How to Sharpen Your Poker Skills

Fans of the game insist that poker is the perfect combination of skill and luck. However, you can play for years and find that you still have a lot to learn. Heed the advice below if you seem to be making the same mistakes over and over, or if you are a novice just getting into the game. These steps are geared toward five-card draw, but the general strategy and psychology apply to any version of poker.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• One Or More Poker Partners
• Deck Of Cards
• Poker Chips Or Cash

1. Know the ranking and probabilities of possible poker hands (while keeping in mind the psychology of the game--see steps below). The best hand is a straight flush, comprised of five consecutive cards of the same suit. The best possible straight flush, a royal flush, is 10 through ace of any one suit. In descending order, the remaining hands are: four of a kind, full house (three matching cards combined with a pair), flush (cards of all one suit), straight (five consecutive cards), three of a kind, two pair and one pair. There are roughly 2.5 million possible poker hands. The likelihood of a hand containing a pair is about 42 percent. The likelihood of a straight flush is about .0015 percent.
2. Make sure you know the basic rules and terms. After the cards are dealt, the player to the left of the dealer has the option to fold, check or bet. To fold is to retire your hand because you do not think you are capable of winning. Folding results in the loss of any money you have so far put into the pot but prevents you from losing more. To check is to stay in the game but to decline to bet. Betting means that you put additional money in the pot, and anyone wishing to stay in the game must do the same.
3. Prepare for the draw by deciding which cards you want to keep. Experienced players try to avoid drawing more than two cards, because doing so signals that you have a weak hand and limits your ability to bluff.
4. Understand that the game changes as the stakes increase. For example, in a nickel-ante game, bluffing is not likely because no one is likely to be scared away at such low stakes. As bets increase, bluffing becomes a more effective technique.
5. Poker is primarily a game of psychology, not chance. You are playing against other people, not against the cards. Study your opponents for "tells," revealing traits that convey information about their hands. Does a player whistle when bluffing? Tap their feet when agitated? Look for these signals and remember them, while being conscious of any tells that you may be sending.
6. Keep your game competitive by avoiding patterns. Patterns in your play are signals that your opponents will pick up. If, for example, you follow the same betting pattern every time you bluff, opponents will figure this out. Poker is infinitely variable and every hand is unique.
7. Practice online to hone your skills. Chris Moneymaker won the world series of poker after solely playing online. Playing in an online poker room such as Pacific Poker allows you to practice for free or real money against experienced players.

Tips & Warnings

• Before you play, decide how much money you can afford to lose. When you reach this amount, stop playing.