Basic Strategy

If you're a new player to the game then your very best approach to poker is to keep it simple. If you're just starting out then you don't need to be trying elaborate moves and extravagant bluffs. Keep things simple and allow the odds to work in your favour.

Follow our starting hands guide and try to make sure that you enter into the action with as good a hand as possible. Keep a firm awareness of what it is you're trying to hit and have the discipline to throw away bad cards. This is especially important on cash tables, when you have time on your side and are not being pressured into action by the ever increasing blinds.

It can be heartbreaking to see that the 3-9 you threw away would have made a full-house on the flop but those occasions will be very few and far between. If you regularly go into pots with bad starting hands then the odds will eventually get you and you'll be a losing player.

One of the great pleasures of poker is to bluff your way to victory. However, don't get carried away with the idea of bluffing too early on. In lower stake games you're likely to get called, simply because the stakes are low, and it's always impossible to bluff a poor player. Similarly, never try to bluff a full table. The chances are that somebody has something in their hand and if they do then you'll most probably get called.

Don't ever think you're pot-committed if you've still got plenty of chips in front of you. On almost every occasion when you think you're beaten you probably are. Never be afraid to fold when you think you're beaten and live to fight another day.

Just about the easiest way to be a winning player at poker is to bet when you have a strong hand and not when your opponent does. It sounds simple and that's just what it is. Too many players lose their chips by getting involved in the betting when they have a marginal hand and their opponent is betting heavily.

Try not to fall into the trap of chasing hands when you've got little to hit. If you've got a pair of fours and the flop comes over A-K-7 then you're probably going to need to hit another four to have any chance of winning the hand. At this point you need to remember that there are only two possible fours remaining in the deck, so your chances of catching one of them on the turn or river are extremely small.

Even when you have a monster starting hand, such as A-A or K-K, you're going to have to admit defeat when it's obvious that you're beaten. If there's a probable straight on the board, or a glaring flush, and your opponents are betting strongly then don't cling blindly to a losing hand. It is always better to fold than lose most or all of your chips.

One of the most tragic errors in Texas Hold'em, much more so than other poker games, is when players doggedly cling to hands that look good long after they have clearly turned bad - which is then usually followed by a sad, bad beat story, of how such a great hand somehow lost!

A flush is an above average hand in poker and will usually win most hands in which it appears. That leads many inexperienced players to regard two suited cards as being much stronger than they actually are. In reality, two suited cards go on to make a flush only 6.5% of the time - about once every sixteen times you have them. They'll probably pay off handsomely on the occasions that they do make a flush but if you always play two suited cards then in the long run it will almost certainly be a losing strategy.

Part of poker is losing big hands from time to time and suffering some cruel bad beats. These things happen and you have to deal with it. Don't allow such an event to make you emotional because once that happens you will start to make poor choices and, most likely, lose even more of your chips.

One mistake you should always try to avoid is to slow-play when you think you've got a big hand off the flop. If you check to try and trap an opponent then they may well check too, in order to get another card. If that happens you may find that your three of a kind is suddenly losing to a straight or a flush. If you've got the good hand then don't be afraid to bet it. It is always better to take a small win than suffer a big loss. If you've got an absolute monster hand, such as a full-house or the nut-flush then, by all means, slow-play your opponent and hope that they make their lesser hand, but don't get too clever when your own hand is beatable.

Always try to avoid making the basic mistakes that prove to be the downfall of so many new poker players. As a reminder here they are again;

• Don't play too many hands. You'll quickly start to bleed chips and once they're gone they can be very hard to win back.
• Don't play at a level that is likely to wipe out your entire bankroll in one go if you suffer a bad beat.
• Don't fall into the trap of over-playing two-suited cards. They don't go on to make a flush all that often.
• Don't over-estimate the power of bluffing in low stakes games and against poor opponents.
• Don't become emotional when you play. It will affect your judgement and you'll make costly mistakes.
• Don't get too clever when trying to slow-play opponents, unless you have an unbeatable hand. Most of the time you'll just be giving them free cards to make a hand better than yours.