This article was written by blackrain79.com contributor Fran Ferlan.
When you first starting learning about the poker strategy, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information out there.
Poker has a language of its own, so figuring out even the basic concepts can be challenging for newer players.
In this article, you will learn all the essential poker concepts you need to start winning quickly, even if you’re a complete beginner.
And I must warn you, you won't find any "flashy" strategies or 10th level bluffs below.
Instead, all you will find are the proven (and some will say "boring") strategies that I have used as a 10+ year professional poker player, to consistently get real results.
There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get right into it.
Boring Beginner Poker Tip #1: Only Play Strong Starting Hands
If you want to improve your poker game quickly, the best place to start is to only play strong starting hands.
One of the most common amateur poker mistakes is playing too many hands.
In no-limit hold’em, most hands miss most flops.
So you should only play strong hands that have a reasonable chance of connecting with the flop.
Here’s a quick overview of starting poker hands you should play:
a) pocket pairs (pocket Aces through pocket Twos)
b) broadway hands (strong face cards that can make the strongest possible straight, like AJ or KQ)
c) suited Aces (Ace-King suited through Ace-Two suited)
d) suited connectors (like 98s or 76s)
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, folding 80% of the time may seem too restrictive, and fair enough.
But if you only play strong starting hands, you will get an immediate edge over players who play just about any two random cards.
Now, folding 80% of the time may seem too restrictive, and fair enough.
But if you only play strong starting hands, you will get an immediate edge over players who play just about any two random cards.
In practice, this means you will make strong post flop combinations more often, and your hand will often dominate your opponent’s hand.
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 have the same combination.
For example, if both players have a pair of Aces, the player with the stronger kicker wins the hand.
And since one pair is the most common combination you’ll make in no-limit hold’em, you should be very careful when playing hands with mediocre to weak kickers.
Again, the top 20% of hands is just a rough guideline.
The number of hands you can play profitably depends on a lot of factors, namely your table position (more on playing in position below).
But when you’re first starting out, playing tight preflop ranges will make it a lot easier to start winning quickly.
Playing mediocre hands can often lead you to a lot of awkward post flop spots where you’re not quite sure if your hand is ahead or not.
This can lead to costly mistakes like staying in the hand for too long, or getting to showdown with only the second best hand.
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 win any money this way.
I actually discussed this in my latest video on YouTube: 7 poker tips that will make anyone win.
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Boring Beginner Poker Tip #2: Play Most Hands in Position
Playing in position means being the last to act in a betting round, and it’s a huge advantage to have at the table.
Here’s why you should play most hands in position:
a) to get more information
If you’re the last 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 control the pot size
Playing in position allows you to dictate 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 more manageable.
c) to realize your equity
Your hand equity refers to the percentage chance of winning the hand if players took their hand to showdown.
When you’re playing in position, you’re more likely to get to showdown and realize your equity.
So even if you have a mediocre or a weak hand, you’ll still be able to win a few pots if your opponent also has a weak hand.
d) to bluff more effectively
Due to the positional disadvantage, most players won’t be inclined to fight back for pots when they are out of position.
This means you can often push your opponents out of the pot with a well-timed bluff.
A word of caution: be careful when bluffing recreational players who tend to call a lot.
The point of a bluff is to get your opponent to fold, and if your opponent likes to call a lot, bluffing is not likely to be an effective strategy against them.
So how do you play more hands in position?
You simply open-raise more hands in late table positions (the cutoff and the button), and play less hands from early table positions and from the blinds.
The closer you are to the button, the more hands you can open-raise profitably.
You simply open-raise more hands in late table positions (the cutoff and the button), and play less hands from early table positions and from the blinds.
The closer you are to the button, the more hands you can open-raise profitably.
When you’re playing on the button in particular, you will ALWAYS have positional advantage post flop.
This means you can often get away with playing an insanely wide range on the button.
By the way, if you don't know which seats are which, there are charts in my ultimate poker cheat sheet showing you exactly where they are.
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Boring Beginner Poker Tip #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.
A lot of amateur poker players like to limp into pots, which is a huge mistake.
To open-limp means to just pay the big blind instead of making an open-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 have a strong value hand, you should build up the pot with it as soon as possible.
The bigger the pot you build preflop, the easier it is to put more money in the middle post flop.
In poker, most of your winnings will come from your strong value hands, so you need to make sure you get your money’s worth once you actually do get a strong hand.
b) to avoid multiway pots
A mulitway pot is a pot with more than 2 players involved.
If you open-limp, you’re inviting other players to limp behind you, which can often lead to big mulitway pots.
The more players involved in the pot, the harder it is for you to win the hand, because every player will have some chunk of equity against you.
