General Poker Tips

Watch the other players more than the cards. Picking up tells on other players and will allow you to read their poker face and know when they are bluffing. These tells are often subtle, which is why professional players look at the other players before they look at their own cards

It takes a long time to reach the "long run." Poker is a game of skill in the long run with a lot of short-term luck. If you are playing better than your opponents and play your "A" game at all times, you will win. Just understand that you will still have many losing nights and big fluctuations in your bankroll in the course of becoming a winner in the long run.

Be tight and aggressive. The players who win the most money are rarely the ones who win the most pots. The key is to be selective (tight) and only play with good cards such as high pairs or high cards with flush or straight potential. When you do enter a pot, play your hand aggressively.

Pump it or dump it. Unless you have "the nuts" and want to suck players in, you should rarely just call another player's bet. When another player bets, you should either raise (pump it) or fold (dump it).

Remember - it depends. What makes poker so challenging is that no two situations are alike. Rather than try to memorize a formula, you must constantly evaluate the other players, the odds, and the specifics of a hand.

Quit when you're behind; play when you're ahead. Human nature dictates that when you are losing, you want to get even so badly that you'll play all night and start chasing longshots. It also tells you to lock in a profit when you're winning. What you should do is stick to a set loss amount before you start, and if you are winning keep playing to take advantage of the momentum.

Know how much money is in the pot. By keeping a running count of the money in the pot, it allows you to know if you are getting enough return to justify risking your chips. It's not enough to know the odds: you must also know the payoff.

Take Advantage of position. When you are the first to act, you should be even more selective in the hands you play. When you're the last to act, exploit that advantage by playing even more aggressively.

Strong usually means weak and weak usually means strong. As a general rule, a player who is acting strong by staring at you or betting forcefully, is usually weak and is trying to bluff you out of the pot. The player who is acting weak by appearing disinterested, is usually strong and is trying to suck you into the pot.

Start with good cards. It's like cooking, the better ingredients at the start, the better the chance of success. Starting with bad cards puts you in the position of "chasing" to make a winning hand.

Don't go on "tilt." Controlling your emotions with money on the line is the toughest thing to do at the poker table. When you lose a hand, especially a "bad beat" when another player hits a long shot to beat you, you must maintain your cool and play the next hand without emotion.

What makes poker so challenging is that no situations are alike. Rather than try to memorize a formula, you must constantly be evaluating the other players, the odds, and the specifics of a hand.

Daniel Negreanu

Analyzing your play on a regular basis is the secret to improvement. Making mistakes is fine, learning nothing from them isn't.

Eyes, hands, throat, fingers, whether a player chatters or sits in silence. Subconscious tells are everywhere. Figuring out what they mean is the tricky part.

Someone might tell you, Hey, if you are in late position and you have got top pair, an over-pair, or top kicker, if nobodys bet, BET! You have got to bet to knock people out before they can draw to a hand. But, there will be moments when you might want to slow play it in such a situation. Keep in mind that there are few absolutes in poker. It's important that you mix up your play so that your opponents have a tougher time figuring you out.

At times you may have someone tell you something like. Never call a bet with a pair thats not top pair: either raise or get out. Advice like this will get you into lots of trouble. There's nothing wrong with calling with even bottom pair on the flop and proceeding cautiously from there. If you are waiting to flop top pair or better every time, you will find yourself doing a whole lot of waiting and very little winning.

If you find yourself in a game where it seems like every hand goes to a showdown, you should bluff less. If your opponents are calling with rags [bluffs or low cards] all the time, bluffing just isn't going to work. On the other hand, keep in mind that if you are going to the showdown, you better come prepared with a strong hand.

The most important characteristic for a champion card player is aggression. Think about it. How many tight conservative players have won on the WPT That's right, ZERO! In order to win, you have to be willing to get in there and fight. Dr. Max Stern once said, In a tournament, sometimes you have to be willing to die in order to live. Words to live by.

Beginning players should try to simply learn the fundamentals. How much to bet, what hands to play. As they gain experience and their play improves they will be able to rely on their instincts in certain situations. For more advanced players, it's all about instinct. If you fall into the latter category I would add one specific piece of advice: when in doubt, trust your first instinct.

A poker truism: The harder you work, the better you will get.

Chinese Proverb

If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.

