Poker Hints

Playing poker can be one of the most rewarding hobbies, even if you just play for free. The best way to learn to play any type of poker is to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY! Join a free poker league, set up a friendly game with friends, sit down with someone you know who plays (well, hopefully) and learn from them.

There is never a place where you will know everything about poker, so you should always have your eyes and ears alert to learn something new.

Talk to people while you are playing. There are lots of excellent players that are always willing to give newbies a tip. But remember, just because they say something doesn’t mean it will work for YOU. Ask players why they folded, why they raised, why they raised what they raised. Were they trying to scare everyone off, or were they hoping for a caller? Sometimes, people may not answer you, or worse, may not answer you truthfully, but it never hurts to ask.

One of my favorite ways to work on my game is to play with my husband who is a much better player than me (Texas Hold ‘Em is our game). What we do is play two hands a piece, cards up for a while and talk about how to play those starting hands. Then, for a while we will play two hands a piece face down, but after each hand show hands and then talk about how we played it and what we could have done to be more successful.

Again, I go back to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY! One thing that has definitely made me a stronger player is having joined a free poker league – Snowman Poker League – in Houston. We play six nights a week, and each night is 2 tournaments. I have learned so much by playing. Poker terms, how to deal, legal rules, etiquette, and most importantly, how other people play.

Don’t be fooled. Most people do no have any cut and dry “tell.” But there are lots of little things you can learn about how people play and little tells. For example, if the flop is a flush draw, and your opponent checks his cards, he is probably looking at what suits his card are. Realistically, they are probably not suited, because when you play a suited hand, you tend to remember what that suit is. Obviously, that is not a sure thing, but it is something to keep in mind. A lot of times when that happens and I check my hand, it’s because one of my cards is an ace and I want to know what it’s suit is. Or, I have a pocket pair and want to know if either of my cards matches that particular suit.

When you play with the same people frequently, as I do in my poker league, you learn about how people play. For instance, according to my husband, if I am playing and betting, then you better have some good cards because I only play when I have got something very good, and I don’t bet on mid or low pairs. Obviously, I need to bluff some (AND GET CAUGHT) so maybe I can change my reputation. Another player that we play with frequently loves fours. So, if he’s playing and there are fours on the board, watch out. Another poker friend of mine’s favorite hand is nine – ten (he gets mad at me when I fold this hand), as well as pocket nines, tens, and also jacks.
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People are also rather dumb sometimes. They will say things like “oooh, I got my favorite hand” and think that you don’t know what their favorite hand is. When you can, REMEMBER what other people’s favorite hands are. I got caught one time when I said “This is one of my favorite hands” (and I have like ten), and the owner of the league called me remembering that I said that about ace – ten. Sure, I have a lot of favorite hands, but that happened to be the one I was talking about. Ouch! Fortunately, I change favorite hands about once a week!

There is a lot of psychology involved in poker. This is where I thrive having both a masters and a bachelor’s degree in psychology (and, of course, a psychologist just won the main event at the World Series of Poker!). The psychology of poker is some of knowing how other people play, but also figuring out what people have based on how they bet. If there is a flush draw out there and someone bets the minimum bet, they probably don’t have the flush. Maybe top pair. Knowing that, if you have something better, you can feel much better about calling or raising or even folding! Of course, there is always the fact that someone COULD be bluffing. What I have found is that bluffs more often are what we refer to as “semi-bluffs.” Meaning you have SOMETHING, but you are betting like you have something BETTER.

When playing, always remember to never regret the hand that you folded that WOULD of won. Instead, regret the hand you played and SHOULDN’T have. And, most importantly, HAVE FUN!