By open-raising instead, you’re “thinning the field” preflop, which makes it easier to win the pot post flop.
So when some players complain about constantly getting their Pocket Aces cracked, one of the reasons might be the fact they’re inviting a lot of multiway pots by not playing aggressively enough.
c) to get initiative
If you’re the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (or c-bet for short) on the flop.
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should be inclined to make one on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to do so (more about c-betting below).
The standard open-raise size is 3 big blinds.
So if you’re playing a $1/$2 cash game, for example, you should open-raise to $6.
You can adjust your open-raise size depending on the circumstances.
For example, in most online cash games, you can make your open-raise size 2.2 or 2.5 big blinds.
Conversely, if you’re playing live cash games and find that 3 BB open-raise results in too many callers (a common scenario), you can size it up to 4 or even 5 big blinds.
But you can also simplify it and always make it 3 big blinds when you’re first starting out.
Check out my other article on optimal preflop bet sizing for a much deeper dive on the topic.
Boring Beginner Poker Tip #4: Make a C-bet on Most Flops
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to make a continuation bet (or a c-bet for short) on the flop.
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should make a c-bet on most flops unless there’s a specific reason not to do so.
If you connect with the flop, you can c-bet for value.
A value c-bet is a c-bet where you expect to get called by a lot of weaker hands.
For example:
Let’s say you are dealt A♥K♥ and the flop is: K♦T♣2♠
In this spot, you can bet for value, because you can get called by a number of weaker hands like any Kx hand, Tx hand, drawing hands like AJ, AQ, QJ and so on.
The goal of a value c-bet is to build up the pot while your hand is ahead of your opponent’s calling range.
The only time it makes sense to skip a value c-bet is when your opponent is very likely to fold if you make one.
In spots like these, it may be a good idea to slowplay and allow your opponent to “catch up” on future streets and get a hand that can give you action.
Alternatively, you can trap your opponent and induce them to make a bluff.
For example, let’s say you are dealt K♥K♣ and the flop is: K♥8♠2♦
In this spot, you can still make a c-bet, but it’s very unlikely your opponent is going to call you.
That’s because there aren’t a lot of possible combinations that are likely to give you action.
There's only one remaining King in the deck, so it’s very unlikely your opponent has a Kx hand.
There are also no straight or flush draws on the board, so very few drawing hands are likely to give you action.
Apart from the sparse Kx hands, the only hands that could potentially give you action are some 8x hands like 98s or 87s, or some backdoor flush draws.
A backdoor draw means you need both turn AND river cards to complete your hand.
Of course, your opponent could have a set of Eights or Twos, but there’s only 6 combos of those hands total.
And if they do have a set, the money is going to go in the middle one way or another, so there’s no urgency to build up the pot right away.
So unless you happen to flop a monster hand that’s unlikely to get called by anything weaker, you should still go ahead and make a c-bet.
That goes double if your opponent happens to be a calling station, i.e. a type of player who will call you down with any random nonsense hand.
Most of the time, however, you will not have a strong value hand on the flop, even if you only play strong starting hands outlined above.
But even if you miss the flop, you can still make a profitable c-bet, because your opponent is just as likely to have missed the flop as you.
If you make a c-bet with the intention of getting your opponent to fold, this is called a bluff c-bet (or a light c-bet).
Always Remember, Most Hands Miss the Flop
I had to pin this on my wall when I was first starting poker.
In no-limit hold’em, most hands miss most flops (2 out 3 times, to be exact).
So if you only make a c-bet when you hit the flop, you may become overly predictable to opponents who are paying attention to your betting patterns.
Over time, they may simply stop giving you action, because they will figure out you always have it when you bet.
To counteract this, you should throw out an occasional bluff c-bet to always keep them guessing.
If you c-bet with the right ratio of value bets and bluffs, it’s going to be very hard for your opponents to put you on your exact hand, and you will always keep them guessing.
This only applies if your opponents are actually paying attention to your betting patterns, of course.
If not, you should just mainly c-bet for value, and throw out a few light c-bets if you think your opponent is likely to fold.
This is often the case when players like to see a lot of flops, but tend to give up pretty easily if they miss the board (which is most of the time).
Against these fit-or-fold players, you can c-bet quite frequently, especially on dry flops where it’s unlikely they’ve connected in some meaningful way.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #1
You are dealt J♦T♦ in the CO (cutoff). You open-raise to 2.5 BB. Player in the SB (small blind) calls.
Pot: 6 BB
Flop: K♦8♥2♣
Villain checks.
You: ???
You should c-bet 2 BB.
The flop is the same as in the above example with pocket Kings, only this time you actually want your opponent to fold.
Remember, your opponent is just as likely to have missed the flop as you did.
