• Understand Pairs: In Texas Hold’em, pairs are strong poker hands. Higher pairs like Aces, Kings, and Queens can give you a powerful lead right from the start.
• Suited High Cards: Hands such as Ace-King, Ace-Queen, or King-Queen of the same suit are considered strong due to their potential for Flushes, Straights, or high pairs.
• Unsuited High Cards: Even if not the same suit, high value cards such as an Ace-King or Ace-Queen hold potential due to their likelihood to form a high pair.
• Medium Pairs: Medium pairs like Jacks, Tens, and Nines can be valuable if no higher cards appear on the table, but they need to be played cautiously.
• Suited Connectors: Cards of the same suit in sequence (like Eight-Seven or Six-Five of hearts) have the potential for Straight or Flush, making them a gamble that can pay off.

You’ve learned about the?poker hand hierarchy?and you’ve got the?basic rules of the game?down pat! The next thing you need to build more confidence at the table is the knowledge of which hands you should start out playing.

Best Starting Hands In Poker

It’s your turn to bet in a casino and now you’re wondering if your hand is strong enough to justify a call or raise, or maybe you should fold? Below are the generally accepted top ten starting hole card hands in Texas Hold’em poker. They are considered premium hole cards and are potentially hand-winning.

With these cards, you will certainly want to play the hand, but be sure to consider your position on the table.

1. Pocket Aces (Bullets)

Considered the best starting hole cards in Hold’em, AA are playable from any table position.

2. Pocket Kings (Cowboys)

Considered the second best starting hole cards, KK are playable from any position.

3. Pocket Queens (Ladies) 

Great strength pre-flop but becomes difficult to play post-flop when over-cards hit.

4. AKs(uited) (Big Slick)

This is the fourth strongest starting hand, even against KK and is a significant favorite against the rest.

5. AQs(uited) (Little Slick) 

This hand is strong but can easily be dominated in typical all-in pre-flop scenarios.

6. Pocket Jacks (Fishhooks) 

Many players claim paired jacks are the most difficult top 10 starting hand to play. While being one of the top 10 best starting hands, JJ versus AA-QQ and AKo-AQs is vulnerable.

7. KQs(uited) (Royal Couple) 

While this hand is best suited to make straights and flushes, it can put you in difficult positions when flopping top pair, as you quite possibly will not have the best kicker.

8. AJ (Ajax) 

These hole cards can be difficult to play from early position because you will never get folds from better aces, and you won’t get the value of a top pair. However, it does have value in its ability to make the nut straight or flush.

9. AKo(ff-suit) (Big Ugly) 

The strongest unsuited, non-pair. This hand is easy to overplay and over value in poker tournaments and in ring games.

10. TT (TNT) 

Extremely strong vs two random cards, yet as with JJ, it can be difficult to play.

Now that you’re familiar with the basic rules and best starting hands of poker, you’re ready to take a seat and begin your poker adventure!

Poker Starting Hand Strategies

Mastering starting hand strategies in poker is not only about understanding which hands are typically considered strong or weak, but also knowing how to adapt your approach based on changes in the game’s dynamics.

1. Tight vs. Loose Play: If you’re a beginner, a tighter, more conservative approach to starting hands is recommended. This generally means playing fewer hands and choosing only those with high potential, like high pairs or suited connectors. More experienced players may adopt a looser strategy, playing more hands and skillfully leveraging position and betting strategies.
2. Position Matters: The position you’re in relative to the dealer plays a significant role in determining which starting hands you should play. Being in a late position, where you act after most players, allows you to make decisions with more information, and thus you can play a wider range of starting hands.
3. Know When to Fold: One key to a profitable long-term poker strategy is knowing when to fold your hand. Even if you’ve been dealt a reasonably good hand pre-flop, if the betting gets too high or the flop doesn’t improve your hand, it may be best to cut your losses and fold.
4. Watch Your Opponents: Pay attention to how your opponents are playing. If they’re playing tight, you may be able to win more pots with semi-strong hands. Conversely, if they’re playing loose, strong starting hands become even more critical.
5. Adaptive Strategies: Successful poker players adapt their starting hand strategies based on game flow, table position, and their read on other players. What works in one session may not work in another, so always be prepared to adjust your approach.

Mastering starting hand strategy in poker involves understanding the inherent strength of your initial cards, but it also requires good judgment and adaptability as the game progresses. As with every aspect of poker, practice makes perfect.

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• Card Count: Royal Hold’em is a variation of Texas Hold’em, but with a smaller deck—only 20 cards (10s and higher) are used, making the game faster.
• High-Value Hands: Due to the nature of Royal Hold’em, high-value hands are more prevalent. Don’t be surprised by multiple full houses or four-of-a-kinds!
• Aggressive Play: Given that only high-value cards are in play, aggressive betting strategies can pay off well in Royal Hold’em.
• Critical Position: Poker position is essential in Royal Hold’em, similar to other poker games. Having a late position gives you a significant advantage.
• Importance of Blinds: Given the rapid speed of the game, understanding and strategizing around blinds is crucial for maintaining your stack in Royal Hold’em.

Playing Royal Hold’em can be a lot of fun. Not only do you consistently see big, exciting hands, it’s easy to learn because the rules are so familiar to Texas Hold’em. However, don’t fall into a trap of playing in less than ideal situations. Read this guide to find out how to get your start.

Royal Hold’em appeals to the math-conscious Hold’em player. There are frequent opportunities where pot odds and counting outs are relevant to your decision-making process.

What is Royal Hold’em Poker?

Royal Hold’em Poker is an exciting variant of the traditional Texas Hold’em Poker. The significant difference lies in the deck size. In Royal Hold’em, the deck is stripped down to just 20 cards – all cards below ten are removed, leaving only tens through aces. The game follows the same standard poker rules as Texas Hold’em in terms of the betting rounds and the order of play.

Because of the limited deck size and the high value of cards in play, Royal Hold’em tends to be a faster-paced game with larger hands more frequently obtained, making it a thrilling choice for poker fans. Royal Flushes, Straight Flushes, Four of a Kind – these are all common sights in Royal Hold’em, further amplifying the game’s appeal.

It’s important to note that due to the smaller deck and more frequent high-value hands, strategies for Royal Hold’em can differ significantly from other forms of poker. Making adjustments to your poker tactics – such as playing more aggressively and focusing heavily on position strategy – can significantly impact your success in this variation of the game.

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The Difference Between Royal Hold’em & Texas Hold’em

There are a few key differences between Royal Hold’em and its Texas counterpart. The game is played at a 6-max table only, and uses just 20 cards (a stripped deck of tens, jacks, queens, kings and aces only). This means short-handed pots are the norm, and being aware of position during a hand is highly important.

It’s easy to get carried away with strong hands in Royal Hold’em, but playing them out will give you some insight into correctly folding ‘second best’ hands and not leaking chips into pots you should avoid.

Royal Hold’em: Pre-Flop Tips

Hand selection is key. Because Royal pots are usually won by the best possible hand (or close to it), you should only consider playing premium starting hands like AA or KK. Even AK is vulnerable when you flop top pair only. Depending on your opponents, chip stacks, and whether you are in a ring game or tournament, you should nearly always raise with AA or KK. With AA, you can even re-raise to try to maximize your profit.

Raising in position pre-flop, particularly from the Button, with hands other than AA of KK is fine if everyone else has folded, especially if you perceive the players in the blinds as tight. But be careful — extending your raising range too much when there are limpers, or if there’s a chance to get multiple callers is asking for trouble.

Still, you can include QQ or AK in your raises to keep your opponents guessing. Just remember that calling pre-flop with these weaker hands requires the ability to recognize unfavorable post-flop scenarios and minimize losses by folding ‘trappy’ hands.

Position is important because you want to have control of the betting. Think ahead. Raising in the Under the Gun seat with a poor hand will likely put you in an awkward situation later in the hand.

Royal Hold’em: Post-Flop Tips

Be wary of any hand after the flop which is not either the nuts, or drawing to a hand that will beat the current nuts. Straights are actually very weak hands in Royal Hold’em. Against three of a kind, a straight with no royal flush draw can only ever get a split pot (when the board fills in a Broadway straight to give a straight for everyone).

Counting outs and calculating pot odds is an important part of Royal Poker when considering calling post-flop bets. Awareness of your opponents’ tendencies will give you an idea of their hand strength, and then you can decide if your hand is already strong enough or has enough potential to stick around.

A flush draw is always drawing to a royal flush and is sometimes quite playable. Since the game only uses 20 cards, the chance of hitting a one-card out is better than 1 in 7 if you’re facing a small bet on the flop.

General Strategy for Royal Hold’em

ABC poker will work against bad players. Patience will reap rewards against overly-aggressive players. With the probability to get AA being better than 1 in 32, you will rarely go for long without some exciting action pots.

Making correctly-sized bets and raising when you should will help you extract value from calling hands when you think you currently have the best hand. In Royal Hold’em, your hand strength is much more readable than with a full deck, and observant opponents will be using their analysis and counting their outs, too. Don’t let them make good value calls by being too passive.

Bluffing is possible against opponents who are playing too tight or those who perceive you to be tight. This can lead to some interesting blind vs. blind battles, so it pays to tune up on your Heads Up play. And don’t forget to make some player notes!

Ready to take your seat? Before you join a game, why not check out our poker guides?

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• Poker Blinds: Blinds are mandatory bets made before the cards are dealt in a game of online poker, effectively creating an initial pot and motivating gameplay.
• Two Types: There are typically two blinds, the “small blind” and the “big blind”, with the big blind being double the small.
• Rotating Responsibility: The responsibility for posting blinds moves clockwise around the poker table position with each new hand in most games.
• Stimulate Betting: The main purpose of blinds is to stimulate betting by providing players an incentive to participate and win the ‘pre-formed’ pot.
• Influence Strategy: The position of a player in relation to the blinds significantly influences their game strategy – early, mid or late position.

Have you ever wondered what the blinds are in casino poker? Why doesn’t everyone just play poker for free, and join or leave as they please? In this article, we’ll break down

What Are Blinds In Poker?

The ‘blinds’ are so called because players have to pay them before they see their cards. They are not optional if you want to join a poker game, and not to be confused with antes.

Antes are also a compulsory bet paid by players before their cards are dealt in a tournament, but an ante is usually taken from everyone in every hand. A blind is positional, taken from specific players.

For reference, we should state the purpose of the dealer button, which dictates the position of the blinds in a community card game like Texas Hold’em and Omaha. The dealer button represents the player who, in the “good old days,” used to actually distribute the cards to the other players.

The dealer button is allocated at the start of each hand, and initially two forced blinds are collected:

• The small blind from the first player to receive cards to the left of the dealer.
• The big blind from the second player to receive cards to the left of the dealer.
• If only two players are to be dealt in, the button takes the small blind and the other player pays the big blind.
• Further blinds may be collected from other new players wanting their first hand, or players returning from sitting out.

As their name suggests, the big blind is more expensive than the small blind — usually double. In ring games the blinds are constant, but in tournaments they increase at a predetermined rate. Poker tournament blind levels are usually scheduled for a set period of time, but may be for a number of hands.

Why Are Poker Blinds Collected?

The reason that blinds are collected, particularly in tournaments, is so there is a starting pot for the players to compete for.

In tournaments, the blinds increase in size in order to force players to keep up with the average stack as players are eliminated. If there were no blinds in poker games, the best poker strategy would be to fold everything except premium hands because it would be free to wait. The game simply would not be at all interesting or competitive.

It is important to note that the players who are paying blinds are at a distinct disadvantage for that hand.

• They’re betting without seeing their cards, whereas everyone else is playing for free.
• They must act first in every round of betting in the hand, except for pre-flop.

How Do Blinds Work In Poker?

In order for the blinds to affect everyone equally, there are specific rules which most poker games follow to make things fair for everyone. A well-known and highly respected resource of poker rules and etiquette,?Robert’s Rules of Poker, authored by Bob Ciaffone (who sadly passed away in 2022) has this to say about the button and blind obligations:

 “A new player cannot be dealt in between the big blind and the button. Blinds may not be made up between the big blind and the button. You must wait until the button passes.”

Bob Ciaffone

The reason for this is that having a player pay a small blind in that seat might mean a player has had to pay the big blind in two consecutive hands. That would be a severe penalty. You may be moved to an empty seat between the dealer button and the big blind, but you’ll have to wait until the button has moved to your left before you can take a hand. This applies even in tournaments when you move tables.

Also from Robert’s Rules:

“A player who misses any or all blinds can resume play by either posting all the blinds missed or waiting for the big blind. If you choose to post the total amount of the blinds, an amount up to the size of the minimum opening bet is live. The remainder is taken by the dealer to the center of the pot and is not part of your bet. When it is your next turn to act, you have the option to raise.”

Bob Ciaffone

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This method is used to prevent players from declining to pay their blinds when in the big blind position and then trying to return in a different, more advantageous position for free. They have to pay their dues of a big blind?plus?a small blind, which they have also skipped.

Even if they do come back in the cut off, immediately to the right of the dealer button and in a highly advantageous position, the penalty of paying a small blind as well as a big blind compensates for that.

One of the game dynamics which paying blinds introduces is that players in short-handed games and the final stages of a tournament have to fight to stay alive. Everybody has the same cost each time the blinds get to them.

Stronger players will have the ability to cope with the disadvantages forced on them and exploit the forced bets made by others. The better players will try to capitalize on positional play and not waste chips by limping or calling passively.

More Than Just Paying to Play

Understanding the role and purpose of blinds in poker is fundamental to mastering the game’s strategy and dynamics. Blinds not only initiate the betting action, but they also facilitate game progression and influence player tactics.

Whether you’re just starting your poker journey or refining your skills, being well-versed in how blinds affect the game will elevate your poker prowess. So, the next time you find yourself at the poker table, remember the crucial role of the blinds and leverage it to your advantage. Happy gaming!

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This royal flush of the best poker movies of all time will take you on a cinematic journey where high stakes, bluffing, and intricate strategies are the order of the day. Prepare to explore best poker movies that not only capture the thrill of the game but also delve into the minds of its players, the lengths they are willing to go to win, and the ramifications of their daring gambits.

Whether you’re a poker aficionado or a casual movie-goer seeking a thrilling ride, this list of films promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.

1. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – The 10 of Hearts

This 2018 Western features a singing cowboy, Buster Scruggs.

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is an eccentric and compelling anthology film, written and directed by the brilliant Coen Brothers. Premiering in 2018, this Netflix Original grips audiences with its sharp wit, intriguing characters, and eye-catching cinematography.

The film is made up of six separate stories set in the American frontier of the 19th century. Each story, much like the chapters of a book, unfolds independently, with a distinct set of characters and plot. However, they all share an underlying theme, an exploration of life’s inevitabilities and human nature.

The opening tale follows the aforementioned Buster Scruggs, a muscularly cheerful singing cowboy with an unexpected penchant for violence.

After entering a saloon, Buster joins a vacant seat at a poker table and is told that he must play the cards that the other player has abandoned, which turn out to be the infamous Dead Man’s Hand, AA88. Buster refuses to play the hand and finds himself in a one-of-a-kind gunfight.

For those not in the know, the Dead Man’s Hand is rumored to be the hand that Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was killed, which makes Buster’s refusal to play understandable!

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is a violent and often morbid reflection of the Old West but equally peppered with harmonic melodies and stinging humor. The Coen Brothers’ knack for creating rich and unpredictable narratives manifest beautifully in this film, making it a truly essential watch for fans of their works, is a spectacular exploration of the Western genre for all movie lovers, and one of the best poker movies.

2. Casino Royale – The Jack of Hearts

“Casino Royale,” directed by Martin Campbell, is a thrilling yet sophisticated addition to the James Bond series. Released in 2006, the film marked a significant shift in tone from the preceding films, featuring a more complex and human depiction of the famous spy, played by Daniel Craig in his Bond debut.

In “Casino Royale,” Bond is on a mission to prevent a dangerous banker, Le Chiffre, from winning a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Through the skillfully directed poker scenes, the movie does more than entertain; it unravels the plot and further develops characters.

The poker game is not simply a game, but a battlefield where mental prowess, bluffing and strategic planning could mean the difference between life and death. The tension around the table is palpable as Bond and Le Chiffre duel not only with cards, but with sharp glances, clever bluffs, and high-risk bets.

“Poker” is more than just a game here; it’s a metaphor for the strategic, high-stakes world that 007 operates in. It serves as an avenue to expose Le Chiffre’s weaknesses and subsequently exploit them, demonstrating Bond’s cleverness and unflappable cool under pressure. In essence, “Casino Royale” uses poker as a tool to drive the narrative and heighten the suspense, earning its ranking in the list of the best poker movies.

3. Molly’s Game – The Queen of Hearts

“Molly’s Game”, directed by Aaron Sorkin, and released in 2017, introduces viewers to a riveting world of clandestine poker games.

Based on the memoir by Molly Bloom, the film tells the tale of a former Olympic skier who, after an unfortunate career-ending injury, eventually becomes the runner of an exclusive, high-stakes underground poker game, attracting Hollywood celebrities, business tycoons, and ultimately, the FBI. Jessica Chastain delivers a compelling performance as the titular character, and she’s supported by a stellar ensemble including Idris Elba and Kevin Costner.

In the film, poker serves not only as the central attraction but also as the instrument that shapes Molly’s transformation. It initially becomes her lifeline post-career shift, but it soon turns into a complex web of power play, legal entanglements, and ethical explorations. The high-stake poker games are painted with a thrilling yet menacing undertone that underlines Molly’s escalating journey.

These poker scenes are meticulously constructed to highlight the psychological stakes at play and to pave the way for the narrative’s dramatic turns. The intricate details of poker are smartly used to give viewers an insight into the characters’ minds, their moving motivations, and evolving relationships.

The infamous, ‘full tilt’ scene is often held up as one of the best poker scenes in movie history and a great example of a common poker mistake, letting emotion make the bets.

“Molly’s Game” is an enthralling examination of ambition, power, and resilience, embedded in the enticing world of private poker games, making it a must-watch addition to the best poker movies club for poker players and non-players alike.

2. Rounders – The King of Hearts

“Rounders,” directed by John Dahl and released in 1998, is often praised as the quintessential best poker movies. The film shines a light on the underground world of high-stakes poker and features knockout performances from Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and John Malkovich.

Damon plays Mike McDermott, a law student and gifted poker player who loses his entire savings in a heads up with Russian gangster named Teddy ‘KGB’ played by Malkovich. Despite this setback, Mike swears off gambling and focuses on his law studies. However, when his old friend Worm (Norton) is released from prison and needs help repaying a debt, Mike is drawn back into the poker world.

In “Rounders,” poker plays a pivotal role, serving as more than mere background entertainment. It is instead the mainspring from which the plot unravels, and the axis around which the characters evolve. The game is a microcosm of life challenges and moral dilemmas, testing Mike’s loyalty, determination, and cunning. The suspense-ridden poker games reveal hidden aspects of characters and offer Mike both a chance for redemption and a pitfall into deeper trouble.

“Rounders” remarkably encapsulates the thrill, strategy, and sometimes bitter realities of poker, making it a high-stake delight for poker enthusiasts and movie lovers alike. The film’s depiction of the game has often been credited with contributing to the mid-2000s poker boom, underlining the impact of its authentic portrayal of the game.

1. Mississippi Grind – The Ace of Hearts

“Mississippi Grind,” directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and released in 2015, follows the story of two gamblers on a road trip with a dream of changing their luck. The film stars Ben Mendelsohn as Gerry, a down-on-his-luck gambling addict, and Ryan Reynolds as Curtis, an itinerant gambler and charmer who seems to have a bit more control over his habit.

Central to the film is the game of poker, but it isn’t solely about the game itself; instead, it delves into the lives and personas of those consumed by it. Continual poker scenes, naturally occurring in casinos, back rooms, and riverboats, offer opportunities for the character study to unfold. Gerry’s desperation contrasted against Curtis’s seemingly laid-back approach to gambling forms the emotional core of the movie.

In “Mississippi Grind,” poker is a metaphor for the characters’ journey through life – replete with the ups and downs, the bluffs and tells, the wins and the losses. It’s through the game that we see Gerry’s struggles with addiction and Curtis’s nomadic existence. It brings out the characters’ darkest corners, vulnerabilities, and their constant struggle towards something better; it portrays their perennial hope of that next big win which underlies their ‘Mississippi Grind.’

This film is a keen observation of human nature using poker as its vehicle, making it a compelling portrait of the gambler’s lifestyle and the inevitable consequences that ensue.

Poker on The Big Screen

And there you have it – A tour through the transformative world of poker as portrayed in cinema. These films not only masterfully capture the tension, the strategy, and the sheer thrill of the game, but they also use poker as a lens through which viewers can explore deeper themes of human nature, life struggles, and the relentless pursuit of high stakes.

The best poker movies bring to life fascinating characters, from aspiring champions and hard-luck cases to sinister villains and empathetic heroes, each walking a tightrope between triumph and despair in their quest for that elusive winning hand.

Beyond the poker tables and flashy casinos, these films are profound character studies that reveal complex layers of human behavior. So, whether you’re an avid poker player seeking to see your favorite game on screen or a movie enthusiast searching for narratives that delve deep into the human psyche, there’s no bluffing the captivating allure of these poker films. May they serve as your ultimate cinematic ace when you next decide to shuffle your movie deck.

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• Dive into advanced Pre-Flop Raise (PFR) strategies to elevate your poker game and gain a competitive edge at the casino table.
• Explore insights from poker statistics and analysis to understand the impact of PFR poker on hand ranges, aggression levels, and overall gameplay dynamics.
• Learn how to adjust your PFR poker range based on position, stack sizes, opponent tendencies, and table dynamics for strategic advantage.
• Implement sophisticated PFR tactics, such as 3-betting and balancing ranges, to exploit opponents and maximize profitability.
• Master the art of PFR poker by combining technical expertise with psychological insights to outplay opponents and achieve consistent success in your games.

Every possible edge in Texas Hold ‘Em can lead to better outcomes and, let’s face it, the fewer opponents you have the better odds you have of winning. One of the advanced strategies in Texas Hold ‘Em is known as the Pre-Flop Raise (PFR).

What is PFR in poker? A PFR Poker strategy is raising the bet before any community cards are revealed (pre-flop). At the beginning, the only money in the pot is from the big blind and small blind. After the hold cards are dealt, the first round of betting begins when players can bet, check, call or raise.

If you’re learning how to play poker and want to consider PFR, this article should prove the basic details to get you started and what to look out for.

Pre-Flop Raise as a Strategy

There are many reasons why PFR can be an important strategy and impacts gameplay in a variety of ways:

• Strong Hole Cards: The community cards can go any number of ways but if you’re holding two strong cards, you can raise before the flop to indicate and scare away potential opponents and/or build the pot.
• Minimize competition: If another player folds, that’s one less person who could potentially find favorable cards in the flop, turn or river. We’ve all been in the position where we fold bad cards only to discover they could have turned into a winning hand.
• Make Them Pay for the Flop: If you have a good hand, don’t let the others see the flop for cheap. Your Pre-Flop Raise indicates your hand is strong and you deserve to play into the next round.
• Collecting Intelligence: If a player folds, they thought their hand was weak. However, if they call or raise, you now have information that they could be holding a strong hand as well.
• Psychological Warfare: If you PFR aggressively, you’re signaling to the others players that you’re not afraid to play and apply some pressure.

What Does the Pre-Flop Raise Percentage Mean?

To determine the PFR percentage, take the number of hands in which a player raises pre-flop versus the number of hands played. If a player raises 15 times out of 100 hands played, the percentage is 15%.

This is used to assess a player’s style and how aggressive or conservative they are and what strategy you can use against it.

Generally, a PFR percentage above 15% indicates they are more aggressive.

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What is VPIP?

Voluntary Put money In Pot, or VPIP, is a percentage of how often a player bets, calls or raises. This doesn’t include blinds because those bets aren’t voluntary. An example would be if out of 100 hands played, if you voluntarily put money in 50 times, the VPIP would be 50%.

The Relationship Between VPIP and PFR

The way in which VPIP and PFR are related is in regards to poker strategy and how players bet at the beginning of a hand. While VPIP can happen at any time, PFR obviously can only occur before the flop. However, whether you’re the player raising pre-flop or it’s someone else, it is a key indicator on someone’s betting style.

A player willing to raise pre-flop or has a high Volunteer Put money in Pot percentage plays more aggressively. They are willing to gamble more often, re-raise when prompted and pressure their opponents into calling.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is the player with a lower VPIP and someone more likely to call rather than bet. They tend to play hands more conservatively, which means they’ll play when they have a higher likelihood of winning and less likely to bluff.

Raising pre-flop and monitoring the VPIP of other players can provide you with information about opponents’ hands and force them to call, raise or fold in times they would otherwise make a different decision.

Is PFR higher than VPIP? Generally, no. Players are more likely to put money in voluntarily as the game progresses rather than pre-flop.

PFR Values in Different Poker Formats

Depending on the poker format, there are different values that PFR may have.

• PFR in Six-Max Games are tight-knit with only six players vying for the pot (as opposed to a 9-10 player format). Because this is a smaller game, the players tend to be aggressive. There is a tendency for more action and the game moves quicker. Players have a PFR percentage closer to 20-30% with the more conservative players still raising pre-flop around 15% of the time.

• PFR in Full Ring Games are played with more traditional PFR percentages because there are 9-10 players. Unlike in the six-man games, the aggressive players in full ring games have a PFR percentage closer to 15%. The more conservative players will raise pre-flop only about 5-8% of the time.

• PFR in Zoom Poker Games is fast-moving, as the name suggests, which means players who want to stay in will PFR aggressively. In a game in which if you fold, you get moved to a new table, there is a greater incentive to stick around and learn your opponents’ strategies. The most aggressive players can have a PFR percentage close to 30%. The likelihood of moving frequently means you have to change your strategy all the time.

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Exploiting Opponents Using PFR

If you can identify different player types with PFR while playing Texas Hold ‘Em, you’ll be better prepared to challenge your opponents and have an edge with your hand.

