Top 10 Poker Tips to Make You a Better Player

Want to become a better player, fast? Follow these 10 tips to boost your poker performance & profits. While geared to beginner players, there’s poker tips that even seasoned pros should remind themselves of once in a while.

1. Don’t Play Every Hand / Do Fold More
Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players make is that they play far too many hands. When you’re just starting out playing poker, you want to play poker, and that means staying in hands that aren’t very good just to be part of the action. But playing more doesn’t mean winning more, it usually means losing more. If you find you’re staying in half or more the hands you’re dealt, you need to upgrade your starting hand requirements.

2. Don’t Play Drunk
Countless nights have I sat across a table from someone & watched them get plastered silly and throw away their entire stack of chips. I’ve been that person too - and there are nights where you’re just playing with friends for low stakes and it’s more about the fun than the poker - but if you’re in a casino, watch the alcohol. The truth is, while you may be more relaxed after 2 drinks, it may lead to you playing looser and less sharply, even if one’s not ‘drunk.’

3. Don’t Bluff Just For Bluffing’s Sake
A lot of beginner’s 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. Bluffs only work in certain situations & against certain people, and if you know a player always calls to the showdown, it is literally impossible to bluff that player. It’s better never to bluff than to bluff “just to bluff.”

4. Don’t Stay in a Hand Just Because You’re Already In It
Another common mistake beginners make is to think that “Well, I’ve already put that much in the pot, I have to stay in now.” Nope. You can’t win a pot just by throwing money at it. There may be cases when pot odds warrant a call, but if you’re sure you’re beaten, and there’s no way your hand can improve to be the best hand, you should fold right away. The money you’ve already put in the pot isn’t yours anymore, and you can’t get it back just by playing a hand all the way to the end.

5. Don’t Call at the End of a Hand to “Keep Someone Honest”
This one follows the last tip. I see a lot of players look at another player’s final bet, look at the hand, & say “I know you’ve got me, but I have to keep you honest,” as they throw in a final call. It may be worth it to see if a player really has the hand if you’re not sure & you’re gaining information that will help you later on, but if you really feel a player has the hand he’s representing & you’re beat, why give him another pile of your money? Those bets will add up over an evening.

6. Don’t Play When Mad, Sad, or in a Generally Bad Mood
When you play poker, you shouldn’t do it to escape from being depressed or having a really bad day. You start out on tilt — playing emotionally, not rationally — and you won’t play your best. Likewise, if during a poker game, you lose a big hand or get sucked out on and feel yourself going on tilt, stand up & take a break until you feel calm later on. Fellow players will sense your mood & take advantage of it.

7. Do Pay Attention to the Cards on the Table
When you first start playing, it’s enough just to remember how to play and pay attention to your own hand. But once you’ve got that down, it’s incredibly important to look at what’s going on at the table. In Texas Hold’em, figure out what the best possible hand would be to fit the flop. Make sure you notice flush & straight possibilities. In 7-card stud, pay attention to what’s showing & what people have folded when you consider calling opponents.

8. Do Pay Attention to the Other Players
As you play, one of the single best things you can do is observe your opponents, even when you’re not in a hand. If you know if one player always raises in a certain position, & another has a poker tell when he bluffs, & a 3rd folds to every re-raise, you can use that information to help you decide how to play against them. Once you know that player 3 always folds to a re-raise on a river, that’s when you can bluff & steal a pot.

9. Don’t Play at too High Limits
There are many reasons people move up to a higher limit game than they usually play. Good reasons like they’ve been winning consistently at a lower lever & are ready to move up, & bad reasons like the line is shorter for higher limits or you want to impress someone. Don’t play at stakes that make you think about the actual money in terms of day-to-day life or with money you can’t lose. Even if you had one super-good night at $2/4, resist the urge to play $5/10. The next tip explains more why.

10. Do Pick the Right Game for Your Skill Level & Bankroll
One of the reasons you shouldn’t jump into a $5/10 game after winning a huge bunch of money at $2/4 is because as the stakes rise, so does the average skill level of the players sitting there. You want to be one of the best at the table, not the fish who sits down with sharks. If you’re making stacks of money at a lower level game, why move? You’re winning stacks of money. The swings up & down at higher limits are much bigger, and one big night’s win won’t last long at a high-stakes game.

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The Rules of Texas Hold ‘em

Texas Hold ‘em is one of the easiest games to learn.  A hand of Hold ‘em starts with the placing of the blind bets.  There is a small blind and a big blind, which is typically double the size of the small blind.  The small blind is placed by the player to the direct left of the dealer and the big blind is placed by the player to the right of the dealer.

After the blinds have been placed, each player is dealt two cards face down.  These are called the hole cards.  Any player can look at their cards at any time.  The first round of betting begins with the player to the left of the big blind.  This player may call the big blind, raise the big blind, or fold.  Betting continues clockwise around the tab le until every player has called or folded.

After the first betting round ends, three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table.  These three cards are called the flop.  They are community cards and can be used by any player at the table along with their hole cards to make up a hand. Once the flop is laid out, another betting round begins.  This time the betting begins with the first person to the left of the dealer that is still in the check (which means they don’t bet, but they don’t fold), bet, or call, raise, fold, or they may check as well if the player before them has also checked.  Once someone bets all other players must either call, raise or fold.  You can’t check once someone else has bet.

Once the second betting round has finished, one card is dealt face-up next to the flop.  This card is called the turn; this is another community card and can be used by any player at the table.

After the turn card has been dealt, another betting round begins.  It is played out in exactly the same manner as the betting round that followed the flop.

