A poker tournament is ideal for many different purposes. Raising money for a good cause, an interactive evening with staff or customers or just as fun entertainment with friends. In short, poker is versatile and fun to do!
Below you will find 10 tips that will help you as a beginner poker player. For the basics of the game of poker.
Tip 1: Don't play too many hands
Often, new poker players are not good enough to decide which hands to play. Don't think every hand can win, it's a lot good to play too few hands than to play too high hands.
When you play a lot of hands in the beginning, you end up in a lot of difficult situations where you have to decide whether your hand is good enough. If you are an experienced player it is okay but when you are just starting out you can quickly get into trouble here.
Tip 2: Think about your opponent's possible cards
When you're just starting out, remembering your own hand is hard enough, let alone having an idea of which hand your opponent is holding. Yet it is very important to pay attention to this.
When you can estimate your opponent a bit ('put on a hand'), it often makes your decisions much easier. Now you know more often whether you have the winning hand, whether you should fold better or whether you should bet a lot or a little to win the maximum number of chips from your opponent during a poker tournament.
Tip 3: Think about who you are playing against
Make an estimate of the qualities of your opponents. If you think they are better than you then you should adjust your playing style accordingly. This often means playing (even) fewer hands. If you estimate that you are better than your opponents, you can take advantage of this by bluffing them more often or winning more chips from them if you have the best hand.
Tip 4: Don't bluff too often
Bluffing often only works against advanced players. When you play against new players, they are always busy with their poker game and have no clue that you are bluffing. Often they will not be afraid and will not fold. In addition, many beginners overestimate their own cards so they will not fold to your bluff, even if they have a poor hand.
Tip 5: thought about your position at online poker game
Your relative position to your opponent is very important. It is a great advantage to be the last person to be able to say what you are going to do. This way you can first see what your opponent is doing and try to get a 'read' on him or her before you have to do anything yourself. This also means that you can play bad hands if you have a good position.
The importance of position is often underestimated in (Texas Hold'em) poker. Your position can be just as important as the cards you get; often both players have a bad hand and the one with the best position will win the pot.
Tip 6: Make sure you know the rules
This tip seems obvious, but it often happens that players do not know the rules very well. A well-known example is the so-called 'string bet'. When a string bet is made, only the first chip bet counts.
In addition, it is of course also important to know what the winning hand is. This avoids you from thinking that you are great with your straight while the neighbor's game. Or that you think that your 6 regular cards are also a street.
Tip 7: Watch the game
You can make the fastest progress in poker if you pay close attention at the table. Especially if you are not in control yourself, you have plenty of time and the opportunity to observe the other players at the table.
Tip 8: Don't pay too much for draws
You will often find yourself in a situation where you have a hand that is not yet good but can become very good if the correct card hits the table. Consider, for example, an almost flush ('you need 1 more spade') or an almost straight ('you need an 8 or a king for a straight'). A common mistake is that beginners often (continue to) play this 'draw', even if they have to bet a substantial part of their chips.
To determine whether or not to play the draw, you need to apply some probability calculation. You set the amount to bet against the chance that you will make your hand.
Tip 9: Cards of the same suit are not much better than unsuited cards
New players can easily overvalue their suited cards (suited means two cards of the same suit, hearts, clubs, spades or diamonds). You won't make a flush very often and statistically suited cards are only about 2% more likely to win than unsuited cards.
Tip 10: Don't bet too little when you raise
If you get a good card, don't be afraid to raise big. Especially when you play poker with real money, new players more often stay in the hand instead of folding their cards. If you raise too little, you not only get less money in the pot, but also a lot of players play with it, making it more difficult to eventually win the hand. Try to have 1, 2 or a maximum of 3 opponents if you have good cards.
Learn more - Basics of Poker Game
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