Poker basics
Position
There exist three positions.
- early position (These players have to act early)
- middle position
- late position (These players have information about the action of the other players before them)
Steal the blinds
Pre-Flop: If you are in late position and everybody folded before you, you can raise with any or many hands to try to make the players behind you fold, so that you win the pot directly. If someone still calls behind you, you can try to bluff him on the flop again.
Starting hands
In general: The more oppenents you have, the better hands you should play.
Big Pairs (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT)
These are strong hands. However, you need to learn when to fold them.
High cards (AK, AQ)
- Good if they hit on flop. But you won't get much money from a player with a lower pair, since he sees the scary card on the board.
- If you do not hit, you can try a bluff and if you get called, you may still hit a good card on turn or river.
Middle cards (AJ / KQ / QJ / KJ / AT)
- If you hit on the flop with these hands, you still have to be careful since you can loose a lot money to a player with the same pair but higher kicker.
Small Pairs (99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22)
There are many different ways of how you can play them.
- They are especially good if you hit a set on the board later.
Suited connectors (for example: 6
7 , T
9 , ......)
With these hands you have a good chance to hit a flush or a straight.
Good to steal blinds. If someone calls, you may can semi-bluff after the flop.
Made Hands and drawing hands
Made hands are hands who already have proper value. Find out when your hand is beat and you're holding a "second best" hand.
Drawing hands don't have much value yet, but can improve to very strong hands.
Protect your made hand
When you have a proper hand and several oppenents, you should raise so that a few people fold. If many people can see the next board cards, the chances are higher that somebody improves his hand and gets a better one than you have.
Loose and tight play
If you should play loose or tight depends on how the game your playing at is.
- When the table is loose, you should rather play tight and win by having better hands
- When the table is tight, you should try to steal many pots.
Table Image
There are two main table images, loose and tight. If you play many hands and show bad cards on show down or earlier, people will more think of you as a loose player. If you play just a few and show only good hands to your oppenents, you'll have tight image. All have their advantages and disadvantages. You may also aim to confuse your oppenents, so that they don't know if you're more a tight or loose player.
Bluff
Good primises for a bluff are:
- Only one opponent
- You have a oppenent that often folds to a raise
- You're oppenent checked to you
- The board looks scary
- Your oppenent probably did not hit the board
- You showed some strenth pre-flop
- You have a tight table image
After a bluff of you got caught, you'll have a looser table image. You can use this and play your next strong hand simular to your bluff. People are more likely to pay your hand of with a bad hand.
Semi-bluff
A semi-bluff is not a pure bluff. This means, if you get called, you'll still have a chance to win by improving your hand with the upcoming board cards.
Proper semi-bluffs are:
- flush draw on flop (ca. 30% chance to make a flush)
- straight draw on flop (ca. 30% chance to make a straight)
- two overcards on flop (ca. 20% chance to hit one of your higher cards)
- a pair you hit with one of your hole cards on the flop (ca. 20% chance to make two pair or a set)
A very good semi-bluffs can you make if you have a combination of two draws.
You can also semi-bluff with draws of less quality like for example with an inside-straight draw.
Odds
Find out the winning probabilities of competing hands:
Keep your game intransparent
Always bet the same amount of money in equal situations regardless of which hand you have.
And, if you bet with a strong hand, you should bet with a worse hand too, instead of calling.
There exist three positions.
- early position (These players have to act early)
- middle position
- late position (These players have information about the action of the other players before them)
 | Early position Course of the information gap and many player behind people still in the game (which increases the chance of a good hand in the game), people play on average with better hands from here.  you can take the action. If you raise first, your oppenents have at least to call if they want to stay in the game.  You have no information about the actions of the players behind you.Middle position Pretty tricky position. Not good to play from if someone raised before you. (since early position raiser play on average with a better hand and you have still players behind you)Late Position You have more information about your oppenents than other players. (Only Pre-flop you have the players with the blinds behind you) You can build bigger pots. You can decide to take a "free card" if you have the Dealer button and everybody checked to you. |
Steal the blinds
Pre-Flop: If you are in late position and everybody folded before you, you can raise with any or many hands to try to make the players behind you fold, so that you win the pot directly. If someone still calls behind you, you can try to bluff him on the flop again.
