by Matthew Gover | Date of Publishing: 9 June 2022
More and more people are playing their favourite casino titles from the comforts of home – poker being one of the most played.
Sure, in some ways, poker is often about luck. But, it’s also an extremely strategic game that can be learned and improved upon. This is why the most skilled poker players have been making a full-time living from the game for many years.
Whether you have played before or are just starting your journey – we at JeffBet have listed the top 10 tips to think about when putting together the best poker strategy.
Table of Contents
It’s important to have a good idea of poker ‘positions’, ‘rules’ and ‘hand ranking’.
Let’s start with poker hand rankings so you know where you stand:
We can end the hand in various ways. If there are players left following the last round – everyone reveals their hand to see who has the highest value. This is called a ‘showdown’ – the end winner gets their share of the big poker prize pot!
Moving onto poker positions, there are 3 main ones and they are ‘early’, ‘middle’ and ‘late’:
Utilizing a poker position with your adversaries is one of the best ways to gain insight into the hand. As such, this is bound to shape how you decide to play.
Finally, let’s look at the poker rules, using the Texas hold em variant:
Sometimes, when you are tempted to fold, the best thing to do is bluff the other players at the table. We talk about learning how to bluff successfully as part of your poker strategy shortly.
It’s important not to open too many hands at once, especially if you are a beginner. You are best to play tight and only put your strongest hands forward. You’ll appreciate this tactic later when you have fewer post-flop choices to make.
This should aid you in being more aggressive with the hand you do have. Don’t just ‘call’ and ‘put’ – ‘raise’ and ‘bet’ – force your opponents to play with duress!
A big part of the poker jigsaw is your starting hand, but it’s also important to be mindful of your play for the remainder of the round. After all, one of the main points of having a poker strategy is to enter the game with a plan of action.
At the end of the hand, you should consider bluffing your opponents, utilising positions, and working out the pot odds. The middle and end of gameplay are often thought to be the most crucial.
Learning to bluff when playing poker can make or break you. For instance, if you are a beginner, the obvious option is to fold when the draw passes you by and you are ‘on the river’. However, you could instead look to bluff your opponent by opting to ‘raise’. The way to a successful bluff is to ensure that your deception makes sense with the hand you have.
The goal is to make your opponent believe that your hand is going to beat theirs. As such, you had better believe you need to be convincing, as seasoned players know what to look out for!
The truth is that many of the hands you are dealt will be fold or flop worthy and so might not seem worth the chip allocation. As such, bluffing comes in very handy.
When you play your hand, consider the whole story you are telling the other players at the table and make sure it adds up.
Whilst the odds of landing on tails when flipping a coin are obviously 50/50 – in poker, you have to think about a full deck of cards.
Let’s take a look at how odds and outs work in poker:
As such, the chances of a flush stands at a fraction over 4/1. Next, let’s look at how to calculate the pot, imagining that you are head to head against another player.
See below:
As you can see, it’s not that difficult to calculate the pot odds in any game of poker.
Many experienced poker players will tell you that there is no use worrying about short-term results. Knowing this will prevent you from being short-sighted and making desperate and rash decisions at the poker table.
Don’t let each individual poker session lead you to adjust your gameplay. Drifting away from your initial plan often leads to negative assumptions and therefore bad decisions.
Regardless of whether you are on a winning or losing streak, it’s important to play in accordance with your poker strategy.
This tip is especially the case for newbie poker players – begin with modest bets. This means don’t throw all of your money at a stake in the excitement if you are yet to fully understand the game.
If you are a beginner you will be referred to as a ‘fish’, and you had better believe there are sharks out there!
Seasoned players can recognize a fish (newbie) a mile off, so knowing how can help you avoid being spotted and taken advantage of.
Some key giveaways of poker fish are playing well above the top 15% of your hands, rarely folding, opting for a ‘call’ for everything – even an unraised pot, over betting for little reward, and under betting.
For instance, if you are always choosing to call, seasoned players will suspect that you are inexperienced and are simply trying to catch a bluff – rather than use mathematics and logic. Experienced poker players can use this against you by countering it with what’s known as ‘value betting’.
There is heaps of variety in terms of poker titles. Finding the best one isn’t easy but you can start by only playing at regulated casinos, looking for low stake options, high bonuses, reputable game suppliers, and a table size you can handle.
Here at JeffBet, we offer a huge range of top-rated poker games, designed by the very best developers.
As such, you can expect an all-immersive casino experience with no shortage of excitement and bonus features. We are regulated by the Gambling Commission and all of our games are tested for fairness by approved third-party testing houses.
It’s important to concentrate on your opponent’s cards instead of just your own. Your adversaries actions and tendencies will be very telling. This will give you some insight into whether that person could be bluffing, so you are able to be aggressive and exploit that.
You are essentially tasked with making bet decisions based on the information you can’t see. Things you can look out for includes how the opponent reacts post-flop – for instance if they bet or check – this shows how strong or weak their hand might be.
Watch the other players react compared to how they did before.
For example, you might know that one of the regulars PetePoker123 tends to make a bluff wherever important cards are on the table. As such, you might call or raise. Look for changes in play as this can be super insightful when planning your next bet.
Many people prefer to learn games and strategies by getting involved and doing it. With that said, there is much to be learned from reading blogs and books or doing an online course on poker strategies.
There is educational material in all shapes and sizes on this subject covering everything from the mathematics of poker, to specific Texas Hold’em tips, GTO play, pre-flops and much more.]
Author: Matthew Gover.
After graduating, Matthew began working as an English teacher abroad, initially in Spain and then Vietnam before finally coming back to the UK to settle. Matthew has always had a love for writing and an even bigger love for the igaming industry... Read More
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