Key Tips about Playing Poker to Keep in Mind

07:38
09 Nov

Poker is a game that's easy to learn but hard to master. The game's goal is to beat your oponents, achievable by making the best hand or bluffing your opponent out of the pot. While Texas Hold'em is the most popular variant, other variations include Pot Limit Omaha, 5-Card Draw, and 7-Card Stud.

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Playing with aggression can help

Aggression is usually said to be key to being a winning poker player. No, that doesn't mean threatening your table mates with violence; in this case it would mean being aggressive with your chips. In practice, that means a lot of bets and raises, both as bluffs and for value. By being aggressive, the aim is to give yourself two ways to increase your chances at beating your oponents; your opponent could fold, or you could make the best hand. A good example is if you have a hand like a flush draw. If you play it aggressively, you could get your opponent to fold without making your hand.

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Observe your opponents

When you're playing poker, you're playing against other players, not the house. That means winning the game is exploiting your opponents weaknesses if you know how to do it. One common way is to observe the opponents closely, looking for tells that betray the strength of their hand. Once you've read how strong or weak they are, you could play your hand a bit more advantageously. While this works for games like poker, it doesn't work for house games like blackjack and certainly wouldn't work if you were playing an online casino UK game since it does not provide any visual cues.

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Avoid being the First to Limp

Limping is another word for calling preflop before anyone else has raised it. Limping is often an action made by beginner players, as they want to see the flop for cheap and aren't brave enough to raise. However, we mentioned earlier how important aggression can be poker, so if you want to play a hand, it should be much better to raise than to limp. By raising, you could have better odds preflop or you could be in an excellent position post-flop.

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Know the Lingo

If you're completely new to the game of poker, you will be confused by the lingo players use. Things like "flop" to describe the first three community cards, "limp" to describe calling preflop before a raise has been made, and "jam" to describe betting all your chips won't make much sense. However, it's essential to learn this lingo, as many poker players use it at the table, and it's always helpful to know what people are referring to.

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Fast Play your Strong Hands to Build the Pot

One mistake beginner players make is "slowplaying" strong hands - that is, they don't bet them. The thought behind it is that they will get other players to bet for them and disguise the strength of their hand. However, that doesn't work anywhere near often enough for it to be a worthwhile strategy. So it's a common strategy to play aggressively with your strong hands, like aces and kings preflop, to build a pot while you likely have the best hand.

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When Unsure Fold your Cards

If you're familiar with the hand rankings in poker, you'll likely know when you have a strong or weak hand. Therefore, if you're ever unsure about the strength of your hand, it's likely that it's weak. In these situations, it's better to err on the side of caution and fold. By folding, you limit the amount of money you can lose in a hand, allowing you to maximise the amount you could get when you know you have a strong hand.

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When Opponents Show Weakness you should Act

One important thing to know at the poker table is that when someone shows weakness, it doesn't necessarily mean they're weak. Sometimes players pretend they're vulnerable to get you to bet, whereas sometimes, they're legitimately weak. It's up to you to watch them when they're acting to try and pick up on these signs. If you think they're legitimately weak, you could play aggressively when you have a bluff, as they'll likely fold. Alternatively, it would be best if you played passively with a strong hand to try and get them to bluff into you.

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Conclusion

Players spend years playing poker without truly mastering it due to its complexities. However, poker is as tricky as you make it, and if you're playing against bad players, you don't need to play well to beat them. These are just some tips that may help you when playing poker, but always remember the most important part is to have fun with the game.