4 Types of PFR Players

Although these percentages will vary depending on whether you’re playing a Six-Man Game, Full-Ring Game or Zoom Game, the types of PFR player remains the same. For context, the below percentages are based on a Full-Ring Game.

1. Aggressive Players play just like that: aggressively. They will have a PFR range between 12-20%, so it’s likely they will raise pre-flop in 1 out of 5 games. An aggressive players’ strategy puts pressure on the others and often forces them to either fold (reducing the number of opponents) or call (which raises the poker equity). Aggressive players tend to play when they have a perceived strong hand.

1. Tight-Aggressive Players tend to PFR selectively. Most of the time they’ll do it because they have a strong hand. They’ll occasionally bluff and hope to make a hand in the community cards, or force the others to fold. ?Tight-aggressive players have a PFR between 8-12%.

1. Tight-Passive Players will typically raise pre-flop if they have a good hand so they have a lower PFR percentage at around 5-8%.

1. Loose Players are similar to aggressive players in that they have a high PFR percentage. The difference is that a loose player’s strategy is about playing more hands and being somewhat unpredictable. Loose players will PFR even if they don’t have a great hand and have a high PFR percentage range of 15-20%, sometimes more.

So, how do you combat these varying PFR players? You can adjust the way you play by reading other players at the table to throw them off-balance. If a player is aggressive and calling or raising, get more selective in when you call or raise and ignore the pressure to raise or call.

If the players are more passive, consider raising with more frequency. This applies pressure on your opponents to call or raise, which increases the pot size, or will make them fold so you can take more blinds.

What is a good VPIP and PFR?

A good VPIP and PFR can be dependent on how a player chooses to play poker.

• High VPIP and Low PFR: This type of player tends to call rather than raise unless they have a big hand. They likely won’t bluff and will play the cards, not their opponent.
• Low VPIP and Low PFR: This type of player only plays big if they have a big hand. They don’t mind folding and rarely play big.
• Medium VPIP and Low PFR: A medium VPIP means putting money in about a quarter of the time. They’re more likely a casual player who calls a lot of raises and won’t bet big unless they have a good hand. When they bet, assume they have a decent hand.
• Medium VPIP and Medium PFR: This is the ideal strategy. If you’re not used to playing this way, ease yourself into it. It’s not easy playing a possible junk hand to outwit your opponents.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Over-raising. With a high PFR percentage, you’re opening yourself to other aggressive players who might have better hands once the community cards are dealt. It’s okay to be aggressive, but consider your PFR percentage.
• Raising to see the cards. If you Pre-Flop Raise or call to see the flop cards, you might be delaying the inevitable. There’s no point in losing chips just to see how things play out in the flop.
• Failure to adjust. Poker is all about reading the other players. If you notice you’re at a table with aggressive players, failing to adjust is setting yourself up to make mistakes.
• Playing based on potential. If you overvalue your hand and PFR on the possibilities, you’re playing with hope and not strategy. Learning the difference between exploitative play and GTO play is important in maintaining balance in your game.

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PFR Poker Strategy

• There are many reasons why PFR can be an important strategy and impacts gameplay in a variety of ways. It can help increase the pot, make others fold or be an aggressive move with strong hold cards, to name a few.
• Consider both PFR and VPIP, which is the percentage a player voluntarily puts money in the pot. Both provide insight into a player’s strategy.
• Depending on the poker format, a player may change their strategy.
• There are generally four types of PFR players: Aggressive, Tight Aggressive, Tight Passive and Loose players.

There are many guides that can help players continue their poker education and no shortage of articles like this one that provide insights into overlooked strategies and information to take to the poker table.

One of the best ways to learn is to jump into it. If you’re a regular at a casino, live dealer poker or online poker game, start paying more attention to PFR and VPIP and consider how to take advantage of the players and their preferred methods of play.

• A flush draw in online poker is when a player has four cards of the same suit and needs just one more of that suit to complete a flush.
• Recognizing a flush draw is critical as it can potentially lead to a strong poker hand if the fifth card of the same suit is dealt.
• There are two main types of flush draws: the “nut flush draw,” which includes the Ace of the suit, and the “non-nut flush draw,” which does not.
• Deciding when to bet, call, or fold in a flush draw scenario depends on several factors, such as table position, pot odds, and your read on other players.
• A flush draw strategy is a dynamic part of casino poker gameplay that requires careful assessment of risk and reward, adding an extra layer of excitement to the game.

When I used to teach beginner’s poker classes, I liked to kick-off by asking if anyone had already played poker before. A handful of people would raise their hands.

“Keep your hand up,” I’d say, “if you’ve ever heard of a royal flush.”

Everyone’s hand would remain up in the air.

“Now keep your hand up if you’ve ever hit a royal flush,” I’d ask them — and inevitably, almost everyone’s hand would drop straight down. The answer was nearly no one.

So why are we talking about ‘royal flushes’ in an article that is supposed to teach you how to play a flush draw? This is actually lesson #1 — while the promise and possibility of making a flush is always on top of every poker player’s mind, the probability of hitting one is actually much lower.

There’s a thin line between ‘flush draws’ and ‘flush dreams.’

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What is a Flush Draw in Poker?

Let’s start at the beginning. What is a flush draw in poker?

• What’s a flush in Texas Hold ‘em? A flush happens when you have five cards of the same suit. For example, you could have two spades in your hand and the board has three spades.

• What a flush draw in poker? A standard flush draw means you only need one more card to complete your flush. In this case, perhaps you have two spades in your hand and the board has two spades, meaning you only need one more spade.

Different Types of Poker Flush Draws

To truly master ‘what is a flush draw,’ you’re also going to want to understand the different variations.

• Nut flush: a poker ‘nut flush’ is the best possible flush any player can have. Usually this means the ace-high flush, but it can also indicate a ‘straight flush,’ where five cards are the same suit but also consecutive. (Ex. 2-3-4-5-6)
  • A ‘nut flush draw’ refers to the possibility of hitting the nut flush. You will commonly hear players say, “I flopped the nut flush draw!” The nut flush is particularly important because it can beat other players’ lower flushes. A player holding A2 will beat a player holding KQ on 2-7-J-5-6 because they have hit the nut flush. This is very unlucky for Player #2, because they have hit the second-nut-flush! (One rank lower than the nut flush).

• Runner-runner/backdoor flush: Normally people only talk about flush draws when they only need to hit one card of a suit to make their hand. But you can also hit a flush with two cards… although this is much rarer. Perhaps you have 89 and the flop is AKQ. In order to make a flush, both of the next cards would need to be a diamond. It’s a sneaky proposition known as going for ‘runner-runner’ or a ‘backdoor’ flush draw.

Identifying Flush Draw Opportunities – Learning the Mathematics

There are three times when you can spot a flush draw opportunity: before the flop, on the flop, and on the turn.

Before The Flop

If you are dealt two cards of the same suit, you are more likely to hit a flush, right? This is true… but it’s also a trap! Beginners tend to overestimate the value of their hand when they’re dealt two ‘suited’ cards (ex. Two diamonds, two clubs, etc.)

Do NOT play any two cards simply because they are suited

As a matter of fact, ‘suited’-ness only makes your hand 2-3% better.

Playing a hand just because it’s suited will get you in lots of trouble… and cause you to lose lots of money over time. A hand like K7 may look good, but don’t be fooled — it’s a losing proposition.

The biggest rookie mistake a new poker player can make is playing too many hands. For more on which hands you should play, take a look at one of our cheat sheets.

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On The Flop

The greatest chance you will have at making a flush is on the flop. You may even ‘flop’ a flush — but again, this is rarer than you may think.

The likelihood of flopping a flush is 1 out of 118 times.

Ouch. That’s not good. But our memories deceive us — it’s easy to think of that one time you did flop a flush, and play any two suited cards again in hopes of repeating. Don’t do it. That vast majority of the time, your cards will miss.

What you find, however, is that you don’t flop a flush… but flop a flush draw.

This is usually worth sticking around and calling a reasonable bet. What does the math say? If you’re on the flop and only need one more card to complete your flush, the likelihood of it happening on the turn or river card is 36%. That’s intriguing — especially if you can win a big pot. But don’t go broke chasing flushes.

Unless there’s an exorbitant amount of money in the middle — boosting your ‘pot odds’ — you shouldn’t gamble your whole stack trying to hit something that will complete 36% of the time at best (assuming none of the cards that make your flush will make one of your opponents an even higher hand, like a full house).

On The Turn

Let’s say you’ve made it to the turn and you still only need one more card… but now things are getting dicey. It was 36% to hit your hand on the flop because we assumed you would get to see both the turn and river card.

Now you only have one card left to save your hand — and your odds drop in half.

The likelihood now of you hitting your flush has dropped to merely 18%.

Unless you’re getting a great price to see the river card — you only need to call a very small bet — you should often fold here. Sometimes we need to cut our losses.

What about a backdoor flush draw?

If you have a backdoor flush draw on the flop, your chance of hitting it is only 4%. This is why you usually want to ignore backdoor flush draws unless you have other draws with them to improve your mathematical equity.

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How do I Use Flush Draw Math to my Strategic Advantage?

Now that we know the math, there are key gameplay adjustments we can make.

1. Be disciplined in hand selection. Do not play a hand just because the cards are the same suit.
2. Recognize that trying to hit flush draws is gambling (36% at best). Only call bets when you have a flush draw when you’re getting a good price — the bet size to continue is cheap, or the pot size you can win is large enough to make the gamble worth it (‘pot odds’).
3. Play ‘in-position’. When you are ‘in-position’ during a hand, meaning you get to act last, you can often check back and see the next card for free.
4. Learn to bluff. Even if your flush draw misses, effective bluffing can scare your opponents into a fold, and you win the hand regardless.
5. Price-out your opponents. If you believe one of your opponents is trying to outdraw you by hitting a flush, you can bet large to make it very expensive for them.

Final Thoughts: Maximizing Your Flush Draw Opportunities

Most beginners overvalue flush draws. It’s a major leak.

If you’re new to poker, your first priority should be learning exactly which cards to play, a ‘preflop chart’, followed by grasping mathematical outcomes.

What you will find is that suited hands probably played too big a part of your game. While chasing a flush can be tempting, the odds are usually not in your favor.

There are exceptions. Sometimes the bet size is incredibly cheap, or the pot size is so enormous it’s worth the risk. As you get more sophisticated in your poker game, you will also be able to use position to your advantage and play flush draws aggressively — allowing you to bluff your way out of situations when your cards don’t hit.

As a starting point, focus on understanding the different types of flush draws and their chances of hitting so you can make smarter decisions. Be selective with your hands, only chase draws when the odds are good, and use strategic betting to your advantage (and your opponents’ detriment).

Poker is about making the right choices. Knowing when to go for a flush or when to fold can greatly impact your success… and transform your win-rate.

• A 4 bet in poker is an aggressive preflop betting move that can help you force other players to fold and claim the pot before the flop is dealt.
• The 4 bet in poker is most commonly found in deep-stacked cash or online poker games, where the players will have a large enough chip stacks to sustain this kind of bet.
• A 4 bet should be saved for your strongest poker hands, like pocket aces, where you are sure that a significant pre-flop bet is going to go your way.
• The primary aim of a 4 bet in poker is to quickly force up the pot value when you’re dealt the ‘nuts’ while also forcing players with weaker hands to fold.

A 4-bet in poker is a raise that follows a 3-bet, and it is usually done before the flop. The first raise is also known as a 2-bet (although the term is rarely used). The next player raising this initial raise is making a 3-bet. Finally, if another player or the player who made the initial raise raises again, this move is called a 4-bet.

The 4-bet is a part of advanced poker strategy and not something most beginner players have in their arsenal. However, to be a winning player in the world of online gambling and move up the stakes, you need to understand the pros and cons of this aggressive move, when to use it, and how to structure it for the best results.

In this article, we’ll discuss many different aspects of a 4-bet in poker, cover what a 4 bet is, when to use it, and how it factors into your overall poker strategy.

What is a 4 Bet in Poker: The Basics

A 4-bet is primarily a preflop move, defined as a raise that follows a 3-bet. It can be done by the player making the original raise or any other player in a hand left to act after the 3-bet.

The 4-bet in poker is usually indicative of a lot of poker hand strength before the flop, signaling that the player is willing to play for their entire stack. Of course, when used correctly, this isn’t always the case, as good players will have some 4-bet bluffs in their arsenal.

Unlike 3-bet, which is a fairly common part of poker strategy, 4-bet isn’t nearly as present, largely due to the fact that many games, especially tournaments, aren’t played deep enough to warrant this move and allow players to use it and still have chips left behind.

A Poker 4 Bet Example

Let’s look at a typical poker tournament situation, similar to the WSOP, with about 60 big blinds effective. This example also applies to online games, like video poker or live dealer poker.

Player A raises to 2.5 big blinds, and the big blind player 3-bets to 9 big blinds.

Even if player A goes for a very small sizing and 4-bets to only 20 big blinds, if the big blind player calls, there will be 40 blinds in the pot, and both players will have a pot-sized bet left behind, not leaving much room for post-flop play.

For this reason, you’ll encounter a 4-bet much more frequently in deep-stacked cash games, where players have 100 or more big blinds to start a hand, allowing for much more maneuvering space.

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When Should You Use a 4 Bet in Poker?

As one of the strongest preflop moves, a 4-bet should be used sparingly. First and foremost, you’ll almost always want to 4-bet with your absolute best poker hand, like pocket aces and pocket kings. These are the best starting hands in, for example, live dealer casino Hold ‘Em, so your goal is always to get as much money into the pot preflop as possible.

Another good value 4-bet candidate is AK suited, as this is the strongest unpaired hand. However, when playing extremely deep (over 200 big blinds), many good players will play this hand as a call, although a lot will depend on the situation and the opponent they’re up against.

You can 4-bet your absolutely best hands against everyone. However, against very aggressive players, you can expand your 4-betting range to include other strong pocket pairs like Queens and Jacks, AQ suited, and AK off.

If you perceive your opponent’s 3-betting range as too wide, 4-betting with these hands is a +EV move, as you’ll be well ahead of them before the flop.

4 Bet Bluffing Considerations

When it comes to bluffing, there are a few things you need to consider:

• Are you deep enough for a 4-bet bluff – As we’ve already discussed, in some scenarios, a 4-bet will commit you to the pot, and if this is the case, you should not be bluffing.
• Is your opponent 3-betting wide enough – If they’re very tight and only 3-betting with the top of the range, it’ll be hard to come up with a profitable 4-bet bluffing range.
• Are you comfortable playing a big pot on the flop and later streets – When you 4-bet bluff and get called, you need to be comfortable with playing a big pot and potentially pulling some expensive bluffs by the river. If your only plan is to win the pot before the flop, you’re not ready to start 4-bet bluffing.

We’ll talk about a 4-bet as a bluffing tool in a minute, but these are some things to keep in mind when figuring out whether or not to go for it, whether for value or as a bluff.

What is 4 Bet in Poker: Common Mistakes & Pitfalls to Avoid

When it comes to poker 4-bets, there are a few common poker mistakes that players fall victim to, and while it may take some experience and practice to eliminate these, it can certainly be done.

The first and perhaps the most expensive one is misjudging the opponent’s 3-betting range. Some players are quick to read their opponents as too loose, leading to them expanding what they believe is a value 4-bet range against that opponent.

The fact of the matter is, if you want to expand beyond the hands we’ve just discussed, you’ll need to have a very specific reason and have a very good read on the particular opponent. If you have a lot of history with them and know they’re capable of 3-betting with absolute trash, then you can do it, but don’t be quick to make such determinations after playing just a few dozen hands against them.

4 Bet Poker Mistakes to Avoid

Some other common mistakes players make with their 4-bets are:

• Using too big of a sizing – When you 4-bet, you are already conveying a lot of strength. You don’t need to go huge unless there is a very specific reason for it (i.e., your opponent will call with a weak hand). Going about 2.2x the size of the 3-bet is usually more than enough to accomplish your goal while leaving you with enough chips behind to play on future streets when called.
• 4-betting too small – Even though you’re representing a big hand, you don’t want to just click back and allow your opponent to call with their entire range. Not only are you giving them great odds, but you’re also not doing anything to try and define their range if your bet size is such that they’ll call with 100% of the hands.
• Failing to account for other players in the hand – Before you 4-bet, especially when doing it as a bluff, you need to consider other players left to act. If there are players with short stacks behind you, you should be less inclined to bluff, as these players can easily move all in, forcing you to call with what stands to be an inferior hand.

4-Betting as a Bluffing Tool

Good players will use 4-bet bluffs as a part of their overall poker strategy, but to do so efficiently, you’ll need to develop a good understanding of this move and get a lot of experience playing against different types of players.

When it comes to 4-bet bluffing, there are two typical scenarios that come to mind:

• Attacking players that you know 3-bet too wide
• Attacking players 3-betting from later positions or from the blinds, where their ranges will naturally be wider

When you recognize one of these spots, you need to figure out what poker hands are good 4-bet bluff candidates. Generally speaking, like with 3-bets, these will mostly be hands containing blockers and having decent potential to flop big, such as small suited pocket aces (A2s – A5s).

To balance this out and make yourself less predictable, you’ll also want to include some other hands into your bluffing range. While there is a lot of theory behind this, some good candidates are middling-suited connectors like 78s or 89s.

These hands have good board coverage and can catch opponents off-guard, as they’ll have a hard time putting you on these types of hands in a 4-bet pot when a board comes favorable for you.

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Value Betting Using 4-Bets

We’ve already discussed that 4-bets are primarily used as a value-betting tool. When you have a big hand before the flop, 4-bet is one of the best ways to get more money into the pot, and you shouldn’t shy away from using it to achieve this very goal.

Some hands are standard 4-bets for value almost regardless of the situation, namely:

• AA, KK, QQ, Aks, AKo (frequently)

When you have one of these hands, you generally don’t mind getting a lot of chips into the pot before the flop is dealt. In fact, save for rare scenarios where stacks are extremely deep, these are the hands that you want to play for stacks against most opponents.

When figuring out what sizing to use, you’ll probably want to use a bigger 4-bet size with hands like AK and QQ and perhaps go smaller with AA and KK. This is simply because the latter is easier to play after the flop, and you will find more favorable boards with aces and kings.

Advanced 4-Betting Tactics

As you start incorporating more 4-bets into your play, you’ll realize there are many aspects to this part of poker strategy that aren’t covered in this article. This is because 4-bet is, by definition, a high variance move, which means you’ll end up playing more big pots.

Once you get the preflop part somewhat solved and figured out, you’ll need to dig into different post-flop aspects, figuring out when to continue with the aggression and what boards warrant checking and exercising some pot control. This can be tricky, as the natural tendency in 4-bet pots is to keep betting.

There is also a lot of meta game that goes into figuring out your 4-bet strategy, especially as you move up the stakes and encounter stronger players. What used to work at lower limits will no longer work, as these players will go beyond the fit or fold approach, even in 4-bet pots.

This shouldn’t scare you away from using 4-bets as a powerful tool that they are. With time, practice, and experience, you’ll become much better at all these different aspects, and any mistakes you make along the way are just a natural part of the learning process.

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• A 3 bet is the 3rd bet in a poker round, when a player raises on the 2 bet in poker, or the initial preflop raise.
• This happens when one player bets, another player raises, and then either the original bettor or another player makes another raise. This second raise constitutes a 3 bet
• In Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha Poker, the blinds are considered the first bet, which is why the second raise is a ‘3 bet’
• For example, if one player raises to $15 before the flop, and the other player makes it $45, the player raising to $45 is making a 3-bet.
• Preflop betting is a huge part of poker strategy. This guide will take you through exactly what poker 3 bet is, how the value of your poker hands factors into your decision making, and how to build and implement a three bet in poker strategy.

A 3 bet in online poker is a a raise made after another player has made a raise already. Although the expression is often used to describe pre-flop action, a poker 3 bet can also happen after the flop.

During a poker game, 3 betting is an important part of poker strategy, from video poker to live dealer poker, allowing players to increase their aggression levels, resulting in winning more pots when bluffing and scooping bigger pots with the best value poker hands.

Figuring out when to 3 bet in poker, how to size your 3 bet poker properly depending on a situation, and what poker hands to pick can be tricky, but it is essential on your path to becoming a successful and profitable poker player in the long run.

What is a 3 Bet in Poker: The Basics

If you’re new to the game of online poker, the definition in the introduction will give you an idea of a 3 bet is and how it works. However, the definition alone doesn’t explain what makes this bet different from other bets and why it’s so important to develop a deep understanding of this concept.

There are several main goals that we want to achieve when placing a 3 bet in poker, and we can accomplish two or more of these with a single bet:

• Taking control of the betting – When you 3 bet in poker before the flop, players who stick around will usually call, giving you control of the betting on future streets.
• Hand protection – When you have a strong hand, 3 bet poker helps you reduce the number of players to the flop, making it easier to realize your equity.
• Isolating weak players – You can use 3 bet poker to target weak players and attack their raises, ensuring you play them heads-up by removing other players from the pot.
• Making you harder to play against – If other players know that you are capable of 3 betting, they’ll be less likely to attack your blinds, and when they do, they’ll have to fight harder for the pots.

Like with every other aspect of poker strategy, such as ICM in poker, finding a good balance is crucial. You want to 3 bet at the right frequency and with the correct poker hands to make the most out of this move.

Most players don’t do it enough, but there are also those who make one of the top 10 mistakes in poker, 3 betting too often, leaving them exposed to observant opponents who’ll take advantage of this tendency.

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What Does 3 Bet Mean in Poker: Purpose & Strategy of a 3 Bet in Poker

A 3 bet in poker is one of the most powerful moves when it comes to pre-flop betting. In many lower-stakes games, players don’t know how to properly respond to it, and very few have balanced 4 betting ranges. This means that a good 3 betting strategy can give you a big edge.

By attacking a pre-flop raise, you’re conveying a message that you have a strong hand, allowing you to pick up the pot right then and there or proceed to the flop with an advantage.

On high-card boards, you’ll have a range advantage, and on lower and middling boards, you’ll still have some coverage because of a balanced poker strategy that doesn’t include just the best poker hands.

When deciding whether to play 3 bet poker or not, there are a few things to look at:

• The raiser table position – A player raising from a late position will usually have a weaker range, which means you can attack it with a wider scope of poker hands. Conversely, an early position raise conveys more strength, which should lead to a tighter 3 betting range.
• Your hand – Your hand is important when deciding whether to 3 bet. Some of your strongest holdings will want to 3 bet almost always, while other poker hands are good candidates for light 3 bets, especially against late position openers.
• Stack sizes – It’s important to be aware of all relevant stack sizes and poker chip values when making a pre-flop 3 bet. If there are particularly short stacks still to act or the original raiser doesn’t have many chips behind, you should usually tighten your 3 betting range.

In addition to these general considerations, you should always think about any specific reads you have on the player whose raise you’re attacking.

If you know someone to be opening a very tight range in general, you’ll want to deviate from your standard pre-flop poker strategy and skip on some of the weakest theoretically correct 3 bets. By the same token, against players who open too frequently and have a wide opening range, you should be looking for opportunities to 3 bet in poker.

That said, always try to think beyond the pre-flop. If you know someone is sticky and will often call a 3 bet to see the flop, you should increase your frequency when in position and avoid some of the marginal 3 bets when out of position.

What is 3 Bet Poker: Types of 3 Bets

We’ve already talked about some of the main goals we want to achieve when 3 betting. With these goals in mind, 3 bets can be divided into three main groups:

• Value 3 bets – These are 3 bets done with the strongest part of our range, like big pocket pairs, AK, and AQ. What exactly our value poker 3 bet range looks like will depend on the position where the raise is coming from, and any reads we have on the player. For example, pocket 9s are a value poker 3 bet against a button open, but we can’t raise with them for value against a reasonable UTG (under the gun) raise.
• Bluff 3 bets – Certain poker hands play very well as bluffs before the flop. Some of the best bluffing 3 bet candidates are small suited aces because of their ability to flop flush and straight draws, which allow you to put a lot of pressure on your opponent.
• Semi-bluff 3 bets – When talking about semi-bluff 3 betting poker hands, we’re talking about post-flop situations. With certain drawing hands, you’ll want to go for a 3 bet poker to put the maximum pressure and try to win with aggression while still maintaining some equity if you get called.

What is a 3 Bet in Poker: Important Factors to Consider

Armed with the answer to ‘what is a 3 bet in poker?’ what its main goals are, and the three major types of 3 bet, we can now move on to the most important part: the implementation.

It is one thing to say that it’s good to 3 bet because it helps us improve our aggression and win more pots. It is an entirely different thing, though, to figure out when to 3-bet in poker and what are some of the most important factors to pay attention to besides the one we’ve mentioned earlier.

Poker Game Dynamics

Game dynamics will play a huge role in how you construct your 3 betting ranges. While you can use GTO charts as your starting point, you shouldn’t be following these blindly, especially in lower stakes and live games, where players often have pronounced tendencies that you can take advantage of.

When figuring out your pre-flop strategy for a particular poker table at a casino, you should first figure out how that table plays overall. Are general tendencies more passive or are they on a more aggressive side? Are players opening a lot of hands, are there many callers before the flop, etc.?

This also applies to games of online poker, live dealer poker, or video poker. The same poker strategies apply to digital games as much as local casino games.

This information will help you create an idea of what their tendencies are and what their hand ranges look like. Based on this knowledge, you can make adjustments to your 3 betting strategy, adding or removing hands and deciding if including some of the marginal poker hands makes sense or if you should stick to a tighter, more straightforward approach.

Player Stack Sizes

Likewise, you should also be aware of stack sizes, especially in tournaments, where this is one factor that changes constantly.

Perhaps the player to your left has been on a 50+ big blind stack for the entire poker tournament, but they had just lost a huge hand, and now they are down to just seven or eight big blinds. This is something you have to consider when deciding whether to 3 bet light, as you’ll be committed to calling that player’s all-in once you 3 bet.