Antonio Esfandiari

Instinct is far more important than understanding odds, it's not even close. You can learn the math, the math is simple. But if you can read your opponents hand, you can't lose at poker. You can't lose.

At the table, don't let your opponents know anything. Always spread maximum disinformation.

Poker is all about timing. It's about when you make a move, how you make it, who you make it against. Some people say when they sit down that they always want to win the first hand they decide to play. Who cares? It's not important to win the first pot, just the most pots.

You have got to recognize when you are in the presence of superior players and learn from them. When I finally decided that I was going to play my best poker, it was the simplest things that made the difference: not paying people off, not calling on the river when you know you are beat, getting up and taking a walk around the casino when you are starting to steam. Keep it simple.

The best time to bluff is when you are in position and you think you can win the pot. Heres an illustration: I have 8,9 of hearts, and the flop comes with J,Q and three spades. On my right is an F.B.S. (Full Blown Squeezer, i.e. a tight, conservative player who only plays premium hands) who raises and makes it 300 to go, and we are heads up. I know he's a squeezer, so I know he's got two aces. I'm a long shot with a gut shot straight draw and two over cards and a different flush on the board. I will always bet that flop. Because nine times out of ten, he checks, I raise, he folds. That's the power of position, position is so powerful.

Theres nothing better than facing a good, tight limit player when they first come into the no-limit game. The squeezer, the guy who sits there waiting for aces. There's no better joy in the world than felting a squeezer. (The term "felting an opponent", i.e. taking his stack right down to the felt, was coined by Phil "Unabomber" Laak, and AE respectfully credits him with it.)

Doyle Brunson

In a big no-limit game against tough opponents, you should never show a quality lay-down unless you intend to call in the future. When you are floundering around in the ocean, it's stupid to drop bait for the sharks.

Phil Laak

A great place to learn the basic dynamics of a new game you are trying to learn is the internet. With the advent of internet poker, it is now possible to have a nine-handed, no-limit poker game with as little as one cent, two cent blinds. All the games you find in card rooms are also spread on the internet, and all available at micro limits.

If you are heads up and last to act, you will be betting sometimes even without a nice hand, so you might as well bet your nice ones as well. The times you bluff in that spot will camouflage the times you have stronger holdings. Remember, everyone is a dog to improve on the flop.

If you never mix up your style of play, wise opponents will figure out what you are up to and devise a strategy to undermine you. So mix it up to defend yourself from being predictable and therefore beatable. Obviously the best time to mix it up change gears, vary your play is right after your opponent has figured out what game plan you are on. Of course, don't get too carried away here. Lots of hands play themselves: nut flush draws with the right odds, calling with monsters. Many times, straight-forward play leaves your opponents wondering what you have and what you are doing just as well as if they think you are not playing so predictably.

All-in with aces versus kings pre-flop...and the guy sucks out on you, hitting his king. When that happens it has to be a non event to you. It has to affect you the way not finding the cereal aisle right away in the supermarket might. And that is hardly at all. The observer participating. Mindful, aware, and present but seemingly somewhere else. This is, of course, easier said than done, but when you get a taste of it, it is a beautiful state of mind.

With proper discipline or philosophy you will be able to dodge the poor play that sometimes follows your, let's call it, poker mishap. I hate the term bad beat. Having a guy suck out on you for a huge pot that is poker. Deal with it.

To smooth out the cadence of your game, try playing pretend poker when you are not in a hand. Imagine: if I had such and such a hand I would bet this much here. Cut the chips, and just as you are about to put the chips in the pot, stop. You have sort of practiced in real time with that hand. Your body and mind get used to betting rhythms this way and when the moment comes you will have that much more experience with that hand dynamic. From gymnasts to basketball players, experiencing the result in their head makes it that much easier at crunch time. As crazy as it sounds, it also applies to poker.

I used to play more hands as I began to win, but after seeing too many huge winning sessions erode away to merely nice winning sessions I changed to the following: I try to always think in terms of how did I arrive here, what works at this table, what is my optimum play, independent of what sort of streak I am in, winning or losing. This way I also am practicing the art of detachment from results, which helps in winning. When you are more concerned with playing well than with your results the results seem to take care of themselves.

Ken Warren

Being able to throw away a hand when you only have to call one bet to see the next card is one of the hallmarks of a great player.