.jpg "The Ultimate Beginner Poker Tips Cheat Sheet")
This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
When you first start learning about the poker strategy, it can be a daunting experience.
There’s so much information out there it can be hard to know where to even start.
This is why I wrote this beginner poker cheat sheet.
In this article, you will learn basic concepts every beginner poker player should know.
By following these tips, you will see a drastic improvement in your results, regardless of your previous knowledge of the game.
There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get right into it.
Beginner Poker Tip #1: Only Play Strong Starting Hands
If you want to quickly improve your poker results, your best bet is to only play strong starting hands.
In no-limit hold’em, not all starting hands are created equal.
Some starting hands are a lot stronger than others, so you should only play hands that have a reasonable chance of connecting with the flop in some meaningful way.
If you only play strong starting hands, you will get an immediate edge over opponents who play just about any random hand.
This means you will make stronger combinations post flop more often, and your hand will often dominate your opponents.
A dominated hand is the one that’s unlikely to win against a stronger hand due to a weaker kicker.
A kicker is the card in your hand that doesn’t help you make a certain hand combination, but can determine the winner of the hand if both players make the same combination.
For example, if both players have a pair of Aces, the player with the stronger kicker wins the pot.
You always want your hands to dominate your opponents, instead of the other way around.
So you should avoid playing weak to mediocre hands that can often get you in trouble due to a weak kicker.
Here’s a brief overview of starting hands you should play in no-limit hold’em:
1) Pocket Pairs (Pocket Aces through Pocket Twos, see chart below)
2) Broadway hands (face cards that can make the strongest possible straight, like AQ or KJ)
3) Suited Aces (like A♥8♥ or A♣5♣)
4) Suited connectors (like T♦9♦ or 8♠7♠)
These hands make up roughly the top 20% of all starting hands in no-limit hold’em.
The rest is trash and should be thrown away.
Now, playing only 20% of hands may sound a bit too restrictive, and fair enough.
The rest is trash and should be thrown away.
Now, playing only 20% of hands may sound a bit too restrictive, and fair enough.
The number of hands you can play profitably will depend on a lot of factors, namely your table position (more about playing in position below).
Sometimes you can get away with playing way more than the top 20% of hands, and other times you should play even less than this.
By following the starting hand selection outlined above, you’ll get an immediate edge over opponents who play too many hands.
You can also find these charts for all poker games in my free poker cheat sheet.
In no-limit hold’em, most hands miss most flops.
And since you always have to pay money to see the flop, the more flops you see, the more money you’ll lose.
And the times you do hit won’t make up for all the misses.
While every hand can theoretically smash the flop, some hands are simply going to hit the flop far more frequently than others.
To smash the flop means to make a very strong combination on the flop, meaning two pair or better.
Of course, if you just want to have fun, you can play just about any hand that’s dealt to you.
But you can’t expect to earn any money this way over the long run.
If you’re not directly involved in the hand, it doesn’t mean you should just tune out completely and wait for the next hand.
You should use the downtime when you’re not playing to observe the action and try to pick up on tells from your opponents.
In fact, this is the best time to pay attention to your opponents.
It’s a lot easier to observe the action objectively when you’re not actively involved in the hand.
You can pay attention to your opponent’s physical and timing tells, betting patterns, showdown hands and so on.
Picking up on pieces of information like this will help you make better reads in the future, which will drastically improve your results.
This is how I guess their hand correctly 9 out of 10 times, as I discussed in my latest video.
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Beginner Poker Tip #2: Play Most Hands in Position to Get an Edge
Playing in position means being the last player to act in a betting round, and it’s one of the biggest advantages you can have at the poker table.
Here’s why you should play most hands in position:
a) to get more information
If you’re the last player to act, you get to see what your opponents do first, while they have no idea what you’re about to do.
Poker is a game of incomplete information, and the player with the informational advantage will come out on top more often than not.
b) to dictate the size of the pot
If you’re playing in position, you get a final say at the price of the pot.