In cash games, you won’t often have to deal with short stacks, but you should be careful when entering pots against extremely deep-stacked opponents. When 3 betting in these situations, you need to have a solid plan for future streets and a general idea of how you want to proceed in a pot when you miss or make a marginal hand.

It doesn’t take that much for a pot to balloon out of control, and it usually starts with a 3-bet before the flop, so you must always be very aware of all stack sizes and seriously consider them when making your decisions.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid When 3 Betting

Playing aggressive poker at a online casino isn’t just effective. It’s also fun and exciting, so it’s not hard to fall into the trap of taking things too far. To help you avoid these situations, here are a few common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid when it comes to 3 betting:

• 3 betting too much against early position opens – Unless you have a very specific reason to think otherwise, you should respect early position opens and only go after them with very strong poker hands. This is especially true when you are in an early position as well and have several players to act after you. Many players tend to forget about other people involved in a hand and focus only on the original opener, which can be a costly mistake to make.
• Not balancing properly – When 3 betting, you have to make it difficult for your opponents to put you on a hand. If you’re 3 betting only with your strongest poker hands, good players will quickly pick up on it. Instead, you want to use what’s known as a “polarized” range, which includes your best hands but also a decent number of weaker hands.
• Using a bad sizing – It’s very important to use a proper size when 3 betting. While there is no one magic number, you want to make the 3 bet big enough so that it’s not an automatic call for your opponent with their entire range. This is especially true when 3 betting out of position, as you almost never mind picking up the pot on the spot. When playing deep-stacked, good players will often use big 3 bet poker sizes to make it harder for their opponents to call and to send a clear message that if they do call, they might end up playing for the stacks by the river.

For example:

If you’re playing 200 big blinds deep and face a cutoff raise in the big blind, you will often want to 3 bet with a hand like Ah5h. But if the cutoff opens to 3 BBs (big blinds), you should 3 bet to at least 10, and maybe even 12 big blinds.

Anything smaller will make it an easy call for a player in position, and that eliminates a big part of the reason you’re 3 betting in the first place, i.e., to win the pot without going to the flop.

Advanced 3 Betting Tactics

The concept of 3 betting in poker is a vast and very important topic, so this article, as long as it is, doesn’t nearly cover all of the different angles and nuances there are to this move.

With that in mind, we’ll quickly go over some advanced 3 betting tactics that can help nudge you in the right direction as you look to improve and solidify your pre-flop strategy.

Creating a Balanced 3 Bet Poker Range

We’ve mentioned a few times in this article the importance of a balanced 3 betting range, but what does this mean exactly? There isn’t a one-fit-all answer to this question, as what your 3 betting range looks like will depend on stack sizes, positions, and player tendencies.

Generally speaking, though, you want to have a range that has your good poker hands balanced out with enough weaker hands so that your poker strategy isn’t too predictable.

For example:

If you’re 3-betting hands like AK, AQ, KQs, and pocket pairs down to pocket 10s for value, you will want to include hands like KQo, A2s – A5s, and some suited connectors into your 3 betting range to create a good balance.

Paying Attention to Poker Hand Frequencies

In addition to figuring out a solid range, you also need to think about frequencies. If a hand like KQo is in your 3-bet bluffing range, this doesn’t mean you’ll want to 3-bet with it every time. Maybe you’ll do it 70% of the time and fold it the remaining 30%. To balance this out, you’ll sometimes just call with your strongest poker hands like pocket Aces.

Combining 3 Betting With Other Post-Flop Strategies

In the ideal world, your opponents would be folding to all of your 3 bets, and you’d be printing money. In the real world, however, this doesn’t happen, and you’ll often have to play in 3 bet poker pots across multiple streets.

When devising your 3-bet poker strategy, you always need to have this in mind. The moment you make a 3 bet, you should be thinking about different scenarios and how you want to tackle them. What sort of boards will you be continuing on, what board textures are best to check on, and what, if any, opportunities there are to go for a check-raise?

When planning all this, you’ll have to think about more than just your hand. Your opponents’ ranges, tendencies, and stack sizes will play a huge role in how you devise your post-flop strategies in 3 bet poker pots, but those fall outside of scope of this particular article.

What is a 3 Bet In Poker: Your Questions Answered

• Is a 3bet better than an open raise? – The benefits of a 3 bet in poker over an open-raise is that a 3 bet will often force players with weaker hold cards out before the flop, reducing competition for the pot. With a good 3-bet, you might also pick up the entire pot preflop, which you cannot do with an open-raise.
• What is a linear 3 bet poker range? – A linear 3 bet range is a list of poker hands, in descending order a value, that are strong enough to 3 bet on. A linear 3 bet range is one composed exclusively of value-bets.
• What hands should I 3bet with? – As noted, there isn’t one straight answer to this question. It will depend on table dynamics, stack sizes, and whether you’re using polarized or linear betting ranges. Familiarizing yourself with all aspects of pre-flop betting is the best way to decide on which poker hand to three bet on at any given time.

Adding 3 Bet Poker to Your Poker Strategy

A poker 3 bet is one of the most powerful weapons in a player’s pre-flop betting arsenal. Knowing when to 3 bet, what hands to do it with, and how to properly size your 3 bets to get value and deny your opponents’ equity is essential to your long-term success in poker.

While we covered many important aspects of the 3 betting poker strategy in this article, the bulk of your knowledge and understanding will come from practice and analysis. Don’t be afraid to test different things against different players and then spend some time analyzing these spots.

A little free video poker is a great way to practice your 3-betting without spending a dime!

With time and practice, you’ll be able to pick up many interesting trends and flaws in both your and your opponent’s game, allowing you to improve and perfect your 3 betting poker strategy.

When used correctly, this can be one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox. Most players, especially those new to the game, are afraid of a poker 3 bet, whether when they have to face them or when they’re the ones who should use them. Break away from this pattern, develop an understanding of this important porker strategy concept, and you’ll quickly see significant improvements in your results!

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• Ghosting is a form of cheating in online poker where a highly ranked player plays using the account of a less skillful player. This is also called multi-accounting.
• Since players in online poker are normally ranked to make matchmaking fairer. Ghosting allows more experienced and skillful players to take advanced of newer, less experienced players.
• Ghosting online poker can also mean a more experienced player coaching a less experienced player on how to play their hand during an online poker game.
• World class-players such as Bryn Kenney, Ali Imsirovic and Jake Schindler have all been accused of ghosting in order to easy money off other players.
• This article will fully explain what ghosting is in online poker, live dealer poker, or video poker, why it’s a problem, and how to avoid getting caught out by this form of cheating.

If you’re looking to learn about ghosting in online poker, you’ve come to the right page (and no, it’s not when someone you know suddenly cuts off all communication on social media without any explanation). In the world of online poker, ghosting refers to a skilled player taking over for a less experienced user during gameplay.

This sneaky tactic has been on the rise in recent years, prompting operators to take action. Keep reading to learn more about poker ghosting and the measures being used to combat it.

What is Ghosting in Online Poker ?

Cheating in poker can take on many forms, with many high level poker cheating scandals to prove it. However one of the most potent forms is online poker ghosting. In simple terms, ghosting involves a player with higher skill replacing a less skillful player during gameplay.

This could be just for one hand or for extended periods. The most dangerous form of poker ghosting happens in online poker tournament play.

A group may have a tournament specialist ready to jump into the game when another player in the group reaches a higher stage in the tournament, such as the final table. When this happens, the expert will enter the game and use their ability to get the best results and potentially win the tournament.

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Why is Online Poker Ghosting a Problem?

Poker is one of the few online casino games where skill is an element of gameplay. An experienced or high-skill player will make more intelligent betting decisions, play the best poker hands more accurately, and be more subtle with bluffing.

Any group of players who can call upon such a skillful player will give themselves an unfair advantage. Of course, if the skilled player were to join the tournament at the start, that would be fine. Instead, cheating occurs when the skilled player replaces another without the other participants knowing. That is why all top online poker platforms ban ghosting and deem it to be cheating.

Online Poker Ghosting ‘Stables’

On the surface, ghosting would not be a major issue in poker if it was a casual occurrence. However, because ghosting is possible in online poker, there is a real danger, and it is becoming increasingly common. In fact, there are professional-level poker players who have put together “stables” of mediocre players that they stake. Vice versa, less-skilled players have recruited experts to be their ghost player.

Stables will send the weaker players into the initial stages of big-money online poker tournaments. These players may still be good enough to get through early rounds and build big stacks. When the stable player manages to go deep into the tournament, the ghosting poker expert will take over and compete in the latter stages or final table.

So-called “grindhouses” have become increasingly common, hosting dozens of players who will literally grind online poker tournaments in attempts to go deep into the competition. This has become enough of a problem that some estimates suggest the grindhouses are making millions by cheating.

The situation was thrown into the spotlight when legendary tournament player Bryn Kenney was alleged to be operating a stable of players.

Types of Online Poker Ghosting

Poker ghosting can happen in several ways beyond stables and in tournaments. Below are the types of ghosting that online casinos prohibit:

• Joining an online poker room in the middle of a game and allowing someone else to play for you.
• Agreeing to play for someone else during an online game or tournament.
• Contacting an experienced player and having them give you poker tips during gameplay. This form of poker ghosting online is almost impossible to detect.
• Using two accounts simultaneously during the same game to trick opponents into thinking there are two players.

Risks and Consequences of Poker Ghosting

Poker ghosting is a massive issue for online poker rooms, be they video poker, live poker dealer or fully virtual games, not least because it is extremely hard to detect when it is happening. Even if the site can detect ghosting, proving it is even more difficult. That’s because many poker players have unique styles of play that they change interchangeably. In other words, it is hard to know if there are two different players or just one player using distinctive styles.

While finding concrete proof that someone is ghosting rather than simply playing differently is impossible, online casinos don’t need proof. These operators are free to ban players whenever they want and for any reason. If they even suspect a player is poker ghosting, that player is likely to lose their account and be banned.

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Why Should You Avoid Ghosting Poker Players?

Online poker casinos are also turning to simple campaigns to warn players to avoid ghosting. For novice players, the idea of drafting an expert player to win a tournament can be appealing. Likewise, skilled players creating stables of players who go deep into competition could make gathering prize money easier.

However, the reality of poker ghosting is that it hurts the poker room, but more importantly, it harms your fellow players. It is not only considered cheating and a bannable offense by poker operators but also unethical. If you are handing your deep tournament performances to a better player, you will also not be learning the theory, like ICM in poker, improve your own game.

Your skills will never improve, and you will never experience the excitement of playing at a real money poker tournament. Of course, if you are caught or suspected of ghosting, the poker room or casino will ban you and block your account. In cases where someone is caught multiple times, sites may even share information, making it hard for you to have accounts with any online poker provider.

Detecting and Reporting Ghosting Behavior: Protecting Yourself Online

To help find cheaters, poker sites are increasingly turning to AI, which will automatically search for anomalies in player style. Because of how hard it is to definitively spot ghosting poker techniques, it can be difficult for players to get involved with detecting ghosting. Even so, there are some things you can do:

• If you encounter a player more than once in a tournament and their playing style is drastically different, this can raise some concerns.

• Is there a player on your table who seems to be of much higher skill than anyone else? Remember, poker ghosting involves drafting a top player to complete a tournament.

• Do you see the same player winning multiple tournaments over a short time? Admittedly, the online poker room will likely spot this before you.

• You can report your suspicions to the online poker operator. Whether it is through live chat or email, your report should include the player’s name, the games you suspect cheating, and dates.

Avoiding This New Style of Online Poker Cheating

Ghosting poker techniques are an increasingly common form of cheating and have become more dangerous for poker rooms and players. Remember, ghosting in poker is harming other players, so never be tempted to engage in this method. Doing so could also lead to you being banned from the poker room.

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• A “gutshot” in online poker is a hand in which a player is one card short of a straight, but the missing card is in the middle, not at either end.
• This is also known as an inside straight draw or belly buster, where the player needs to draw one of four cards to complete the straight.
• Gutshots are considered weaker poker hands because they have fewer outs (cards that will complete the draw) compared to open-ended straight draws.
• Betting or calling on a gutshot is often considered risky, but it can pay off if the situation is right, especially if this unexpected move can be used to mislead opponents.
• Understanding when to pursue a gutshot — considering factors like pot odds, implied odds, and your opponents’ tendencies — can elevate your poker strategy.

If you’re playing online poker, live dealer poker or video poker, or sat at your local casino, a poker gutshot draw is the weakest one out there, as you only have four outs that can help you. Yet, many beginners, who are just starting to learn poker, tend to overestimate a single gutshot and will often put way too many chips into the middle with this type of hand.

For this reason, it’s important to talk about poker gutshot draws and explain math and other strategic considerations behind them. Generally speaking, this is not a strong hand, but if you know how to play it correctly in different situations, it can be a profitable one.

What is a Gutshot Draw in Poker?

A gutshot straight draw is a straight draw that can only be completed with a specific card (four outs). For example, on a board of 3S 4D QD, a player holding 6H 7H has a gutshot, as only a five will complete the draw and turn it into a made straight.

Another example of a gutshot draw would be holding KA QS on a 9H 3H 5C board. In this example, you need one of the four Jacks from the deck to complete your draw, and this is what it is referred to as a single gutshot.

There are also double gutshot draws, but we won’t be covering them in this article, as their math is essentially the same as for open-ended straight draws. For example, if you have 6C 9C on a 5H 7H 3C, you can complete the draw with eight cards – four 8s and four 4s, which is the same number of outs you have in an open-ended straight draw.

It is important to be aware of gutshot draws on the board and cards that can potentially complete them on turns and rivers. Poker beginners often miss these and end up paying their opponents when they hit because they fail to recognize a straight-completing card.

As already mentioned, a gutshot in poker is one of the weakest draws you can have. Your odds of making your draw from flop to turn are just 8.5%, and the odds of hitting one of the four cards you need by the river are 16.5%.

These low percentages indicate that you should never play a big bet with just a gutshot draw if you believe the only way of winning the pot is by making your hand. In these scenarios, when facing any bet that is 50% of the pot or larger, you should just fold and move on.

Interpreting Gutshots in Poker Play

For beginner players, a gutshot can be a rather confusing hand. Without understanding the math we’ve just explained, it’s hard to understand why these hands aren’t worth chasing after. After all, if you make your straight, you can get paid, right?

The problem is, compared to all other draws, a gutshot straight is the least likely one to come in. For example, an open-ended straight draw will fill in almost 32% of the time by the river. The odds of completing a flush draw are even higher at 35%.

Some of these hands, flush draws especially, also have other “backup” features, such as hitting a top pair that might also give you a winner. Gutshots usually lack these properties and hitting a top pair when you have a gutshot can often be a bad thing, as that same card could complete the opponent’s straight draw.

To illustrate, if you have 7C 8C on a 4C 6H JH board, when you improve to a top pair with an 8 on the turn, that same card completes the potential open-ended straight draw from the flop (any 5-7 combo), and depending on the action, this combination can easily be in your opponent’s range.

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Playing Gutshot Draws Effectively

The first part of this article mainly focused on explaining what a gutshot is in poker and why you need to approach these hands very carefully and conservatively. However, with the right gutshot poker strategy, you can make these draws work for you.

There are a few things that you need to consider when you flop a gutshot draw:

• Am I in or out of position?
• Can I only win a hand by making a straight?
• If I make my hand, will I be able to win additional chips?

First of all, when you are out of position in poker, and you have a gutshot draw, I’d say that if you believe your only options are call or fold (when facing a reasonably sized bet), you’re always better off folding. Calling to try and hit an unlikely draw out of position isn’t a profitable strategy.

Sometimes, however, a gutshot straight draw can be a perfect hand to use as a check-raise bluff. On small and relatively connected boards, you’ll often have a range advantage as a player defending from the big blind. In these spots, using gutshots as semi-bluffs can be a valid strategy.

The main idea behind the move is to get your opponent to fold as you can credibly represent a strong hand. However, if they don’t, you still have some equity to fall back on.

For example, you face a hijack open and call from the big blind with 7S 8S. The flop comes 4H 5C 9D. When you check and they continue betting, you can credibly raise, as this is the board where you’ll have more sets, two-pair, and top-pair combinations. When you do get called, you can still hit a 6 to complete your draw.

Of course, it is important to find the right balance. You aren’t supposed to check-raise with 100% of your gutshots, and when you are in position, you can often just call and see what develops on the turn or river. When and if they give up, you can take a stab at the pot, depending on the texture, player tendencies, stack sizes, etc.

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Common Mistakes With Gutshot in Poker

We’ve already covered some of the most common mistakes with gutshot poker draws, but it’s good to try and list them all in one place for reference:

• Calling big bets, especially out of position
• Investing too much money with non-nut draws
• Continuing in the pot when you miss your draw and hit a pair instead
• Taking an aggressive approach when the opponent is on a very short stack
• Not getting enough value from made draws

You need to assess every situation individually and decide what the best course of action is. It’s easy to go on autopilot and fall into the trap of playing automatically, but check-raising against an opponent who only has six or seven blinds left is usually not going to work.

Likewise, if you’re going to chase a gutshot, whether by calling or by playing aggressively, you need to have a plan to extract the maximum value when your draws come in. Because these hands do not materialize often, you must make the most out of them whenever they do.

Advanced Techniques for Handling Gutshot Draws

Successful poker players don’t look at any individual strategy in a vacuum. Instead, they study and implement it as a part of a broader game plan, and this is exactly what you should be doing with your gutshot poker strategy.

The approach of let’s call or raise and see what happens is not the correct one. Instead, you need to take a few moments to make your decision, and during that process, you’ll want to figure out how to play out the rest of the hand.

If you go for a check-raise with your gutshot, you’ll want to have a plan on what happens when different cards hit. Likewise, if you call a bet, you should have an idea of how to play out future streets.

For example, if you call with a gutshot on a 4S 5S JD board, what do you do if turn pairs a 4 or a 5? These are cards you can credibly represent, so these can be good opportunities to take over the betting lead or put in a turn check-raise.

This way, you’re not relying on just the luck of a draw to win the pot but are instead giving yourself other opportunities to take it down.

Of course, factoring in general population tendencies and any specific reads you have on a player will be very useful. You should be less inclined to take an aggressive approach against an opponent that you know is sticky and will not fold easily.

At the same time, this is the type of opponent that you want to try and make your draw against even if you aren’t getting immediate odds, as you know they’ll be willing to put more money into the middle when you hit.

These are just a few simple examples of how you can adjust your gutshot poker strategy. There are many different scenarios and many different types of players you’ll encounter, but as long as you keep in mind the basic principles of this hand, you should do just fine.

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Gutshot in Poker Examples & Hand Analysis

It’s always easier to understand certain theoretical concepts when looking at real-life examples, so here’s an interesting hand played by Jonathan Little featuring a gutshot straight draw.

• Jonathan starts off with AC 2C in the hijack and makes a standard 2.5x raise (blinds are 200/400). The button. The big blind call and the flop come 7D 4H 3C, giving him a gutshot and a backdoor flush draw.
• After the big blind checks, he decides to continue for 1,700, and only the button calls. The turn is the 9C, bringing in the flush draw as well. This is where the backdoor potential kicks in – the hand isn’t just a gutshot, but it also has many cards that will allow it to keep betting.
• Now Jonathan bets 2,600, and the opponent calls once again. The river is the QC, completing the flush. Little goes for a massive bet of almost 19,000 into the pot of 12,500 to really put the opponent to the test.

This is a great example of playing a gutshot aggressively all the way through, realizing the full potential of the hand, and taking advantage of favorable turn and river cards.

If, however, Jonathan had a hand like AS 2S or AS 3S in this spot, without any backdoor opportunities, he’d probably take a much more cautious route, likely checking the flop against two opponents and giving up to any reasonable aggression.

Tips for Improving Gutshot Play

There are a few different ways to improve your gutshot poker strategy, but running simulations with these scenarios and looking at the numbers that come up is probably the best one.

When you do it enough, you’ll develop an understanding of how to tackle different board textures and play from different positions, realizing how often you should be bluffing with what types of hands and what hands are best played passively.

It goes without saying that seeking tips and advice from more experienced poker-playing friends can also help immensely. Since these can be very tricky spots, don’t be afraid to pick their brains and ask them what they think, as they can open your mind to some new possibilities that you’d never think of on your own.

The Gutshot Draw Unveiled: Elevating Your Poker Game with Strategic Insights

Gutshot straight draws are one of the most frequently misplayed hands in all of poker. Beginners make the mistake of overvaluing these hands, leading them to lose a lot of chips in spots where they had absolutely no need to do so.

Hopefully, this article will help deepen your understanding of the gutshot poker strategy and teach you how to get the most out of these draws. When navigated correctly, these hands can be profitable, especially against weaker competition that won’t be able to wrap their head around your play.

Keep on playing and studying, analyze different spots, and take advantage of different poker tools to help you develop the right strategies for gutshot straight draws, and it won’t take you long to start playing better than a large percentage of players in these spots.

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• Heads Up poker is a thrilling form casino game played between just two players, requiring a unique strategy and understanding of your opponent’s tendencies.
• Position is paramount in Heads Up poker. The player on the button acts first pre-flop but last post-flop, creating strategic implications.
• The range of poker hands you play should be wider in Heads Up poker. Even hands considered weak in full-ring games can be strong heads up.
• Observing and adapting to your opponent’s patterns in video poker or at the casino and playing style is essential to success in a one-on-one match.
• In Heads Up poker, aggression often pays off. Players need to be prepared to bet and raise frequently to exert pressure on their opponents.

Are you looking to play – and master – heads up poker? You’re in the right place. Brace yourself for one of the purest, most iconic, and volatile forms of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.

How to Play Heads Up Poker: The Basics

To get started with the poker table positions:

• Place a ‘button’ marker in front of one player. This can be any object — an empty deck of cards box, a cup, an eraser, a lucky rabbit’s foot. As long as it’s easily visible to both players, you can use it as your button.
• The button player will act as the ‘small blind’. Player two will act as the ‘big blind.’
• If the game is $1/$2 for example, the player on the button would pay $1 and their opponent would pay $2 before any of the cards are dealt.
• The button player acts first preflop, and the big blind acts last post flop.
• Rotate the button each hand.

What is The Difference Between Heads Up Poker And Ring Games

The main differences between heads up and ring games are as follows. Typical ‘ring games’ will have a full table of players. (Online poker tables are usually six-handed and live casinos generally seat 8 or 9 players per table.)

Because you are not waiting for an entire table of people to make their decisions, heads up poker is much faster. You will see many more hands when you play heads up than when you are in a full ring game. Strategically, ring games require patience. Heads up requires aggression.

Breaking Down the Poker Jargon

‘The button player acts first preflop, and big blind acts last postflop’ — huh? What does this mean?

I’ll simplify the poker jargon for you. Here’s an example.

1. You and your friend are playing $0.25/$0.50 heads up poker.
2. You are on the button which is always simultaneously the small blind and pay $0.25.
3. Your friend in the big blind pays $0.50.
4. You are each dealt your two private hole cards face-down. In this scenario, you are dealt a fantastic pair of aces!
5. You raise to $1.50.
6. Your friend calls the $1.50. Since they already have $0.50 invested, they only need to contribute $1.00 more.
7. The flop — three public, face-up community cards — is dealt. In this case, the flop reveals: 26A
8. Wow! You’ve hit three-of-a-kind! But it’s your friend’s turn first. You must wait for them to make a decision. Your friend opts to check (no bet).
9. Now it’s your turn. You bet $2.00.
10. Your friend folds.

Do you see how you made the first decision before the cards were dealt? But after the cards were dealt, it was your friend’s turn first? This is the sequence of heads up poker… and then you rotate positions after the completion of the hand.

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Practicing Your Heads Up Poker Skills

What if you’re thinking, ‘Help! I’m still lost!’ or ‘I don’t have any friends!’ Don’t fear — technology is here.

Free video poker is a great way to practice and learn how to play heads up poker without worrying about all the set-up, sequencing, and positioning. The apps will take care of that for you.

I highly recommend beginners start digitally when possible. A computer will deal cards at least 3x faster than a human, so you will master the gameplay mechanics at a much higher speed. You also don’t need to waste brain space on small blind/big blind logistics. These come much more intuitively when cards are automatically dealt to you and this prevent confusing mistakes.

Even if you have a friend who is excited for two player poker, you may still want to start by playing versus each other on video poker. Shuffling cards and counting bets manually gets old quickly.

Why is Heads Up Poker Strategy More Aggressive?

Good question — let’s explain this conceptually. When you are seated at a table with eight other players, there is a good chance someone has been dealt a very good hand. Perhaps even two people have. Or three. There is a high likelihood that your hand will be beat. Again, you need to best all the other players.

Compare this to when you play heads up, where you are only faced with one opponent. Is it more or less likely your hand will win?

Much more likely. Why? The reason is that you only need to beat one player as opposed to eight players.

How Does This Impact Your Poker Strategy?

Since it’s less likely to have been dealt the worst hand before the flop, you can adjust by playing a wider variety of cards. As it’s less likely for either of you to have made a very strong hand after the flop, you can call bluffs more often and bluff more yourself.

As a theoretical example, you should generally not try to bluff five people. Someone is bound to have a very strong holding. But bluffing one person? That is a much easier task. In heads up, you only need to convince one person to fold as opposed to an entire table.

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What is a ‘Good Hand’ in Heads Up Poker?

Even though the heads up poker rules are still the same, what qualifies as a ‘good hand’ differs wildly.

Building upon the section above, if you want to defeat, let’s say, three opponents, you need to feel pretty confident in your holding. You need to have really strong cards that can best multiple people.

When playing heads up, however, a measly pair is often a pretty good hand. You only need to best one other person, and their cards might not have hit anything. This means the definition of a strong hand changes. Something as simple as a pair is often good enough to beat one random hand, but rarely good enough to beat several.

A Casino Game is Not Your Home Game

A cautionary tale — before you learn how to play poker in heads up format. Many people start learning how to play poker by practicing in a two player format with their family or friends — then they go to a casino and get torn apart. They are dumbfounded as to how they keep losing.

