Poker strategies for you

Even the basic poker strategies presented here will make you a better poker player and increase the number of pots you win significantly. So pay attention and study and learn these poker strategies thoroughly if you are serious about winning.


Poker strategies: Be alert

The most important thing to remember if you want to win at poker is to be alert. Every little movement has a meaning all its own. Every draw and every card shown has a vital bearing on the strategies you employ. You must watch every player in the game to see that you are not being cheated or chiseled; you must watch every active player so that you can gauge the strength of his hand and judge his reactions to a raise or re-raise, to a draw of two cards or three cards, etc. In stud, especially, you must observe each card dealt carefully to see (1) how it affects your own chances of improving your hand; (2) whether it improves the chances of each other player, including the player who received the card. Finally, you have to watch yourself so as not to betray your hand or give clues to your opponents. Yes, you have to be alert.
You can"t be alert if you are overtired or mentally disturbed by something either in or outside the game. And you can"t be alert if your alcohol content is too high. Don"t play poker for sizable stakes if you"ve had a tough day at the office, if you"re worried about business or about Junior"s behavior, or if you"ve had a few too many martinis. And don"t drink liquor while playing -- not if you want to win.


Poker strategies: Three important rules

Whether the game be stud or draw poker, seven-card or five-card, deuces wild or nothing wild, there are three very important poker strategies of play. If you remember these strategies, it is almost impossible for you to lose in an evening of poker unless you are playing with a group of experts who also know them. If you play poker regularly with the same group of players and find that there are a few who win consistently while the rest of you lose -- leaving the possibility of dishonesty aside -- it is because these players are aware of these poker strategies and play accordingly.

Poker strategies: Rule 1

The first rule of poker is: When you have nothing, get out. More money is lost by stud poker players who go in with two indifferent cards and drop out later, or by draw poker players who stay with a low pair and fold after the draw, than is ever lost by having three kings beaten by three aces. The player who has the patience to stay out of pot after pot, for hours if necessary, is the player who, in the long run, will win.

Poker strategies: Rule 2

The second rule of poker is: When you"re beaten, get out. you may have a pair of queens back to back in a stud game -- a high hand good enough to win 99 pots out of 100. But if, on the next card, one of your opponents should show a pair of kings or aces, in most cases the smart play is to drop out at once. You may improve your hand, but the odds are against it. Even if you should improve, your opponent may improve also -- and his pair was better than yours to begin with. Except for going in on nothing, trying to beat a big pair with a small one loses more money than anything else in poker games.

Poker strategies: Rule 3

The third rule of poker is: When you have the best hand, make your opponents pay. If you have the pair of aces back to back, make it as expensive as possible for the man with the pair of queens to play. It is true that every once in a while he"ll outdraw you, but you will beat him much more often, and you can afford his occasional victory.


Poker strategies: Conclusion

There are many fine points to the game of poker; but if you get nothing out of this section of the web site but these three rules of poker, you will be a consistent winner against most players. The rest of the poker strategies, tips, hints, tactics, and warnings on this web site added to the above, if studied seriously and applied faithfully, should make you a winner at poker.
I have selected for discussion those traits possessed by gamblers who make their living or a part of it from poker, i.e., hustlers. Some of the warnings were inserted after watching numerous poker games in which cheaters operated.
If the reader believes that a few of the poker strategies given are too severe -- such as "Never give a poker player a break even if he is your best friend" -- then he can simply declare his attitude at the start of the game by saying, "Boys, if you get them, bet them up, because that is what I am going to do." If you fail to bet a cinch hand for all it"s worth when you hold one, you will rarely, if ever, be a good poker player. The best gamblers have a slogan: "You must pay to look."
Poker is a money game, not just a pleasant way to spend an evening. If you want to play cards simply for recreation, there are many other games more interesting than poker. Remove the gambling spirit from poker and it is a bore.