If you have a strong value hand, you can bet or raise to inflate the pot size. If you have a mediocre or drawing hand, you can just call or check behind to keep the pot size smaller.
c) to realize your equity
Your hand equity simply refers to the percentage chance of winning the pot if the players went to showdown.
You can’t know your exact equity because you obviously can’t see your opponent’s hole cards.
But if you did, you’d know your exact chance of winning the hand.
By playing in position, you’re the one that’s closing the action, which means you’ll be able to get to showdown more often.
So even if you have a weak or mediocre hand, you can still sometimes win the pot by getting to showdown.
Better yet, you can deny your opponents their equity by pushing them out of the hand with a well-timed bluff.
So how do you play more hands in position?
You simply open-raise or 3-bet more hands when you’re playing in late table positions (namely the cutoff and the button).
To 3-bet means to raise against another player’s open-raise.
The closer you are to the dealer button, the more likely you are to play in position post flop.
When you’re playing on the button in particular, you will ALWAYS play in position post flop.
This is why the button is going to be your most profitable seat by far.
When you’re playing on the button in particular, you will ALWAYS play in position post flop.
This is why the button is going to be your most profitable seat by far.
If you’re using a hand tracking software like PokerTracker 4, you can check these stats yourself.
Chances are, you’d be surprised by how much more you win on the button compared to other table positions.
When playing on the button, you can often get away with playing way more hands due to the positional advantage.
The second most profitable seat should be the cutoff, i.e. the seat on the direct right of the button.
The farther you are from the button, the more selective you should be with the hands you choose to play preflop.
That’s because you are less likely to play in position post flop, so you can’t play as many hands profitably.
If you want to know EXACTLY which hands to play in which position, check out Crushing the Microstakes.
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Beginner Poker Tip #3: Enter Most Pots With a Raise
We’ve covered which hands you should play preflop, so now let’s examine how you should actually play them.
If you’re the first player to enter the pot, you should do so with an open-raise.
A lot of amateur poker players make the mistake of open-limping instead of open-raising.
To open-limp means to just call the big blind instead of of making a raise.
Here’s why you should always open-raise if you’re the first player to enter the pot:
a) to build up the pot
If you want to win big in poker, you need to win big pots.
And the best way to do it is to build up the pot with your strong hands as soon as possible.
The bigger the pot you build preflop, the easier it is to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.
b) to get initiative
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to continue the aggression post flop in the form of a continuation bet (or c-bet for short).
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should be inclined to make one on most flops unless there’s a specific reason not to do so (more on the topic of c-betting below).
c) to avoid multiway pots
Multiway pots are pots with more than two players involved.
If you open-limp, you’re inviting other players to limp behind you, which can result in huge multiway pots.
The more opponents in the pot, the harder it is to actually win the hand, because every additional player will have some chunk of equity against you.
d) to steal the blinds
If you open-raise, you can sometimes win the pot outright preflop if you make all your opponents fold.
If you open-limp, on the other hand, you’re giving your opponents no incentive to fold their hand.
Worse yet, open-limping leaves you vulnerable to getting raised yourself.
Some amateur poker players like to limp in because they want to see a cheap flop, but this often ends up backfiring for the reasons outlined above.
It’s usually cheaper (and more profitable) to just make an open-raise yourself.
This will put you in the driver’s seat throughout the hand, and it will allow you to dictate the tempo, instead of just reacting to your opponents.
This is in fact, how you win at Texas Hold'em every time.
Beginner Poker Hand Example #1
You are dealt K♠K♣ in the CO (cutoff). Villain open-raises from UTG (under the gun) to 3 BB.
You: ???
You should 3-bet to 10 BB.
If you have a strong value hand, you should play it aggressively preflop close to 100% of the time.
There's no reason to try and get cute with slowplaying here.
If you just flat call instead of 3-betting, you're inviting other players to come along for the ride.
This can result in a big multiway pot, where you're allowing other players to beat you with some random nonsense hand.
If you call, you're also not building up the pot, which makes it harder to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.
Beginner Poker Tip #4: Make a C-bet on Most Flops
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to continue the aggression post flop with a continuation bet (or c-bet for short).