This is because what constitutes a good hand has changed. Yes, a high pair or three-of-a-kind will probably win against your dad or sibling when playing one-on-one. But don’t be surprised when you go to a casino betting on your pair of kings — only to find your opponents flipping over straights and flushes.

Beware of learning how to play head up poker as your starting point because the threshold for a good hand is much lower. What is good enough to win against two or three players will likely not cut it versus a big group. Keep this in mind when you transition from playing heads up at your kitchen table to live at the casino.

Why Should You Learn to Play Heads Up Poker?

I hope I’ve sufficiently scared you in the previous section. Too many people lose their money and have a terrible first time transitioning to a casino because their idea of relative hand strength is skewed. They ‘overvalue’ their hands.

For this reason, I actually recommend beginners do not start by playing heads up. You can use those same apps, computer programs, and online casinos to practice playing full ring poker at home. Should you even learn to play heads up poker at all? Honestly, it depends.

If your ambition is to play recreational home games or cash games at a casino, learning how to play heads up poker may do you more harm than good. Heads up poker reinforces bad habits and false feedback that too many hands are valuable when they’re not. Playing heads up poker may lure you into a false sense of security where you overvalue your relative hand strength.

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The Benefits of Learning Heads Up Poker

There are just three major reasons why I would recommend playing heads up:

1. People skills: Since you are only battling against one other person, you are more able to capture a ‘tell’ or get a read. (This includes playing online by the way — even when you cannot visually see your opponent, timing tells do exist.) Heads up poker can sharpen your ability to read another and maintain your own poker face.
2. Creativity and bluff frequency: If you’re nervous about playing poker and the idea of bluffing makes your stomach drop, then heads up is a great way to practice. The lower likelihood of your opponent having a strong hand encourages you to play more creatively and make bold moves. Bluffing heads-up is less risky than in a full-ring game due to fewer players potentially holding strong hands.
3. Tournaments: If you intend to play poker tournaments, you need to know how to play heads up. Tournaments play down to a winner —- when the field narrows to the final few players, you want to be comfortable playing in the bluffier, looser style in order to close the deal.

Taking Advantage of Heads Up Insecurities

Many local casinos have daily tournaments which will usually not play down to a winner. Instead, the players will propose a ‘chop’ — dividing the winnings proportionately by chip stack. For example, the person with the biggest stack will earn close to the first place payout.

Most players will favor a chop deal because they are afraid to play heads up. You can exploit this. They will likely not have experience or confidence in playing heads up poker. Just knowing the two basic strategic principles will give you a huge advantage:

1. Play more hands: You are much more likely to have a good hand when faced with fewer opponents.
2. Bluff more frequently: Your opponent is much less likely to have a hand good enough to call you with.

Lowering your threshold of what constitutes a good hand underlines all heads up strategy.

Also keep in mind that when someone proposes a chop, it’s not decided by a majority vote. Everyone at the final table could vote in favor of a chop except one person —- and the deal is off. It only takes one objection. Since so many people are insecure about playing heads up, you can use this to your advantage.

Win Without Actually Playing

I once found myself at the final table of a daily poker tournament at a local casino. With six players remaining, I was fourth in chips. The others suggested an ‘ICM’ chop, offering me a payout close to fourth place. I countered that I was happy to agree to a chop… if I was offered second-place prize money.

They laughed, then they screamed. They were furious — how could I propose such a thing? How could I be so audacious? Well, I knew that their eagerness to make a deal and resistance to playing heads up was something I could use to my advantage. A few minutes later, they reluctantly agreed.

Their fear of playing heads up and my confidence in the format allowed me to successfully drive a hard bargain, and secure a juicy second place prize.

Image Credit: Blezzer/Shutterstock

Final Strategy Shift: The Math Changes

We now know that everything in heads up poker strategy is driven by the fact that it’s less likely you’re up against a strong hand. This means you should play more hands and bluff more frequently. Since your opponent will likely employ the same heads up poker strategy changes, you might want to call down their bets lighter.

You also need to be aware that the math shifts too.

When you play heads up, you want to avoid chasing too many draws like flushes or straights. The reason why is that your ‘pot odds’ are almost always going to be worse.

An Example of The Math Changing

Let’s say someone bets $10 and four people call. There is now $50 in the middle just from the flop round alone, and you are faced with a decision with a flush draw. Should you call the $10? Absolutely — you are calling $10 to win a pot of what will be over $60 (their $50 bets + your $10 + any preflop money). That’s a great price!

A flush draw will complete around 36% of the time — so you’re getting great odds to draw. (Read more on poker probabilities in my cheat sheets here or purchase my book A Girl’s Guide to Poker.)

Since more people participated in the hand, there’s more money in the middle. You are thereby more incentivized to ‘chase’ your big draw. Because if you win, you will 6x your money! That should entice you to take the 36% gamble!

But now let’s say you’re playing heads up, and your opponent has bet $10. You now have to call $10 to win a pot that so far totals maybe a little over $20 (their $10 + your $10 + preflop bets). A 2x return on your money isn’t as appealing as a 6x return now, is it? In this case, the 36% gamble doesn’t look as fun at all.

Instead focus on ‘made hands’ that are already completed rather than draws. Because, hey, as you now know, when you play heads up poker, even a pair can be pretty good.

• Poker table positions, sometimes known as poker poses, are vital as they influence your decisions and potential profits in a game. They can broadly be divided into early, middle, and late positions.
• Early poker positions, like the small blind, big blind, and the under the gun poker position are less desirable as they offer less information about other players’ actions.
• Middle poker positions provide a bit more information than early positions, but players still need to be cautious about the actions of those in late positions.
• Late poker positions, like the button and the cut-off, are the most beneficial as players have the most information at their disposal before they need to act.
• The understanding and effective use of poker table positioning can help players make more calculated bets, poker bluffs, and overall strategic decisions, improving their chances of success.
• Playing free video poker is an excellent way to experience playing from all the different poker positions and sharpen your game!

Poker table positions refer to where each player is seated at a casino poker table. A player’s position at the poker table determines when they can act during the game.

The same applies when playing online poker or video poker. Each seat at the table corresponds to a different position. Understanding the concept of position in poker is absolutely critical to your success in the game.

In this guide, we’ll be taking a deep dive into the different poker positions, what they mean to your game, and how to play from each position.

What Are The Poker Table Positions?

At a typical poker table, there are nine different positions – determined by your proximity to the ‘Dealer Button.’ Poker table positioning rotates clockwise after each hand is finished, meaning you will have the opportunity to play in all positions around a poker table. You might hear or see the positions abbreviated as poker slang too (ex. in poker Under the Gun is “UTG”).

1. SMALL BLIND (SB)
2. BIG BLIND (BB)
3. UNDER THE GUN (UTG)
4. UNDER THE GUN + 1 (UTG+1)
5. MIDDLE POSITION (MP)
6. LOJACK (LJ)
7. HIJACK (HJ)
8. CUT-OFF (CO)
9. BUTTON (BU)

Remember that these are all in relation to where the Dealer Button is located (it will usually look like a small circle… in Canada, they call it the ‘puck’!). Small blind is immediately left of the Dealer Button… BB is to their left… UTG is to their left… UTG+1 is to their left… and so on.

The Poker Positions Explained

Let’s get into a little more detail with each of these poker position names to answer the question, what is position in poker?

SMALL BLIND (SB)

This player sits directly to the left of the button and places a mandatory bet before the flop, known as a BLIND bet. It’s called a blind bet because it must be placed without viewing your cards. The SMALL BLIND bet is smaller than the BIG BLIND bet. For example, in a $1/$2 poker game, the SMALL BLIND must put in $1 preflop.

Small Blind Strategy: Play the SMALL BLIND very conservatively, as it is a significant disadvantage to be in this position. Fold frequently.

BIG BLIND (BB)

This player sits directly to the left of the SMALL BLIND and places a larger mandatory bet before the flop.

Big Blind Strategy: In cash games, play this position conservatively and fold unless you have a very good hand, as you have to act first after the flop. In tournaments, you may need to play a wider variety of hands since the big blind can represent a significant portion of your chip stack.

For example, if you have 10,000 chips and the big blind is 2,500 chips, folding before the flop would be costly, so players often ‘defend’ their big blind with a wider range of hands.

UNDER THE GUN (UTG)

This player sits directly to the left of the BIG BLIND and must act first before the flop. All eyes are on them and it’s a high pressure predicament — hence the term “under the gun!”

Under the Gun In Poker Strategy: The UTG player is at a disadvantage because they must decide to raise or fold preflop without knowing what the other players will do. Making good decisions is easier with information about opponents’ hands. Even after the flop, the UTG player still acts relatively early. Fold often and only play the top 10% of your best poker hands.

UNDER THE GUN+1 (UTG1)

This player sits directly to the left of UTG and faces similar pressure as UTG due to the early position.

Poker Under the Gun+1 Strategy: Play tight and lean towards folding. Aim to play only the top 10-15% of hands, folding all others.

MIDDLE POSITION (MP), LOJAK (LJ), HIJACK (HJ)

Positions from MIDDLE POSITION through HIJACK are played similarly in poker.

Middle Position – Hijack Strategy: You can play approximately 20-25% of hands from these seats. Middle table positioning can be challenging due to being sandwiched between players, making it hard to extract value when you hit a hand.

For instance, if you bet after the first player checks on the river and another player is yet to act, it becomes obvious you likely have a strong hand like a straight or flush. To counter this, some advanced players choose to re-raise from these positions to encourage folds from players behind and avoid being trapped between opponents or “stuck in the middle.”

CUT-OFF (CO)

The CUT-OFF (CO) is the seat just before the button, making it the second best of the positions around a poker table.

Cut-Off Strategy: Unlike earlier positions where folding is often the safest choice, in the CO you should lean towards raising if no one has raised before you. There are only three players left to act after you, making it less likely one of them has a very strong hand.

Compare this to the UTG player who has to worry about eight people potentially waking up with a premium holding. In the CO, you can, and should, raise liberally.

BUTTON (BU)

The BUTTON (BU) is the best position in poker, marked by a circular button-shaped object.

Button Strategy: If no one has raised before you, feel free to raise with approximately 50% of your hands (some players even raise more than 60% of their dealt hands in this scenario!). Players are more likely to re-raise (three-bet) from the button because they know they will have positional advantage throughout the hand.

Not only do you face fewer opponents behind you, but you also maintain position over them throughout the hand, as the SMALL BLIND and BIG BLIND act before the button post-flop. Your positional control continues.

In addition to encountering fewer threats, you generally have opportunities for larger payouts when on the BUTTON because you can dictate bet sizes when other players check to you. These are some of the standout reasons why it’s the best position in poker.

How to Remember Poker Position Names

The poker position names have more logic than some people may think. For instance, blinds are named as such because players place these bets without seeing their cards, essentially betting blind. Similarly, in poker UNDER THE GUN seems to have got its name because of the high risk of making mistakes from that position.

My favorite of the poker position names — and a great tool for having the poker positions explained — is the series of HJ, CO, and BU. Many people are not aware that these poker position names are sequential.

• The BUTTON typically raises.
• The CUT-OFF, knowing this, acts before them and raises first, CUTTING THEM OFF.
• The HIJACK, also aware of the plan, HIJACKS their move and raises ahead of them!

It’s a playful way to remember these poker position names while also teaching an important lesson about strategy.

Image Credit: Kitreel/Shutterstock

What is The Best Position in Poker?

A simpler way of looking at the positions around a poker table is they are ranked in reverse order. Here they are from the worst to the best position in poker:

• SMALL BLIND (SB)
• BIG BLIND (BB)
• UNDER THE GUN (UTG)
• UNDER THE GUN + 1 (UTG+1)
• MIDDLE POSITION (MP)
• LOJACK (LJ)
• HIJACK (HJ)
• CUT-OFF (CO)
• BUTTON (BU)

Again the emphasis falls on the BUTTON. It’s an extremely profitable table position both due to reduced threats from players behind them and the ability to get paid off greater amounts. This makes it, arguably, the best of the positions around a poker table.

Remember that when everyone checks to you while you’re on the BUTTON, you have the advantage of choosing the bet size. The same logic applies if someone bets before you and you decide to raise — you have the advantage of acting after them, allowing you to control the betting amount.

How To Group Poker Table Positions

Plainly speaking, hearing terms like LOJACK and HIJACK at a poker table is quite rare. Usually players group the poker position names into three general terms: EARLY POSITION, MIDDLE POSITION, and LATE POSITION.

Strategically this makes things easier. Play tight in EARLY POSITION, standard in MIDDLE POSITION, and loose in LATE POSITION.

These are not hard lines, some are borderline or debatable, but this is how they’re organized:

Early Poker Position

• SMALL BLIND (SB)
• BIG BLIND (BB)
• UNDER THE GUN (UTG)

Middle Poker Position

• UNDER THE GUN + 1 (UTG+1)
• MIDDLE POSITION (MP)
• LOJACK (LJ)

Late Poker Position

• HIJACK (HJ)
• CUT-OFF (CO)
• BUTTON (BU)

Image Credit: Rawpixel/Shutterstock

Why Is Poker Positioning So Important?

Instead of focusing on the advantages of being ‘in position,’ it’s crucial to understand the drawbacks of being ‘out of position’ in poker.

Playing out of position poker puts you at a disadvantage.

When you’re out of position, you lack the advantage of seeing your opponents’ actions first, leading to more uncertainty and guesswork. You’re playing with incomplete information about your opponents’ hands and intentions, while they have a clearer picture of your actions.

Do your opponents love their hand? Hate it? It’s more unclear — you’re playing poker with less information. But they have that information on YOU.

If You’re Out of Position You Have Less Control

The bigger issue of being out of position in poker is the loss of control. You can’t easily check back or take advantage of betting when opponents check to you, which affects your ability to dictate the pace and size of the pot.

Controlling bet sizes may sound trivial — but is actually critical. Not every hand can be a winner in poker. You must ensure that your wins compensate for the hands you lose, which requires maximizing your profits with strong hands. If you’re not getting sufficient value from your good hands, you’ll go broke with your weak hands.

A true measure of an expert player isn’t just winning, but winning by a significant margin. Playing out of position poker makes achieving these high win rates nearly impossible.

Why? Because it strips away control. The BUTTON is revered as the best position in poker because it puts you firmly in control of the action.

Poker Table Positions FAQ

To make sure you have a complete understanding of the various poker positions and their importance, here are some of the most common questions about poker table positioning and the answer you need:

What is Position in Poker?

Position in poker refers to where a player sits in relation to the dealer button. It is a major strategic factor in poker games as it affects the order in which players act during hands. The later you have to act in a round of betting, the more information you have about your opponents’ actions, making it a more advantageous position.

What is Out of Position in Poker?

In poker, being “out of position” means that you have to act before your opponent during a betting round. This is typically a disadvantage as you have to make your decisions with less information about your opponent’s hand compared to if you were in position.

What is Under the Gun in Poker?

“Under the gun” is a term in poker that refers to the player who must act first in a betting round. This position is immediately to the left of the big blind in games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha. Being under the gun is considered challenging as it requires a player to act without any knowledge of how others might play their hands. 

What is The Hijack Position in Poker?

The hijack position in poker is the place two seats to the right of the dealer button, or one seat to the right of the ‘cut-off.’ It’s called the hijack because this position often ‘hijacks’ the advantageous late positions of the cut-off and the button by making a raise, thus putting pressure on them.

What is Lojack in Poker?

The “lojack” position in poker is the place three seats to the right of the dealer button. This spot is typically referred to as the early-middle position at a full poker table. Being in the lojack, you have more information from the actions of the early position players, allowing for more refined decision-making.

Putting Yourself In Position To Win

The ultimate goal in poker is not just to win, but to win by a good margin. When you’re in a strong position, you have more opportunities to outsmart your opponents and capitalize on your strong hands. It’s about playing smart, using your position wisely, and knowing when to push your advantage.

So, whether you’re new to poker or looking to improve your game, understanding and using position effectively can make or break your career. It’s not just about the cards you’re dealt — it’s about where you sit at the table and how you use that to your advantage.

If you’re still getting a feel for in position vs out of position poker, that’s OK — and totally normal! Leveraging the positions around a poker table takes time. Just be aware that even if poker positions remain a blind spot for you, that doesn’t mean their power doesn’t exist.

If you’re just beginning to learn poker strategy, our poker cheat sheets are a great place to start!

Think of the famous poker adage: If you don’t know who the sucker is at a poker table, it’s you. Similarly, if you don’t know if you’re being exploited by playing out of position in poker, you are.

• GTO Poker (Game Theory Optimal) and Exploitative Poker are two prominent strategies employed by professionals in both live and online poker. Both have distinct advantages depending on the situations and opponents.
• GTO Poker leverages mathematical models and game theory to make optimal decisions in every situation. It aims to create strategies that are unexploitable even by skilled opponents.
• Exploitative Poker, on the other hand, focuses on taking advantage of the opponents’ weaknesses and tendencies. It relies heavily on observing patterns in opponents’ play and then tailoring your strategy accordingly.
• The choice between the two often depends on the player’s skills, understanding of the game, and most importantly, the playing style of their opponents. A balanced approach can often be most beneficial.
• Ultimately, neither strategy is inherently “better”, but understanding and being able to implement both can give a player a substantial edge in diverse poker scenarios.

When thinking about the best approach to winning poker, there seems to be a lot of confusion about what Game Theory Optimal (GTO) in poker is, and whether it’s a better option than exploitative play in poker.

In reality, you don’t need to choose one of these options, but rather understand the basic principles of GTO play and when it should be applied.

In this article, I’ll try to go over every important detail to clear up any confusion, and I’ll start by explaining what GTO is and how it works in real-life scenarios.

What is GTO Poker?

Let’s start with the basics: What is GTO poker?

Game Theory Optimal (GTO) is basically when you attempt to play mathematically perfect poker, so that your opponents make mistakes against you. This strategy balances your value hands and poker bluffs in a way that leaves you unexploitable. 

Since the phrase has the word ‘optimal’ in it, people often think that GTO in poker is a perfect approach that is better than anything else out there. But that’s not always true.

First of all, the GTO poker model revolves around the style of play that makes you unexploitable.

It means that if you were playing a true Game Theory Optimal, your opponents couldn’t find any way to take advantage of your style. No matter what they do. At best, they could break even.

On the flip side, though, the GTO poker approach is fairly rigid as it doesn’t allow for any adjustments. You’ll be following the same strategy against all opponents no matter what they do. So, while you can’t be exploited, you won’t be exploiting others, either.

GTO is often used in poker played in online casinos, because games like live dealer poker or video poker makes it harder to read your opponents.

The best way to explain this is through a simple example. If the GTO poker model dictates that perfect 3-bet size in a certain scenario is 13 big blinds, you’ll be 3-betting to that size regardless of who your opponent is.

Even if you’re up against a loose maniac who’ll gladly call a 30 big blind 3-bet when you have pocket Aces, you’ll not deviate from your standard strategy, and leave money at the table against that particular player.

So, clearly, there are some upsides and downsides to this approach, but before jumping into the details, I want to address another topic.

No-Limit Hold’em Hasn’t Been Solved Yet

If you hear the word ‘optimal’, you immediately think of something perfect. However, there is still no such thing as a perfect poker strategy. No-Limit Hold’em is a game with many variables, and is yet to be solved, especially in non-heads up games.

Besides, even if there were a complete solution to NLHE, it would be way too complex to memorize for a normal human being. There is absolutely no way you could learn by heart what to do in every single situation.

If you had that kind of memory, you could probably earn much more money doing something else instead of playing poker.

So, GTO is very useful for learning basic principles and understanding why certain plays make sense. It’s good for building a solid strategy that you can implement against tough opponents.

But it’s not necessarily the best way to play poker in every possible scenario.

The Main Issues With GTO in Poker

The biggest problem that comes to mind when talking about GTO poker is actually learning it.

If you want to adopt this style of play, you’ll have to spend many hours analyzing different situations, working with solvers, reading strategy books and watching training videos.

But you won’t be able to remember all of that information and play a GTO strategy all the time.

However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t study a mathematical-based approach. It can help you learn a fundamentally sound strategy for almost all scenarios, and is the perfect starting point against any competition.

That being said, GTO in poker isn’t always the most profitable one because it doesn’t take into account players’ stats, tendencies, or reads in live games.

For example, if you’re up against a very loose player who opens many hands preflop or makes huge c-bets on flops every time, playing GTO in poker won’t make much money against this particular opponent. You need to adjust to their style and take advantage of their mistakes.

Of course, you’d still be winning by sticking to GTO in this scenario, just not as much as you could.

Exploitative Play in Poker: Reading Into People’s Tendencies

The exploitative play in live poker has been around for much longer. In fact, some of the best in the game had used this style to win heaps of money over the years, long before the idea of GTO poker took hold.

It’s important to understand that exploitative play still means you have to play very strategically sound and solid poker. You still have to make good hand selection before the flop, be mindful of your position, and pay attention to pot odds.

But then you go one step beyond.

This is a style of play where you open yourself to being exploited but make more money by targeting your opponent’s mistakes instead of balancing your ranges.

Many weaker players are unable to readjust to these changes, so playing a GTO style against such an opponent would mean leaving money on the table.

Example of Poker Exploitative Play

Let’s look at an extreme example.

You sit down at a 2/5 table, and you don’t know any of the players, but you saw that one guy open-shoved five times in a row. Two times he got looked up and showed ATo and T9s. You can now be pretty certain this player is here to gamble.

This is where GTO considerations go out of the window, and you snap them off with pocket tens, AQo, or even weaker holdings. Their showing range is just so wide that it makes no sense to stick to GTO and keep folding as if they were playing normal ranges.

The same applies to a completely contrasting scenario.

If you’re up against an ultimate nit who never bets big without the nuts, you can safely fold even some of your strongest hands when facing such bets on the river from this particular opponent.

While this would open you up to being exploited by competent players, it’s fine to do against someone who pretty much has just one gear.

Of course, situations are rarely this clear cut in real life.

Sometimes, you can make bad assumptions or misread the situation and only hurt yourself trying to adopt exploitative play.

So when you’re not sure how to exploit your opponents, GTO play is your best option.

Are Poker GTO And Exploitative Poker Mutually Exclusive?

There also seems to be some confusion among players about having to choose either one or the other style and stick to it, which is completely false.  

As already mentioned, learning GTO basics is vital for learning solid poker strategy foundations.

After all, if you’re going to vary your styles and exploit your opponents, you need to understand where they’re making mistakes, which you can’t do without knowing the right strategy yourself.

Learning GTO (at least to some extent) is also very useful for situations where you find yourself at tough tables or against unknown players. For example, you could be seated at a tough table in a poker tournament with players that are better than you.

Here, resorting to GTO might be your best option as an exploitative poker strategy would probably hurt your chances of winning.

So, these two concepts are not mutually exclusive, and, ideally, you’ll want to learn both.

This will make you a much tougher opponent overall as you’ll be prepared to tackle different scenarios and able to adjust to new situations at the tables. Once again, you don’t need to try and learn the entire GTO by heart.

It would be an overkill and pretty much impossible to do. What you want to do instead is analyze some frequent scenarios to understand the balanced play in these spots.

This should give you a pretty accurate idea of what to do in similar situations to keep your ranges balanced and your play close to GTO.

More On Exploitative Poker Play: Adjusting & Readjusting

Like game theory optimal strategy the exploitative approach has its drawbacks, too.

While GTO has its foundations hardcore math, poker exploitative play is more about guessing your opponent’s tendencies. As you probably know, conclusions made at a poker table aren’t always perfect or even correct at all.

Earlier in this article, I gave an extreme example where switching to an exploitative approach would be +EV.

But, in real life, things usually aren’t as simple. You’ll have to make much thinner reads and find smaller leaks in players’ styles that you can use to your advantage. A problem with making these adjustments is that you often don’t have enough information.

Seeing someone play a few dozen hands can give you some idea about their tendencies and inclinations in particular spots, but you shouldn’t overvalue that type of info.

With a small sample size, it could still just be a coincidence.

For example, you could see a player 3-bet several hands in a short span. Your initial thought might be that they’re probably doing it with a wide range of hands and that you might adjust to it by opening fewer hands or starting to 4-bet them as a bluff.

However, it’s entirely possible that they’re just running hot and have been dealt with some really good hands in a short time span.

While the exploitative style can definitely be more profitable, you need to make sure the information you’re basing your adjustments on is solid. Don’t be too quick to draw conclusions.

Be Mindful Of Other Players During Exploitative Poker

Another drawback of the poker exploitative play is that it opens doors for you to be exploited.

For example, you could adjust to a loose opponent who opens many hands preflop by 3-betting them light in position.

Against that particular player, your play is perfectly reasonable and will result in profit in the long run. However, you can face some problems if you’re not playing heads up. If there are some other competent players at the table, they might take notice of what you’re doing.

If a good player realizes you’re isolating a weak opponent too often, they might come after you. Since you’re 3-betting light, you won’t be able to do much when they start 4-betting you.

So, when making your adjustments, it’s not just the player you’re targeting that you need to consider. You also have to think about others involved in the game and what they might do.

If you notice one or two of them are starting to change their style to attack your adjustments, you’ll need to recalibrate your strategy.

You don’t have to deal with any of this when using GTO, which is why this approach is so powerful. You just know what you’re going to do and don’t care about what others are doing.

Always Mix Things Up

So, to wrap this discussion up, will you be better off playing GTO or an exploitative poker strategy?

The answer is… both!

Neither is better. Each serves a different purpose and depends on what kind of games you play.

In tough lineups, the GTO approach will usually work better as you’ll leave very little room for your opponents to take advantage of your plays.

In weaker games where your opponents aren’t paying as much attention and aren’t adjusting to your changes, you’ll make more money playing an exploitative poker strategy.

Since most of the time you’ll find yourself in situations with both weak and strong players at the table, you’ll be best off knowing both strategies.

That way, you can vary your style as needed and play exploitative strategy against weaker players to take full advantage of your mistakes and adopt the GTO approach against strong opponents to make sure they never get the upper hand.

