Beginners Tips | Poker Playing Tips for Beginners | Poker Room | Online Poker | Poker Tournaments | Poker Room

Poker Playing Tips for Beginners

Poker relies on other players not knowing your hand. Although other players cannot see your hand, the way you react can give them a lot of information. Now you might be wondering how this applies to online poker. Let's take, for instance, poker played at casinos. Suppose a player is dealt a nice hand; chances are he or she will look at the cards and smile, raise eyebrows or constantly look back at his or her cards; enough to tell his or her opponents that he or she has a nice hand.

In online poker, you can do the same mistake by suddenly placing a huge bet. If you always double the stakes when you have a good hand it will soon be noted by other players. Always take your time and re-think; don't act too quickly. In all likelihood good players will notice this and fold, meaning that your good hand will win you very little money.

You need to develop a betting strategy which maximizes your winnings and minimizes your losses. Your approach needs to be varied so other players can't predict your hand. Always pay attention, watch and see who the aggressive/loose players and the tight players are. Hang back and keep an eye on how the betting is going and what your opponents might have. Try not to stick to a single style of playing. The most successful poker players are those who are totally unpredictable.

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is staying every time they have an ace in their hand. No doubt aces are the highest card, but an ace alone cannot give you a winning hand. "High card" is the lowest possible winning hand combination. It is wise to stay if you have another card of the same suit or a ten or higher with it.

Now, what to do before the flop? I think its worth staying with any pair, consecutive cards of the same suit, such as 9, 8 or 6, 5, and fairly high cards of the same suit such as J and 9. Finally, if you think the community cards are not helping you after the flop then you must fold immediately.

Always be aware of everyone's chip count. Remember, in no-limit games players can bet all of their chips at any time, so a mistake can knock you out. Keep notes on yourself and on other players who you play frequently against. You can go through these notes and work out a strategy against each player. It also helps to keep track of your performance and learn from your mistakes. Periodically analyzing your notes will tell you whether your betting strategy is effective, and if not how you can alter it to compensate. It will also make you aware of your weaknesses.

Back on Top