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should make a c-bet on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to do so.
If you connect with the flop, you can c-bet for value, and if you miss the flop, you can make a bluff c-bet (aka a light c-bet).
You are betting for value when you can get called by a lot of weaker hands. This is the opposite of a bluff, where you are trying to get stronger hands than yours to fold.
When c-betting for value, you want to keep building up the pot while your hand is likely ahead of your opponent’s calling range.
However, if you only c-bet the flop with your strong value hands, you may become too predictable to players who are paying attention to your betting patterns.
Over time, players may simply stop giving you action every time you make a c-bet, unless they happen to have a strong hand themselves.
To counteract this, you should add a couple of bluff c-bets (i.e. light c-bets) into your arsenal.
This way, you’ll constantly keep your opponents guessing at your hand strength.
You can also make your opponents fold to your c-bets quite often, because your opponents are just as likely to have missed the flop as you.
In no-limit hold’em, most hands miss most flops (2 out of 3 times, to be precise).
So even if you miss the flop completely, there’s a good chance your opponent missed it as well.
And since you are the preflop aggressor, you can credibly represent a number of strong hands, which means your opponents are often going to be forced to fold to your c-bets.
Of course, you don’t want to go overboard and c-bet 100% of the time.
If you do that, your opponents will adjust and start calling you down or rasing you, which can put you in a lot of awkward spots.
But since most players tend to play too straightforwardly on the flop, chances are that you can benefit from c-betting a bit more frequently.
Ideally, you want to make a c-bet around 60% to 70% of the time.
This way, you’ll achieve a balance between your value c-bets and your bluff c-bets, and your opponents will have a hard time adjusting and reading your hand.
This is just a rough guideline, of course. You don’t need to try too hard to achieve a perfect c-betting frequency.
Whether or not you can c-bet profitably (either for value or as a bluff) will depend on the situation and the type of opponent you are up against.
Some players will hardly ever fold to a c-bet, and will call you down if they catch any remote piece of the board.
Against these calling station types of opponents, you’re better off betting purely for value, and avoid bluff c-betting altogether.
This is one of the top 5 signs of good poker players.
Other players may play too timidly on the flop, and fold every time they miss the flop (which is most of the time).
These fit-or-fold opponents are ideal targets for light c-betting.
If your opponent tends to overfold to c-bets, you can c-bet close to 100% of the time against them.
To overfold means to fold more often than would be considered “optimal”. In other words it means folding so much that it leaves you vulnerable to getting exploited.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #2
Cash game, Effective stack size: 100 BB
You are dealt A♦Q♦ in the MP (middle position). You open-raise to 3 BB. Villain calls from the BB (big blind).
Pot: 6.5 BB
Flop: K♦8♣2♥
Villain checks.
You: ???
You should c-bet 3 BB.
Even though you missed the flop, you can still make a c-bet in this spot.
That’s because villain is just as likely to have missed the flop as you.
In fact, they’re even more likely to have missed, because you are more likely to have a number of Kx hands in your range.
Your opponent is unlikely to have strong hands like pocket Aces, pocket Kings, Ace-King, King-Queen and so on.
If they had these hands, they would have likely 3-bet you preflop instead of calling.
On the flip side, you can still have all these strong hands in your range since you were the preflop aggressor.
Villain is also unlikely to have any two pair hands, because they probably wouldn’t call preflop with a hand like K8, K2, or 82.
This means they will more than likely just fold to your c-bet.
Even if they call you, you still have backdoor straight and flush draws.
A backdoor draw means you need both turn and river cards to complete your hand.
You can also hit an Ace and make a top pair.
These days, it's not enough to just wait around for the nuts to be a profitable long term winner in this game.
You also need to learn to pick up a few pots even without a particularly strong hand.
In other words, you need to know how to win "more than your fair share" to truly get ahead.
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Beginner Poker Tip #5: Learn the Basic Pot Odds
At its core, poker is all about odds and probabilities. Poker is essentially one giant math puzzle.
Fortunately, you don’t have to be a math genius to achieve great results in this game.