Becoming a Professional Poker Player: Top Tips from a Pro

• Pick your poker game and stick to it – The best Poker pros specialize in one variation of poker. Most player choose Texas Hold ‘Em, but you can make a career playing Omaha poker or another variation.
• Learn it inside out – Once you choose your game, learn it from back to front, until you can recount pre-flop charts in your street.
• Put money and time into improving continuously, and take care of your soft skills – Don’t rest on your laurels. Always look for ways to improve your game and focus on your poker soft skills (which we’ll cover in this article).
• Don’t just focus on tournaments – Large scale tournaments, such as the WSOP, do attract a lot of pro poker players, but you can make a good living playing poker in an online casino. Online poker, live dealer poker, and video poker are, after all, still poker.

What’s Included in This Guide

• My story and what I learned on the way
• Step 1: Pick Your Poker Game and Be Consistent
• Step 2: Master Your Game & Know Your Odds
• Step 3: Invest in Your Education
• Step 4: Keep Learning
• Step 5: Take Care of Your Soft Skills to Stay on Top of Your Game
• Step 6: Manage Your Money Carefully
• Pros and Cons of Being a Professional Poker Player
• Becoming A Professional Poker Player – Is It For You?

How do You Become a Professional Poker Player

Do not fool yourself: becoming a professional poker player in today’s competitive environment is not easy, but if you take it seriously, it can be well worth the efforts.

I had many ups and downs over the years, but playing online poker professionally was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life, and I never regretted choosing this path. However, if I had to start all over again, I would do many things differently to save years of wasted time and a ton of lost money on the way.

I am sure that you can easily avoid many of the poker mistakes that I made and speed up your progress. So, if you have a couple of minutes to read it through, I will be happy to share how I became a professional player and what I learned on the road.

How to Become a Pro Poker Player: Getting My Start

I started playing poker around 2008 when I was introduced to the game by my friends. At that time, it was hard to imagine how big the poker world really was, and that it offered much more than my home games with buddies.

But even that was enough for me. I fell in love with this game and never looked back.

Of course, there is no need to say that the beginning of my career was far from optimal. I played random sessions of Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs), Progressive Knockout, and Sit-and-Go Tournaments (SNGs) online, plenty of cash games with my friends, and was not studying the game at all.

In the beginning, I loved competing with others and enjoyed the feeling of winning. With all honesty, it was not about the money. However, very soon, I realized that I could easily make much more playing poker than in a part-time job during my study years, and this idea fascinated me a lot.

At the time, I was struggling both financially and mentally because my father has just passed away. Poker helped take my thoughts off my situation, so I started grinding through days.

Starting Become a Pro Poker Player

The more I played, the more I liked the game. Unlike the “real” life, poker gave me control of everything. I could play when I wanted, what I wanted, for as long as I wanted – and I loved it.

When I look back, I think that I was incredibly lucky to discover this game. I am a very competitive person, and the ability to play with different pro poker players, adjust my strategy, and overcome them was very pleasing, probably even more so than money.

However, I have to confess that the beginning of my career was basically a gamble.

I had a very narrow understanding of the game and was not spending much time learning the strategy. Luckily for me, players weren’t that good back in those days, and I was making a very decent living even playing poorly.

And then I got lucky! One day changed my whole career.

In one of the live poker tournaments, I got to meet a professional poker player, and it changed my whole view of the game. He was talking in terms of ranges, breaking down poker math, poker ICM, and other concepts I barely knew existed.

That was the moment when I realized that there is so much more to the game. After that, I started studying like never before and rapidly improved my game.

Travelling the Poker Tournament Circuit

I joined a group of pro poker players, and we started traveling the world playing live cash games and occasional tournaments.

We visited WSOP in Las Vegas, many European Poker Tour stops, and other destinations in poker circuit. Now, I can easily say: meeting that PRO at the tournament was the best thing that ever happened to me in regards to poker.

I started getting coaching from one of the best pro poker players in my country, and my development boosted even more. We touched not only the strategy part, but also topics such as concentration, controlling emotions when bluffing, and other areas of the mental game, which once again made me realize how much I didn’t know.

After a year of traveling around and playing through the night in various local casinos, I decided that I didn’t want to do it anymore. Thus, I left the live games circuit and concentrated on playing at online casinos.

This is my path, but you can make much better decisions with a wide range of information available today.

If you want to play poker professionally, you can avoid a lot of my mistakes and speed this process by years. So what should you do? Let me try to answer this question by listing five steps that can drastically help you on your journey.

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How to Become a Professional Poker Player Step 1: Pick Your Poker Game and Be Consistent

At the beginning of my career, I tried playing different games simultaneously. I was launching MTTs and cash games at the same time, or even playing live cash and a table or two on my laptop.

Obviously, all of this looks ridiculous when I look back, and I believe it was one of the biggest roadblocks for improving as a player.

If you jump from one game to another, most likely, you will never become very good at either of it. Therefore, your primary job is to decide what you want to play and stick with that decision.

That being said, it does not mean that you can’t play cash games with your friends if you chose to play MTTs. Not at all, but you have to stick with one format as your main game and put all your concentration to it.

So how do you choose the game? Well, surely not based on possible income! You should pick the game which suits your situation and one you actually enjoy.

• If you do not want to play extremely long sessions or do not have the luxury to sit in front of your PC for hours without taking a break, MTTs are probably not for you.
• However, if you love the changing environment, different dynamics, and have all the time for playing – tournaments are a great choice.
• If you require the flexibility to manage your time, then you should probably choose cash games.

All of the formats have pros and cons. So do your homework, choose what works for you and most importantly, stick with it.

For example, if you decide to play tournaments and spend time to study ICM strategies, learn optimal approach on the bubble, master different stack depth play and vital adjustments for different situations, jumping to cash games would not be very wise.

Sticking to one game will help you improve much faster because you can concentrate on learning what matters the most and gather your experience at a much better pace.

If you gain an edge in one format, it is much easier to keep it than learn a different game.

This is where I struggled a lot. I was jumping from one format to another for a couple of years, and it was holding me back. Now, I can easily say that the moment I chose my game and put all the effort to improve in that area, my results skyrocketed, and you likely should follow this path as well.

How to Become a Pro Poker Player Step 2: Master Your Game & Know Your Odds

When you know what you’re going to play, concentrate all your efforts into mastering it. Obviously, you should start by learning the rules if it’s is a new game, but soon after that, your next step should be conquering the math.

No matter what you play, poker is a game of math, and if you do not know your numbers it will be very hard to reach any kind of success, maybe even impossible.

How to become a professional poker player – five essentials you need to know about your chosen game:

• Learn the odds of hitting a winning hand when you are behind.
• Figure out how to compare it against pot odds you are getting so you can make an educated decision if you need to continue with your holdings.
• Understand how implied odds work and the extra value they can add to your hand.
• Learn to count combos and frequencies so you can put your opponent on a range.
• And most importantly: learn to think in terms of ranges, not specific hands.

Assigning your opponent a specific hand instead of a range of cards is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, and one that almost everyone makes at the beginning.

When you understand frequencies and know how likely your opponent is to have one holding or another, you will be able to assign them a realistic range of cards and avoid the most common mistake.

You can easily do that if you observe all the action.

Start by analyzing the preflop situation and assign your opponent a specific range based on their position, the action they took, and bet sizing. Don’t worry if you struggle at the beginning, the more you play, the better you get at figuring out the exact holdings each of your opponents are likely to have.

After that, narrow down that range based on every action they take on following streets. If you do that correctly, at the end of the hand, you will always know where you stand.

You either have to call or raise their bet if your hand is ahead of their range, or fold if you are behind. As simple as that. This is where I made my second mistake, which wasted a lot of time and money.

I was simply playing and sticking with my assumptions without analyzing other professional poker players, or trying to put them on a range. So please, do not repeat my mistakes.

Never underestimate the value of fundamental knowledge, since it will always be your bread and butter when making decisions ?– and the most reliable source of information.

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How to Become a Professional Poker Player Step 3: Invest in Your Education

When you know your odds and the game inside-out, you should easily be winning in lower stakes games and can practice a lot without burning your bankroll.

However, if you’re looking for how to become a professional player, I guess you have much higher goals than that. This is great because your ambitions and goals will help you reach long-term success.

To boost this process, you have to invest in your education. I mean it literally. Obviously, you can get a lot of resources for free, but it will never be as good and most likely without any structure.

If you stick to reading random articles, watching Twitch streams or YouTube videos, it will probably never help you reach anything meaningful. I am not saying this just because I have a training site myself, but this proven to be true for many professional poker players, including myself.

Investing in Poker Coaching

My real progress started when I invested in my first coach, and big results came soon after that. I know plenty of such examples.

All top professional athletes and high performers require coaching and constant training. So, just like with anything else in life, you should not expect to reach exceptional results without investing in yourself at the beginning, and maybe even more so in poker.

A good course can help you save a lot of trials and errors time, and even money on the way. So I would recommend gathering as much information as possible, even if that means investing in several paid programs at the beginning.

How to Become a Professional Poker Player Step 4: Keep Learning

When you start playing and winning in serious games, do not make the mistake of thinking you know it all. It will never be the case.

There is no such thing as “happily ever after” in poker. It is a very challenging and dynamic game, meaning that the moment you stop improving, you will be falling back – and others will be quick to catch up.

You have to understand that if you are beating the games today, it definitely does not mean you’ll be beating same games tomorrow if you stop where you are.

Poker changes all the time. With many learning resources becoming available every day, pro poker players are getting better and better, new ones are joining the action, and they are hungry for the win.

How to become a professional poker player by keeping your skills sharp:

• Always analyze your game.
• Observe other players when playing.
• Mark hands that you are uncertain of how to play and discuss them with your friends or a coach.
• Join a training site or get a coach if you want to take it seriously.
• On top of that, work with poker solvers to learn game theory optimal (GTO) strategies.
• Use trackers and take poker notes to fine tune your play and identify population tendencies.
• Figure out the most profitable adjustments versus different professional poker players.

This list goes on and on. Basically, just try to become the best version of yourself every single day, and you will become excellent.

How to Become a Pro Poker Player Step 5: Take Care of Your Soft Skills

Many professional poker players lose a lot of money due to tilting, emotional decisions, or simply lack of concentration during the games. I like to call these “soft skills”.

You’re only human, so while it’s not possible to completely stop these issues from affecting your games, you have to make sure you do everything you can to reduce them.

If you end up spewing one buy-in every session because of sub-optimal play, the results at the end of the month will not be something you want to see. Most of the time, this part could be a deciding factor between crushing the games and barely surviving.

Most professional poker players think that it is enough to prevent tilting or avoid playing when they’re feeling bad. While this is important, it is just a very small part of the whole picture.

How to be a Good Poker Player Through Soft Skills

To perform at your best, you need to have a lot of energy and concentration. Be sure to:

• Get enough sleep.
• Exercise regularly.
• Eat a healthy and well-balanced diet.
• Prepare for your poker sessions.
• Remove distractions when playing.
• Observe all available information.
• Know when it’s time to quit playing.
• Stop chasing loses.

On top of that, never rush to make a decision.

Take your time and evaluate all available information, put your opponent on the range, and think through all the hand before making your final decision.

Remember that every time you make a sub-optimal play for any reason, you are simply leaving money at the table. And to be honest, I was struggling with this part long after I started playing poker.

The thing that helped me the most was realizing that I need to build structure into my life and grow habits that would help me along the way.

If you have to fight with yourself every time you need to study or play, your efforts will not last very long. So, do yourself a favor and think about how you can introduce some systems that will prevent you from playing when you shouldn’t, and help you perform at your best when you play.

Playing poker professionally is a long-term journey.

If you are better than your opponents, you will win in the end. Mastering the soft side of the game will help you do exactly that – become a better player than most of your opponents.

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How to Become a Professional Poker Player Step 6: Manage Your Money Carefully

It’s quite a self-explanatory topic, and everyone knows how vital it is to manage finances well. Yet MANY pro poker player fall short because of a lack of discipline in this area.

There are a few things I highly recommend for anyone looking play poker professionally:

• Separate your poker bankroll from everyday cash.
• Have enough buy-ins to outlive variance (based on the game that you play).
• Do not withdraw money too often.
• Have savings to cover living expenses for at least six months.
• Be ready to move down the stakes if needed.

I know many good pro poker players who busted all their money just because they weren’t able to follow these simple tips – do not become one of them.

Also, never think that you can outsmart the variance or that it will not hit you. Based on your win rate, the variance can be huge, probably bigger than you ever imagined.

This graph is based on calculations of possible variance over 100,000 cash game hands where you have 2.5bb/100 win rate. Each of these lines represents a possible outcome, with different probabilities of happening.

You can see that after 100,000 hands you can be down a couple of hundred or thousands of big blinds, even if you should be winning. At the worst-case scenario, you can be down as many as 80 buy-ins.

The same can be said about tournaments, SNGs and other formats. If you’re a winning player, it doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to win over a short period, so it’s better to be ready than sorry.

This is why it is vital to have funds to cover your living expenses and big bankroll to outlive the swings. Do not cut corners in this area.

Pros and Cons of Being a Professional Poker Player

We already covered how to become a professional poker player and avoid many mistakes on the road, but before making your final decision, you should understand what life in this line of work is really like.

Depending on your experience, you may think that winning in poker isn’t that hard. But to reach a high level of success, you need to devote a lot of time to playing and studying the game. As the saying goes:

“Poker is a hard way to make an easy living.”

I couldn’t agree with it more. From a distance, the life of a poker player may look like a dream, but no one sees how much effort goes into reaching that level.

Playing poker professionally is completely different from playing poker for fun, and you need to understand those differences.

The game is not about huge scores that you see on TV or in the movies, but much more about showing up every day and putting the grind on the tables.

Let me list what I consider to be the pros and cons of being a professional poker player:

PROS

• Freedom – You can do what you love for a living, without anyone bossing you around. On top of that, you can be flexible with your schedule and build it around your life to fully enjoy it.
• Competition – The game is very challenging and hugely exciting. You’ll be able to compete with other professional poker players and constantly improve, which is a good recipe for an interesting career.
• Traveling – If you reach higher levels, you will have the opportunity to travel the world and enjoy all of the experiences without spending any of your money. How cool is that?
• Money – Last but not least! Poker can give you the resources to live a wonderful life and offer almost unlimited earning potential. Moreover, you get to keep all the rewards to yourself, which is very unlikely to happen in other areas.

CONS

• Mentally draining – Even though this game is really fun, it can quickly become emotionally taxing if you are not fully prepared in all parts of your game. Variance can be brutal, and it will likely hit you very hard at some point in your career.
• Exhausting – It’s not as easy to consistently put long hours into playing and studying as it it may seem. Most likely, you will need to put in much more work than you think to succeed. On top of that, when you find yourself a longer downswing with breakeven stretch or even loosing for a couple of months, it can become very tiring. You need a lot of discipline to stay at the tables.
• Social stigma – Poker can be seen as pure gambling by anyone outside the game, which is why it may not be accepted well by your friends and family. I had this problem at the beginning of my career, and it took years for my family to realize that it was a serious job – just like anything else.

So before making any decisions, be sure to weigh up all the pros and cons and see if it suits who you are, or who you want to become.

How do I Become a Professional Poker Player – Is It For You?

Now you can decide for yourself if this is something you want to do for a living. Poker is not for everyone, and there is no shame to admit it. But if you choose to go down this path and commit yourself to the game, it can be very rewarding.

Obviously, you need to be very honest with yourself and understand why you want to pursue it. Do you want to play just because you are tired of what you’re doing, or because you have a genuine passion for the game and want to become the best?

These are two completely different answers. If your only goal is to make money, you will have a very hard time finding motivation when things don’t go your way.

I believe that it is close to impossible to reach long-term success in poker if you do not have the passion and commitment for the game. Either take it very seriously or look for other options.

But as long as you have the passion, are willing to put hard work and understand realistic expectations for the game, you will be fine!

If you love poker – just go for it, and you will learn everything else along the way.

If you’re new to poker and don’t know where to play, we suggest checking out Casino.org’s list of recommended online poker sites. We have tons of reviews you can read to find the one that’s most suitable for you.

If you want to be good at reading your opponents when playing poker, you need to make use of all the information available. Everything from bet sizing, behavior, and even the time they take to make a decision, can be important in figuring out your opponent’s holdings.

Let’s take a look at the most effective ways to read your opponents in all types of poker, from live dealer poker to video poker.

The Most Important Part: Putting Your Opponents On A Range

No matter if you’re playing live or online poker, the most important part of reading your opponents is putting them on a range.

The ‘range’ is the various possible hands they could hold, so putting them on a range means trying to figure out what those hands could be. As the hand plays out and your opponent makes more decisions and takes more actions, you can use this information to narrow down their range.

It’s a vital skill to master.

But instead of thinking about ranges, many players try to guess the exact hand of their opponents on the river. This approach doesn’t work.

Good players don’t make blind guesses; they use a methodical approach. Even though it requires a lot of practice, you can learn to put your opponent on a range by following these four simple steps.

Step 1:  Analyze preflop actions

If you want to put your opponent on an accurate range of cards by the river, you should start your work preflop.

The first thing you need to consider is your opponent’s position.

They will be playing completely different hands from under the gun (UTG) and button (BTN), so it’s vital to assign them a realistic range.A player who is raising from the first position will not have 63s in their range, so is very unlikely to have strong holdings on the flop with 633.

However, a player on the BTN can easily have such hands, and way more other 3x holdings, so you need to play differently against these ranges.

Knowing the position is not enough. You also have to identify your opponent’s type.

If they’re passive, they could be playing just 15% of hands from the cutoff (CO), while an aggressive opponent could be opening 35% or even more. The same thought process should be applied for other situations when someone limps, or you face a 3-bet.

When you evaluate your opponent’s position and playing style, you can already make an educated guess of what hands they could be playing.

Step 2: Narrow down the range based on flop action

The next step is quite straightforward. Using information from the flop action, you can narrow down their range.

You can learn what your opponent should do in any given situation by studying game theory optimal (GTO) strategy and then adjust these ranges based on your observations.

This will help you understand what hands your opponent should be checking or betting and then reduce their likely holdings accordingly.

Step 3: Evaluate additional information

To narrow down the range even further, you should look at all the other information available to you. Things like your opponent’s poker stats, bet sizing, or even physical tells can say a lot about their holdings. The table dynamics will give you a ton of additional insights.

This is a huge part of learning how to play poker, so we’ll come back to it later on in the article.

Step 4: Keep reducing their possible holdings on the turn and river

Just like you did in the second step for the flop play, you can continue reducing your opponent’s possible holdings based on their actions and community cards on the turn and river.

It’s worth saying that lots of people have a similar playing style and share similarities that are easy to notice and exploit.

An example would be that they don’t adjust to the situation. If you notice someone checking top pair with a weak kicker on the flop, they’re very likely to take the same action with similar holdings in other hands as well.

So after seeing it once, you’ll be able to remove these holdings from their range in similar spots.

You can quickly get a feel of player tendencies and use this information until you notice that your particular opponent adjusts their play, and then react accordingly.

Learning to put your opponent on a range instead of guessing a specific hand is the best way to read other players.

However, you can make even better decisions if you take into consideration all the additional information available to you.

How To Read Opponents in Online Poker Games

Given that you don’t physically see your opponent when playing online, there are only a few things you can consider.

You should closely monitor bet sizing and how long your opponent takes to make decisions.

Let’s start with the first one.

1. Look at bet sizing

Although probably the best indication of your opponent’s strength, this information is massively underused in games.

Players are very unlikely to change bet sizing and their betting patterns, so if you notice how they play their strong and weak hands, and what sizing they use in different spots, it could be a serious tell.

Even though this is very player dependent, here are two common situations:

• Using tiny bet sizing
  Players are unlikely to bet small as a bluff. Of course, they can do that with medium-strength hands, but you will rarely see complete air when facing such a bet. For the most part, they are simply trying to see a cheap showdown.
• Over betting
  This is very player dependent but more often than not people try to choose over bets with strong holdings. This shouldn’t be applied against regulars who balance their ranges.

However, if you see someone using truly big sizing, especially on dry board, they are more likely to be value betting.

Most players understand that your range is polarized in these situations, where you either have a strong hand that is going to call no matter what or a weak one, which will be folding even to a smaller bet – so it makes no point to over bet as a bluff.

These are just guidelines but could be a good starting point when observing your opponents.

2. Observe how much time they spend making decisions

Many players leave a lot of valuable information on the table by not considering the timing of others.

Some actions can be a very good indication of your opponent’s hand strength:

• Instant check
  Almost always an indication of a weak hand. It shows that your opponent didn’t have to spend any time to think through the decision, which is very unlikely to happen with a strong holding.
• Instant bet
  Can indicate strength, except for a c-bet. When a player instantly decides to continuation bet, they’re less likely to have a strong holding, but in most other cases you should be aware of this information.
• Instant call
  Most of the time it indicates that your opponent has a medium-strength hand or a draw, and they want to see another card without even thinking about raising or folding.
• Checking after taking a lot of time
  Very unlikely to have a strong holding. From my experience, a bet in this situation will take down the most, the majority of the time.
• Betting or raising after taking a lot of time
  This is very strong. I rarely see players bluffing with this line, and the reason they take more time is to appear weak, so you shouldn’t be fooled by this action.
• Calling after taking a long time
  Generally indicates more strength. We can follow the same logic as in the previous point that players tend to take more time to look weaker and encourage another bet from you.

It goes without saying that this could change depending on the players, so you shouldn’t base your decision on this information alone but instead consider it along with other information.

Moreover, some players may try to fake these tells and act the opposite, so observe your opponent and be open to adjusting your strategy.

How To Read Opponents In Live Poker Games

While there are only a few ways to read your opponents when playing online, you can get a lot of additional information in live games.

That being said, there’s not much difference between online and live games regarding sizing and timing tells, so the same logic applies as covered in the online section.

However, there are a lot of other factors to consider that I’ll split into two different parts – physical and verbal tells.

Physical Tells

1. Physical tells that indicate strength

• Player hesitates and then bets or raises
  A very reliable tell that indicates a lot of strength on your opponent’s part. They wouldn’t want to appear weak when bluffing and wouldn’t send such signals.
• Double-checking hole cards before betting postflop
  In my experience, a player is very unlikely to be bluffing with this line of action. Also, players rarely have suited hands when double-checking, so that’s worth noticing.
• Playing with chips in an unusual way
  Indicates that your opponent is relaxed and less likely to be bluffing. Of course, if they always play with chips in a specific way, ignore this, but if they usually sit quietly and out of nowhere start doing some tricks after betting, they’re probably not bluffing.

2. Physical tells that indicate weakness

• The pretending-to-plan-to-bet-when-waiting act
  Whenever you see players reaching for chips when you’re thinking of betting, you can be sure that they do not have a strong hand. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to fold to your bet but they’re very unlikely to have better than a one pair hand, so you can continue betting and barrel them off in most cases.
• Counting chips for betting and then checking
  Strong indication of a weak or medium-strength hand. By this action, your opponent tries to appear strong and discourage you from betting while most likely just hoping for a cheap showdown.
• Unnecessary movement
  This attracts attention and indicates a weak hand. If you notice someone putting chips in the pot by slamming it hard, hear loud announcements of call or bet, see extra arms or shoulders movements, you could be facing a weak hand and an opponent who is just trying to look scary. This also includes shuffling cards or doing anything else that draws the attention you actually wouldn’t want when having a strong hand.

As a general rule of thumb, players are weak when they try to show strength and are strong when showing weakness.

Verbal Tells

1. Verbal tells that indicate strength

• Talking while in hand
  Indicates that the player is relaxed and less likely to bluff. Of course, when someone asks how many chips you have and the player answers, it doesn’t count. But if the player starts talking while you’re thinking without any particular reason, they’re probably trying to convince you that they’re just friendly and you should play with them.
• Announcing they don’t have a strong hand
  If you think about it, why would anyone ever say something like this when bluffing? In reality, this is quite a reliable tell that indicates your opponent’s range is very strong. The same goes for naming the exact hand. If a player says that they don’t have JT on 987 5 2, you can almost be guaranteed that they have at least a 6x or even T6 and are trying to make their range look weaker, so you’ll call.
  Pretty much any announcement of a weak hand ever actually means they have a weak hand or even a draw.
• Asking for action
  Whenever you hear a player saying something like “you are committed,” “if you have it, you have it,” “let’s go,” or anything that encourages you to play, they’re likely holding something good.

2. Verbal tells that indicate weakness

• Joking when waiting for action
  Smiling and laughing is an indication of a weak hand from a player who is waiting to act (not necessarily true for player who is betting themself), but it’s even more likely to be true when a player is joking. Again, the reasoning is very similar. They would not risk attracting attention and discouraging action with a premium holding, so they’re more likely to be weak when joking or making funny statements.
• Verbally announcing checking
  Indicates a weak hand because they want to appear confident to prevent you from betting. The louder the check is, the more likely the player has a weak holding. The same could be said about verbal announcements of “calling”. When they have poor holding, they’ll do everything to indicate strength, which is very unlikely action with a really strong hand, because they would not want to discourage the action.

Everything can be logically explained, so always try to remember this and make better decisions.

Important Takeaways

• Generally, acting strong = weak hand, acting weak = strong hand.
• Tells are more useful when playing against recreational players.
• Some players try to give false tells, so be aware of this possibility.
• Use everything as an additional source of information, don’t blindly follow one thing.
• Bet sizing and timing tells can be used both live and online.
• Putting an opponent on a range is by far the most reliable way to predict their possible holdings.

Regardless of your general strategy and how tight you like to play, you simply have to poker bluff every now and then. Your opponents need to know that you’re capable of it – otherwise, you’ll become too predictable and too easy to play against.

Bluffing in Poker: What You Need to Know

• Some players hate bluffing and just don’t want to take the risk. They believe that “tight is right,” and you should only play your strong hands.
• This approach may be good in some very specific cases and certain super-soft games, but it won’t cut it in any serious lineup.
• Luckily, like everything else in poker, the fine art of bluffing is something you can learn.

