Poker is a game where even the best players make mistakes and lose big pots from time to time. That’s the nature of the beast, but you can minimize these mistakes and improve your chances of winning by learning the basics of poker strategy. In this article we will take a look at some of the most important aspects of poker strategy and tips to help you win more hands.
The first thing to understand is that poker is a game of ranges. You need to know how likely it is that your opponent has a certain hand, and you can do this by working out their range of cards. Newer players tend to try and put their opponent on a specific hand, but more experienced players will work out their opponents’ range and play accordingly.
When you sit down to a poker table you will be dealt two cards by the dealer. The player to the left of you will then take their turn and can either call the current bet (put out chips equal to or higher than the size of the big blind), raise the existing bet, or push their cards into the dealer face down without putting any money in (fold). After this round of betting is complete the dealer will deal three more cards on the table that anyone can use. This is called the flop.
A good poker player will look at the cards in their hand and will compare this to their opponent’s range to see how strong or weak their hand is. There are many different hands that can be made, but the most common ones are Straights (5 cards of consecutive rank in the same suit), Flushs (3 or more matching cards of one rank and 2 unmatched cards of another rank) and Pairs (2 matching cards of the same rank).
In order to play a hand of poker you will need to get your opponents to fold their cards by making a bet or raising. If you have a good starting hand you should be playing it aggressively, especially if you are in early position. This will ensure that you don’t have any bad beats on later streets, and you can maximise the value of your hand.
It’s also worth remembering that your hands are usually only good or bad in relation to what the other players are holding. For example, if you have a pair of kings and someone has AK-AK you will lose 82% of the time. On the other hand, if you have KK and they have JJ then your kings will win 79% of the time. This is why it’s important to play the player, not the cards.
