Top 10 Tips for Successfully Playing Poker

Poker players require more than just luck to win consistently. Being armoured with some strategies and tactics should improve knowledge, as well as make the experience more enjoyable.

Unless you are a tournament regular and at the top of your game, then quick and easy poker tips can help boost confidence and potentially reap rewards.

The good news is that there’s such a plethora of online poker opportunities nowadays — with cash games, live poker rooms and online tournaments — that makes it easier for you to sharpen your poker skills if you want the upper hand.

Better yet, you’ll find plenty of enticing bonus offers on online casinos that you can take advantage of as you practice your poker skills. While slot fans will surely appreciate some of the best offers of free spins in the UK, fans of poker can make use of other types of bonuses that may come in the shapes of a bonus code, a no deposit offer, and many others.

Indeed, slots and card games are proving extremely popular on mobile platforms. With most online poker sites providing live table statistics, players should pick a table with a high average pot size to kick things off.

Tip 1 Forget Gut Instinct
Successful players will focus on finding a single winning hand as well as consider the range, which covers the spectrum of opponent’s hands available.
The best play is achieved by those who try to figure out the frequency of certain cards appearing and to calculate pot odds.
Never base game play on following a gut feeling.

Tip 2 Find Weaker Opponents to Beat
Finding a way for a positive win-rate is vital, but in order to succeed you require players who are weaker than you.
Always put yourself in the position where your chance to win is large. Check out various online providers at different times of the day to play against the worst players you can find.

Tip 3 Play Solid Poker Early
To build up a stack for a deep run, you will need to play solid and aggressive poker early on.
Only alter this approach if you become short-stacked and near the money bubble or a pay jump.
 
Tip 4 Play Tightly and Aggressively
Be disciplined and, rather than allowing impatience to kick in, only get involved in a hand that’s worth playing. A tight range of strong hands is better than a scattergun approach.
It’s best to play all of your hands aggressively as this will mask speculative hands from more playable hands, making you a tricky opponent to read.

Tip 5 Attack When Your Opponent Shows Weakness
Take advantage when any opponent displays weaknesses in a heads-up pot by employing an aggressive bluffing strategy.
Bet with your usual semi-bluffs and consider throwing in a bet as a pure bluff with some nothing hands.

Tip 6 Avoid Being The First to Limp
Limping first, to just call in an unraised pot on the opening betting round, is considered to be a sign of a weak player.
Those who do so will simply gift opponents enticing pot odds. This in turn is likely to attract more players to become involved in the game, just to take advantage of your weakness.

Tip 6 Let The Cards Dictate Bluffing
Bluff with hands that have outs to improve to the best hand on a later street, such as flush draws and straight draws.
Bluffing with total nothing hands prior to the river is ill advisable, and it’s best to bluff only once for every two value bets.

Tip 7 Build The Pot With Strong Hands
With a strong hand, be courageous enough to chase opponents out of the pot to protect your equity.
If uncertain then it’s best to just bet, or check raise if you weren't the preflop aggressor. This will stop you missing out on potential value or being outdrawn.

Tip 8 Defend Your Big Blind
Whenever faced with a raise while sitting in the big blind, which is a special position because you’ll already have one big blind invested in the pot, you should call profitably. You’ll have better pot odds to call than the other positions.
Play tighter against the early positions, when the bet size is large and at least one player has already called the raise. It is best to only call with hands that do well in multiway pots.

Tip 10 If In Doubt Fold
Calling too often, and in the wrong situations, is a surefire way to lose at poker.
It’s best to fold whenever you are undecided about whether to call or fold versus a bet or raise, even though it means missing out on the opportunity to win the pot.

These tips cannot guarantee to turn you into a poker champion, but bet, bluff and play is the way forward for an enjoyable experience at the tables.