While you shouldn’t expect to become the best bluffer in poker overnight, reading through these tips and applying them in your games will certainly help you get better at it.

1. Detach Yourself From The Money During a Poker Bluff

When you sit down to play bluff poker, you shouldn’t be thinking in terms of real-world money. The chips you have in front of you are just big blinds, and you should see them as such.

It takes time to develop this mindset, but it will help you immensely to become better at bluffing.

When you’re thinking about pulling a poker bluff, you need to clear your mind of any such notions.

For example, in a $2/$5 game, betting $200 may seem like a lot of money. But, if you think in terms of it big blinds and you’re betting 40 BB to win 150 BB pot, it’s much easier.

I understand that this is easier said than done and it takes a lot of practice, but it’s really important.

You’ll never be able to pull a good poker bluff if you associate every bet with something you could buy with that money instead. It’ll make you hesitant to pull the trigger, and even if you do end up doing it, your opponents might pick up on the fact you’re doing it reluctantly.

The only time you should think about actual money is when you know this could be a factor for your opponent.

If you know that they think in terms of cash and are in the state of mind described above, this is something you can use to your advantage. These players are often prime targets for a large poker bluff as they just won’t call you and risk a lot of money with a non-nut hand.

2. Learn How To Tell A Story as a Poker Bluffer

If you really want to become an expert poker bluffer, you need to understand that your bluffs must make sense.

Being brave and not caring about money is all well and good, but any decent player will call you out when your story doesn’t add up.

So, before you decide to go for bluff poker think about what you’re trying to represent. Weaker players don’t seem to have a good grasp of this concept.

For example, you open from UTG, they flat call in the big blind, and the flop comes A A K. They check, you bet, and then they raise you.

This story just doesn’t make sense.

You have a huge range advantage on this board, and they only have a few solid hands in their range that connect with that board and don’t 3-bet before the flop. As a bluffing spot, this is one of the worst you could pick, and a good player will often call you on the flop even with air, just to take it away on the turn.

Make sure you know what kind of story you’re trying to tell first and foremost, think about whether it makes sense, and then proceed to the execution phase.

For example, you could check on a turn that completes a possible flush draw with the intention of raising your opponent’s bet. That story is much more believable and will put your opponent in a tough spot, especially when you follow through with a bet on the river if they do call the turn.

Sometimes you’ll tell a perfect story and still get picked off. This doesn’t mean that you’re bad at bluffing. Some players just hate folding.

While your poker bluff won’t work all the time, if you pick your spots carefully, you can add a lot of chips in your stack by pulling the trigger.

3. Control Your Body Language

This one is exclusively dedicated to live poker, but I just can’t leave this point aside.

Controlling your body language is easier said than done but definitely something you need to work on if you want to become an expert bluffer in poker.

Physical tells play an important role in live poker, and if you have too many of these, experienced players are very likely to get a read on you.

But what if your hands are shaking or you start to breathe harder when you’re bluffing? What can you do about it? It’s not like you can really control these things.

First of all, you should be aware of your table presence and figure out if there are any changes that happen when you’re bluffing. When you get this part right, you can start working towards eliminating them or minimizing their effects.

One good way to go about it is to have a fixed posture when you’re involved in an important hand.

For example, keeping both hands together and close to your mouth will help hide many recognizable tells. It’ll be hard to see if your hands are shaking, and other players won’t have a clear view of your throat or your chest.

Of course, you have to do this when you’re not bluffing as well. Simply find a certain posture that you’re comfortable with and stick with it every time you get involved in a significant pot.

While this won’t get rid of all tells, it will certainly make it much more difficult for your opponents to pick off any solid reads.

4. Be Aware Of Your Table Image During Your Poker Bluff

Knowing how other players perceive you is quite important in general, but it’s essential for constructing your bluffing strategy.

I know players who poker bluff so rarely that they can pretty much get me off any hand that’s not the nuts. Then there are some players I’ll happily look up all the way till the river with a second pair and no kicker.

Image is everything.

If you want to be good at bluffing, you need to develop an image of someone who’s more than capable of bluffing but isn’t crazy loose. That way, you’ll always keep your opponents on the edge of their seats and guessing.

However, you can’t always plan for how a session will go down.

Maybe you’ll get several great bluffing opportunities in a row, and this might make some people think you poker bluff all the time. Or, you may have been card dead, so you appear as a rock who never gets involved with anything but nuts.

Try to see things from your opponents’ perspective and adjust your play accordingly.

If it feels like they might have you pegged as a crazy LAG, it might be a good time to step back a bit and pass on some bluffing opportunities.

You have to consider the fact that you’re much more likely to get looked up in this scenario, so the profitability of your poker bluff will have decreased significantly.

5. Learn To Pick The Best Spots

When you’re thinking about bluffing, you need to have something going your way. Either the situation is favorable, or the player you’re facing is likely to fold to a bluff (ideally both, of course).

Learning how to pick your bluffing spots is one of the essential skills you’ll need to develop.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple guide to this.

Online poker is such a fluid game that you can’t just have one strategy and stick to it no matter what. In some games, you’ll have heaps of great bluffing spots. Sometimes, you’ll be pretty much forced to play it straight and bluff very rarely.

Some general tips on this topic include:

• Don’t bluff calling stations – they don’t fold enough.
• Avoid bluffing players who are tilting.
• Always be on the lookout for scare cards: over-cards, cards completing obvious draws, etc.
• Bluff more against shorter stacks – they don’t have enough chips to speculate.
• At the same time, avoid super-short stacks. They might be too committed.

As you can see, there’s a variety of factors you need to think about when picking your bluffing spots.

For example, scare cards are one of the best friends of every good poker bluffer, and they give you a lot of opportunities to continue your aggression and force your opponent to fold.

Of course, you will rarely be in a perfect scenario where you can tick all of these boxes, but making educated bluffs and considering these elements will help you a lot.

6. Avoid Bluffing In Multi-Way Pots

Some of the biggest and craziest poker bluffs that ever happened – happened in heads up pots. You’ll almost never see a seasoned player pulling a massive bluff against two, three, or more players.

And for good reason.

With multiple players involved in a hand, pulling off a successful poker bluff becomes increasingly difficult. There is just so much you need to figure out before you proceed, and the likelihood of someone having a good hand increases as well.

Of course, you can still take small stabs at a pot when no one has shown an interest – but don’t get too involved.

If you try and get called by two or more players, it’s time to throw in the towel.

There are so many better spots you can take advantage of that there is no need to waste your chips in unfavorable situations.

7. Toy With Different Bet Sizes When Bluffing

One of the things experts are really good at is toying with different sizes to throw their opponents off and confuse them.

For example, if someone’s expecting a normal bet of about half the pot but is instead faced with an oversized wager of 1.2x the pot, they’ll find themselves in unknown territory.

They’ve probably made plans for a normal bet, but now they have to rethink their strategy completely.

You also need to understand that your bluff poker moves can’t look too weak or constructed in a way as to price in your opponents. Players who are bad at bluffing will frequently bet something like 15 percent of the pot on the river and then will complain about getting called with a weak hand.

You can get away with mixing in some small bets now and then, but do understand that these are simply much likelier to get called.

If you want to bluff, you can’t be afraid to commit chips. If you’d bet about half pot for value, you have to bet the same when you’re bluffing. Otherwise, you’re just making it too easy for any observant opponent.

That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t experiment a little.

In different lineups, different things could work quite well. So, it’s fine to test various bet sizes to see what happens as long as you are up against recreational players, who likely don’t know how to react to such changes.

Let Your Journey To Becoming An Expert Bluffer in Poker Begin

If you’re new to poker and have aspirations of becoming a pro at bluffing – you should be very careful.

Big bluffs may look awesome on TV, but when it’s your money going across the table, it is an entirely different story.

I’d say that you should instead aspire to become an all-around good poker player, and bluffing should just be one part of your overall strategy.

The thing is, you don’t want to be known as the bluffer in your game. The only thing that title will bring you is that people will be looking you up lightly, forcing you to bleed your chips if you are actually bluffing too much.

The best bluffers are the ones you don’t think of as bluffers. These players are super hard to play against because you never know where you’re at with them.

So, if you want to become an expert bluffer, this is what you should aspire to.

Everyone can throw their stack away time and time again in a desperate attempt to win a pot. The best know exactly when to put their chips at risk and when to give up – and that’s what makes them the best.

Brush up on your knowledge even more with some light reading:

The same applies to your opponents. While you’ll occasionally come across straightforward players who only bet when they have the goods, a vast majority are capable of pulling a bluff at least now and then.

It’s your job to sniff out these bluffs and catch them with their hand in the cookie jar – but you’ll need to learn how to spot them first.

So if you’re facing a bet and aren’t sure what to make of it, these tips on common poker bluffs should give you a good starting point.

1. A Flop Continuation Bet Poker Bluff

If you’ve been playing online poker for any length of time, you’re probably aware of the continuation bet as its one of the most common poker bluffs.

This is a play when the player chooses to bet on the flop after raising preflop, and many of your opponents will do that whether they connect with the board or not.

While c-bets work very well and are a powerful weapon in your bluffing toolbelt, you can’t just bet every flop without thinking about it. This may work against very weak players who play fit-or-fold poker, but it won’t work against thinking opponents.

They’ll consider your preflop range and how that range corresponds with the flop texture. When trying to pick off a c-bet bluff, you should be doing the same.

Some players will use this move too frequently and you can easily exploit that.

For example, if someone has raised before the flop from an early position and the board comes with low to middle connected cards, their flop bet is more likely to be a bluff. The board texture is much more likely to help other players, especially if blinds are still in play.

Always be on the lookout for the players who continuation bet too often. This is definitely one of the more common poker bluffs out there, and many players don’t know how to balance it properly.

Once you figure out someone is automatically betting almost every flop, you can counter them by calling their bets in position or mixing in an occasional check-raise to force them to give up on whatever equity they might have after throwing some more money into the pot.

2. The Button Raise Poker Bluff

Even bad players know that you’re supposed to raise with all sorts of hands from the button to try and steal the blinds, which is why this is one of the most common poker bluffs out there.

Of course, it’s hard to talk about complete bluffs when discussing a preflop situation, but if you’re raising with a hand that you shouldn’t, you’re essentially bluffing.

So if you notice a player who is opening any two cards, you can add way more hands in your 3-betting range and call medium strength holdings from the big blind.

If your opponent is playing way too wide in this spot, they will have a very hard time defending against your 3-bets.

On top of that, if you structure your calling range properly and have a lot of decent hands against their wide and weak range, you’ll have many opportunities to take down the pots.

So while the player on the button has a huge advantage of position, if you notice them playing way too aggressive, you can easily punish them for it.

3. Bluffing To See Where They’re At

Although you won’t find this type of bluff with competent pros, recreational players seem very fond of this move, making it one of the more common poker bluffs.

This type of bluff is usually marked by a fairly small sizing.

As a poker bluff, it’s not a very good one as it doesn’t price other players out, and it reopens the action for anyone who might have a strong hand and has decided to play it tricky.

This play usually isn’t too hard to sniff out as the player making it is often quite honest about it.

The whole bluff is designed to buy the pot in the event everybody else has whiffed completely and are happy to give up, or at least to see the next card with a hope to improve very cheaply.

So while you will not see this move from experienced players, you’ll often face such bets even in multiway pots from someone new to the game, so you should not be afraid to play back.

4. The Instant-Bet Poker Bluff

When you check to your opponent and they instantly fire a fairly sizable bet, you might be facing an instant-bet bluff.

This is a common poker bluff, especially among live or video poker players, and the idea behind it is to confuse the opponent and not give them time to think.

Of course, you can have as much time as you want because the speed with which they bet doesn’t dictate your action – but this play does work sometimes.

The instant-bet bluff can be quite effective against inexperienced players who’ll feel pressured into making a quick decision. They might respond by auto-folding their cards without taking the proper time to think about the hand.

So when you face such a bet from your opponent, always try to break down the entire hand to see if they can represent a very strong hand.

More often then not, they are just trying to look intimidating, so you can pick a couple of extra pots based on that.

5. A Donk-Bet Poker Bluff

Most of the time in poker or live dealer poker, you’ll want to check the action to the original raiser and let them continue with the aggression.

There is very little advantage to betting into them on the flop to let them know you have a good hand and allow them to get away cheaply. Hence the play was dubbed a donk-bet.

While good players do use the donk-bet as a part of their overall strategy, you won’t see it very often since it is much harder to balance and put into overall solid strategy.

Bad or inexperienced players, on the other hand, will frequently donk-bet. And more often than not this will be done as a bluff.

The logic behind the move is to try and win the pot right away instead of having to deal with a continuation bet and everything that comes after.

You’ll find that some players simply refuse to give up on their donk-bet bluffs even after being repeatedly put in tough spots because of it.

With the original raiser having a position and range advantage, for the most part, they can choose to play however they want – call or raise with hands that have good equity and let the bluffer throw away some more money on the turn if they’d like.

So when you notice a recreational player donk betting on the flop, don’t rush into folding.

6. The Turn Stab Poker Bluff

As discussed earlier, firing a continuation bet on the flop is quite common.

So, when the player who’s supposed to bet on the flop decides to check behind, it opens doors for another common poker bluff, the turn stab.

This is another one of those bluffs that will work fairly frequently, especially against weaker players.

Good players know how to balance their check-back ranges by checking some of their strong hands. However, recreational players usually have absolute air or the nuts in these spots.

Since it’s really hard to flop the nuts, the turn stab bluff works quite well.

Even if the in-position player calls the turn, it’s possible to take them off of their hand with a river bet depending on how the board runs out.

So, if you don’t have this one in your arsenal, you should definitely start looking for good spots to add this play and always be ready to bluff-catch against other players.

7. The Min-Bet Poker Bluff

Again, this is one of those bluffs you’ll probably encounter frequently but only from less experienced players.

It usually happens on the river where they’ll try to buy the pot with a tiny bet.

Although this is a funny-looking bluff, it can be quite tricky, especially when you don’t have a hand with any real showdown value.

The problem with this bluff is that you have to be quite certain that it is, in fact, a bluff.

In that case, you can raise and win the pot. However, if it turns out to be a small value bet, you’ll be in the world of hurt when they jam on you.

The reason why pros don’t resort to this bluff as much is that a good player will simply make a call with a wide array of hands as they know they’re getting the right price.

So if you find yourself in this situation and see that your opponent’s story doesn’t add up, you should be calling fairly wide and can even consider raising if you are holding complete air.

8. The Squeeze Poker Bluff

If there is one thing that’s really changed about poker over the years, it’s the fact games have become much more aggressive.

Long gone are days where most people were sitting around the table, waiting for the nuts. These days, players are looking for good opportunities and are less worried about the quality of their holdings.

The squeeze bluff has become one of the most common poker bluffs, to the point where even inexperienced players resort to it quite often.

When there’s a raise and a few callers ahead of you, there is plenty of dead money in the pot and only one player (the original raiser) to really worry about.

So, why not raise and try to squeeze everyone out to win those sweet poker chips in the middle?

Again, this is a preflop play, so it may be hard to categorize it as a pure bluff, but when done with a weak hand, you aren’t expecting to have the best cards if you get any action.

The purpose of this bluff is to put everyone else to the test and force them to fold hands that are likely ahead and maybe even have you dominated.

For the most part, this move works great since people tend to be over-folding in these situations, so you can surely take advantage of that.

Don’t be scared when someone else is squeezing and don’t give up too easily. Unless you’re at the table full of really inexperienced players, you’ll see this play quite frequently.

9. The Triple-Barrel Poker Bluff

Although not as common as other bluffs on this list, the triple-barrel bluff is usually very effective and quite difficult to deal with.

When a player is determined to win a pot and they fire on the flop, the turn, and the river, calling them down without a very strong hand is a tough task.

It’s a good thing that most players don’t have it in them to go for a triple-barrel bluff frequently as that would make the game much harder overall. The only way to deconstruct these bluffs is by approaching the hand in a very methodical and calm manner.

Start by thinking about their likely preflop range and go from there. By betting all three streets, they’re representing a very strong hand. How likely are they to have a strong hand given the preflop action and the board structure?

Of course, any physical tells that you might have picked up along the way, and any previous knowledge of the player’s tendencies can come in very handy as well.

You better be quite sure someone is even capable of making this bluff before you decide to call them down.

10. The Overbet Poker Bluff

It’s only logical to conclude this list of top poker bluffs by the one that’s probably the hardest to deal with.

The overbet bluff is mostly applied on the river when your opponent decides to blast away with a really large bet – usually well over the size of the pot.

This type of bluff is not as uncommon as you might think. Loose players, even some very good ones, love to use it to put the maximum pressure on their opponents.

Of course, they’ll balance it out by polarizing their ranges and also sometimes betting huge when they have the virtual nuts.

What makes this bluff so hard to deal with is the fact you’re getting really bad odds on the call. So, you have to be sure you’re being bluffed to make the call, and it’s not easy to be sure when you have a mediocre hand and are facing a huge bet.

As a general rule of thumb, you shouldn’t be calling too many of these bets. Keep your hero calls for those times you’re up against a total maniac or a really good player that you believe is capable of making such play with air.

Keep in mind that this kind of bet will pretty much never be a medium hand. They’ll either have the nuts or nothing, so your hand strength is not as important as you might think.

Common Poker Bluffs And How to Use Them

If you play poker, you’ll have to deal with bluffs on a daily basis, and I hope that this article will help you recognize and deal with the most common spots.

There is so much to say about bluffing in poker that it’s impossible to explain in one article, but you have to start somewhere.

At the same time, keep in mind that your opponents might be privy to this knowledge as well. If you’re getting ready to fire away with air, think about these common situations.

If your play is screaming “bluff” then maybe you’d be better off cutting your losses and saving your chips for another, more favorable spot.

The Essentials

• The aim of the Big 2 card game is to get rid of all your cards as fast as possible. Popular across Asia, this easy-to-learn card game uses common poker hands and is similar to other card-shedding games like President or Crazy Eights.
• The game is called Big 2 because the 2 is the highest ranked card, taking the place of the Ace in most poker hands. The Chinese name (Choh Dai Di) translates directly as ‘Big Old Two‘.
• Big 2 game turns start of the lead player laying a single card or a poker hand. The other players take turns ‘shedding’ higher ranking variations of that hand until no more cards can be shed. The player who played the highest hand then plays the first hand of the round.
• The game ends when one player has no cards and scores a perfect zero. The other players lose points based on how many cards they have in their hands. The aim of the game is to keep your score as low as possible.

How to Play The Big 2 Card Game: The Basics

The Big 2 card game is a complex game that has multiple options and gameplay elements. You can learn how to play Big 2 by following the standard round gameplay below:

• Shedding: Players can choose to “shed” cards. This is the main point of Big 2, as the goal is to shed all your cards before other players. You can shed cards based on hand rankings, but only one time per turn. This is why it is important that you know the hand rankings you can shed when you learn how to play Big 2 (see the next section in this guide).
• Leading: The “Lead” is essentially the player who sheds first. All cards that are shed will go into a communal pile. When no more players can shed, the pile is removed, and a new pile starts. This time, the last player to shed will become the Lead.
• Climbing: When shedding to the pile, players must improve the ranking of the previous shed. This is known as the “Climb”, as the next cards on the pile will always rank higher than the previous cards. For example, you could play a Pair (6 6) on a lower pair (4 4). Players cannot go over a leading combination. So, if the previous shed was a single, you can only “Climb” by adding a higher-ranking single.

Gameplay now continues with players shedding cards or passing when they cannot shed. This will happen until the first player sheds all their cards and wins the round. If the players continue in subsequent rounds, the remaining three players will have penalty points for the cards they have left in their hands.

When learning how to play Big 2, the first step is understanding the value of cards. The game jumbles traditional hand values you know when then you learn the poker rules.

After the 2, the next highest ranking cards are A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. However, Big 2 also ranks suits, with Spades being the most valuable, followed by Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds (>>>).

How to Set up a Big 2 Game

Each Big 2 card game starts with the deal. This is also the most complex part of the game, but luckily, a Big 2 online poker game will handle the deal automatically. In online live dealer games will be the house, and in casual games offline, the dealer is chosen at random. Cards are dealt counter-clockwise to all players.

Once all cards from a standard 52-card deck (13 to each player) have been dealt, the round will begin. Big 2 card game rules state that the player who first receives their cards will take the first turn and have the chance to shed cards. Some Big 2 card game variants may start the gameplay with the player with the lowest card ranking.

Image credit: Ramosh Artworks/Shutterstock

Big 2 Card Combinations: What is a Winning Hand?

Card combinations in Big 2 allow you to shed cards more quickly. Known as melds, the combinations can be put onto the pile if they are leading the previous shed. The highest value suit of any combination will dictate the overall suit.

Below are the most common combinations:

COMBINATION	EXAMPLE	RANK (LOW TO HIGH)
Singles	3	Lowest
Doubles	4 4	Low
Triples	6 6 6	Medium-Low
Snakes	6 7 8 9 10	Medium
Flowers	2 3 Q 6 K	Medium
Gourd	J J J 5 5	Medium-High
Bomb	7 7 7 7	High
Straight Flush	9 10 J Q K	Highest

• Singles: This is a single card according to its rank and suit.
• Pairs/Doubles: A pair of cards of the same value. Doubles can be different suits, with the highest ranking suit covering the meld.
• Three-Kinds/Triples: A combination of three cards with the same rank.
• Straights/Snakes: Like the classic five-card poker hand made of card values in ascending order.
• Flushes/Flowers: Five cards of the same suit but any rank.
• Full House/Gourd: A five-card combination comprising a Pair and Triple.
• Four-Kind/Bomb: Four cards of the same rank, with a fifth “kicker” card included as a single.
• Straight Flush: As the best possible shedding meld, this is when five cards of the same suit are in ascending order of value.

Big 2 Scoring: Hand Ranking and How to Win

Importantly, in most situations, the Big 2 card game is played over multiple rounds in a points-based system. Whether the set score or time limit is met, the player with the best score will win the game. This is a losing points game, as there is no way to gain points, and 0 is a winning total.

If a player sheds all their cards, the remaining players are fined one penalty point for each remaining card they have.

There are also additional penalties. If you still have 10 to 12 cards in your hand, your penalty total will be doubled. 13 cards remaining means you could not shed one card throughout the round, and you will receive a tripled 39 penalty points.

Image credit: Ramosh Artworks/Shutterstock

The Big 2 Edge: Strategies to Outplay Your Opponents

Before you start playing Big 2, our experts have outlined a few of their top tips to help enhance your gameplay and potentially improve your chances of winning.

• If you lead the pile, always discard/shed your highest-ranking combination first. It may be tempting to wait, but it is always best to shed your cards as soon as you can.
• Leading the pile means you will control the combination for the whole game. If you play the highest possible first-shedding round, you could make it hard for other players to shed.
• When you are not leading, try to gauge what your opponents have in their hands by looking closely at what cards they are shedding.

Advanced Big 2 Card Game Techniques

If you want to take your Big 2 gameplay to the next level, you may want to explore more advanced strategies. Because only one deck of cards is used, Big 2 is a game where it is reasonably possible to count cards. You’ll need a great memory, but you already know the cards you have, which means there are 41 other cards to track.

As gameplay progresses, you can see which cards your opponents are shedding. If you can track these cards, you will have a better idea of which cards are left. While knowing the cards left in play will not directly lead to you winning, it can help you make more informed decisions about when to shed or pass.

How to Gamble When Playing A Big 2 Card Game

As with any game that with a defined winner that plays in round, Big 2 can be gambled on. Gambling when playing Big 2 is common and very popular across Asia. Since the Chinese invented playing cards, its not surprising that they’ve got a long history of inventing amazing games and way to gamble on them.

Some of the different way in which you can gamble when playing Big 2 include:

• Betting on who has the highest ranked poker hand in any round
• Betting on the round winner
• Betting on the overall winner
• The losing player forfeiting money to the winning player based on how many cards they have left in their hand at the end of the game.

The Big 2 card game is available online but is admittedly not as common as other games. Even so, you can find online casino sites and other online platforms that allow you to play real money Big 2 from the comfort of your couch. This gives you the ability to play directly against another player in live dealer variants or virtually against a computer.

Big 2 Conquest: Triumphing with Skill and Strategy

Despite it seeming like a basic shedding game, the reason that Big 2 is so popular in Asia is because its simple to learn, but challenging to master. Once you have a good grasp of poker hands, you can employ advanced techniques like card counting to win.

However, while it makes for a perfect alterative to poker on gambling night, its just as fun as a relaxing card game with friends!

Title Image credit: Ramosh Artworks/Shutterstock

What is the Dead Man’s Hand in Poker?

• The dead man’s hand is a poker hand containing two black aces and two black eights alongside a face down kicker card.
• This most famous of poker hands entered popular culture because it was the cards in Wild Bill Hickock’s hand when he was shot.
• Since Wild Bill’s untimely death, aces and eights has been considered an unlucky hand in poker.
• While you’re unlikely to get shot if your dealt aces and eights in your next game, it is a marginal hand that take a little skill to play properly
• This guide will take you through the history behind the dead man’s hand and how to play it when you get dealt it.

With plenty of legends and intrigue behind this poker hand, we are here to unlock all the secrets. Read on as we guide you through what the dead man’s hand is, its origins, composition, and whether this poker hand is worth playing.

The Legend of the Dead Man’s Hand and Wild Bill

While the exact meaning of the dead man’s hand has been debated, the origins are well documented. It comes from the legend of the notorious lawman James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickock, who was shot dead while he held a specific poker hand. A known gambler, the hand Hickock was holding when he met his end has become known as bad luck.

According to the story, Wild Bill was playing real money poker on a table alongside Jack “Crooked Nose” McCall and several other players. McCall lost his whole pot, mostly to Bill Hickock. Wild Bill took an honorable stance and told McCall he would buy him breakfast and that he should not play again until he could pay back the money.

McCall was angered by this and came back drunk to see Wild Bill still playing cards at. Hickok was known for sitting in the corner because he was paranoid someone would try to kill him.

