Poker Strategy

Finding the best poker strategy for you is crucial if you want to optimize your poker game.
Good poker players know that every hand is a winner – it’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play them. This post breaks down some of the most basic and best poker strategy.

If you’re completely new to poker, you may want to learn the basics rules of poker, before diving into poker strategy. Lucky for you, we’ve made a simple video telling you everything you need to know in just 4 minutes.

What is Poker Strategy

Poker strategy is one of those things that really surprises players who just started playing poker. Most people outside of poker think it’s a game of luck. You’re either dealt a great hand or a terrible hand. And the player who’s dealt the best hand always wins.

Luckily, poker is much more complex than that. After all, it’s no coincidence that the same handful of players always end up at the final table.

The different aspects of poker strategy

There are of course a bunch of different aspects to a good poker strategy.
In this blog post, I break down some of the most effective aspects of poker strategy.
I plan to dive deep into poker strategy over the coming weeks, with new videos and additional paragraphs and topics for this post.
Let me know if you have any topic in particular you’d like me to talk about.

Together, we’ll create the complete guide to the best poker strategy.
Now, poker of course isn’t just one game, but rather a whole genre of card games. The most widespread version of poker is called Texas Hold’em, and that’s the genre we’ll talk about throughout this blogpost.

How to bluff in poker

A pair of aces or a royal flush doesn’t come around too often in Texas Hold’em. Most hands you’re dealt are just ok or straight up bad. This means you can’t just fold every bad hand, and go all in when you hit a monster hand.

This is simply too easy to read, and your opponent will catch on to this poker strategy.
This is why we ‘bluff’.

Bluffing is when you ‘lie’ and pretend to have a great hand, in an effort to have your opponents fold their otherwise better hand. Bluffing is a great tool in your poker strategy, since it allows you to win some pots even with weak hands and also keeps your opponents guessing.

Poker betting strategy

Betting is obviously a core aspect of poker – and probably what most people think of, when they think poker. Shoving that pile of chips into the pot. But poker betting is actually a science and one of the absolute most important aspects of poker strategy.

Betting is usually divided into two different kinds of bets. A blocking bet and a value bet.

Blocking bets are a mind game.
Sometimes, you’re dealt a hand that could turn into something, with the right community cards. So you may want to see a flop or a turn. In this case, you want the price of further participation to stay low – so you can’t have other players betting heavily. So we place what’s called a blocking bet. A small bet, designed to tell other players that you may have something – keeping them from placing huge bets of their own. Allowing you to see more cards without too much investment.
If done right, a blocking bet can actually control the action of other players and keep the game right where you want it.

Value Bets are essentially the opposite of bluffing in poker, since this time you actually want the other players to call or, even better, raise. Let’s say you’re dealt a great hand, like pocket aces or that you hit a flush from the flop.
In this case, you’re on track to win the hand.

So, naturally, you want to build the pot and raise your imminent prize. But you can’t just go all in at this stage, since this would most likely scare off opponents and have them fold – leaving you with just the blinds and some change in the pot. Not a great win.
In this case we place a value bet – a small bet, nudging opponents to either call, or even better, raise. This means they are still in the game, betting chips, and driving up the pot for you, thinking it’s all their idea and that they are in charge. Quite genius.

Table position in poker

You may not know it, but the way you’re all seated around the poker table has a big impact on the game. More specifically, in what order you get to act your turn in a round.

Every round of poker of course has a dealer, a small blind and a big blind. As we all know, the small and big blind are required to place a bet upfront – so the first player to act freely is the player sitting after the big blind. This is usually thought of as the worst position to be in, since you haven’t seen anything from your opponents. You have to just act from your cards alone.

The later your position, the better. Since you get to see more players act before you – giving you an idea of what they may have.
The best position to be in is the dealer, also known as ‘the button’. In this position you get to act third last in the first round, and last for every round after that.

In general, the later your position the wider range of starting hands you should play.
We’ve made a video and a seperate blogpost that goes into greater detail about what starting hands we would recommend you to play in what position.

Position in poker may not sound like a big deal, but skilled players know what an important aspect of poker strategy it really is.

Poker limp

Limping in poker is often referred to as the most common beginner mistake.
Poker is about confidence, and in most cases it’s advised to either bet or fold. When someone tries to just check or call, this is seen as a weak attempt of limping one’s way into seeing more community cards. It’s especially obvious when someone bet preflop but then decide to just check post flop.

If skilled players catch you doing this, they will turn up the heat and put some pressure on you with big bets.
If you have good cards, raise.
If you have bad cards, fold.
Don’t limp.

Private table poker app

The best way to get good at poker is really just to play a lot. We’ve created the free EasyPoker app that works like a physical poker set – and we believe it’s the best poker app for friends.

Whether you’re sitting together or playing apart from separate locations, EasyPoker gives you that feeling of a good old physical poker night. The app handles everything for you, so all you have to do is just play your cards and focus on your poker strategy.

It really is the easiest way to play poker with friends, plus it’s free. Give it a try.

More poker strategy

We’re constantly adding new and exciting content to our library, and if you have something particular you’d like us to dive into, let me know in the comments.
Here are a couple of other blog posts you may find interesting.