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Take quizPoker is a game that takes an hour to learn and a lifetime to master, and truer words have never been spoken.
If you are reading this, you probably already know the rules of poker and likely know how to play it at one level or another. However, there is always room for improvement, and our Pokercode pros are here to help you do just that.
These top poker lessons from Pokercode pros will help you beat your opponents, grow your bankroll, advance your poker career, and reach the success you have always dreamed of.
The position is one of the most important concepts in poker and is one that amateur players often partially or completely overlook. If you want to succeed in poker, you will need to be aware of your position at all times, as well as the position of all other active players.
There are few things that can give you as much power at the poker table as position, as being in position gives you many more options and significantly over-realizes your equity.
Conversely, you will never be able to realize all of your equity when out of position, as players who have a position on you will be able to push you off hands and control the size of the pot more successfully.
This is exactly why you should always play more hands in positions such as the button and the cutoff, which give you position over your opponents and allow you to navigate hands in your favor.
Position alone won’t make you a winning poker player, but being aware of it and using it in your favor will give you an edge over other players, especially those who don’t observe such details.
Bankroll management is a topic that's often discussed but not always taken seriously by a vast portion of players. Whether you like it or not, variance is a major part of poker, and you will have both winning and losing sessions and stretches along your career.
As such, you will need a bankroll to sustain the losing stretches, and playing without a sufficient bankroll will mean you are likely to go broke.
The exact size of a bankroll you need to play without that risk will depend on the following:
All these factors will impact the amount of money you need to play poker without a significant risk of ruin.
Some game formats, like multi-table tournaments, require hundreds of average buyins, while others, like heads-up games, can be played with 20-30 buyins.
Yet, all of this is only true if you have a skill edge over your opponents, which is why it's also important to be honest with yourself and understand your strengths and weaknesses at the poker table.
In either case, it is of paramount importance that you keep a steady poker bankroll, separate from other money you need for your daily expenses and that you can sustain losing days, weeks, and at times even months.
A poker skill that many players don’t even consider, but that may just be the most important one of all, is game selection. Many of the world’s best poker players love to challenge themselves and play against tough opposition, but that’s certainly not the most profitable approach to poker.
Playing with great opponents will help you grow as a poker player but could impact your bankroll in very negative ways.
On the other hand, finding your way into the softest and juiciest games will mean you have a skill advantage over the entire field you are playing against, which will work wonders for your profit margins.
As Fedor Holz said in a recent interview, "you could be the sixth-best player in the world, but if you are playing against the other five, you are the sucker." (change that phrase to Fedor’s in a similar line)
Indeed, poker is all about playing against players who play the game worse than you do and playing them for stakes that you can afford to play.
Good game selection can turn an average poker player into a big winner, while poor game selection may turn a great player into a massive loser.
The question of balanced (GTO) versus exploitative play has been a heavily debated one in recent years and one that many players disagree about. The truth is that exploitative play, when possible, brings more profit and better results in the long run. The real problem is knowing when you can and when you can’t exploit your opponents.
The best tip we can give you is to learn as much as possible about GTO poker, as this will give a fantastic baseline from which to exploit others.
If you don't know what the solvers would do in a spot, you will not have any real idea of how or whether to exploit your opponents. You will often end up giving them a chance to exploit you while gaining nothing in return.
If you learn your baselines well, you can step away from them in a methodical and meaningful way and exploit your opponents to the maximum.
Remember that exploits always make more money than GTO if applied properly, but keep balance in mind, and don't let others exploit your game more than you exploit theirs.
Poker players want to sit at the table and crush their opponent’s souls, but you won’t be able to do that if you don’t study hard and improve your game. In order to crush others, you must be an amazing player first.
The only way to achieve greatness is by spending time in the lab and learning everything you can about the game. Out of all the time you spend on poker, you should spend at least 30% learning the game and 70% playing it. Early on, you may even want to spend more time studying than playing.
The more you learn about poker away from the tables, the more damage you will be able to do once you are sitting across from your opponents.