However, on that day, another player would not give up their corner seat at the poker table, so Bill played with his back to the door. Given the popularity of online poker and video poker, this is less of a problem for the modern player.

As McCall approached, he drew his Colt .45 and shot Wild Bill in the head while shouting, “Damn you! Take that!” And so, one of the most iconic and lasting legends in the history of poker was set.

Why Are Aces And 8s in The Dead Man’s Hand?

As legends have a habit of doing, the details are murky. The exact hand Wild Bill was holding is unknown, and there is a lot of debate about the hand. Even so, when superstitious poker players hold the dead man’s hand, they see it as bad luck.

The fateful day happened on August 2, 1876, and it did not take long for the word of the dead man’s hand to spread through the Old West and beyond. The first mentions of the hand were on record in 1886, but then it was described as a full house of three jacks and two tens. These days, most players see the dead man’s hand as two black aces and two black eights.

Over the last 150 years, there have been other interpretations of what the dead man’s hand is. However, the modern understanding came from the 1920s in a biography of Bill Hickock, Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers. 

Whether today’s definition of the hand is accurate or not, the two black aces and two black eights have become the best-known interpretation.  

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The Dead Man’s Hand: How to Factor it into Your Poker Strategy

There may be a time during your online poker gameplay when you get the dead man’s hand. If you are an incredibly superstitious player, you may just fold the hand and move on. But that’s probably not the best poker strategy.

There is nothing wrong at all with playing this famous hand the next time you’re at a casino. The real question is whether the dead man’s hand is good or not.

Well, it is a middle-ground hand that is neither terrible nor excellent. Two pairs of higher-ranking cards is a decent hand, especially if you get the hand on the flop and can chase a full house or three of a kind. However, if you play through the round, two pairs is not a high-value hand.

Playing with the dead man’s hand can be interesting because you can potentially catch an opponent who’s trying to bluff with a low hand. With the dead man’s hand, a player will compete well with players holding a pair, such as 10-10, 9-9, 7-7, or 6-6. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid With the Dead Man’s Hand

During a game of Texas Hold’em, Ace-Eight is what we consider a marginal hand. How you choose to play will depend on which type of player you are:

• In a late position, it is likely that you will call, but there is potential to raise if you fancy a risk. However, some players will simply fold this hand away from the start, and not for superstitious reasons.
• For example, if the player leading raises, it is probably best to fold the A-8. As mentioned, if the hand does not hit with an A-8 to form the dead man’s hand after the flop, you will be left on a high ace.
• Of course, you may get an ace in the flop for a pair, but while that is a high pair, the low 8 puts a lot of risk on playing on, especially during a hand where other players are raising.

It’s not a Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Hand

It is worth noting that Wild Bill was reportedly playing 5-card stud when he was shot, which is a variation Omaha poker, with a greater number of hole cards. This version of poker would be more rewarding to the dead man’s hand. You would have all five cards in your hand, so the Aces and Eights pairs would already be there. This would be a good hand in 5-card stud, so Hickok may have been holding winning cards in his hand.

It may seem like we class the dead man’s hand as a poor combination, but that is not the case. In fact, the average winning hand in Hold’em is two pairs. Bearing that in mind, Aces and Eights is a solid hand to have in either live or online poker. Even so, it comes with risk because it does not take much for an opponent to have a higher ranking.

The Dead Man’s Hand for Beginners

For poker beginners, this makes the dead man’s hand a bit of a dangerous hand. On the one hand, it looks like an excellent combination, with two pairs and one pair being Aces.

Experienced players with a good poker strategy know how to weigh the risk with potential reward, understanding the possible dangers of this hand. However, beginners may just see what they think is a very good hand and bet high on it.

Remember that while a solid hand, the dead man’s hand is not spectacular.

What is The Significance of The Dead Mans Hand?

One of the most famous hands in poker, the dead man’s hand conjures plenty of superstition and interest. It also plays an important role in poker history. Don’t throw this hand away because of legend; the dead man’s hand can still potentially win you pots.

Wild Bill may not have had much luck meeting his end while holding this hand, but hopefully, the dead man’s hand can help you walk away with the pot.

Title Image credit: Semmic Photo/Shutterstock

• ICM, or Independent Chip Model, is a mathematical model used in poker to calculate a player’s overall equity in a tournament.
• The model is essential in tournament play, especially during final table and bubble play, where it helps calculate the real monetary value of a player’s chip stack.
• ICM considers factors such as the total chips in play, the payout structure, and the player’s current chip stack to calculate the expected payout or equity.
• Understanding and utilizing the ICM can greatly influence strategies, particularly when deciding whether to risk one’s tournament life.
• While ICM is a valuable tool in decision-making, it also has limitations and doesn’t account for variables such as player skill levels and blinds. Use it as part of a broader strategic framework.

If you play poker tournaments, either online or at your local casino, it’s crucial to understand poker ICM, or the Independent Chip Model. While it might sound like technical jargon, knowing ICM poker strategies – and what does ICM mean for your poker strategy – is incredibly valuable.

Let me explain.

How is The Independent Chip Model Used in Poker Tournaments?

The first thing you need to know about ICM poker is that it only applies to tournaments and online poker tournaments. Not cash games.

When you’re playing poker, you want to ask yourself what is the best decision mathematically. Am I getting a good price to complete my flush draw? Straight draw? Gutshot? Do I think I likely have the best poker hand? When you’re playing a poker tournament, however, you want to ask yourself two questions:

• What is the best mathematical decision I can make?
• How will this decision impact my position in the tournament?

It’s the second question that changes everything – and gets to the heart of ICM poker model.

For example, let’s say you’re getting excellent pot odds to draw for a flush. The math tells you to call, even if it’s for your entire stack. In a cash game, you should always take this opportunity because you can profitably win money; if you miss your flush draw, you can easily rebuy.

Now let’s say you’re a big stack in a poker tournament or online poker tournament and there are only five people left. According to the ICM model in poker, you would not want to take this opportunity because it would jeopardize your position.

The chips you would lose are worth more than the chips you would gain. Said another way, the benefit of going from second or third in chips to first in chips is not worth the risk of elimination.

What is ICM in Poker?

ICM means adjusting your decision-making to your ranking in the tournament rather than the value of your hand.

Here’s another crazy example.

• Imagine there are three people left in an online casino poker tournament.
• You’re tied for the chip-lead. The person in third place is very short-stacked.
• Your fellow big stack goes all-in — and you look down at a shiny pair of pocket jacks.

What do you do here?

• In a normal three-player cash game, you would almost always call. It’s highly unlikely your opponent has a better hand than you, especially with so few players.
• But in a poker tournament where you need to factor in poker ICM, you should fold.

Why? Because even if you have a better hand than your opponent, it’s not worth the risk. Perhaps they have Ace-Ten, where you’re a nearly 70% favorite. Or a pair of threes, where your equity is closer to 80 percent. Doesn’t matter. The 20-30% of the time that they will outdraw you poses too great a threat to your chip stack.

Image Credit: Kitreel/Shutterstock

A Real Life Example of Extreme ICM

I once put someone to the ultimate poker ICM test. I was at the final two tables of a $350 tournament, fewer than 20 people remained. First prize was over $30,000. I was second place in chips.

Only one person had more chips than me — had me ‘covered’ — and he raised preflop. I called with a pair of nines. The player in the big blind was a short-stack and went-all in. The then chip-leader called.

I decided to go all-in to isolate the short-stack, figuring my pair of nines could likely beat one player but would struggle against two.

The chip leader was outraged, visibly distressed, and asked for an exact count of my stack. We were incredibly close. After someone called ‘time’ on him, he finally called… with pocket aces.

Why the hesitation? With a pair of aces?! Because of ICM. Even though he was an 80% favorite against almost any hand I had, it was still an enormous risk. Eighty percent of the time, he would win the pot and increase his chip lead. But 20% of the time, he would finish with just over a min-cash and a meager profit margin.

Mathematically, he should always call. But ICM poker made him think twice.

Strategies For Utilizing Poker ICM

Short stack IMC poker strategy

Since you don’t have much to lose, you can play more freely and aggressively. When you’re low on chips, ICM poker doesn’t really apply since there is no ‘expected payout value’ to deserve.

Medium stack IMC poker strategy

you need to keep an eye on stack sizes at all times. If you’re at a final table and in the middle of the pack, it would be a disaster to get eliminated before a short stack. You have to play much tighter in hopes that a smaller stack will bust — earning you a higher payout.

Big stack IMC poker strategy

big stacks can apply great pressure on middle stacks according to ICM poker. The middle stacks still have a lot to lose so you can ‘bully’ them by presenting tough decisions. A middle stack might fold a strong poker hand, such as as pocket queens if a micro short stack is about to bust.

So as a big stack, you can shove wide. Just be cautious when it comes to tangling with other big stacks — you want to tread those waters carefully and generally avoid.

What is the Major Drawback of ICM Poker Analysis?

As you can see from my real life example, an ICM poker analysis made what would usually be a slam-dunk easy decision a close call. It changes the math.

In detailed ICM analysis, a computer calculates your decision — factoring in payout considerations. Advanced programs can, in fact, adjust your decision based on your current ranking. Truly adhering to ICM means following the math adjusted for your tournament standing, but in everyday play, it involves prioritizing the potential for larger pay jumps over the immediate strength of your hand.

The ICM poker model generally encourages more conservative play, focusing on avoiding short-term swings to achieve bigger payouts.

However, the granular Independent Chip Model approach is unrealistic for most players. Humans can’t process these decisions quickly (it’s hard enough to learn basic poker probabilities). Calculating whether you should call an all-in with Ace-King based on your tournament position is nearly impossible for most people. In practice, you might fold Ace-King due to ‘ICM pressure,’ aiming to avoid variance and maintain your chip lead.

ICM Poker Doesn’t Take Into Account the Human Factor

Another drawback of strict ICM analysis is that it doesn’t account for the human factor. Some players are tighter and bluff less than a computer might assume. (Computers tend to overestimate bluff frequencies.)

Your decision to call or fold will also depend on your ‘reads’ and ability to spot tells. Someone born before 1945 might jam a smaller percentage of hands than a younger player, but computers don’t incorporate a senior citizen discount.

Customizing ranges in computer applications called ‘solvers’ can help, but emulating this on the fly is extremely impractical and overall unnecessary.

As long as you weigh your standing in the tournament against your actual hand, you are already taking Independent Chip Model poker into consideration.

ICM Poker Demystified: Elevating Your Game With Strategic Insights

Understanding what is ICM in poker tournaments can increase your chances of winning by reducing risks. It involves adjusting your decisions based on your poker tournament position rather than just the value of your hand.

While mastering ICM Poker can lead to better choices — you can even study and memorize computer outputs — it’s also important to balance the math with the practical realities of live play and human decision-making.

Title image Credit: Kitreel/Shutterstock

Omaha Poker Game: What You Need to Know

• The main difference between Texas Hold’em and the Omaha card game is that each player is dealt four hole cards, instead of two.
• The larger number of hole cards leads to a greater number of possible hands per player, which increases the pace and volatility of the game.
• If Texas Hold’em is the chess of poker, the Omaha poker game is more like boxing. Omaha Hold’em is fast, punchy, and has greater highs and lows than the more considered pace of Texas Hold’em.
• The Omaha card game is popular amount casual players, because of the faster pace, but it can also be a welcome break from the occasional boredom of a high intensity Texas Hold’em tournament.

Texas Hold’em walked so the Omaha game could run. These days, whenever you go to play poker at a casino or online casino, especially in Europe, you’ll likely see ‘Omaha poker’ tables running and it’s hugely popular with online poker players.

But what are the rules of Omaha poker? This article will teach you everything from how to play Omaha poker game to the essential strategy tips you need to know in order to master the Omaha card game.

How Does Omaha Poker Differ from Texas Hold’em: An Overview

While Omaha poker is fairly similar to its Texas cousin, there are a number of important differences, including:

Difference #1: Higher Variance and Larger Bankroll Requirements

If you’ve ever watched professional poker players play video poker on TV, you’ve probably noticed something: it’s slow. Very slow.

There’s more in common with watching a chess match than there is a high-intensity sports match or even a slot machine pull. It’s a long, drawn-out, thoughtful and methodical game. Even to the players, there can be long spells of boredom.

Omaha poker differs from Texas Hold’em in that it’s considered to be ‘higher action’ — in other words, more intense. The Omaha card game is not for the faint of heart. It’s a game that thrives on volatility and big swings, creating an experience that is thrilling for some and nerve-wracking for others.

Increased Volatility Comes with Two Major Impacts:

1. Recreational Gamblers Love to Play Omaha Poker: The fast-paced nature and frequent big hands make Omaha more exciting and appealing to casual players.
2. Professional Poker Players Have a Decreased Mathematical Edge: The added complexity and increased variance mean that even the best poker players can experience larger swings in their bankrolls.

Because the Omaha card game is such a swingy game, you need an even larger bankroll to play an Omaha game than you do for Texas Hold’em. The higher variance means you have to be prepared for big upswings and downswings. A financial buffer is necessary.

Reason #2: More Hole Cards and Hand Combinations

In Texas Hold’em, each player is dealt two hole cards, leading to a relatively straightforward calculation of potential hands and probabilities.

How Omaha Hold’em differs from Texas Hold’em is that each player is given four hole cards — dramatically increasing the number of possible hand combinations. This change has a profound effect on gameplay:

• More Possibilities: With four hole cards, players have many more ways to make strong hands. This means that the winning hand at showdown is often much stronger in the Omaha card game than in Texas Hold’em. Hands that would be considered monsters in Hold’em, like two pair, are frequently second-best or worse in Omaha Poker.
• Greater Complexity: The increased number of hole cards adds layers of complexity to the decision-making process. Players must consider not only the best possible hand they can make but also the best hand their opponents might have. Not only are you more likely to make a strong hand, your opponents are too.

Mentally, you need to adjust what you consider to be a ‘good hand’ in Omaha Poker versus Texas Hold’em. Sets and straights can become weak hands. Have a flush? It better be a ace-high flush or the nut flush — you are much more likely to get flush over flushed when playing in an Omaha poker game

Reason #3: Bluffing in an Omaha Poker Game

Bluffing is an essential part of any poker game, but it takes on a new dimension in Omaha card game compared to Texas Hold’em. This is one area how Omaha poker differs from Texas Hold’em wildly.

• Frequency of Bluffing: In Texas Hold’em, bluffing is a common and often necessary strategy. The simplicity of having only two hole cards makes it easier to represent a wide range of hands. Remember, in a Texas Hold’em online poker game, it’s less likely that any player has a hand they feel particularly attached to or excited about. You can ‘scare’ people off a hand — making bluffing in Texas Hold’em more frequent than in Omaha.
• More Players Seeing the Flop: In traditional Texas Hold’em poker tournament, you are likely only going to be facing off against one or two opponents. Large multiway pots are rare, especially at high stakes. But in Omaha poker, since four hole cards can make starting hands stronger, more people tend to see flops.
• Inability to Go ‘All-in’: Bluffs are more effective when you can bet a large amount of chips or money, applying significant pressure. Most Omaha games are ‘PLO’ — Pot-Limit Omaha. Your maximum bet is capped at the size of the pot, limiting your ability to go all-in as frequently or bet an amount large enough to shake your opponent off their hand. This restriction means that you can’t apply as much pressure with a single bet as you can in No-Limit Texas Hold’em, making bluffs less intimidating.

Bluffing against multiple players is risky in both games, but it’s much trickier to bluff several opponents than it is to bluff one. With more players seeing the flop in Pot Limit Omaha, there’s a higher chance that someone has a strong poker hand or a strong draw.

Coupled with the fact that you can’t bet as much on the earlier streets (betting rounds), bluffing in Omaha is definitely rarer and more challenging.

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How is Omaha Poker Different from Texas Hold’em: The Rules

While the Omaha card game and Texas Hold’em share many similarities, including the use of community cards, poker table positions, and the overall structure of betting rounds, they have several critical differences:

1. Hole Cards: In Texas Hold’em, players receive two hole cards. In Omaha, players receive four hole cards.

2. Hand Composition: In Texas Hold’em, players can use any combination of their hole cards and the community cards to form the best poker hand. In Omaha, players must use exactly two of their hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards.

3. Pot-Limit Omaha vs. No-Limit: While both games have multiple variants, Omaha is often played in Pot-Limit form (Pot-Limit Omaha, or PLO), whereas Texas Hold’em is commonly played in both No-Limit and Limit formats. ‘Pot-Limit’ simply means you cannot bet larger than the pot size at any given time. So if there is $80 in the pot, your max bet is capped at $80 in that particular instance.

As you can see, the rules for how to play Omaha poker are not exactly the same. Even though you are given four hole cards, you can only use two in your final hand combination.

Here are some examples:

• You’re holding three clubs in your hand, and the board contains two clubs. That does not mean you have a flush.
• Your hand contains a queen, a jack, and a ten, and the board contains an ace and a king. That does not mean you have a straight.

As a matter of fact, you must use two of your hole cards. Only two cards can ‘play.’

• There are four spades on the board, and you hold the ace of spades. Do you have the ace-high flush? No – not unless you incorporate another hole card with a spade.

According to the Omaha poker rules, there is no such thing as a ‘four-card flush’ or a ‘one-liner straight’ like there is in Texas Hold’em. This often trips up beginners to poker when they first learn how to play Omaha poker. That aside, the hand rankings remain the same.

Here they are below if you need a quick poker cheat sheet or refresher.

Omaha Poker Hand Rankings

Omaha poker hand rankings are identical to those in Texas Hold’em. From highest to lowest, they are:

1. Royal Flush: A, K, Q, J, 10, all of the same suit.

2. Straight Flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit.

3. Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank.

4. Full House: Three of a kind combined with a pair.

5. Flush: Five cards of the same suit, not in sequence.

6. Straight: Five consecutive cards of different suits.

7. Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank.

8. Two Pair: Two pairs of cards of the same rank.

9. One Pair: Two cards of the same rank.

10. High Card: The highest card if no other hand is made.

Basic Omaha Poker Game Strategies

Now that you have a general grasp of how to play an Omaha game and how it differs from Texas Hold’em, let’s finish off by going over essential Omaha game poker strategies. These are key tips to keep in mind.

Nuts or Nothing

The importance of starting hand selection in Omaha poker cannot be overstated. Unlike Texas Hold’em, where you might play a wider range of hands, in an Omaha game, you want to focus on hands that have the potential to make the nuts (the best possible hand).

Look for hands with the ability to make ace-high and king-high flushes — otherwise you are likely to get coolered. Low cards go significantly down in value. Since two pairs are almost worthless too, it doesn’t make sense to play hands hoping to make a low straight, flush, or bottom two pair.

For example, the best starting hand in Omaha is A A K K. Why is this? You can make the ace-high flush in two different suits (you are ‘double-suited’), you can make the nut straight on a Q-J-T board, and your sets and full houses will be higher than other players’ sets and full houses.

Most money in an Omaha card game comes from people overvaluing their hands. You can easily beat your opponents if they evaluate hand strength in an Omaha card game the same way they do in Texas Hold’em.

Even though the hand rankings are the same, the relative hand strength is not.

The fastest way for a poker beginner to start winning in poker is by aiming to only play the nuts. Be as conservative as possible. A full house is even risky in Omaha poker if it’s a low full house — and the best way to avoid getting stuck with ‘bottom boat’ is by not playing small cards in the first place.

Pot Control

Be cautious about building large pots unless you have a strong hand. Omaha poker is a game where the nuts changes frequently. You don’t want to invest a lot of chips in a pot unless you are confident you have the best hand or a very strong draw.

Drawing Hands

In an Omaha game, drawing hands are incredibly powerful. Hands that have the potential to improve to the nuts should be played aggressively. With more hole cards in play, draws are more likely to complete as there are often more ways to connect.

An Omaha card game is a more dynamic game than Texas Hold’em, meaning the best hand on the flop is unlikely to be the best hand on the river. This is why you should focus on playing draws to the nuts, rather than get attached to flopped pairs, two pairs, or sets.

As you transition from Texas Hold’em to Omaha Hold’em, remember that mathematical advantages are narrower. In Texas Hold’em, you might often find scenarios where your hand is an 80% favorite against your opponent.

In Omaha poker, it’s rare to have such a significant edge — you might be lucky to have a 55% advantage. The four hole cards reduce the extremes of advantage or disadvantage each player can have. That’s why focusing on nutted draws is crucial — these hands are much less prone to vulnerability.

All-In On Omaha Poker: Final Thoughts On Mastering The Game

Switching from Texas Hold’em to Omaha poker opens up a faster, more intricate game with bigger swings and unique challenges.

The Omaha poker game’s key differences — like higher variance, slimmer mathematical margins, and capped bet sizes — add depth to the game. Stay flexible because the best hand can easily change from flop to turn to river in Omaha.

Bluff rarely and carefully — if you don’t have the nuts, do it in a situation where you know that your opponent doesn’t either (ex. you hold the nut flush ‘blocker,’ such as the ace of hearts, making it impossible for them to have the best possible flush of that suit).

Whatever you do, keep in mind that Omaha poker is a popular twist for a reason — its merciless volatility is a great exercise for pros and recreational players alike.

Now that you’ve learned how to play Omaha poker, brush up on your betting and bluffing skills with easy-to-learn tips and tricks from the experts:

• Understanding Poker Table Positions (And Why They Are SO Important!)
• Texas Hold’em Hand Rankings – Which Poker Hands Beat Which?
• Understanding All-In Poker Rules: When & Why You Should Go All-In
• 10 Essential Poker Statistics That Will Change Your Game

Title image credit: Vitalii Borkovskyi/Shutterstock

Poker hand rankings chart

Let’s explain what each hand ranking means in more detail:

1. Royal flush: the highest possible straight flush containing T J Q K and A of the same suit. This is the strongest possible hand in Texas Hold’em that is guaranteed to win every time.
2. Straight flush: five cards of the same suit in a sequence, such as 3s 4s 5s 6s 7s.
3. Four of a kind or quads: Four cards of the same rank plus any other card, e.g. Q Q Q Q 2.
4. Full house: three of a kind plus a pair, e.g. 9 9 9 5 5.
5. Flush: Five cards of the same suit. There are four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. If all your five cards are in just one of these suits, you have a flush.
6. Straight: Five cards in sequential order, provided they’re not all of the same suit, e.g. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Keep in mind that an ace can help form two straights in Hold’em, namely A 2 3 4 5 and T J Q K A.
7. Three of a kind (trips): Three cards of the same rank coupled with any two non-paired cards, e.g. T T T 7 2.
8. Two pair: Two cards of the same rank and two more different cards of the same rank, e.g. 9 9 5 5 J.
9. One pair: Two cards of the same rank combined with three cards of different values. For example, K K 9 5 2 is a pair of kings.
10. A high card: A hand containing five cards of different ranks and suits that don’t make any of the other combinations. For example, a hand like K, J, 7, 5, 2 is referred to as a king-high.

Suits have no ranking in poker, which means no suit is higher than another.

Poker hand values are exactly the same in 5 Card Draw and 7 Card Stud poker variations.

But How Do You Make Poker hands In Texas Hold’em?

In Hold’em, all players are dealt two face-down cards to start the hand. After that, five more community cards are dealt across the board for everyone to use.

All players can use all seven available cards to make the best possible five-card hand combination. This means that you can:

• Use two cards from your hand and three community cards
• Combine just one of your hole cards with four cards on the board
• Use only the five community cards

Once it’s time for the showdown, the cards speak. When you turn over your hand, you’ll always play the best five-card hand possible.

There are usually no problems here as the dealer will compare all poker hands and announce the winner.

Comparing Hands In Hold’em To Determine The Winner

But what happens if two or more players have a poker hand from the same category? Who wins when everyone has two pairs or a straight?

The best piece of advice to make this distinction is to remember that, in Hold’em, you always start at the top. For example, it’s clear cut in a pair vs. pair scenario. A pair of aces beats a pair of kings. A pair of tens beats a pair of eights, etc.

In two pair situations, the top pair is the only relevant factor in determining the winner. If one player has K K 2 2 X and the other one has Q Q J J X, the one with the pair of kings wins.

This is sometimes confusing for beginners because the other hand looks stronger, and it would be the case if card values were somehow added. But that’s not the case in Hold’em.

The same rule applies to full houses, where the player with the best three-of-a-kind combination will always win the pot. In straight and flush scenarios, the winner is determined by comparing the highest card in the combination.

For example:

• 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 beats 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

• Ah 9h 7h 5h 2h beats Kh Qh 9h 7h 5h

Finally, in the event that both players only have a high-card hand (no pair), the one with the highest card wins.

Of course, this only applies if there are no better combinations available on the board.

Resolving A Tie: The Role Of Kicker In Poker

Every now and again, it will happen that two players have the exact same poker hand. For example, they could both have two pairs, kings and tens. With players new to poker, this will often create a lot of confusion.

That said, the rules of Hold’em are very clear on how these situations are resolved. Kickers are compared, and whoever has the higher kicker wins.

For those unfamiliar with the poker lingo, kickers are those dangling cards in your hand that aren’t a part of any combinations. For example:

• In a hand K K 7 7 J, the jack is the kicker card
• If you have A A A 9 5, both 9 and 5 are “kickers”

So, in our kings and tens scenario, players would compare their fifth card. If one player had K K T T 7 and the other held K K T T Q, the pot goes to the player holding the queen.

Keep in mind that this rule only applies if a player’s hole card is higher than the available community cards. Remember, you always get to play the five best cards on the showdown.

Here’s a couple of scenarios with the same starting hands but different boards to clarify this further.

Example 1

Player A has 9 8, and player B has 9 7. By the river, the board read 9 9 5 2 4. In this case, Player A wins because their kicker plays.

The best possible hand for Player A is 9 9 9 8 5, while the best hand for Player B is 9 9 9 7 5. The eight beats the seven, so Player A wins the pot.