After the third betting round is finished, one final card is dealt face-up next to the turn card.  This card is called the river.

After the river card is dealt, the final betting round begins.  It is played out the same way as the betting rounds that followed the flop and the turn.  After all players have bet or folded, any players still in the hand reveal their cards in the showdown.  The player that makes the best five-card hand out, of their two hole cards and the five community cards wins the pot.  After the post has been paid out, the dealer rotates one position to the left.  The blinds are placed again, and another hand is dealt out.

Hold ‘em can be played with a set limit or no-limit betting.  In set limit there are actually two limits set.  For example, the limits could be $1/$2.  In this game, the big blind would be $1 and the small blind would be 50 cents.  The minimum bet during the first two betting rounds is $1.  During the third and final betting rounds, the minimum bet is $2.  Betting increments must be made the same size as the minimum bet.

In no limit, a player can bet all of their chips at any time.  However, a player can only lose all of their chips if they are in a showdown with a player who has an equal number or more chips.  If you go all-in with $100 and another player goes all-in with $75, the most you can lose is $75.

Omaha Poker

Omaha Hi poker, usually known simply as Omaha, is very similar to Texas Holdem. There are two main differences between the games:

1. In Omaha, instead of receiving only two hole cards, each player receives four.
2. In Omaha, players must use exactly two of their hole cards in combination with three community cards to make their five-card poker hand.

Structurally, Omaha is pretty much the same game as Holdem. Let’s take a look at the rules:

1. A small dealer button identifies one player as the dealer. The dealer button moves clockwise around the table, and is passed at the end of every hand.
2. All blinds, antes or other required bets must be put into the pot before any cards are dealt. In Omaha.
   1. The player directly to the left of the dealer posts the small blind.
   2. The player two spots to the left of the dealer posts the big blind.
   3. Generally, the small blind is half the size of the big blind.
3. After the required bets have been placed, four hole cards are dealt face down to each player. A betting round begins, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind. This player is said to be ‘under the gun’.
4. Once betting has completed in the first round, three community cards are dealt face up, for all players to use. A second betting round follows the deal, beginning with the player in the small blind. This betting round is known as the ‘flop’, or ‘Third Street’.
5. Once betting has completed on the flop, one community card is dealt face up, for all players to use. A third betting round follows the deal, beginning again with the player in the small blind. This betting round is known as the ‘turn’, or ‘Fourth Street’.
6. Once betting has completed on the turn, a final community card is dealt face up, for all players to use. A fourth and final betting round follows the deal, beginning once more with the player in the small blind. This betting round is known as the ‘river’, or ‘Fifth Street’.
7. Once all betting is complete on the river, any players remaining in the hand must show down their cards. All players still involved must compare their five-card poker hands. The pot is handed over to the player with the highest ranked hand.

Omaha Hi-Lo (Omaha 8):

Omaha Hi-Lo, usually known as Omaha 8, is structurally the exact same game as Omaha Hi. There is, however, one fundamental difference:

1. In Omaha 8, players can aim to make either the best high poker hand, or the best low poker hand. In the case that one player shows down a winning high hand, and the other shows down a winning low hand, the two players split the pot. In order to win the full pot at showdown, a player must have both the best high and low hand, or there must be no low hand in play.

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Best 3 Poker Books

Poker books should not be seen as an expense, but rather as an investment - one that’s absolutely critical for improving your game. They enable you to obtain information and knowledge in just hours or days that otherwise could take years to learn on the tables. If you walk away with just one good idea from a book, it will return the cost of its initial purchase many times over.

There are over 500 poker books at present, and the number is growing every day. Of course, no one is capable of reading all of them. Based on advice from the most respected poker book reviewers, we set up a list of books that are must reads for every serious poker player.

From the publisher:

Twenty years ago, Mike Caro wrote the book on what to look for in a players movements, gestures, and facial expressionstheir tellsto determine if they were bluffing, and it remains one of the bestselling poker books of all time. But what Caro didnt do was teach players how to bluff. Enter Matt Lessinger, a professional poker player and columnist, who in THE BOOK OF BLUFFS shows players how to get their opponents to foldno matter how strong a hand theyve been dealt. Lessinger reveals how, with the correct timing and artistry, bluffing will allow a player to win while holding an inferior handthe very essence of poker.

From the publisher:

Texas Hold ’em is not an easy game to play well. To become an expert you must balance many concepts, some of which occasionally contradict each other. In 1988, the first edition appeared. Many ideas, which were only known to a small, select group of players, were made available to anyone who was striving to become an expert, and the hold ’em explosion had begun. It is now a new century, and the authors have again moved the state of the art forward by adding over 100 pages of new material, including extensive sections on “loose games,” and “short-handed games.” Anyone who studies this text, is well disciplined, and gets the proper experience should become a significant winner. Some of the other ideas discussed include play on the first two cards, semi-bluffing, the free card, inducing bluffs, staying with a draw, playing when a pair flops, playing trash hands, desperation bets, playing in wild games, reading hands, and psychology.

From the publisher:

For the last ten years, Winning Low Limit Hold’em has been the reference standard introduction to Texas Hold’em. Experienced hold’em players give this book to their friends who want to learn the game. Recently updated and expanded to include coverage of online poker and no-limit hold’em single-table tournaments, this is the one book that you need to start your hold’em career. “I always thought poker was a game of luck. After reading Lee’s book and applying the techniques recommended, it was as if I were in The Matrix. It all came clear to me. I simply saw the truth at the poker table.” - Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Winner, 2004 L.A. Poker Classic and 2004 World Series of Poker $2000 Pot Limit Hold’em event.