Poker is a simple game. Or so it seems at first. But you soon realise it is full of nuance. To be successful you need a beginners poker strategy to play better Texas Holdem poker.

This guide will help you to work out how to get better at poker, what hands to play when, and is essential for beginners and useful for intermediate players.

There are certain strategy elements that the majority of new poker variants share in common. In the majority of cases, there are two ways that we might win chips. The first way is to collect very strong cards and make a good “hand”. Once we have a very strong hand, we can start to make bets. For Texas Hold'em tournament strategy, there exists a whole set of other poker tournament tips. While there are many things that add up to good poker strategy, we feel that these are the Top Five for new or intermediate players.

Poker strategy for beginners; Position

One of the most important things to understand is position on the table and how to play it. The best position to be is the dealer, as pre-flop there are only two players to act after them and post flop they are the last person to act, which means they get to see what their opponents do. This yields a massive advantage, and means that pre flop you can afford to play weaker, or any, hands, and get away with a big bet post flop which allows you to take the hand down, depending on the action before. If you want to know how to get better at poker then understanding positional play is the first step.

Table position cuts down a lot of hands you might want to play. That’s because if you are in an early position on the table, even with good starting hands, you might have to throw them away, and your chips. The reason being if you don’t hit the board on the flop and there are big bets in later positions you will have to fold. That is why it’s good to get to know optimal starting hand play by position. Check out the table below and along with the winning hand rankings we have been through, memorise it.

Hands in the first four positions. (Small blind, big blind, UTG and UTG+1);

Hands in the middle positions;

Late position opening hands. Dealer, the cut-off, the cut-off +1;

Poker strategy for beginners; Folding

You shouldn’t be playing too many hands. Generally about 15% is recommended when you start playing poker, which means you are throwing about 85% of your hands away. This is very frustrating when you want to play and have fun. As you get better and learn a bit more about the play you can open up slowly and play a broader range, increasing the percentage of starting hands. But poker is about mathematical probabilities, and while playing the four and six of clubs in early position might end up getting you a big hand, most of the time it won’t, and you will lose way more by constantly playing hands like this than you will win over time. If you want to make that sort of play, you have to act as if you are starting with a pair of aces, then follow it through post flop, turn and river, but you only have to get one person not believing you – and some players are very good at reading your likely cards – and you will be in all sorts of trouble.

So be prepared to fold. Beginners call bets way too often, why not after all its fun, but most will get crushed and give their chips or cash away. This is basic Texas Holdem strategy.

Poker strategy for beginners; Aggression

If you want to know how to win at Texas Holdem poker, aggression should be your friend. When you have the right cards, this is a basic poker strategy for beginners. We have established that you should only be playing a small percentage of the hands you get, but when you do get them, you need to be aggressive. You need to be betting and raising, not just calling other peoples bets. A poker axiom is ‘never a caller be’. If you start with pocket pairs (a pair in your hand, i.e. AA, KK, QQ, etc), raise pre-flop. There are many reasons for this and one is that you want to eliminate marginal hands that players might limp in with in the hope of hitting two pair or better. If you limp in the pot with a big hand hoping to make a disguised big hand, you might, but not very often. Take control and raise pre-flop.

Poker strategy for beginners; C-Betting

If you raise with high cards and the flop is below them, hit the board hard with more chips. This is called a continuation, or C-bet. You raised, representing strength, and you follow it up with a C-bet to hammer home the point. If your pair is mid range and higher cards come on the flop, think carefully about what to do. Could the other person have hit? It might be worth putting out a good sized seed bet to see if the other players fold, and if you are prepared to call a twenty dollar bet you should be making the bet. You need to make the other person have to think about their action. You don’t want them making you think about yours. If you get re-raised you let your hand go, and if you get called and it goes to the river, you take it very easy and carefully consider your next action. You don’t want to keep leaking chips.

If you are in late position with your premium hand, and you don’t hit, but the table checks around to you, this is a good position to C-bet, because you probably do have the best hand, and even if you don’t, the other players can’t call your bet if they also hit nothing. But in early position, you can’t do that action because you don’t know what the players behind you will do.

And then…

On the turn keep on betting if you have a good hand and you don’t feel your opponent has a good hand. If your opponent is aggressively playing their cards, be prepared to fold. The worst thing you can do if you haven’t made a hand yet, is to check – call, you are throwing chips away. And if you have made a really good hand, the best thing you can do is check –raise, which gets your opponent thinking and wins you pots.

Keep your game simple and clean. If you think you have the best hand or have a really good draw to a straight or flush, bet. Build the pot so when you win its full. Otherwise be prepared to throw your cards away to an opponent’s bet. It’s a lot to learn but you have to understand it if you want to understand how to master poker.

Poker strategy for beginners; Bluffing

You might be thinking that if you want to play better Texas Holdem poker you should bluff a lot. It might seem like a strategy to win in poker, but it isn’t and you shouldn’t. What we are talking about here is big bluffs for big pots, not the C-bets when you are in position and haven’t hit. Most professionals don’t bluff much, and neither should you. If you do at all, it should only be once or twice in a game. There is a saying in poker you need to pay attention to; ‘you can’t bluff a fish’. This means that if there is a poor or inexperienced player in the hand you shouldn’t try to bluff them because they will either fail to recognise the possibility that you have a great hand, or they will say to themselves ‘Lets have some fun and see if I can improve my tiny hand’, and they call anyway with their low hand. And you lose all your chips.

