Poker Strategy Fundamentals: 5 Concepts for Winning Play

You can read about these concepts until your eyes glaze over, but the repetition cements them. Each time you’re dealt a tricky combination, check the chart. Soon enough, every decision at the video poker machine will become second nature, which is exactly how I learned to beat Bowser and rescued Princess Peach.

• Everyone has been mesmerized by slot machines at one point or another in their lives.
• The “Video Poker 9/6 Jacks or Better Card” by Bob Dancer is a trifold card that serves as a quick reference guide for optimal decisions at video poker machines.
• Regardless of whether you play on GGPoker, PokerStars, or America’s Cardroom, our videos offer a substantial amount of free poker lessons that can be applied to online poker.
• The book provides comprehensive explanations of how to play various machines and strategies, including flush 6 and flush 5, making it a bargain at any price.

It may hurt to fold pocket aces, but the spots I outline in this video show the benefits of not overplaying your premium hand. In this segment from my Learning with Little YouTube series, I took questions live from students as I discussed continuation betting in live cash games. If you ever struggle at the poker table deciding what size of a bet you should make and what your betting frequency should be, this video will be of great help.

A straight draw is when your hand currently makes four cards to a straight. They see familiar betting lines and will spot rhythm changes in an opponent’s tempo. They notice when a player’s story doesn’t line up with their action. Whether it’s a common post-flop trap or a subtle tell in live play, great players connect patterns before others even register them. Too many players get trapped chasing other people’s strategies.They download GTO charts.

That’s not to say you should call raises with trash hands like 9♠ 5♦, but the more borderline hands like K♣ 9♦ and Q♥ 6♥ become playable in most situations. When he’s not writing about the art and science of betting, you can find him playing jazz piano, fine-tuning his pickleball game, or searching for the next big casino story. Master the video poker basics outlined here, and you can massively tilt the odds in your favor. You are in the driver’s seat, calling the shots that make or break your game.

If you find yourself short-stacked and near the money bubble or a pay jump, only then should you start using a more survival-oriented playing style. You can learn more about this key part of gullybet login tournament strategy here. There is a limit on how many starting hands you can play before the flop in No Limit TexasHold’em, even for the world’s best players.

Highlighting the best, free poker strategy my YouTube channel has to offer, I want to showcase some of my favorites from the channel. Experienced video poker players should always refine their strategies and adapt to new information to stay competitive. Optimal strategy is knowing which cards to hold and which to discard for the best outcome.

By trying out various approaches in a risk-free environment, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how different decisions impact outcomes. This experimentation will prove invaluable when facing real-life scenarios at the casino. Start by familiarizing yourself with the different variations of video poker. This will help you understand the specific rules and nuances of each game, allowing you to tailor your strategy accordingly.

Dealing and Holding Cards

A poker player is only as good as the tools they choose to utilize. Programs like Equilab offer players a great resource to crush micro stakes all the way to high stakes cash games. In this video I discuss one of the most important strategies in no limit hold’em poker, starting hand selection!

Your goal is to land a pair of Jacks or better after you discard any unwanted hands and are dealt replacements. A pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings, or Aces counts as a minimum winning hand. Now that you have a basic understanding of the object of poker, it’s time to start working toward using the basics to start building a workable strategy.

A good example is suited hands that do not include an Ace. Specific hand types that tend to have strong implied odds are small pairs, suited connectors, and non-suited connectors. These holdings can make well-disguised straights, two-pair, and three-of-a-kind hands. Suited connectors have the added benefit of potentially flopping powerful “combo draws.” A combo draw most commonly refers to having both straight and flush draws. In poker, equity refers to the percentage of a pot that is “owned” by the players involved in a hand on a specific street.

For everything else, video poker strategy charts give you precise hold-or-draw decisions. If you can’t memorize the complete chart, keep a printed reference handy. You can cheat legally by referencing strategy materials in real time because there are no angry pit bosses or casino security to bust you. This approach helps you avoid silly mistakes and keeps your bankroll healthy. The Royal Flush is the ultimate video poker hand, the highest payout and unbeatable combination of cards. To maximize your chances of getting a Royal Flush you need to bet the maximum number of coins as this has a big impact on the payout.

Tip #7: Attack When Your Opponent Shows Weakness

Much more important to winning at poker is an adherence to the fundamentals along with the ability to adjust your play based on what your opponents are doing. While learning to adjust to other players has a fairly steep learning curve, mastering the fundamentals are actually quite easy. Without a doubt, a complete novice can instantly get rid of a large number of leaks just by implementing them. After the flop, hands that have high implied odds tend to be disguised straight draws like gutshots or a turned/rivered two-pair.

In the next section, I will teach you how fundamentals drive strategy and tactics. You will also learn about maximizing EV, thinking in ranges, and more. However, before you move on, make sure that you understand every concept laid out in parts one and two. If there is anything that you are unclear about, it might make the next concepts much more difficult to grasp.

The house always has an advantage—but with the right insights, you can make every bet count. If you act last, you get to see what everyone else does before it’s your turn. This extra bit of information is very powerful and cannot be overstated. All you need to do is multiply your number of outs by 4 on the flop and 2 on the turn. With experience, 90% or better of all of your decisions will become this cut and dried. We’re not giving you rules.We’re handing you tools — and showing you how they connect.