Poker strategy is actually a guide on how poker players should act in various situations while playing poker. These tips and tricks may help players improve their game on the long run and teach them how to make good calls when the action is on. Poker strategy, as complicated as the term may sound, is in fact very simple to understand; and with some practice players will be able to know it and apply it in no time.
However, poker fans should know that due to the numerous poker variants that employ different gameplay and number of players, there cannot be a single strategy represented by a well-developed text. On the contrary, the poker strategy often comes in the form of various recommendations that focus on different parts of the gameplay, such as position on the table, starting hands, calling, raising etc. Thus, players should get informed on each one of those aspects in order to generally step up their game and improve their performance in the future.
Newbies usually have literally no idea of any important things regarding poker strategy and therefore there are some tips and tricks that should help them understand the basics of poker as well as of winning in poker. The first rule is to always play to win, but also not to get disappointed if you lose. Even the best players in the world sometimes lose and what really matters is to always try your best.
Moreover, newbies should practice as much as they can so they can get familiar with the game, with various poker variants and possible developments of the action. Experience is crucial in winning the game of poker. Of course, they need to understand the mathematics of poker as well; this will help them calculate odds and make smart decisions in terms of calling, raising or folding. However, this shall be further explained later in the text.
Other things that affect inexperienced poker players are the starting hands and tilt; naturally, showing your emotions isn’t possible while playing online, but tilt can still be a problem if you try to get even with a player that’s obviously beating you in that particular session. When it comes to starting hands, their significance largely depends on the player’s position on the table; thus, this is another thing to have in mind.
There is no better tip than to never underestimate your position on the table; namely, players that are playing the last are always in advantage because they get to see how the rest of the players played their action. Thus, it is believed that players that get to take action first must have generally strong hands in order to raise or even call; in contrast, the last player can use the information gathered during the circle of other players taking actions in order to set a pace that suits them.
For example, if nobody before the last player has raised, the last player can use this to assume that nobody has a strong hand and place a notable raise. This way, many players will be scared and probably fold under the pressure of the raise, even if the raising player doesn’t hold a strong hand. This is a great way of stealing blinds and improving your stack.
When a game starts and players get their cards, regardless whether there are community cards or not, there are lots of decisions to be made each round. Namely, players will have to decide whether to fold, which is recommended anytime they have a really weak hand and aggressive opponents, or call or raise. Calling is staying in the game without increasing the bet amount, whereas raising is increasing the bet amount and forcing players to do the same or leave the game.
The reasons to call or raise are generally different because they aim towards different objectives. So, in an overview of the reasons to hit the raise button, players should note getting more money in the pot, force out opponents, bluff, semi-bluff, to block opponents, to get information and to force out players with worse cards when they’re not sure who has the possible nuts. All of these are pretty much self-explaining, except for maybe the last one. This refers to situations when the player has a strong hand, but the community cards open a possibility for the best possible hand to be created. Thus, the player raises to see which one stays in the game and determine their main opponent.
On the other hand, the reasons to call are less aggressive, but important nonetheless. It is recommended to call whenever you want to see additional hands or to limit your losses in case you’re not sure of your hand’s strength. Moreover, calling is a great move to avoid re-raising or to hide the actual strength of your hand; namely, calling early in the game and then gradually raising may be more profitable than placing an aggressive raise that will scare off players and leave you with the blinds only.
When playing poker, players must know both the game odds and the pot odds. The first one refers to the probability of something happening i.e. the player getting the desired card combination. Even though calculating odds doesn’t guarantee a possible outcome, this certainly can give you a clearer view on your chances. For example, if there are 13 suits of one kind in a regular 52-card deck and two identical suits are in the players hand, that means that 11 of them are remaining. If additional two appear on the table, the player can now hope for the remaining nine cards of that particular suit among 37 cards in total. Thus, a simple math sets the odds at 4 to 1.
The pot odds, on the other hand, reveal the ratio of playing chips you can win in comparison to the ones you will have to put in the playing pot. Therefore, if in a given situation you need to invest 10 chips just so you can win 20, the pot odds are 2 to 1. If playing with game odds as described before i.e. 4 to 1, it wouldn’t be smart to take the risk. However, in case the pot has reached 90 and you are expected to invest 10 to get back 100, the pot odds are excellent 10 to 1. This is a risk anyone should be willing to take.
Finally, the playing style is something that has to be mentioned and understood. There are generally four poker playing styles and those are: tight, loose, aggressive and passive. Recognising or using one of them can be quite useful on the poker table.
The tight approach involves avoiding risks, whereas loose playing style alludes to a high willingness to take risks. Aggressive approach sees lots of raising in order to put opponents under pressure and force them out the game. Finally, the passive style refers to players who often call and follow rather than set the pace of the game.
Good poker players should be familiar with all of these and should be able to adopt and abandon them as it suits their situation. A good combination of these is aggressive-tight, which lets players to make the most out of good hands and maintain their stack during weak hands.
