A good article for poker beginners from Everythingaboutpoker.com.
Enjoy
Top 10 Beginner Poker Tips
Poker is a game of knowledge, and if you’re a beginner, a little information will take you a long way. This top 10 beginner poker tips list is probably the most useful and money saving information you will ever read. These tips won’t turn you into a pro player overnight, but they will easily boost your poker performance and profits.
1. Don’t Play Too Many Hands / Do Fold More
Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players make is that they are not being selective enough with their starting hands and play far too many hands. Playing more doesn’t mean winning more, it usually means losing more money. If you find you’re staying in half or more the hands you’re dealt, you need to improve your starting hand requirements.
2. Don’t Bluff Just For Bluffing’s Sake
A common misconception about poker is that you have to bluff to win. Many new players even don’t feel like they’ve won unless they’ve tried a poker bluff. The real art of knowing when to bluff comes from lots of practice and experience so if you are an online poker beginner, it is better to play your best hands only rather than trying to bluff “just to bluff.”
3. Do Pay Attention To Your Opponent’s Cards
In poker, it is extremely important to think about the strength of other players’ hand, not just your own hand. Having a big hand is pretty cool, but if you suspect your opponent has a better hand than you, you should be ready to fold. For example a straight is a rather good hand, but if there are four suited cards on the board and your opponent pushes all in, you might be in trouble.
4. Do Play Against Players Worse Than You
This might seem like an obvious tip, but I’m always surprised at the number of players that don’t understand this simple principle. If you play better than your opponents, it makes sense that you will be a winning player in the long run. If you were the 5th best player in the world, it would not be very profitable to sit at a table with the top 4 players in the world. So choose your games and limits wisely.
5. Do Pay Attention To Your Position
Position is an essential factor when playing poker, especially in Texas Holdem. The best position you can have is when you are last to act on the hand. This will help you gain knowledge about what kind of hand your opponents might have before the action gets to you. Keep in mind that if you have a good position in a hand, you can easily turn a losing hand into a winning one.
6. Do Pay Attention To The Game
If you want to pick up tells, then you have to watch how your opponents play in each pot. Even when you fold, you should still stay focused on the game to better understand how your opponents play. This will allow you to see what moves other players make when they have the best hand, and what moves they make when they don’t have the best hand. The more data you can get from your opponents, the easier it will be to beat them.
7. Don’t Play At Too High Limits
There are two main reasons why you shouldn’t spend too much money on the table as a beginner. The first reason is that players at higher limits will be stronger than players at lower limits. You will have less chance to beat your opponents and you will waste a lot of money trying to learn poker in the process. The second reason is that you only want to enter pots at the limits you can afford to play. You should not play at limits where you are going to spend money that you can’t afford to lose. You’ll find more advice on this subject in the poker bankroll management article.
8. Don’t Pay Too Much For Draws
You will regularly find yourself holding half a hand that needs just one card to make a flush or a straight. As a general rule, if your opponent bets heavily, then it’s not profitable to chase after the draws. However, if there’s only a small amount of betting on the table then it may be clever to call in the hope of completing your hand. If it seems the amount of cash your opponent bets is too big to warrant a call that will make you a hand, then don’t bet. You will find more tips on how much you should call for draws in the pot odds article.
9. Suited Cards Aren’t So Great
The most common beginner mistake is overestimating the value of suited cards. Flushes are not as frequent as you might believe, and if you try to compete with two small suited cards, you will probably lose all your money to a higher flush if it comes. Even if your cards are suited, it only improves your chances by 2% compared to if your hand was not suited. This minor improvement is too small to give you the edge when calling pre-flop raises, so don’t hesitate to fold the small suited cards.
10. Don’t Play Drunk
I remember those nights when I sat across a table playing with friends and watched them get drunk and throw away their entire stack of chips. It happened to me too, and when you’re playing with friends for low stakes, it’s more about the fun and laughs than the poker. However, if you’re playing online or in a casino, watch the alcohol consumption. You might be more relaxed after one or two drinks, but it might also lead you to playing less sharply and getting easily distracted.