Basic poker math is no more complicated than what you learn in grade school. If you understand fractions and percentages, you’ll be fine.
With that in mind, there’s one fundamental concept all poker players should be familiar with: pot odds.
Simply put, the pot odds represent the ratio between the size of the pot and the price you need to call to continue playing the hand.
For example, let’s say the pot is $100 and your opponent bets $50.
The size of the pot after your opponent’s bet is $150, and the price of the call is $50.
So you are getting 3:1 pot odds on a call, because 150 / 50 = 3.
The first number in the ratio represents the pot size, and the second number represents the price of a call (the second number is always 1).
So why are pot odds important, and how can you use them to make better decisions in the game?
The pot odds represent your risk-to-reward ratio, which is what poker is all about.
This intuitively makes sense: the better the risk-to-reward ratio, the better the investment.
In other words, the better the pot odds, the more often you can continue playing the hand profitably and vice versa.
But on their own, pot odds don’t really tell you whether or not you can call profitably in a certain spot.
You need to compare the pot odds with your pot equity, i.e. the percentage chance of you actually winning the pot.
This is something that all good Texas Hold'em players learn to do.
Again, you can’t really know your exact equity in the hand, because you can’t see your opponent’s hole cards.
The best you can do is to estimate your equity based on your hand strength or the number of outs you have.
An out is a card that you need to complete your draw. The more outs you have, the stronger your draw and vice versa.
Let’s look at an example to illustrate the point.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #3
You are dealt A♥2♥ and the flop is: K♥8♠2♥
In this spot, you have a nuts flush draw, meaning you have 9 outs to the nuts.
For the sake of example, let’s say that you will always win the hand if you hit one of your outs, and always lose the hand if you miss.
You can quickly calculate the percentage chance of your draw completing by using the so-called rule of fours.
Rule of fours: simply multiply the number of outs you have by 4 to get a rough percentage chance of your draw competing from flop to river.
The rule of fours gets slightly less accurate the more outs you have, but it works well in most in-game situations.
If you want to know the chance of your draw completing on the next street (flop to turn or turn to river), you simply multiply the number of outs by 2 instead of 4.
In this example, you have 9 outs, so the chance of completing your draw is 36%.
In reality, it’s actually 37%, so you can see that the rule of fours is fairly accurate in most spots.
Now that you know the rough percentage chance of winning the hand, you can compare it with the pot odds you’re getting on a call.
The pot odds tell you how much equity you need to break even on a call.
To do that, simply add up the numbers in the ratio, then divide 100 by the result.
For example, if you’re getting 3:1 pot odds, you need 25% equity to break even on a call.
That’s because 100 / (3+1) = 25.
So with the flush draw example above, if you’re getting 3:1 odds, you can call profitably, because the chance of winning the hand is higher than the equity you need to break even on a call.
Of course, just because calling is +EV (i.e. it has a positive expected value), it doesn’t mean it’s the most +EV line to take.
Raising may be more profitable depending on the situation, but that’s a separate issue.
Calculating the pot odds may seem like a drag at first, but getting into the habit of calculating the odds will help you make better decisions on the felt, and it will make you a much stronger player.
Protip: if you don’t want to manually calculate the odds in every single spot, you can simply memorize common pot odds for different bet sizings you face.
Here’s a brief overview of common bet sizes with the corresponding pot odds and required equity:
1/3 pot bet = 4:1 odds = 20% equity required
1/2 pot bet = 3:1 odds = 25% equity required
2/3 pot bet = 2.5:1 odds = 28% equity required
1/1 pot bet = 2:1 odds = 33% equity required
Since most bet sizes you’ll face will be between half pot and full pot, you will usually get between 3:1 and 2:1 odds, so you’d do well to at least memorize these two.
If you’re still confused about the pot odds, check out my ultimate pot odds cheat sheet for a full breakdown on the topic.
Beginner Poker Tip #6: Patience is the Name of the Game
The final tip doesn’t have anything to do with the strategy aspect of the game, but it’s worth highlighting nonetheless.
