There is a lot of information available on the internet about how to become a better poker player. This article aims to give you my top tips for improving your odds of winning at the next live or online poker tournament.
First of all, confident poker players – especially in Texas Hold’em, multi-tabling and in general – make big mistakes. Providing you avoid these big mistakes, which cost you a lot of money, you will improve your play.
The first mistake, which many beginning players make is they sit down at a table or play at a tournament wanting to pay with a lot of hands. Yes, when you are starting out you want to raise with any hand, however, you should rarely call in the early stages. Much of the beginning game is about trying to get good value with your good hands and hoping that the other players at the table hit their hands and thus you can get a cheap flop. If other players hit the board, you just don’t want to risk a big stack of chips with any sort of medium or weak hand. In early position you should only raise with AA, AK, JJ, QQ, AK and AQ. If the flop hits any of these hands, you should make a continuation bet (a bet around 1/5 the pot) regardless of what the action is behind you.
As the blinds get raised and then you are in a later position, you will want to loosen up a bit and play more hands. You still should only limp in with good hands, but if you Think you have a good hand and someone bets, you should call a small raise, so you don’t risk getting raised again.
When you are in late position, or you are last to act after the flop, you should be more aggressive with hands like king-berrrah, eights-ivan, nines- substr mix etc. Since you have position on the lapak303 you can always bet if it’s folded to you. When you are in late position, and you have a large stack of chips, you are practically already in the money. You can also consider a blind steal where you would re-raise your opponents, once you are in late position.
As the blinds go up you will need to loosen up your game. Again, you don’t want to tighten up in mid to high blind levels because that is the level at which the players will be very tight. Of course you still need to play tight. But, when the blinds are small you are less likely to get action – so you can be more aggressive.
Once you are one of the final three players you can relax a bit. You already have money in the pot. If you are a beginner you should wait for a good hand, but also be aware of your opponents. If you opponent has small to medium stacks, and you raise in late position, and he re-raises you, you should fold. That would be a bad move. Also, if you opponent has a big stack, and you call his bet or raise, you need to make a decision. You should either continue with the hand, or fold. Unless you have a premium hand, you should not continue past the flop if you are not top hand.
A big tip is to be the first person to act at the pot. If you think you have the best hand, you can get the pot there pretty cheap. Nobody really expects you to have the best hand, so most of the time you wont be betting. And once you make your move and you are followed by your opponents, most of the time they will fold.
That’s it! I know that this article is a hit and run tactic, but it worked for me so keep trying. The hard part is telling when the other players are weak and you can get a real hand and win. But, more importantly, you should not fall in love with your hand if it is not top hand.
You know what really made me successful? When I first started playing free online poker and doing what I would do “The Online idiots” and crushing the games. Then, I kind of went back to play money with some good players and I thought I was playing a bit better. But, I kept telling myself, “I can’t possibly win anything important if I keep playing”. It got to the point where I was winning hands and then I started to lose. I fixed a big mistake in my game and it cost me a lot of money. Now, I have quit playing for a while to take some time off and analyze my game. I recommend that you follow the same one rule: You have got to actions to play. junk your hand if it isn’t top hand. I have quit playing cash games and now I play only sit and go tournaments.