5 (Actually Useful) Poker Tips From the Pros
Sept. 5 2024, Published 3:00 a.m. ET
Poker is one of the world’s most popular card games, and millions of people like me play regularly on our favourite dedicated poker sites and online casinos. Although a great deal of luck is involved in winning, a certain amount of strategy and skills used in specific situations can affect the outcome.
Anyone who is inexperienced at poker but is willing to put in the hard work required to become a poker master can do so in a relatively short amount of time. It doesn’t take long to learn the necessary skills, and if you are like me, you can go from being a beginner to a pro in just a few short months.
Many so-called ‘experts’ will tell you how to become a professional poker player, but here are five (actually useful) poker tips from the pros that everyone who’s looking to get better at playing in as little time as possible should know.
Important information for poker beginners
To get up to speed and go from being a newcomer to a relative pro in no time takes plenty of practice, so whenever you have time to play, squeeze in as many hands as possible. Thanks to the iGaming industry, there are currently hundreds of fully licensed and regulated sites to choose from where you can play right now.
You can play traditional poker (computer-generated or live dealer) either alone or against the dealer in a traditional setting, or you can play poker against other players in cash tables, multi-table tournaments (MTTs) or sit ‘n go tournaments.
I would suggest playing in a traditional setting and not against other players just until you get to grips with the basic poker rules, the different winning hands, and the odds and implied probability rate of those winning hands actually occurring.
After plenty of practice and familiarising yourself with these important details, you will quickly become confident enough to start playing. You may even get lucky and hit the big time by landing a royal flush like so many other extremely fortunate people.
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Before playing in the real money mode, I would also suggest that you practice playing in the free-play demo mode using fun chips, where possible.
Live dealer poker is very rarely available in this risk-free mode, but many computer-generated poker variants from award-winning software providers are typically available to play in this mode.
If you can’t seem to find any poker variants available in the free-play mode, then I would suggest starting out at the low-stakes tables instead. Only when your confidence levels have grown should you switch to playing in real money mode or try the slightly higher-stakes tables.
Five poker tips from the pros that actually work
Most poker professionals will tell you the same useful and effective strategies, and others will forget to mention certain things that can quickly bring you up to speed. Some of these strategies will work better for you than others in certain situations, so don’t disregard them if they don’t work the first time you try them.
Five of the most effective tips that all poker experts agree upon include the following:
When in doubt, fold the hand. You will make too many costly mistakes if you take part in every hand. You can’t win them all, so fold if you’re unsure
When playing poker against others (sit ‘n go, MTT or cash tables), try to bluff intelligently, and, more importantly, never reveal your cards after bluffing
When playing against others, always try to play against weaker opponents (aka fish) because you will most likely win more hands. Avoid playing against seasoned pros/sharks because they will take you to the cleaners and could end up winning your entire bankroll
Learn the winning poker hands and the odds/implied probability rates of those hands actually showing up. Mastering this basic information will help you place far more strategic bets and, hopefully, lose fewer hands
Manage your bankroll and start by setting a reasonable budget. To give you much longer session times and help your bankroll stretch further, consider setting spending caps, win/loss limits, and daily, weekly or monthly deposit limits
Other simple things I suggest doing to become better at poker are focusing, always paying attention to each hand you play, and never playing while tired or intoxicated.
Final thoughts
The other thing I mustn’t forget to mention is that if you decide to play poker online from your preferred Wi-Fi/internet-connected smartphone, desktop computer, laptop or tablet device is that you should avoid playing on unlicensed and unregulated websites at all costs.
In other words, carefully select a fully licensed and regulated site with poker from market-leading providers. Any poker variants you find on those sites will have high or above-average return to player (RTP%) payout rates. They will also have top-notch cybersecurity measures, excellent customer support, great bonuses, and rewarding loyalty programs.