Even if you follow all these tips to a tee, it doesn’t mean you’re going to start crushing the game overnight.
Improving your poker game takes time, and even if you have a significant skill edge over your opponents, it can take a while for that skill edge to truly manifest.
I didn't become a poker pro overnight!
I didn't become a poker pro overnight!
No, it took years before I could move overseas and play full time from a beachside villa.
That’s because poker has a short-term luck element involved.
This is what makes the game exciting and accessible to new players, but it can also be very frustrating when you’re on the receiving end of “bad luck”.
The luck element can cause you to lose for prolonged periods of time despite seemingly doing everything right.
This is arguably the hardest part of the game to master, and it’s something even the professional poker players have to contend with.
When the cards don’t fall their way, a lot of players completely disregard the proven winning poker strategy and start playing in suboptimal ways due to anger, frustration, or other negative emotions.
This phenomenon is known as poker tilt, and it’s by far the biggest obstacle to overcome for aspiring poker players.
When you’re tilted, you’re more prone to making mistakes like playing hands you know you shouldn’t be playing, chasing bad draws, playing too aggressively and so on.
Some players may also jump up in stakes to chase losses and try to break even, which is a huge mistake you absolutely must avoid.
When playing poker, losing some money from time to time is inevitable.
But losing more than it’s absolutely necessary due to tilt can, and should be avoided.
If the cards aren’t falling your way and you seem to lose no matter what you do, it’s best to take a break and live to fight another day.
The games will always be there tomorrow.
A lot of amateur poker players tend to quit early when they’re ahead, but keep playing when they’re losing to get back to “breakeven”.
This is the exact opposite of what you should be doing.
If the games are good and you’re running well, you should keep playing for as long as you can play your A game.
And if the games are bad and frustration is getting the better of you, the best you can do is cut your losses and quit for the day.
Of course, quitting every time the cards aren’t falling your way is not the best long term strategy, and sometimes you have to force yourself to keep playing despite running badly.
But there’s no point in fighting an uphill battle if you can avoid it.
Bottom line: Poker can be incredibly frustrating, but at the end of the day, it should still be an enjoyable experience.
There’s no point in playing if you’re going to have a miserable time doing it.
If the downswings are getting the better of you, check out my other article on how to deal with poker variance.
The Ultimate Beginner Poker Tips Cheat Sheet - Summary
Poker can have a steep learning curve when you’re first starting out.
But by mastering a few key concepts, you’ll be on the right way to start winning relatively quickly.
These basic concepts will also give you a decent foundation to start learning the more advanced poker strategy you need to truly crush today’s games.
To sum up, here are basic beginner poker tips every new player should know.
1. Only play strong starting hands
Most hands miss most flops in no-limit hold’em, so you should only play strong starting hands that have a reasonable chance of connecting with the flop.
This includes pocket pairs, broadway hands, suited Aces, and suited connectors.
The rest is trash and should be thrown away.
2. Play most hands in position
The closer you are to the button, the more hands you can play profitably.
Playing in position gives you an informational advantage, allows you to dictate the price of the pot, and makes it easier to push your opponents out of the pot with a well-timed bluff.
3. Enter most pots with a raise
If you’re the first player to enter the pot, you should do so with an open-raise.
By open-raising, you’re building up the pot with your strong hands, you get the initiative, and you can sometimes take down the pot preflop if you make all your opponents fold.
4. Make a c-bet on most flops
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a c-bet on the flop.
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should make a c-bet on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to do so.
5. Learn the basic pot odds
Pot odds are the ratio between the pot size and the price you need to call to continue playing the hand.
The better the pot odds you’re getting, the more often you can continue playing the hand profitably and vice versa
6. Be patient
Poker has a short term luck element involved, so sometimes you can lose despite playing perfectly.
This can be very frustrating, but it’s important to remember that winning poker is all about the long run.
As long you keep making good decisions, good results will follow.
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This article was written by Fran Ferlan
Poker player, writer and coach
Specializing in live and online cash games
For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at email@franferlan.com
Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here
Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to make $2000+ per month in small/mid stakes games, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.
