Cameron has written on sports and poker for 11 years in both a newspaper and online capacity, including with PokerStars and PokerListings. As a proud winning poker player at 50NL on PokerStars who achieved his poker dream by playing finishing 420th in the in the 2023 World Series of Poker's Millionaire Maker, Cameron shares his expert knowledge when writing articles for Basketball Insiders.
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David spent 25 years as both a writer and editor within the betting/casino industries - including at The Guardian, Racing Post, 888Casino and Sky Sports Racing - prior to joining BBI. He has a diploma in sub-editing and law, is the author of four books, and remains a successful sports tipster.
All posts by David MyersGood poker strategies can help you deal with the many uncertainties and take advantage of the opportunities that arise when playing poker. More importantly, they can help increase your wins and reduce your losses.
Developing a good poker strategy takes some learning and practice. Here is an overview of ten beginner and advanced online poker strategies to help you personalize yours. This guide also includes the basic poker rules to get you started and some quick tips to sharpen your short-term strategy.
The Top 10 Best Poker Strategies
A holistic poker strategy usually comprises multiple beginner and advanced poker strategies tweaked to suit your personal preferences. Fortunately, poker players have developed, tested, and documented dozens of poker strategies that you can adapt to suit your own personal style. Here is an overview of the ten best poker strategies for beginners to work with:
1. Practice & Learn Continuously
Poker is based on dynamic rules and strategies. Some of them are easy to understand, while others may take some practice and learning.
Being a fast learner is good, but every good poker player must take time to practice and refine their online poker strategies. As such, don’t be too overconfident when you get the hang of how the game works after a few rounds – it seems quite different when playing for real money against experienced opponents.
Playing repeatedly is the best way to understand how poker works and improve your skills. Fortunately, you can play various poker variations for free as many times as you wish at hundreds of online casinos. Most of the sites are also accessible via poker apps and mobile devices, so you can play on the go whenever you want.
Poker is popular, and you can find numerous learning resources on a wide range of online platforms. For example, you can find a mentor for your poker strategies on Reddit fan groups. You can also watch hundreds of poker strategy videos on YouTube, while there is also plenty of poker strategies advice online. testing your free video poker strategies is also an option as it can help with learning the best-winning hands, you can see our free video poker guide here.
2. Play Fewer Hands & Be Aggressive
New poker players are usually impatient and easily tempted to play every hand that comes their way, even those that are not worth playing. Unfortunately, this is a sure way of depleting your chips. In contrast, a good pre-flop strategy is the easiest and fastest way of improving your success.
Playing fewer hands should be part of your pre-flop strategy. Ideally, you should only play strong hands that increase your likelihood of winning. The idea is to maintain your current chip stack and add to it whenever the right opportunity presents itself.
Besides playing fewer hands, playing all of your hands aggressively can also give you an edge over your opponents. An aggressive approach can give your opponents the impression that your hand is strong, even when it is weak or speculative.
Player psychology is a core aspect of poker, and playing aggressively can have the same effect as a bluff, one of the best strategies for poker. However, don’t confuse an aggressive approach with a bluff, which can cost you.
3. Fast-Play Your Strong Hands
Interestingly, most beginner poker players try to adopt a tricky strategy by playing passively, even when they have strong hands. To this end, they call bets more frequently than they bet or raise. You can work this to your advantage by fast-playing your strong hands.
Fast-playing your strong hands will help you protect your equity and build the pot. This strategy can make some of your opponent’s fold, but it is not as frustrating as getting outdrawn.
However, fast-playing your strong hands doesn’t necessarily mean checking or raising every hand. It can backfire if your opponent’s check back with strong hands. To this end, you should only check when you believe your hand is too strong to be outdrawn. It is also worth noting that playing passively with a strong hand can help you set a trap for unwitting opponents, which can also work in your advantage.
4. Only Play When in the Right Mood
Playing poker should be a fun experience. However, many players feel compelled to play every game. Interestingly, negative emotions such as anger and desperation push them to play some more as they try to turn their luck (and mood) around.
You shouldn’t play poker to feel good. Instead, you should already be in a good mood before sitting down for a round.
Feeling good when playing poker is crucial to your success. Overall, a good mood boosts your self-confidence and gives you mental clarity, enabling you to make better moves. It also gives you an optimistic point of view, which can help you overcome the inevitable losses as you play towards bigger wins.
