- At some point in time, you’re going to get spotted by the players who consistently win money at the table. At this moment, you’re going to feel nervous and somewhat fearful of getting spotted. For this reason, you’re probably going to play a lot fewer hands than you would like.
- Understand the mathematics of the game and adjust your play accordingly. Don’t be afraid to put in a big raise when you have a good hand, even though you’re in first position. If you have a good hand, even established hands like pocket sevens, i.e. heads and/or tatics, will win money at the table if played correctly.
- This one is slightly more of an advanced step, but if you’re getting better cards than your opponents and you’re in the blind, you should be tossing these players a bones and wait patiently for the big hands to come again. If you’re a pretty good player, you will win big pots because your opponents will call you off the hand, meaning you will get a heads up.
- Bankroll management is very important for the serious poker player. Calculate your hourly expenditure based on the table limits you’re playing at. Play higher limits where you can play in comfortable conditions. As your bankroll increases, you can move up limits a notch or two and depending on your bankroll, you’ll either be break even or slightly in the black, based on the amount of money you compete with.
- It’s okay to let a few more people through when you have a monster especially if they’ve been playing the table before. The reason for this is that you want them to get a read on your hand by the fact that you raise and reraise. Be wary of a good flop as an overcard, as too many people tend to stay in too long because of it’s sweet.
- Steal the blinds from the button. Place your restrict on the people in the blind. If you steal the blind, it gives you order to play stronger hands and hints that you’re considering playing a wider selection.
- You might have won a pot without even having seen the flop if you were calling a raise or reraise preflop, but it doesn’t matter. When you’re reraising a late position opponent and you have medium holdings, your opponents are more likely to stick around for the flop and for later positions.
- No one wins a poker tournament in the first 5 or 6 hands. You win the tournament in the first 7. And you can definitely win a poker tournament in the first hour. The first hour is when most people start to play tight, earn some money, get looser in position and start to find your good hands.
- There’s nothing wrong with stealing the blinds from the button. This even makes sense if you consider the fact that the blinds are live. You are correct to be stealing the blinds since it’s the money you need to be sitting in the pot. Consider the best way to describe hand relative strength using Hold’em rules 1 and 2: it’s medium strength compared to strong, it’s not strong compared to medium and weak, and it’s not weak compared to weak.
- Spend quality time thinking about your starting hand before you act. Think it through. Don’t just click an button if you want to check or raise. If you’re going to play for a pot, raise. If you’re going to play for a pot to chase, raise. Why? A strong hand rarely has to improve to win a pot. Common variations of hands that win easily are pairs, proven hands, medium pairs, and strong pairs. You know what they are. Your goal when entering a pot is to flop a strong hand. It’s easy to forget that in the first few open cards, the flop, you aren’t likely flop anything. The pot odds and your cards dictate you should call, but you forget to do so sometimes. Don’t call in early position with a medium pair after someone raised. Call if you have the ace, but stay away from calling when you have a medium pair after multiple players. Either raise or fold, it’s your call.
- Drinking actually seems to mix well with being traveling. Especially for people who like to travel. Too much alcohol and play makes one do things they wouldn’t normally do. Drinking is also reminder material. Take a hit when you need to, but stay within the limits of your health. Other things work better without Rum, alcohol, please.
- Women win at Vegas88. Who wouldn’t think that women would be good at poker?