Are you on your way out to play your first game of poker? Maybe some friends or family, or people from the office have invited you out for a friendly poker tournament, and since you never get invited anywhere, you jumped at the chance to show people your poker skills.
The problem with that is in your rush to make new friends, you now realize that you actually have no poker skills. So that means you need to learn some basic things about poker fast. Well, here are 10 things you need to know about how to win at poker. These are quick tips, but actually quite valuable and will help you at least be competitive in your home game poker tournament.
Tip 1 - Play tight. Being patient and waiting for quality hands to play means that you will likely be ahead of your opponent's when you do get involved in hand.
Tip 2 - Don't let your stack get too low. If the chip stack in front of you starts to get too small then you have to take some risks with weaker hands. That likely means moving all in pre-flop and forcing your opponents to make a tough decision. Even if you do get called, you are likely never too far behind, unless your opponent has you dominated with a big pair or higher kicker.
Tip 3 - Let your friends do the drinking, while you remain sober and retain your best judgment. That doesn't mean he can have fun, but if you want to win, you're going to need your brain.
Tip 4 - Trap aggressive opponents with your strong hands. Aggressive players will do all the betting for you, so when you do have a strong hand, let them make a big mistake.
Tip 5 - Play very few hands from early position. That means if you are sitting just behind the dealer button you need premium hands to play, so that you don't get any surprises from players who are to yet act behind you.
Tip 6 - Don't discuss your hand, or anyone else's hand, when other players are still involved in a pot. Although this isn't really a winning strategy, it is poker etiquette that is very important, and helps keep a home game clean and fair.
Tip 7 - If you make it to the money, that is one of the paid prizes, play very aggressive, and always be the first one in the pot. If you're going all in. It's a much bigger advantage to be the one betting, then to be the one having to make a call for your entire stack.
Tip 8 - Know your hand rankings. The best hand is a straight flush, followed by four of a kind, then a full house, then a flush, then a straight, three of a kind, followed by two pair, one pair, and simply a high card. Anything better than two pair is probably worth risking your entire tournament.
Tip 9 - Steal the blinds. When the blinds get raised and there worth stealing, then it's worth trying to steal them to keep your stack healthy enough to go deeper in the tournament. You especially want to be doing this if your opponents in the blinds are tight or timid players.
Tip 10 - Have fun. Now even though there is money on the line and you want to when it, most games brought together become memorable events because of the special moments you have with the people you're enjoying company with. So even though you may have an ulterior motive to actually win, make sure you have fun to. Being serious about poker is just fine, but you want to be saving that for the casino or playing online.
The problem with that is in your rush to make new friends, you now realize that you actually have no poker skills. So that means you need to learn some basic things about poker fast. Well, here are 10 things you need to know about how to win at poker. These are quick tips, but actually quite valuable and will help you at least be competitive in your home game poker tournament.
Tip 1 - Play tight. Being patient and waiting for quality hands to play means that you will likely be ahead of your opponent's when you do get involved in hand.
Tip 2 - Don't let your stack get too low. If the chip stack in front of you starts to get too small then you have to take some risks with weaker hands. That likely means moving all in pre-flop and forcing your opponents to make a tough decision. Even if you do get called, you are likely never too far behind, unless your opponent has you dominated with a big pair or higher kicker.
Tip 3 - Let your friends do the drinking, while you remain sober and retain your best judgment. That doesn't mean he can have fun, but if you want to win, you're going to need your brain.
Tip 4 - Trap aggressive opponents with your strong hands. Aggressive players will do all the betting for you, so when you do have a strong hand, let them make a big mistake.
Tip 5 - Play very few hands from early position. That means if you are sitting just behind the dealer button you need premium hands to play, so that you don't get any surprises from players who are to yet act behind you.
Tip 6 - Don't discuss your hand, or anyone else's hand, when other players are still involved in a pot. Although this isn't really a winning strategy, it is poker etiquette that is very important, and helps keep a home game clean and fair.
Tip 7 - If you make it to the money, that is one of the paid prizes, play very aggressive, and always be the first one in the pot. If you're going all in. It's a much bigger advantage to be the one betting, then to be the one having to make a call for your entire stack.
Tip 8 - Know your hand rankings. The best hand is a straight flush, followed by four of a kind, then a full house, then a flush, then a straight, three of a kind, followed by two pair, one pair, and simply a high card. Anything better than two pair is probably worth risking your entire tournament.
Tip 9 - Steal the blinds. When the blinds get raised and there worth stealing, then it's worth trying to steal them to keep your stack healthy enough to go deeper in the tournament. You especially want to be doing this if your opponents in the blinds are tight or timid players.
Tip 10 - Have fun. Now even though there is money on the line and you want to when it, most games brought together become memorable events because of the special moments you have with the people you're enjoying company with. So even though you may have an ulterior motive to actually win, make sure you have fun to. Being serious about poker is just fine, but you want to be saving that for the casino or playing online.
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