1) Patience is a virtue! You may feel that you want to play every game, this is a big mistake. Unless you have a good hand, be cautious if you play, as you need a strong and powerful hand ideally in order to play. You can remove a certain amount of luck from the equation by ensuring you play when you have a good hand to start with. It is also important to remember your position as if you are starting from an early position the other players may raise and re-raise the pot, so it is especially important in this instance, you may simply be throwing your chips away.
2) Know the poker face! Observe your opponents get to know if they take risks, look at their face and the hand they have. A good time to observe is if you fold and are not in the game. Of course, players will also try to keep you on your toes and make themselves unpredictable. Poker players do all have styles, so try and watch for theirs.
3) Know when to bluff. Bluffing is a serious business, make sure you know how and when to bluff. In the famous words of Abraham Lincoln;
''You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time." - Abraham Lincoln. Bluffing in Poker is essentially the whole idea. You need to deceive your opponents in to thinking that you don't actually have a good hand so they are encouraged to bet higher putting more money on the table. Or alternatively, they think you have a good hand when you don't and you intimidate them into not continuing to be in the game. Hence, they will then 'fold' so you win the hand. Although, you would have lost if the game had resulted in 'calling' the cards. These are simply the two most obvious forms of bluffing. However, there are many reasons to bluff and times when you may use different styles of bluffing depending on your opponents. For example, when playing with tight players you may be able to bluff knowing they won't take the risk, or depending on what cards are on the table you may want to bluff on what you may have, for example pairs, 4 of a kind, flush etc. Also remember while you are happily bluffing, your opponents may well be all doing the same thing, after all bluffing is never used in another game as much as Texas Hold'em.
4) Know the game. Get to know the cards know if your hand is a good hand and what the maximum is you can get as well as what other players may have surmising from what cards are on the table. Even if you read the basics, for example if a player chooses to raise, when a third suited card is turned over, or if there is a pair and someone can make a full house or flush.
5) The flop. Knowing to stay in the game and play after the flop is important, as poker author Shane Smith has coined the phrase; 'Fit or Fold', if your hand does not fit the cards on the table after the flop and there is a bet in front of you, you should fold. It is said that after the flop your game is 71% complete as you have seen 5 cards out of 7, assuming you stay in the game until the end. With this in mind, if you don't have a strong hand then you may lose a lot more if you don't fold now.
6) This may seem obvious; but never show your hand unless you have to i.e. in the call. All too often when starting out players may reveal their hand, this is a bad habit! Don't show your opponents, or one opponent even when the game is finished, keep them from being revealed.
7) Be mindful of the number of other players. The more players in the game the more likely someone else will have a good hand. Therefore try to be more cautious at every stage of the game, with the first stage being whether to play the game or fold, depending on your first 2 cards.
8) Let other players eliminate themselves, this is relevant in tournaments. By holding back you will ensure that you stay in the game and reduce players. This will increase your chance of winning and guarantee you to be in the money and enable your style to then become more aggressive.
9) Don't be afraid to put your chips on the table. Providing you have a powerful hand and you can be sure that yours is the winning hand then have the confidence to show it. Don't be afraid to go all in, after all you are playing a game to win! Just be mindful of what is on the table and what other players could have, this goes back to tip 4, know the game.
10) Be flexible in your game. You need to change your style according to your position in terms of how much money you have on the table. If you have more chips you can then start to 'bully' other players into putting their chips on the table and raising the game, they will be less likely to take risks. Resulting in you winning more hands and depending at what point they fold you may be then increasing your status from what money is in the pot. Again, be flexible in the stage of the game as well. You can afford to be aggressive and bully players out early on, but in the later stages with less players you may want to go back to being patient with the game. It's more likely that fewer risks will be taken at this stage by all players. You cannot afford to play a good hand you need to fold unless it is a great hand. By keeping your game flexible you also decrease the chances of other players reading your game, after all when things heat up everyone is looking for the slightest pattern, giveaway, smirk etc. So with you tuned in, full of knowledge on the game and styling a poker face, you will be a much better player. Follow these tips and you will be winning in no time!
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