There are countless ways to study these days, from analyzing your own sessions to working with solvers, watching videos created by our pro coaches, or evening joining Pokerrcode and learning from the pros directly.
You should dedicate time to each of these and talk to your poker friends and anyone else who may have some insights that can help your game grow and improve.
If you don't study at all, chances are that other players will get better than you over time, and the skill gap will only keep growing instead of diminishing.
How often have you heard someone say, "I put you on Ace-King" after they make a dubious call with the bottom pair on the river and knock you out of a tournament? It is true that many poker players try to put their opponents on one particular hand, often using wishful thinking and hope instead of logic to make their decisions.
As someone who is looking to play poker the right way, you should learn to think about ranges instead of particular hands.
In every situation, try to think about all the possible hands your opponents could have based on their play.
Once you put a player on a range of hands, you can build your play in a way that best counters that entire range of hands instead of one particular imaginary hand.
Remember, just because someone guessed a hand right every now and then does not mean they have any special gift or that their “reading abilities” are spot on.
Instead, most of the time, it's all about luck and nothing more. Thinking about ranges is a far superior way to decide what your opponent may have than thinking about particular hands.
Finally, think about your own perceived range and what hands your opponents may think you have so that you can expect their reactions and adjust to that.
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There are many poker formats, and they all have pros and cons. As a player, you should pick your preferred variation and try to get really good at it. By focusing on a single format of the game, you will be able to master it, while many of your opponents will waste their time playing a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
Focusing on studying one particular game format will make you great at it and allow you to extend your skill edge over the field more than you could otherwise.
The format you choose is completely up to you. You will want to look for one that works well with your strengths and allows you to play the style of poker you find most enjoyable.
While poker tournaments are generally considered the "softest" option, you may prefer to battle it out in the cash game or heads-up streets.
Remember that every game can be beaten if you are willing to spend the time needed to learn it and apply the knowledge you pick up at the tables with discipline and focus.
Playing your cards right is the most important thing in poker, but it won’t be enough to win if you can’t stay focused and avoid tilt at all times.
Your mental state is an important part of any competitive endeavor, and poker takes things to another level in this respect. It is one of the few games in which you can do everything right and still lose, which can take a toll even on the best of us.
This is why it is critical to keep working on your mental state as a poker player and always remind yourself that variance is a big part of the game and that worse players have to win every now and then as well.
Other mental problems, such as burnout, are also very real in poker, so it's important to take breaks from the game and enjoy other activities. If you are not studying or playing poker, try not to think about the game and let yourself enjoy life and focus on other things at times.
Keeping your head clear will do wonders for your poker game, and being aware of your strengths and weaknesses and realistic with your expectations will make you a better poker player.
There are players who like to think of themselves as “feel players” and believe that math is not the most important thing in poker. While it is true that things like live reads or instinctive plays all have their place in the game, math is absolutely at the center of poker.
If you don’t know how to calculate your odds, adjust for fold equity and implied odds, or compare ranges, you will not be able to win in modern poker games by and large.
Make sure you spend the time you need to learn all the formulas and when to apply them, and you will be a better poker player for it.
Don't allow yourself to ever ignore the math and make gut-feeling decisions that make no sense from a mathematical perspective, as this is not the right way to win at poker.
The best you can do in any poker hand is make the right decisions. Making the right decisions won’t always result in you winning, and this is the harsh reality of poker.
You have to always remember that making better decisions than other players will make you a winner in the long run, and accept that sometimes you will lose to worse players.
Worrying too much about the results of poker hands or how you busted a particular tournament or lost a particular pot is mental torture.
There is no justice or fairness at the poker table. Cards fall as they may, and making the best possible plays is all you need to do to be a winner at the end.
Forget about the results of poker hands as soon as they are done, don’t tell anyone your bad beat stories, and maintain a positive attitude focused on the quality of your decisions instead of the luck of the draw.
If you have the feeling you need to sharpen up your game then Pokercode is a great place to start. Sign up for a free account and set your first steps towards becoming a better poker player.By signing up for a free account you will benefit from:
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