Getting into the right mood can be tricky, considering all of the emotions involved in poker. Overall, your mood can change from good to bad with one or two losses, which are usually inevitable. To this end, this strategy highlights the importance of managing and overcoming extreme emotions when playing.
Understanding that losses are inevitable in poker will help you deal with negative emotions such as anger and disappointment. Managing your bankroll can also help limit your financial losses, making your losses and the accompanying emotions more manageable. However, managing your emotions ultimately depends on your overall state of mind, which also requires some practice to control.
5. Defend Your Big Blinds
The big blind is the final position on the poker table. You must post the big blind bet even before seeing your hand, which can put you at a disadvantage against your opponents. To this end, it is necessary to protect your bet by all means possible.
The main benefit of the big blind is that you automatically win the pot if everyone else folds. The main disadvantage is that you have to respond whenever an opponent raises. Your response will vary depending on various factors, including the following:
- Stack size
- The size of the raise
- The raiser’s position
- The number of players in the hand
For example, you should play fewer speculative hands if the stack size is small. You should also play tighter against the earlier positions than the later ones. You should also play tighter using hands that work for multiway pots when more than one opponent raises. However, it is also worth noting that a raise also gives you better pot odds to call than other players, further emphasizing the importance of defending your big blind.
6. Never Be The First to Limp
Limping is when you bet the absolute minimum to stay in the hand and is seen as weak and passive play especially if you’re the first to call the big blind pre-flop. Limping while holding the first position never works to your advantage. It comes with two notable disadvantages:
- Your chance of winning the pot reduces considerably
- It attracts more players into the round of betting
You are better off raising than limping if you hold the first position. However, limping is okay and can work in your favor if at least one other player limps before you. Over-limping increases the pot odds, increasing your likelihood of landing a decent win on the flop.
Interestingly, some poker players have strict rules against limping. Limpers end up folding most of the time, and raising can help push them over the edge quicker. However, raising continuously only works well if you have a strong hand, and usually when playing small-stakes poker – raising too many times can deplete your chips when playing high-stakes poker.
7. Bluff Cautiously
Bluffing is one of the most common Texas Hold’em poker strategies for beginners and experienced players. It involves over-representing your hand’s strength to scare your opponents into folding.
Bluffing usually works if the other player is uncertain or has a weak hand, and it can make you feel untouchable. However, beginners tend to overdo it, and it ends up costing and embarrassing them.
Making failed bluffs is one of the fastest ways to lose at poker. To this end, this strategy is only recommendable when you have a decent or strong hand. A decent hand is one that has the opportunity to strengthen later on during the game.
Overall, you should have a reliable backup plan if an opponent calls your bluff. Draws (such as flush draws and straight draws) are the best hands for making aggressive bluffs. Even an over-card or two can work in your favor later.
8. Think in Terms of Ranges, Not Hands
Trying to estimate your opponent’s hand is only natural. However, it is not practical considering the immense probability involved in poker. This is why experienced players think in terms of ranges instead of hands.
A range involves a broader spectrum of cards than a specific hand. For example, it can include a combination of flush, top pair, and bottom pair cards. Interestingly, the player will show their entire hand ranges with varying frequencies over time during the game’s duration.
Thinking in terms of ranges instead of hands can help give you a better idea of what to expect from your opponents. It can also help simplify the game, making it easier to keep up with tougher opponents as you climb up the ladder of high-stakes poker.
9. Fold When Uncertain
Losing is inevitable in poker, even for the best and most experienced players. To this end, folding is usually logical and even helpful in helpless situations.
Calling too often and failing is another common way of losing at poker. In contrast, folding essentially helps limit your losses – it is one of the safest high-stakes and poker tournament strategies. However, it is easier said than done because many beginners are usually curious to see how the game unfolds in hopes of winning.
A professional poker player will readily fold even when holding a decent hand if they think they have no likelihood of winning. Overall, folding is the safest thing to do whenever you are stuck between calling or folding.
10. Play Within Your Bankroll
Playing poker for real money is thrilling because of the likelihood of making or losing money. The allure of making more money, coupled with the disappointment of losing (and all other extreme emotions involved), can lead to irrational decisions. This is why playing for real money requires a calculated approach.
The main rule when playing for real money is to play within your bankroll. Overall, you shouldn’t risk more than you can afford to lose – always gamble responsibly when playing poker.
