That’s the old saying about the game of poker. If you’re interested in learning how to play poker, you’ve come to the right place.
We are trying to keep things simple as we explain the poker rules and dynamics that determine how to play.
Looking to learn basic poker rules? Poker’s an incredibly popular game that’s super easy to learn but difficult to master. Don’t worry—we’ll break down this strategic card game into a simple step-by-step guide
people imagine. There are generally two types: Stud Poker and Draw Poker. The rules for these games are almost identical and both are presented here.
Poker Strategies
Poker is a game of careful calculation, patience and a lot of probability. If you are looking for quick poker game tips, then this article will help you win at No-Limit Hold’em. We have compiled 5 tips and strategies that will make you a more confident poker player.
Top 5 poker tips
Play fewer hands, but play them aggressively
There is a limit on how many starting hands you can play before the flop in No-Limit Texas Hold’em, even for the world’s best players. If you try to play too many poker hands, you’ll bleed away your chip stack.
Developing a solid preflop poker strategy is by far the easiest and fastest way to improve your bottom line. However, while developing solid preflop ranges is relatively easy to do, having the discipline to stick to them is difficult. Don’t allow yourself to get impatient and play a hand not worth playing.
The best approach is to play a tight range of strong and/or playable hands, and you need to play those hands aggressively.
Don’t be the first player to limp
Limping (just calling the big blind preflop) is an absolute no-no as the first player to enter a pot. There are two main reasons why this play should be avoided:
You can’t win the pot before the flop like you could if you raised.
You give the players behind very enticing pot odds, making it more likely you face multiple players and thus less likely you win the pot.
The only acceptable situation in which to limp is when at least one other player has already limped. This is called over-limping, and it can be a good play because you are getting great pot odds to join the action so you can hit something good on the flop, hopefully.
Semi-Bluff Aggressively with Your Draws
If you want to truly crush poker, you need to bluff effectively. But bluffing ineffectively is one of the fastest ways to lose your money at the table. So, how do you keep your bluffing frequency under control?
The most effective way to bluff is to let the cards you have dictate if you are going to bluff or not. This means bluffing with hands that have outs to improve to the best hand on a later street, such as straight draws, flush draws, or even just an overcard or two to the board.
Think of these draws as your backup plan in case your bluff gets called.
Defend Your Big Blind (with the Right Hands)
The big blind is a special position because you already have 1 big blind invested in the pot. For this reason, whenever you are faced with a raise while sitting in the big blind, you will have better pot odds to call than the other positions – think of it as a discount.
Exactly how wide you should defend depends on a multitude of factors – here are the four primary ones:
Position of the raiser (play tighter against the early positions and looser against the late positions).
Number of players in the hand (when 1 or more players has already called the raise, play tighter and only call with hands that do well in multiway pots).
The size of the raise (the larger the bet sizing, the tighter you should play and vice versa).
Stack sizes (when short stacked, play fewer speculative hands and prioritize high card strength).
There are other important factors too, like how often your opponent will continuation bet post-flop, but the three above are the main ones you should consider.
Attack When Your Opponent Shows Weakness
Players don’t check with hands that can call multiple bets as often as they should. This means that, when they do check, they usually have a relatively weak hand that will often fold if faced with multiple bets. This is the “bluffing with nothing” situation I alluded to earlier.
When your opponent shows a lot of weakness in a heads-up pot (like if they check on the flop and the turn), you can take advantage of them with an aggressive bluffing strategy. Not only should you bet with your usual semi-bluffs, you should also bet as a pure bluff with some nothing hands, ideally ones with good blocker effects.