The only difference is that you’re the preflop aggressor, so you can credibly represent a lot of strong hands like AK, KQ, KK and so on.
Your opponent is less likely to have these hands, because they would have probably 3-bet them preflop instead of calling.
Again, the board is bone-dry, so there aren’t a lot of strong combinations your opponent could hold here except for sets or the occasional Kx hand.
If you c-bet here, your opponent will still call you from time to time, but that’s ok.
Since you only bet 1/3 of the pot, your opponent only needs to fold 25% of the time for you to break even on a play.
If they fold more often than 25% of the time (which likely to be the case) you are printing money in this spot over the long run.
These days, it takes more than waiting around for a premium hand to be a long term winner.
You also need to know how to play in less than ideal circumstances, like when you miss the flop completely.
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Boring Beginner Poker Tip #5: Isolate Weaker Players With a Wide Range
We’ve already established that you should make an open-raise when you’re the first player to enter the pot.
But if you’re playing in low stakes games, you will often see players limping in the pot in front of you.
When you see a player open-limp, it means they’re a recreational poker player 99% of the time.
These players usually like to see a lot of flops and are likely to make a lot of common beginner poker mistakes in their post flop game.
So when a player open-limps in front of you, you should try to isolate that player with an isolation raise (or iso-raise for short).
As the name suggests, the goal of an iso-raise is to isolate a weaker player and play a heads-up pot against them post flop (ideally in position).
A heads-up pot means there’s only 2 players involved in the pot.
The standard iso-raise size is 3 big blinds plus an additional big blind per limper.
So 4 BB for 1 limper, 5 BB for 2 limpers and so on.
You can bump it up to an additional big blind if you’re playing out of position.
Also, if you find that your iso-raise gets a lot of callers (which is often the case in low stakes games), you can size up your iso raises to 6 or even 7 big blinds.
Chances are, a weaker player is going to call down your iso-raise regardless of the bet size you use.
That’s because most players tend to be inelastic when it comes to calling bets.
Most recreational poker players tend to be inelastic, meaning the frequency with which they call your bets is roughly the same no matter the bet size they use.
So if you have a strong value hand, you can just charge them more and get the pot growing as quickly as possible.
If they like their hand, they will call you down either way, and if they don’t, they will throw it away no matter the odds they’re getting on a call.
On the other hand, if there are decent regulars at your table, they may pick up on what you’re doing and they will adjust their game accordingly.
They may start calling down your iso-raises, or even raising you with a 3-bet.
So if you have a hand that has to fold to a potential 3-bet and you’re likely to face one, it’s better to skip an iso-raise altogether.
Alternatively, you can size down your iso-raise to 3 big blinds instead of 4 or 5.
This way, you can still isolate the weaker player, but you’re not losing as much if you face a 3-bet and you’re forced to fold your hand.
With that in mind, you can still iso-raise with quite a wide range, especially if you’re going to be playing in position post flop.
If your hand is even remotely playable, chances are you can make an iso-raise with it.
If you’re likely to get 3-bet, on the other hand, it’s better to tighten up your range, and skip an iso-raise with hands that will need to fold to a 3-bet.
But in most low stakes games, players aren’t likely to 3-bet you a lot unless they happen to have a strong hand themselves.
This makes iso-raising very profitable, and it will allow you to take advantage of all the post flop mistakes your opponents are likely to make.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #2
Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt A♦J♦ in the SB. UTG (under the gun) open-limps. CO (cutoff) limps behind.
You: ???
You should iso-raise to 6 BB.
This is a textbook spot where you should go for an iso-raise 100% of the time.
You have a strong broadway hand that can get called by a number of weaker hands.
You are facing 2 limpers, so your iso-raise size should be 3 BB + 2 BB for each limper.
But since you’ll be playing out of position post flop, you can throw in an additional BB for a total of 6 BB.
If your opponents happen to be very bad, you can go as high as 7 or 8 big blinds.
This will build up the pot nicely, and it will also discourage the player in the big blind to 3-bet you, or it will at least make it more cost-prohibitive.
If you want to learn how to play optimally against aggressive 3-bettors, see my book, The Microstakes Playbook.
Boring Beginner Poker Tip #6: Learn the Basic Pot Odds
At its core, winning poker is all about odds and probabilities.
Yet a lot of amateur poker players completely disregard the mathematical aspect of the game.
So if you have a solid grasp of some basic mathematical concepts, you’ll have a huge advantage over players who just play it by ear.
Fortunately, basic poker math is no more complicated than what you learn in grade school.
If you can handle basic odds and percentages, you’ll be fine.
One of the very basic math concepts every beginner poker player should be familiar with is the pot odds.