Money is an emotional commodity, and emotions can compromise your poker strategy. To this end, playing for real money is only recommended for experienced and professional poker players. Beginners should practice using free poker games or low-stakes poker games where any financial losses would be negligible.
Sitting Strategies for Poker
A player’s position is a crucial aspect of playing poker and one of the fundamental poker strategies for beginners. Some players have an edge over the others because of their positions. For example, late players can monitor the early players’ moves, helping them calculate their decisions to increase their likelihood of winning.
Here is an overview of poker sitting positions, their names, and the actions, benefits, and disadvantages associated with them:
Player Number Position Name Mandatory Action 1 Big Blind The player must pay the mandatory big blind, which is determined before the game starts. 2 Small Blind The player pays a mandatory small blind which is usually half of the Big Blind. 3 The Button Refers to the physical disc that’s passed around to indicate the dealer position. There is no mandatory action but it’s considered the best position to take down the blinds. 4 The Cut-Off The player is not obligated to take any action. They have an edge over the other players because they can raise aggressively to force the button to fold. 5 The Hijack /Middle position The player is not obligated to take any mandatory action. This is a good position around a table because the player can steal the blind if they play their cards right. 6 The Lojack A tighter position than the Hijack, it is difficult to make plays from this position. 7 – 9 Under the Gun/ Early positions These are the first positions and are the most difficult to play as the title refers to the pressure on the player. Top 5 Tips on How to Win at Poker
Winning at poker takes a holistic strategy, and any tip that can help is worth trying. The following five tips will help improve your game quickly even as you continue refining your long-term advanced poker strategies:
1. Adopt a Flexible Playing Style
Poker is a dynamic game, and some of the moves you make will be reactions to your opponents’ moves. For example, you may need to employ a tight strategy if you hold an early position or a loose one if you hold a later one. Overall, you should be ready to change your playing style in a heartbeat.
In addition to a flexible playing style, you also need a versatile long-term strategy. A good strategy can combine many smaller video poker strategies, and it should be just as dynamic as your short-term playing style.
2. Analyze Your Opponents
Poker is a psychological game, and you can tell a lot from your opponents’ body language. Interestingly, you can still get a read on your opponents’ actions even when playing online poker, despite not seeing them. For example, how much time a player takes to play and the move they play can help reveal uncertainty, making it highly likely that they have a weak hand.
Analyzing your opponents’ body language will help you adjust your short-term strategy to counter their moves and take advantage of their weaknesses. Overall, playing poker requires a keen eye and an inquisitive mind.
3. Take Advantage of Promotions
Every dollar counts when playing poker for real money. Fortunately, many online casinos offer exciting poker promotions, including bonus money. Some offers reach or even exceed $1,000, which would make for a fat bankroll. The promotions have strict terms and conditions, but they are usually easy to claim and use.
Promotions and bonuses are always welcome; they can give you a good head-start or help cushion your losses. However, check to see whether the offer has fair terms and wagering requirements.
4. Learn to Accept Defeat
No one enjoys losing, but in poker, losses are unavoidable, and accepting that can help save you a lot of disappointment down the line. Unfortunately, most beginners suffer more losses than wins, and the disappointment is enough to discourage them from the game after a few unsuccessful rounds.
Learning to accept defeat is crucial because it brings you one step closer to overcoming your emotions, one of the core poker strategies for beginners. However, failure should also inspire you to improve your playing strategy – the goal is to bag more wins than failures.
5. Have Fun
Poker should be fun. In fact, having fun is so crucial that it can determine success or failure. Overall, fun is associated with positive emotions such as self-confidence and optimism, enabling you to make smart moves. In contrast, a foul mood is associated with emotions such as anger and desperation, which can cloud your judgment. This is why professionals recommend only playing when you are in a good mood.
There are many youtube channels that can help you with poker tips and strategies, here’s an example of one below:
Play Free Poker
Mastering poker takes a lot of practice, as emphasized several times before. To this end, beginners are always recommended to play free poker before advancing to real money bets. Fortunately, many poker sites offer various poker versions for free while still simulating the real action, making for realistic practice.
You can play free poker at hundreds of online casinos, you can see full details at our free poker games guide. You can also interact with other novice and experienced poker players at social online casinos. Besides having fun, you can also win virtual credits and bragging rights to reward your efforts and inspire you to become even better.
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