How to Play Poker: Winning Strategy for Beginners

Value
You bet because you want worse poker hands to call. You want to value-bet with a premium hand or a decent, but marginal hand. Whenever you value-bet, make sure that worse hands can realistically call your betting amount.

Protection
You bet because you want poker hands that have the potential to improve to fold. Let’s say you make a low top pair with a marginal kicker. You bet because your hand is probably best but your opponents have hands with the potential to outdraw it on later streets, and you want those hands to fold.

Bluff
You bet because you want better hands to fold. Preflop, if you bet hands at the bottom of the range of hands you are willing to play, they are considered to be bluffs. If you bet knowing that when your opponent calls that you always lose, that’s a pure bluff. This usually happens on the last betting round, the River. A semi-bluff is when you choose to bet with a hand that still has a chance to improve on later streets if you get called, such as with a straight or flush draw.

Range Advantage
Compare your entire hand range to your opponent’s entire range and then ask yourself whose range connects to the board better. This will help you understand how different ranges interact with different flops. 

When the flop favors your range, you will want to bet frequently. You have the range advantage when your range has more than 58% equity against your opponent’s range. When the flop is neutral or favors your opponent’s range, you should instead opt to check more often. When you have less than 54% equity, you should frequently check.

When you have the range advantage:

• It is usually fine to bet small, 1/3 pot, with your entire range.
• Bet large, 3/4 pot, when your opponent’s continuing range contains mostly decently strong hands.
• You will not have the range advantage as the preflop caller from the big blind.

Nut Advantage
Nut hands are the best possible hands that can be made with the board. Ask yourself whose range has more nut hands on this particular board. For example, if the board is J♣️J♥️3♦️, then having a Jack would make the best possible hand so far — having a Jack is the effective nuts.

As your range contains more nut hands, you should be betting more aggressively. Whenever you have the range advantage but lack the nut advantage, you should be betting frequently but small.

Position
Bet more often when you are in position and check more often from out of position. When you are in position, you have a lot more control over the pot size. For example, if you are on the dealer button, you should continuation bet more often against the big blind (who you have position against) while checking more often against the cutoff player (who has position on you).

Prize pool
Tournaments feature a prize pool, which is the combination of all players’ buy-ins. Cash Games don’t have a prize pool: the money that is up for grabs is the combination of chips all the players at your table have.

Buy-in
Poker tournaments feature a set price to enter and players receive a set amount of tournament chips. In cash games, players usually have a minimum and a maximum buy-in amount they can choose, so players at a cash game may not have the same amount of chips to start.

Blinds
Tournament poker works with blind levels, which increase as time goes by, depending on the structure. Cash games blinds are set for the stakes you choose and don’t increase.

Payout Structure
At a cash game table, you can decide to leave at any time, collecting your winnings (or cutting your losses) at any time. Tournaments feature a progressive payment structure, so only a percentage of the players will cash after many hours of play. Roughly 1 in 7 players get in the money, while everyone else loses their buy-in. When you get in the money, you receive at least 1.5x your buy-in back. While cashing is relevant, winning is the most important, because when you win, you may win 50x your buy-in or more.

Tournament payout implications when you are close to getting in the money (referred to as the Bubble):

• If you are a big stack, you should apply pressure to the middle and short stacks. That will allow you to win a lot of small pots and grow your stack even more. Your goal is always to try to win the tournament and not just try to lock up a small cash. 
• If you are a middle stack, you should pressure the shorter stacks at the table while avoiding getting into pots with the big stacks who could knock you out of the tournament. However, pay attention to the big stacks that are not being aggressive and take advantage of this scenario by applying pressure on them to grow your stack.
• If you are a short stack, your goal is to just get in the money or move up the payout ladder, especially if there are other short stacks still in the tournament.
• Whenever there are payout jumps, pay close attention to the stack sizes of other players to ensure you adjust your strategy accordingly.

Read and Tells
Live poker will be a more social experience with physical reads on your opponents. To most people’s surprise online poker still has plenty of read-based decisions. Your reads will be more based around game theory, player tendencies, and timing tells. 

Hands Played
In online poker you will see many more hands per hour. A live poker game with a dealer averages 25-30 hands per hour, while in an online game, you can expect to play 60-80 hands per hour, assuming both are 9-handed Texas Hold’em tables.

Multi-tabling
Something that can only happen online: you can also play multiple tables at the same time, which multiplies the hands you see per hour. The amount of poker hands you see has a direct correlation with how quickly you will learn and improve. Because of this, online becomes a great option to study and practice.

Software
Most online sites generate hand histories so you can review your play, track your results, and share hands with friends or coaches. In addition, when you play online, many players use Heads-Up Displays (“HUD”), which allow you to see your opponents stats in real time while you are playing.

In general, online poker is considered to be tougher than live poker. For example, a player who is able to beat $0.05/$0.10 stakes online would most likely be a winning player at $1/$2 stakes in a live cash game. So, keep that in mind when choosing the stakes you play.

Variance
An inevitable part of playing poker is dealing with large upswings and downswings. Variance is unavoidable and you must fully embrace it in order to become a good player. You can’t get negatively affected by a loss in a game because that will emotionally drain your energy and throw you off your game. 

That’s why bankroll management is key: once you understand that variance is part of the game, you can wisely manage your poker money and not get overwhelmed if you lose it. On the same note, you shouldn’t get overly excited every time you win a big pot. Instead, focus on your strategy and don’t let these emotions dictate your decisions.

For a healthy bankroll:

• Keep at least 3,000 big blinds for cash games: if you’re playing $1/$2 cash games, for instance, you want to have a bankroll of at least $6,000 dollars. It may sound like a lot of money, but you will inevitably face a downswing of 15-20 buy-ins at some point, so you want to keep a cushion. 
• Keep at least 50 buy-ins for poker tournaments: if you’re playing tournaments that cost $100 to enter, you need at least $5,000 in your bankroll.

Choose Your Stakes
When your poker bankroll increases or decreases over time, you should move up or down accordingly. With that in mind, it is vital to choose games you can beat to ensure you have a positive win rate in the long run. Don’t enter games that are too tough or too big for your bankroll, or you won’t last. 

As Mike McDermott in the movie ‘Rounders’ would say: “If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker”.  

Be aware of your emotions. Your ego is your number one enemy. You need to have an honest conversation with yourself and analyze if you are actually winning in the games you are playing. 

If you find you are entering unprofitable games, look for softer games you can beat, and in the meantime, up your study time to improve your poker skills. Know that moving down stakes is the responsible thing to do to ensure you don’t go broke and can grow back your bankroll. Keep your poker bankroll in check, making sure you play well within your means. That will keep you from breaking the bank, and also forge a healthy relationship with the game, even if you’re just playing occasionally.