are you’ll hit a draw or something else “questionable” and become “pot committed”. Thus, you “just” have to see the flop, and then turn and tear all the way to the end. Suddenly you end up losing a lot of money on a hand that should have been thrown pre-flop.
7. Backplay some hands
This is a slightly advanced trick you can use in some cases. If you are sitting with the A7 in the same suit, ie a hand that is not really strong, then it can still be played if you do not have to pay too much to see the flop. Especially if there are a lot of people in the pot, this is a good idea, because if you land 3 cards of the same suit in the flop you will soon be stuck with “nuts” (ie the best hand possible) and many “pot committed” players who offers the pot for you.
8. Follow the gut feeling if you are unsure
If the gut says you have lost and you otherwise feel insecure, it is often best to throw yourself away. You develop a kind of sixth sense when playing a lot of poker online, and tiny things like the ten-second difference in reaction time to an opponent can be picked up by the subconscious and be enough to reveal whether you are on your way to losing or not. The challenge is to actually follow the gut feeling, and not get too tied up to the pot or “win”.
9. Don’t waste too much money chasing pots
This is a classic mistake that many make even long after they have passed the beginner’s stage. Hunting pots is expensive, and it is actually the art of throwing themselves properly that sets winning players from those who only “breaker even” in the long run.
10. Only play when you’re in the mood and obvious
It is important to stop playing if your mood drops or you notice you are starting to get tired and indifferent. Then there is a great danger that you go “tilt”, and suddenly play irrational almost without even noticing. If that happens, months of gambling can be ruined almost instantaneously and you will see the money plummet from your account at an amazing rate.