Some general poker strategy tips and a top ten list of considerations when playing poker. All advice has a slight bias towards Texas Holdem.

Poker Strategy

These are some general poker strategy tips that usually works in a medium to loose type of game.

Just overcards on the flop (flop is the first three community cards dealt in texas holdem): You can bet with an ace or two minor overcards on the flop, but you should fold if someone raises your bet. If someone bets before you on the flop you can call with two overcards, but fold them at the turn unless your hand improves then. You can call with two major overcards (ie A-J) if someone raises your bet on the flop. You can also check-call a bet on the turn with that kind of hand, unless the board looks threatening.

If everyone checks on the flop you can bet on the turn even if you have nothing. Your opponents will often fold in such a situation, unless they are too many or too loose.

You can sometimes bluff-bet if the flop contains an ace. Your opponents will often fold in such a situation if they don't have any pairs or an open ended straight, because it's impossible for them to have any overcards when the flop contains an ace. Please note that this will only work if your opponents aren't too many or too loose.

Betting is always done in clockwise order. The first person to act is the one sitting on the left-hand side of the player who deals the cards. Consequently, the dealer will be the one who gets to wait the longest before acting. Having seen what all the other players did, the dealer has access to more information and is in a better position than the others. To make things fair, the players take turns to deal the cards. After each finished hand, the dealer position is moved one seat clockwise.

If someone suddenly bets into you or raises, and you are considering folding, be sure to first look at the amount of chips that the player has in front of him. If he is out of chips it's likely that he is bluff raising/betting because he knows he will go all-in on that hand anyway.

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Good Advice - Top Ten

The poker strategy items that follow are very general and apply to any poker game you play.

1. Patience In the game of poker, patience = money. Patience as a poker virtue simply means waiting on a good starting hand before throwing money into the pot. A good poker player only plays about 20-30% of his dealt hands. This means that at least 70% of the time, you'll be folding your cards and watching someone else walk away with a pot.

2. Be Aggressive Once you get the cards you're looking for, play them aggressively! You have folded alot of cards to get that pair of Aces, so squeeze every cent you can out of them. If you have the best hand, bet it and force the weak players out.

3. Conservative Table Image Table image is so important, and something that many beginners never think about. You want to build for yourself a reputation at your table that says: "This player plays good cards!" Work on getting the reputation as a solid player, and then when you decide to bluff, people will fold, knowing that the majority of the time, you've got the cards to back it up.

4. Study the other Players Do not make the mistake of getting so caught up in your own cards that you fail to observe the actions of the other players.

5. Study your Game Keep doing your homework, and it will pay dividends at the poker table.

6. Know when to Quit Poker players have a term for when a player has become emotinally unable to play a good game. Fatigue and frustration to name just a couple.

7. Pick your Game Do not go into a higher limit game because 'your' limit tables are all full.

8. Consider your Bankroll Your bankroll stipulates where you should play. If you bring insufficient funds to the table, you will not be able to survive a run of bad cards early on, and may find yourself broke. What is sufficient funds? Preferably, in the high action game of Texas Hold 'em, you should have 100x the minimum bet. That means $100 at a $1/$2 limit table.

9. Do not Play with your Rent money! First, if you're foolish enough to do this, you're probably not a very good poker player, and you'll be losing those chips. Secondly, research shows that players who have this much at stake in their chip stack, play much weaker.

10. Have a holistic Approach Poker should not be measured in single games. It should be looked at as a lifelong endeavor.