Simply put, pot odds are the ratio between the price you need to call and the size of the pot.
Pot odds are essentially a risk-to reward ratio, where the price of the call is the risk, and the size of the pot is the reward.
Poker is all about weighing the risk in comparison to the reward, so by having a solid grasp of the poker odds, you’ll be able to make better decisions on the felt.
Let’s look at a basic example to explain the pot odds better.
Suppose the pot size is $100 and your opponent bets $50.
After the opponent’s bet, the pot size is $150, and you have $50 to call.
To calculate the pot odds, you simply divide pot size with the price of the call.
So in this example, you’re getting 3:1 pot odds, because 150 / 50 = 3.
The better the pot odds you’re getting on a call, the more often you can continue playing the hand profitably and vice versa.
This intuitively makes sense; the more you can earn and the less you need to pay, the better.
However, pot odds alone don’t really tell you whether or not you can call profitably in a certain spot.
To figure that out, you need to compare the pot odds to the percentage chance of actually winning the hand if you call.
In other words, you need to know your hand equity, i.e. how often you expect to win at showdown.
You can never know your exact equity, because you obviously can’t see your opponent’s hole cards.
However, you can estimate your equity based on your hand strength and the strength of your opponent’s range.
Let’s look at another example to illustrate the point.
Beginner Poker Example Hand #3
You are dealt A♣2♣ and the flop is: Q♣9♥6♣
The pot size is $100 and your opponent bets $50.
To figure out whether or not you can call profitably in this spot, first you need to calculate the pot odds.
Again, you’re getting 3:1 odds on a call, so you need 25% equity to break even on a call.
Protip: to quickly figure out the required equity for different pot odds, you simply add the numbers in the ratio, and divide 100 by the result.
In this example, you divide 100 / (3 + 1) = 25.
So do you have the required equity to call with the nuts flush draw?
For the sake of example, let’s say you will win the hand every time you hit one of your outs, and lose the hand every time you don’t.
Let’s also assume there will be no more betting in the hand if you call (because your opponent is all in, for example).
To quickly calculate the percentage chance of completing your draw, you can use the so-called rule of fours.
Easy Poker Math Shortcut: "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, A♣2♣ and the flop is: Q♣9♥6♣ ...
You have the nut flush draw, so you have 9 outs.
By using the rule of fours, you can estimate the chance of hitting one of your outs to be 36%, because 9 x 4 = 36.
In reality, your chance of completing a flush is actually 37%, so you can see rule of fours works quite well in most situations.
As you may have noticed, the pot odds only tell you whether or not your call is profitable in a vacuum, i.e. right now.
It doesn’t tell you anything about betting on future streets, or the amount of money that can enter the pot at some point later on in the hand,
This is where the implied odds come into play.
Implied odds refer to the amount of money you can potentially earn on future streets.
For example, if you hit one of your outs and make a very strong hand.
Implied odds allow you to call profitably even if you’re not getting sufficient pot odds on a call on a particular street.
However, when you’re estimating the implied odds, it’s better to err on the conservative side.
That’s because you’re not guaranteed to win more money even if you manage to complete your draw.
Your implied odds will depend on many factors, namely your opponent’s aggression level, their hand strength, the stack sizes, how obvious is your hand strength, is your opponent pot committed and so on.
While the pot odds are always exact and precise, the implied odds require a fair bit of guesswork.
If you’re still struggling with figuring out how to best use the pot odds and implied odds, check out my ultimate poker odds cheat sheet.
6 Boring Poker Tips All Beginners Need to Know - Summary
Getting into poker can be daunting for new players, but you don’t need to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to start winning relatively quickly.
By following these simple beginner tips, you’ll see an immediate improvement in your results.
To sum up, here are 6 poker tips every beginner should know.
1. Only play strong starting hands
You should only play hands that have a good chance of connecting with the flop in some meaningful way.
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
Playing in position gives you informational advantage, allows you to control the pot size, and value bet or bluff more effectively.
To play more hands in position, simply open-raise more hands in late table positions (the cutoff and the button), and play less hands the farther you are from the button.
3. Enter most pots with a raise
If you’re the first player to enter the pot, do so with an open-raise.
By open-raising, you’re building up the pot with your strong hands, you’re getting the initiative, and you’re making multiway pots less likely, which will translate to easier post flop play.
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 one on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to do so.
5. Isolate weaker players
If you see a player limping into the pot, don’t be afraid to isolate them with a wider range.
If your hand is even remotely playable, chances are you can iso-raise against the weaker player profitably, especially if you’re playing in position.
6. 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 odds you’re getting, the more often you can continue playing the hand and vice versa.
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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 fran.redline@gmail.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.
