If you’ve seen enough movies, then perhaps you dreamed of playing a winning hand of poker.
In movies, it’s always a last minute save: the unexpected poker hand that turns that game. While the dramatization of poker games is, of course, a dramatization, winning at poker can be that satisfying in real life. Poker isn’t like Uno or Go Fish, however. It’s complex, takes some memorization, and a great deal of skill.
If you want to learn how to play poker, or at least up your poker game, here’s how. With these tips under your belt, you’ll be closer than ever to that dramatic end-of-game reveal.
Learn to Ballpark What Other Players Hold
When you play with another group, there’s a limited number of cards in play. You have some of them. Your goal is to estimate what another player may hold and make the appropriate moves. Amateur players tend to ballpark in terms of hands; your goal should be to guess another player’s range. Don’t try to guess what hand they’re holding. Try to predict the range of possibilities and take note of the probabilities.
Don’t Get Superstitious
While you might rely on your gut a few times in poker, you shouldn’t rely on it too much. Have a lucky poker hand? Forget it. Nothing is lucky in poker; it’s all up to logic. Play with strategy and a clear head, and don’t take risks in favor of your lucky hand.
Always Stick to Your Strategy
The longer you play poker, the better your personal strategy will become. The key with strategy, however, is consistency and patience. Don’t ditch your strategy one round and pick it up the next. To make your strategy work, you need to employ it every single round.
Practice
Want to get better at poker? Play it all the time. Start with online games at a real casino. You can get a Golden Nugget Casino bonus code to start playing for free, and after a few online games of poker every week, your strategy will start to improve. Practice makes perfect, and poker is a game that takes skill and practice. If you want to get good in the poker world, starting play for real stakes at real, online casinos.
Don’t Hold onto Your Good Cards
If you need to fold, fold. Don’t make a bad move to keep your aces and kings. Playing poker online can help you practice this ability to let good cards go, and a sense of how you can still win, even when they’re gone.
Play to Win, Prepare to Lose
If you only ever play poker with mediocre players, then you’re not ready to win substantial amounts of money. If you’re planning to win, make sure your table is right for it. While winning is your goal, you must remember that poker comes with loss, too. You might lose money. You might lose a lot of money. That’s what you signed up for any time you enter a game.
You’re not as far from being a genius poker player as you might think. All it takes is consistency, practice, and attention to the vital details.