Starting hands
In general: The more oppenents you have, the better hands you should play.
Big Pairs (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT)
These are strong hands. However, you need to learn when to fold them.
High cards (AK, AQ)
- Good if they hit on flop. But you won't get much money from a player with a lower pair, since he sees the scary card on the board.
- If you do not hit, you can try a bluff and if you get called, you may still hit a good card on turn or river.
Middle cards (AJ / KQ / QJ / KJ / AT)
- If you hit on the flop with these hands, you still have to be careful since you can loose a lot money to a player with the same pair but higher kicker.
Small Pairs (99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22)
There are many different ways of how you can play them.
- They are especially good if you hit a set on the board later.
Suited connectors (for example: 6
7 , T 9 , ......) With these hands you have a good chance to hit a flush or a straight.
Good to steal blinds. If someone calls, you may can semi-bluff after the flop.
Made Hands and drawing hands
Made hands are hands who already have proper value. Find out when your hand is beat and you're holding a "second best" hand.
Drawing hands don't have much value yet, but can improve to very strong hands.
Protect your made hand
When you have a proper hand and several oppenents, you should raise so that a few people fold. If many people can see the next board cards, the chances are higher that somebody improves his hand and gets a better one than you have.
Loose and tight play
| Loose | Tight |
| --> Loose table image You get a better read on your oppenents since you're not just watching them, you're playing with them. You can hit a difficult to see monster hand. The hands you're playing are less predictable Your oppenents get a better read on how you play your hands since they see you playing a lot. | --> Tight table image You're playing with a quality hand. So, you can win with a bluff and have a good chance to win with the best hand too. People do less know how you play in different situations. When you and your loose openent hit a good hand at the same time, you're more likely to have the better good hand and will win a big pot. The blinds may eat you. People know more about the hands you play |
- When the table is loose, you should rather play tight and win by having better hands
- When the table is tight, you should try to steal many pots.
Table Image
There are two main table images, loose and tight. If you play many hands and show bad cards on show down or earlier, people will more think of you as a loose player. If you play just a few and show only good hands to your oppenents, you'll have tight image. All have their advantages and disadvantages. You may also aim to confuse your oppenents, so that they don't know if you're more a tight or loose player.
| Loose image | Tight image |
| Your good hands will be paid of better It's getting harder to bluff. | You can bluff easier People will pay you of less. |
Bluff
Good primises for a bluff are:
- Only one opponent
- You have a oppenent that often folds to a raise
- You're oppenent checked to you
- The board looks scary
- Your oppenent probably did not hit the board
- You showed some strenth pre-flop
- You have a tight table image
After a bluff of you got caught, you'll have a looser table image. You can use this and play your next strong hand simular to your bluff. People are more likely to pay your hand of with a bad hand.
Semi-bluff
A semi-bluff is not a pure bluff. This means, if you get called, you'll still have a chance to win by improving your hand with the upcoming board cards.
Proper semi-bluffs are:
- flush draw on flop (ca. 30% chance to make a flush)
- straight draw on flop (ca. 30% chance to make a straight)
- two overcards on flop (ca. 20% chance to hit one of your higher cards)
- a pair you hit with one of your hole cards on the flop (ca. 20% chance to make two pair or a set)
A very good semi-bluffs can you make if you have a combination of two draws.
You can also semi-bluff with draws of less quality like for example with an inside-straight draw.
Odds
Find out the winning probabilities of competing hands:
Always bet the same amount of money in equal situations regardless of which hand you have.
And, if you bet with a strong hand, you should bet with a worse hand too, instead of calling.
Read your oppenents
Watch where they fold, where they bluff, how they play draws, "made hands" and so on.
Create your own game
Do not play just after the advice somebody gave you or that you read anywhere. Play your own game. You won't become good if you try to copy the game of someone else.
If you use these poker basics, you already have a solid strategy.
You learn poker by playing and learning from your experience!
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