Excel At Poker

By Simon Skinner

Poker has always be one of the most popular games to play. It's a great way to spend some time with a group of friends, and everybody knows the basics of how to play. Online casinos have made poker even more popular, and now many people are turning to them to get their poker playing in. You can increase your success playing poker if you know some ways to play better.

The first and most important thing you need to do is play fewer hands. Online poker plays tend to throw chips into every pot, but this just means you are playing bad hands. Try to only play around 20% of your hands to maximize your chances for success.

Another common mistake is that people refuse to fold once they've made a bet already. This is a horrible mistake that's just going to see you throwing away money calling bets for hands that you cannot even win. You have to learn when to fold and you have to be fine with it, instead of taking it personally.

Deciding how much money to play with is also important. For one thing it determines the amount of risk and reward there is to your bankroll. Another factor however is that higher limit tables will generally have better players, which increases the competition you're facing.

There's no reason to sit down with seasoned players just to lose all of your money and not even be able to enjoy yourself in the process.

You can however study your opposition while you play them. If you're smart, you can make them reveal their own betting techniques to give you an edge.

If you do this carefully you'll be able to draw out the way your opponents move. You can also bet in different ways to help raise your chances of winning. Making a large opening bet will take people chasing cards or bluffing out of a hand. Meanwhile, re-raising somebody will help you judge whether a person has good cards or not.

It's of the most importance that you learn how and when to bluff. But be careful not to bluff too often, because if you do and you get called on it, nobody will take your bluffs seriously.

You should be bluffing when even if you do get called it won't be a huge loss. Depending on where you are on a table, you'll see that different hands are stronger or weaker, due to the action before or after you.

The great thing about poker is that you can always improve, and there are many ways to do this. There are hundreds of books and websites on the subject, and all offer different words of wisdom. Put some of their playing ways into practice and see for yourself what works and what is enjoyable. You can even use automatic software that keeps track of your hand history for you.

Following even just a few basic rules will allow you to enjoy poker more, and will increase the chances you have at winning.