Never have words been more accurate.
When learning to play Hold’em, most new poker players play too many hands and push the game too far.
When you decide to become a winning player, playing tight or with fewer hands is one of the first lessons you acquire.
This is because playing only strong starting hands makes playing on later streets much simpler.
Tips for Winning at Poker
Learning to play successful poker requires a firm understanding of playing tight. Everyone can play poker, but only a select few can play winning poker, hence why I use the term winning poker.
Before the flop, you will decide whether to play a hand further or fold it. Every writing you play involves pre-flop decisions instead of the loss and turn, which you might only play once or twice every orbit.
Every time you play a hand, you shouldn’t. You are playing too loosely pre-flop costs you money. Playing tight before the flop should be your first tactic to grasp.
Before the flop, play only the strongest hands.
It would be best to play the strongest starting hands before the flop.
Look for hands like AA, KK, QQ, etc., that are already monsters. Play top-pair hands, that is, hands that make top pair when they do so with a strong kicker.
Examples are A-K, A-Q, K-Q, etc. You can also play speculative solid hands, such as T-9s, 8-9s, small pocket pairs, etc., that flop large and win big pots.
Avoid using any other hands like the plague. They exhibit a negative expectation (see “EV explained”) and are extremely challenging to play following the flop.
Due to the king and suit, a hand like K-5s may appear strong; however, appearances can be misleading. In actuality, this is a weak hand.
The five is rarely the top pair on the flop when it partners its five.
It only has a five-kicker when pairing its king. Hence it frequently loses the kick in a showdown.
This hand’s characteristic is that it turns poker into a guessing game. You can never be sure of your position. Additionally, they eliminate your chance of making a straight.
Additional Reading
- Cheat Sheet for Texas Holds them Starting Hands.
Don’t Let the Flush Fool You!
You might believe the hand’s flush-making capacity will allow it to overcome all this. It wasn’t to be. Being suited only increases the odds of winning by 2% overall.
In general, you should generally fold a hand suited if you would fold it offsuit.
Flushes only occur occasionally enough to make up for a weak beginning hand’s drawbacks. Stop limping your hands because they are suited, then.
That is in contrast to a hand like A-K. You make the top pair with the best kicker when A-K hits the flop. At showdown, you can never be outkicked.
You know where you stand in the hand so that you can play this hand with assurance. It minimizes “guessing.”
Additional Reading
- What is the A-K Poker Hand?
You can judge your position before you strike.
Because of this, you are playing strong opening hands, making the subsequent streets more straightforward. You are aware of your position when you strike. Your writing is strong enough to survive a showdown.
Rarely will you find yourself being outkicked? The rest of your game will run smoothly if you play hands with clear expectations before the flop.
Your strong pre-flop hands will translate into post-flop solid arrows, and the more trash hands you remove from your pre-flop holdings, the easier it will be for you to make judgments on subsequent streets.
It is an extreme example of tight play if you elect only to play aces, kings, and queens and fold all other hands.
Your play at the flop and afterward would be pretty straightforward. There would not even be any guessing.
You would gamble if you had an overpair; otherwise, you would slow down.
Decisions on the edge would no longer be made. It would all be in black and white.
This strategy is very vulnerable and would never be successful; it’s only one of the ways that playing tight makes things simpler on subsequent streets.
Even though I don’t suggest solely playing aces and kings, doing so is preferable to playing any hand that comes your way.
Additional Reading
- Explained: Expected Value (EV) in Poker
The ideal poker approach for newcomers
A middle-ground approach is the most effective. Play your strong hands aggressively while folding your weaker hands.
You will undoubtedly err in each session because you are a novice and a game student. Additionally, you risk losing money whenever you make a mistake at a No-Limit Hold’em table.
Your decisions will become harder the more marginal hands you play. And the more errors you make, the worse it will be.
You’ll end up getting stacked more frequently the more blunders you make.
Your options will be more straightforward if you begin with high-quality properties.