Poker strategy for beginners; Summary of the best poker strategy

• Be prepared to fold. A fold made is chips saved. You don’t get many great hands in Texas Holdem poker. You should be throwing a lot of hands away. Patience is a valuable asset when you start to play.
• Position is vital. Don’t play many hands in early position. Play a wider range in later position.
• Aggression wins games. When you have good starting hands, or a good hand on the board, be aggressive.

None of this guarantees you will win in poker, because you can do all the right things and you still lose. There is no single strategy to win in poker; you have to adapt. In this way you will learn how to master poker. As well as understanding the above poker strategy for beginners, the best answer to ‘how to get better at poker’ is to play, and learn the best poker strategy for you from experience.

Want to learn Omaha poker strategy? Look here.

• Poker Guide
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After you master the beginner strategies of Texas Hold ‘em, it is time to move onto the intermediate level of play. While it’s important to keep the basic strategies for Texas Hold ‘em in mind, you can now afford to take a few more risks. Tactics such as bluffing, playing questionable hands and being more aggressive can improve your game and make you a more effective poker player. As you continue your journey to becoming a better Texas Hold ‘em player, give these intermediate strategies a try:

Bluffing

In order to become a great poker player, one of the essential skills you will have to master is bluffing. When you bluff, you attempt to trick other players into thinking you have a better hand than you do.

If played correctly, the bluff can be a great weapon in your arsenal. While you’re learning, however, you should only bluff during certain situations:

• When there are not many players in the pot
• When you are up against players that fold easily
• When you are on the river and have a weak hand
• When you are in late position and everyone else has checked
• If you have just won a hand through good play
• When there is a pair on the board

Learning Texas Holdem Poker Strategy

Evaluating Opponents

When playing online poker, you need to find means of evaluating your opponents other than taking note of their body language.

• Stack Size: Players with large stacks tend to be a bit looser with their calls and bets, so keep a sharp eye out for their aggression during the game.
• Username: Players’ usernames may indicate something about their personality and, thus, the way they play poker. Serious online poker players often use some variation of their real name or will have a poker-related username. Generally, the more offensive or crude a username is, the less serious the player is. If players are less serious, they may not be as skilled.
• Not Waiting for Big Blind: If players post the big blind before it is their turn, you can assume that they are anxious to play and may not be solid or experienced Texas Hold ‘em players.
• Calling the Blind, then Calling a Raise: If you see an opponent call before the initial big blind and then call after the player before them raises, it can be assumed that the individual is not an experienced poker player.
• Cautious Play: Just because an opponent is playing timidly does not mean that he or she has a weak hand. In fact, the opponent may be trying to trick you. Keep his or her previous actions in mind as your proceed. Is this the type of player who would try to cover up a hand?

Raising

Hold Em Poker Strategies

As you become more comfortable playing Texas Hold ‘em, you may want to consider raising more often.

Strategy For Texas Holdem Poker Cash Games

• It’s often a good idea to raise if you have the best hand at the table – after all, the more money there is in the pot, the more you will win.
• Raising can also drive other players out when you have the best hand.
• Raising when you are bluffing can be risky, but profitable if done correctly. This should only be done in situations when the river has completed a draw other than the one for which you were drawing, but it looks as if it could have completed your hand based on your play thus far. This will make your bluff look more credible to the other players.
• Raising in an early round can show strength and lead other players to check for fear of your impending raise
• In Limit Hold ‘em, sometimes players raise in order to gain information about their opponents’ hands. This should only be done in earlier rounds when the betting is less expensive.

Questionable Hands

While basic Texas Hold ‘em strategy dictates that you should only play the best hands, once you become a more experienced player you can begin to take risks by playing more questionable hands. The key is to develop the ability to identify the best situations in which to play these hands:

• Only play low pairs if there is enough money in the pot to justify the action.
• It sometimes makes sense to play a questionable hand simply to confuse your opponents. If you only play the best hands, your opponents will be able to quickly identify your strategy. If you choose to play a questionable hand, make sure you continue to be aggressive throughout the betting round, otherwise your opponents will know that you are bluffing.
• In general, it’s best to play questionable hands when you are in a late position. This is because you will be able to determine if there is enough money in the pot to justify the odds of making a better hand.

Short Stack

If you have short stack, you will have less room to make plays, so you will need to take on a much more reserved strategy. While some short stacks can play multiple flops, it is more rare to make it past the flop in terms of betting because you will likely run out of chips. In general, when you have a short stack you will need to more selective about your starting hands – otherwise you’ll go broke.

Texas Hold'em Strategy Guide

• Instead of playing small hands that have potential, play hands that will be strong on the flop.
• Avoid playing suited connectors and small pocket pairs.
• Hands that include aces should be given a lot of weight.
• Always raise when entering the pot.
• Stick to basic poker strategies. Avoid bluffing – just play when you have a strong hand.

You can read more about strategies for playing Texas Hold ‘em based on stack size here.

Tips For Texas Holdem Poker

Varying Your Strategy

Strategy In Texas Holdem Poker

Varying your playing style is a tactic you can use to try and confuse other players, making it difficult for them to guess what type of hand you have or what your next move will be. Do what you can to avoid being predictable. In other words, don’t play every hand the same way.

Texas Holdem Tips And Strategies

Want to know more? Check out our how-to guides for Texas Hold ‘em strategies based on table position and size.