Example 2

Both players have the same starting poker hands as before 9 8 vs. 9 7, but this time the community board read 9 9 A J 2. In this scenario, the hand is a tie, and players will split the pot.

This is because both players have the exact same best five-card hand: 9 9 9 A J. Since both the 8 and the 7 are lower than the ace and the jack, they’re disregarded.

It may still seem a bit confusing, but you’ll get the hang of it as you play more.

Just try to keep two important rules in mind when figuring out which poker hands beat which:

• The best possible five-card hand always plays
• Always check at the top and work your way down

Once you learn all the hand rankings and memorize these important rules, you’ll no longer have any problems figuring out who wins at the showdown.

Holding The Nuts – When You Know You Can’t Lose

Unlike in some other poker variants, you’ll often find yourself in spots in Texas Hold’em where you know you have the best possible hand.

This is known as “the nuts” and it’s one of the best feelings you can have at the table.

This is possible because the game combines your hidden “hole” cards and community cards. Hence, there is plenty of information to work with.

For example, if you have Ah 5h and the board reads 9h 7h 2c 6c Qh, you have an ace-high flush and the best possible hand. There is no way for any other player to beat you.

Albeit simple, this is another concept that beginners are sometimes confused about and will play their hand cautiously, even in spots where they can’t lose.

If you’re new to poker, I’d suggest you take your time reading the board and thinking about hands when making your decisions.

After you gather some experience, you’ll become much better at this, and it’ll become almost second nature.

What To Do With This Information

Obviously, you need to know which hands beat which to play the game. But why is this information so crucial if you know the dealer will always ensure the pot goes to the rightful owner?

The thing is, everything you do at the Hold’em table revolves around this concept.

You’ll be making your decisions based on the strength of your hand and the perceived strength of your opponent’s holdings. If you know a full house beats a flush, you’ll be less inclined to chase your flush draws on a paired board.

When you have a top pair with a weak kicker, you’ll know your hand is susceptible, and you need to proceed with caution.

For someone who’s been playing poker for any serious length of time, this information may seem trivial and redundant, but it’s far from it.

The fact is, I still come across people who haven’t mastered the basics and aren’t quite sure what to do with their hands. Yet, they decide to jump into the action and play for real money. It doesn’t happen very often, but it’s not something you’d ever want – even in a friendly game where you’re playing for pennies.

At the lowest of stakes, it may only cause you some embarrassment but in any serious game, not being sure about which poker hands beat which can be a very costly mistake. It goes without saying that you can’t even begin to learn any more complex strategies before you master these basics.

Hand rankings are at the heart of all poker concepts, from the simplest ones to the ones used by those at the highest of stakes.

While I wouldn’t go as far as saying they’re completely different games, a live player trying their hand online (and vice versa) could be in for quite a surprise. The goal of this article is to emphasize some of the biggest differences between live and online poker games, which should make the transition easier.

Knowing the main differences can help you adjust much faster and boost your win-rate.

1. Live Poker Games Tend To Be Much Softer At Comparable Stakes

If you’ve played NL200 or higher stakes online, or heard the stories about it, you’re probably aware these games are tough.

Here you’ll find dedicated grinders who know the strategy and don’t make many mistakes. Beating online cash games at these stakes requires a lot of work of the tables.

Live games at the same or similar level, on the other hand, are a lot easier. A decent NL10 online grinder will be a favorite in most NL200 live games. That’s because most casinos don’t spread anything below NL200 (it’s not financially viable), so everyone who wants to play poker has to play these stakes or higher.

Online, you can play as low as NL5 if you simply want to have some fun, and many recreational players choose this option. Because of this, you won’t find many people just looking to blow off some steam in NL200 games online, while you can find plenty of such players in a live setting.

Of course, it works both ways.

A decent winner in their local 1/2 game sitting down at the same stakes online can be in for a rough ride. Therefore, when transitioning from one setting to another, be sure to choose an appropriate stake.

2. Live Poker Games Move At A Much Slower Pace

Online players are used to playing several tables at once and seeing hundreds of hands per hour.

With live games, you are limited to just one table, and the pace of that table will also be much slower than any online game you’ve ever played. You can expect to see only 30-40 hands an hour at most live games. There are several reasons for this.

First of all, it takes a live dealer some time to shuffle and deal cards, collect chips, distribute pots, etc. Secondly, a lot of live players like to take their time and aren’t necessarily just focused on playing, especially at lower stakes. Many of them are there to have fun, laugh, and talk.

If you come from an online background this can be quite annoying, but that is the reality of the game and you can’t do much about it. So it’s better to know this in advance and come prepared.

3. Reads Can Play An Important Role In Live Poker Games

One of the biggest differences between live and online poker is the presence of physical reads in the former.

While some people think poker tells are overrated, I tend to disagree. I’m not saying that live reads are the most important part of poker strategy, but they can be quite significant in large pots.

Many recreational players give away a lot of information about the strength of their hand, so if you put enough attention into it, you’ll be able to figure them out. Some slam chips when bluffing, while others only talk when holding a strong hand or do something else that gives away information.

Once you pick up on certain poker tells, you can get involved in more pots against these players and increase your edge even more.

4. You’ll Play More Multiway Pots In Live Poker Games

Whether it’s tournaments or cash games, be prepared for more multiway scenarios in live games. In online poker, people will often fold their bad hands and move on to the next table.

However, live players are forced to sit at a single table and choose to get involved with a lot of speculative hands, just because they don’t want to be bored and keep folding.

Cold-calling 3-bets is not uncommon in lower stakes games. While you’ll rarely see these moves online, people will routinely do it in a live game, followed by several other players joining the action.

Since there is no way around it, you’ll need to handle these multiway pots and make necessary changes to your strategy. So, you’ll need to be patient and wait for really good spots to get your money in ahead and make some disciplined laydowns.

5. You Can Take More Liberties With Bet Sizes In Live Poker Games

If you try opening for 5x in any decent online game, you can expect to get called only by the top of your opponent’s range. Contrary to this, live players don’t care as much about the sizing as they do about their hands.

What I mean is that if they like their hand, they will call your 3x, 5x, and sometimes even 10x open. So, you should experiment with your preflop raises to figure out how much your opponents are ready to pay and then take advantage of that information.

You can also vary your postflop bet sizes.

People often don’t pay attention to sizing, and you can get away with really small bets when you’re trying to control the pot or really big bets when you’re going for value. It’s nice that you don’t have to worry about balancing all that much in live games.

Unless you’re playing against a particularly tough lineup, no one will see what you’re doing. And, if you’re up against tough opponents, get up and find an easier game; it shouldn’t be hard.

6. You Can Easily Take Advantage Of Your Table Image In Live Poker Games

When you’re playing online, you are just one of many other players for your opponent.

As such, you’ll hardly get noticed unless you’re making some really big mistakes or giving a particular player a very hard time. However, its completely different in live games.

People spend several hours sitting with the same players, so naturally, they see what you’re doing and try to figure out your strategy – sometimes even subconsciously. Therefore, building your image for a single session (or even for the long run if you’re playing against the same players) can be beneficial.

For example, if live players tag you as a big bluffer, it’ll take a lot of convincing to change their minds. No matter how often you turn the nuts on the river, those few big bluffs you ran will stick in their minds for a long time.

There are no set rules as to what you should or shouldn’t do when building your image. The only important thing is to be aware of what people are likely to think about you and then take advantage of that perception by doing things they don’t expect.

7. You Can Have A Bigger Win Rate In Live Poker Games But Make More Money Per Hour Online

Although live games are much softer, it doesn’t mean that you will win more money by playing live instead of online. While your win-rate in terms of BB/100 will likely go up quite significantly, you’ll play much fewer hands as well.

If you win at 2BB/100 online and play 600 hands an hour playing multiple tables, you’ll need to win at least 12BB an hour in the live setting to win the same amount.

This is achievable, of course, and you can win even more, but it’s important to keep in mind that the best measure of your win rate is how much money you win per hour, not the actual big blind count.

8. Rake In Live Games Is Usually Higher

Although online players complain about rake a lot, live games are much harsher in this regard. It is especially true for lower stakes, where you’ll often have to accept the fact a decent percentage of every pot you win goes to the house.

It’s worth noting that some of the games have an uncapped rake, meaning they will take a fixed percentage from every single pot, no matter how big it is. These are the games you should usually avoid unless you are up against extremely weak competition.

Also, you aren’t likely to get “normal” rake back in live games.

While some rooms do run promotions and leaderboards where you can get some of it back, this isn’t a standard feature, and that amount is likely to be very small. That being said, we have to understand the casino’s perspective as well.

They have a fixed number of tables and can’t duplicate these spots like their online counterparts to increase the profits. In the end, they still need to earn enough money to cover their costs, but players are the ones who end up paying the price through the rake.

9. Online Play Offers Much More Flexibility

If you play online poker, you can fire up your client and find some tables running pretty much whenever you feel like playing. Day or night, there are usually some games, especially in larger rooms, with decent traffic.

So, you have all the freedom in the world to set your own schedule, especially if you’re playing cash games. This isn’t the case with live poker.

Most live casinos and poker rooms will spread games in the afternoon and during the night, with heavy traffic on the weekends. If you’re looking to find good live games, you’ll often have to play late into the night, and Fridays and Saturdays will pretty much be reserved for poker.

So, if freedom and flexibility are important for you, online poker is probably a better option. Live games can be a lot of fun if you enjoy the atmosphere, but you’ll need to adjust your schedule around them, not the other way around.

A Matter Of Personal Preference

As you can see, there are quite a few differences between online and live poker. Whichever you choose, it’s important to understand and accept these differences and weigh them up in advance.

If you don’t enjoy the presence of other people or don’t feel comfortable playing through nights, live poker may not be for you.

But if you have solid foundations and don’t mind a somewhat slower game pace, you should be able to maintain decent win-rates in most live games and have no problems gradually building your bankroll to move up in stakes.

Live games are just so much softer.

Here are the quick essentials:

• Pai Gow poker used the traditional poker hand ranking system.
• Pai Gow poker is played with a 53-card deck rather than 52-card — it includes one joker!
• Players compete against the dealer or ‘banker’ rather than each other.

As you can see, Pai Gow is a fun game to play against ‘the House’ — you aren’t trying to take money away from other players! The rush comes from winning money against the casino.

Here are the poker hand rankings in case you need an easy reference cheat sheet:

Pai Gow Poker Hand Rankings

1. Royal Flush: A, K, Q, J, 10, all of the same suit.

2. Straight Flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit.

3. Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank.

4. Full House: Three of a kind combined with a pair.

5. Flush: Five cards of the same suit, not in sequence.

6. Straight: Five consecutive cards of different suits.

7. Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank.

8. Two Pair: Two pairs of cards of the same rank.

9. One Pair: Two cards of the same rank.

10. High Card: The highest card if no other hand is made.

How Is The Joker Used In Pai Gow?

“But what about the joker?” you may ask. How does he come into play with the Pai Gow hand rankings?

In Pai Gow Poker, the joker can be used in a few different ways:

• Ace: When used alone, the joker can be an ace.
• Wild: In straights, flushes, and straight flushes, the joker can be wild and used as any card in the deck. For example, when used to complete a flush, the joker represents the highest value card that’s not already in the hand.
• Complete a straight or flush: The joker can be used to complete a straight or flush in the backhand, or five-card hand.

What this means is that the joker serves as a special conditional wildcard. You can’t use him to play just any card, but rather a completion card. Or, again, alone simply as an ace. His appearance naturally makes it easier to achieve a high hand ranking, and, if utilized correctly, can significantly increase your Pai Gow poker payouts.

NOTE: Certain card rooms and casinos have their own deviations of these Pai Gow poker rules. They can definitely vary, so make sure to check with wherever you plan on playing.

Pai Gow Poker Rules

Let’s explore how to play Pai Gow poker in detail. In this game, up to six players face off against the dealer or banker, whom we’ll consistently refer to as the dealer.

Each player — including the dealer — receives seven cards. These seven cards are used to form two separate hands, hence why Pai Gow poker is also alternatively known as ‘Double Hand Poker’. One hand is designated as the ‘high hand’ and the other as the ‘low hand’.

The high hand must be stronger than the low hand.

For instance, if your low hand is a pair of Kings, your high hand must be at least a pair of Aces or higher, such as two pairs or better holdings.

• The high hand must be made-up of five cards.
• The low hand must be made-up of two cards.

Because of this, the low hand will always be a pair or two high-ranking cards.

If the rare situation arises where the high hand is not stronger than the low hand, the player is considered to have ‘miss-set’ their hand. This results in a foul and an automatic loss! Make sure to be careful when you’re new to the game and refer to the above Pai Gow poker hand rankings as needed.

Most casinos will allow you to bring your own print-out or electronic guide for easy reference, as this doesn’t give you an edge over the casino and you’re not competing against other players. Be gentle with yourself as you master the Pai Gow poker rules and do not play in settings that make you uncomfortable. This includes table limits.

Next in understanding the Pai Gow poker rules comes betting — each table has their own minimums and maximums. These min/max limits will determine the size of the game, meaning how much you can win or lose at a time. As stated, stick to table stakes you can afford.

If both your 5-card hand and your 2-card hand beat the dealer’s hands, you win the round and collect double the bet you placed. If both of your hands lose to the dealer’s hands, you lose your bet, and the dealer adds it to their bank. If you win one hand and the dealer wins the other, the round ends in a “push,” where there is no winner, your bet is returned, and the game moves on to the next round. Pushes are very common.

Naturally the goal is to be the net winner.

As a recap, these are the three outcomes:

• Win = collect double your bet.
• Lose = dealer takes your bet.
• Push = your bet is returned, but the House still takes a commission.

Step-by-Step Gameplay

Here’s how Pai Gow poker gameplay begins:

1. Before the cards are dealt, each player places their bet.
2. Seven cards are dealt face down to each player.
3. Players rearrange their cards into a high hand and a low hand.
4. The dealer reveals their seven cards face up and arranges them into a high hand and a low hand.
5. To win a round, both your high hand and low hand must be better than the dealer’s high hand and low hand.

On a casino Pai Gow table, you will typically see the letters “H” and “L” indicating where to place your high and low hands. This makes it easy to see who wins.

A time where the winner may seem less clear is when the player and dealer have identical hands. The result is that the dealer wins! They will claim the bet, tragically.

Lead image credit: Kitreel/Shutterstock

Pai Gow Poker Odds

Be aware that this is a typical gambling casino game — the Pai Gow poker odds are not in your favor. The House edge may seem small but it’s not insignificant. It is impossible to tip the Pai Gow poker odds in your favor.

• For every push, the casino usually takes a 5% ‘commission’ or rake.
• If a player holds the same hand as the dealer, the dealer wins.
• Pai Gow has a lower House edge than double-zero roulette, but higher than baccarat.

The house edge in Pai Gow poker is estimated to be between 2% and 3%. For comparison, the house edge on a double-zero roulette wheel is over 5%, while a single-zero roulette wheel has a house edge of about 2.7% — similar to Pai Gow poker payouts.

The standard baccarat house edge is close to a low 1% making it theoretically nearer to breakeven, but you’d be surprised how much money people can lose even at a 1% disadvantage because it compounds over time.

You can improve your odds slightly by playing as the banker because you win in the case of a tie. Casinos typically offer players the opportunity to act as the banker, which is a better mathematical proposition, even though you absorb greater financial risk. Still, the overall odds remain unfavorable due to the game’s inherent house edge.

Pai Gow Poker Strategy

While the overall odds of winning in the long run may be a deterrent, there are still strategic ways to play more effectively in the short term.

Hand Setting Strategy:

• High Hand Priority: Always prioritize setting a strong high hand. This is crucial because the high hand must beat the dealer’s high hand to win the bet.
• Low Hand Strategy: The low hand should be strong enough to ensure a better chance of winning one hand if splitting with the dealer. Aim for a pair of high-ranking cards or a low pair.

Splitting Pairs:

• Optimal Pair Splitting: When dealt pairs, strategize to split them between the high and low hands effectively. For instance, with a pair of Aces, place one Ace in the low hand and the other in the high hand to maximize both hands’ strength.

Managing Joker Strategy:

• Utilizing the Joker: If dealt a Joker, consider it as an Ace unless it can complete a straight or flush in the high hand. In the low hand, the Joker can be beneficial in completing a flush or straight, but ensure it’s used wisely to avoid weakening the high hand.

Banking Strategies:

• Advantages of Banking: Opt to be the banker whenever possible. While it requires a larger bankroll, being the banker gives you a slight statistical advantage due to winning ties. But you must manage your bankroll effectively to withstand potential losses when playing as the banker.

Understanding House Edge:

• House Edge Awareness: Recognize that Pai Gow Poker typically carries a house edge of around 2% to 3%, which is lower than many other casino games like double-zero roulette or slots. However, this edge can impact long-term profitability, so play with a strategic mindset to mitigate losses. This means recognizing when it’s time to walk away — if you’ve won, you’ve already defied the odds. Take the money and run!

Before wagering real money, you can learn how to play Pai Gow poker by practicing online or in free-play modes offered by some casinos. This allows you to familiarize yourself with hand setting, strategies, and the flow of the game without financial risk.

Pai Gow Perfection: Wrapping Up Your Play Guide

Pai Gow poker demands a blend of skill and good grasp of probabilities. By mastering Pai Gow poker strategy and understanding the game’s nuances, you can significantly improve your chances of success. Remember, while luck plays a role, a well-thought-out strategy can tilt the odds closer to your favor… although the House still always wins!

If you’d like to grow your Pai Gow poker skills, or just your poker skills in general, check out the articles below. Packed with tips and tricks from poker experts, they’ll have you on the high-rollers table in no time!

• Understanding Poker Table Positions (And Why They Are SO Important!)
• Understanding All-In Poker Rules: When & Why You Should Go All-In
• What Is A Straddle In Poker & When Shouldn’t You Do It?
• How To Play Like A Pro: Easy Poker Cheat Sheets For Beginners

Lead image credit: Victor Moussa/Shutterstock

To me, poker was never taboo — definitely not something I associated with “GAMBLING.”

But back when I first published my book A Girl’s Guide to Poker, people would always ask me if I was a big gambler. My standard response? “I don’t gamble — I just play poker.”

Wisecracks aside, it’s important to explain why I don’t categorize poker as typical gambling.

What Makes Poker Different From Other Casino Games?

Poker is extremely unique because it is the only casino game where you don’t play against ‘the House.’ This is a huge distinction. In any other selection – roulette, blackjack, slots, etc. – you are trying to win money from the casino (aka ‘the House’).

Obviously the natural problem here is that the casino needs to keep the lights on… you’re playing on their turf. These games are purposely designed for the casino to always have an edge.

What makes these games gambling is that the odds are not in your favor. If you win, it’s largely through luck. There is no way you can ‘beat’ a roulette wheel for example by placing your bets on different colors or numbers. If you win, it’s in spite of the mathematical probabilities, not because of it. Unlike poker, where you can invest money when the math is in your favor.

When you play poker, you are trying to win money from your opponents. You are not battling against the Bellagio, Caesar’s Palace, the Wynn or whatever establishment you’re playing at. You compete against other players, not the casino. Your goal is to win money from the other people at the table. The casino just hosts the game.

Key concept: poker players compete against each other. Not the House.

So How Does The Casino Make Money?

The casino takes a small amount of money from each pot, called the rake. For example, if the pot is $100, the casino might take $5, leaving the winner with $95. This way, the casino makes money no matter who wins the hand.

This structure means that the casino has no vested interest in the outcome between players.

Certain places will not take a rake and instead charge a flat fee to play at their venue.

For example, everyone at the table might need to pay a certain dollar amount per hour. This also prevents the establishment from being invested in who wins —- the cardroom is simply serving as a host. There is no reason for the hosting venue to want players to win or lose big. They simply want them to keep coming back.

So, if someone wins huge, it’s not coming from the casino’s pocket. The casino makes its money from the rake or the fees, not from the players’ losses. Already, this is what makes poker different from other casino games.

The Element Of Chance In Poker

Yes, poker does involve some luck. That doesn’t mean it’s purely a game of chance.

Let’s break down how luck and skill work in poker. Imagine an experienced professional poker player competing against an absolute beginner.

What do you think their chances are of winning a hand against one of the top professional poker players in the world?

1. 20%
2. 30%
3. 50%

Surprisingly, the correct answer is close to 50%! How can this be?

A key point of understanding is that the outcome of any INDIVIDUAL hand is largely influenced by luck.

For example, you might be dealt significantly stronger cards than your opponent—it’s essentially a coin toss with a 50/50 chance. The dealer might give you a powerful pair of aces while your opponent receives weaker cards, or the reverse could happen. The likelihood of winning any single hand does come down to the luck of the draw.

How does this not sway us? Is poker considered gambling — didn’t I just prove that it is?

Not quite.

Think of the lottery. If I buy a lottery ticket and win, am I a skilled lottery player? Or did I just get lucky?

Of course the answer is I just got lucky. But how would we determine this?

If I were to play the lottery every day, would I be able to replicate the same result? Would I be able to keep winning? No — chances are you would see me repeatedly lose. There is no strategy here. This becomes apparent only after a high frequency. You cannot test luck or skill in any one particular event. It’s only over time that advantages can be revealed.

Still not convinced? Let’s try roulette.

We all recognize roulette as a game of chance. How do we know this? While there are mathematical proofs showing that no strategy can beat the casino’s advantage, it’s also clear on a simpler level.

If you kept betting on the same number — like, say, 11 —over and over again, you would lose all your money eventually. Winning or losing one time by betting on #11 doesn’t prove anything. What tells us it’s gambling is the inability to skew success.

The Element Of Skill In Poker

Let’s go back to our example of the beginner versus the professional poker player. We’ve already established that luck mostly determines who wins any single hand.

But what if they played 100 hands? How about 1,000 hands? Or even 10,000 hands? Almost certainly the pro will win over time. The more hands they play, the greater their advantage.

This shows the importance of skill in poker. While luck is important in each individual hand, skill is what matters in the long run. Experienced players use their joint understanding of math and psychology to win over the course of their careers.

Is poker considered gambling is a topic I’ve touched on similarly before, including in my book, A Girl’s Guide to Poker. Here are some highlights:

When does luck in poker become eclipsed by skill? At just under 1,500 hands—1,471, to be exact.

• 1,471 hands is usually between 19 and 25 hours in live poker.
• 1,471 hands is around 16 hours of online poker if you’re playing one table.

A beginner can rarely survive a full day of playing poker. They will pretty much inevitably go broke. You need expertise in order to even maintain your chip stack, let alone win.

I like to point to a 2015 paper, Study: Beyond Chance? The Persistence of Performance in Online Poker: The researchers found that skilled poker players consistently perform better over time.

• Poker players who ranked in the top 10% in the first six months of the year were more than twice as likely to do similarly well in the next six months.
• Poker players who finished in the best-performing 1% in the first half of the year were 12 times more likely than others to do so in the second half.
• Players who fared poorly from the start continued to lose.

What do these numbers tell us? Basically, there are top performers in poker. Some players are better than other players. This would be impossible however in pure gambling, like slots. You would never be able to classify skilled versus unskilled slot machine players.

Meet The Professional Poker Player

Professional poker players are real people who earn their main income through poker. I’ve met many professional poker players… including my husband.

When we met, he’d been supporting himself financially through poker for more than a decade.

Is poker gambling? No — countless people have made a reliable income tested over many years fully by playing poker as their profession. They do not rely on the roll of the dice or luck of the draw. Winning poker players study and master proven strategies.

Most professional poker players have a rigorous understanding of the mathematics in poker. They invest their chips in situations where the math favors them — impossible in other casino games. There is no scenario in roulette where you can bet all your money as a favorite. Unlike in poker, the odds are always against you.

Success in poker is largely based on putting yourself in better mathematical situations than your opponents.

In my coaching sessions for beginners, I advise them to only play high-value face cards — meaning both cards are ten or higher. Why? This strategy increases their chances of winning significantly.

For example, if they have Ace-King and their opponent has Ace-Three, their likelihood of winning is around 75%. Conversely, by folding weaker hands like Ace-Three, King-Seven, or Queen-Eight, they avoid situations where they are ‘outkicked’ and their chances of winning are much lower, around 25%.

Think about this: professional poker players typically fold about 80% of their hands.

This disciplined approach stems from their strategy of only entering hands where they have a statistical advantage over their opponents. By understanding the mathematics of poker, players can strategically invest their money in situations that statistically favor them.

You can find more on this in my poker cheat sheets article which will give you a mathematical edge on the competition.

Is Poker Without Money Gambling?

Sometimes, people prefer to play cautiously. Is playing poker without money considered gambling? No, because poker is fundamentally a game of skill. However, practicing poker with play chips or for free is still valuable.

Without a solid grasp of the mathematics involved, poker can easily and unintentionally turn into a game of chance, failing to invest chips wisely and committing to pots when the odds are against you.

When you don’t know the math, poker can easily become gambling. It is only by implementing sound strategies that skill can be realized and luck falls to the wayside.

Is Poker Considered Gambling By Law?

Countries differ on whether they legally classify poker as gambling, with the debate often hinging on whether poker is viewed as a game of luck or skill.

In the United States, online poker faced a major setback on April 15, 2011, a day known in the poker community as “Black Friday,” when the federal government shut down major online poker sites. Fortunately this situation is gradually changing as several states are now taking steps to legalize online poker.

There is hope that more jurisdictions will come to recognize poker as a game of skill, distinguishing it from other casino games. As this shift occurs, poker may see broader acceptance and different regulatory treatment worldwide.

Especially Chinese Poker – if you can understand the basic hand rankings, you should be able to succeed in this fast, fun variant.

Note: Chinese Poker is more luck-based than other forms of poker such as Texas Hold ‘Em or Omaha. It’s quick and breezy, and skips over all the typical betting rounds and funky terms such as “flop,” “turn,” and “river.” Also, no poker face required!

How To Play Chinese Poker

Chinese Poker is played with a minimum of two and a maximum of four players. Each player begins by being dealt 13 cards face down. They must then arrange these cards into three separate hands: the back hand, the middle hand, and the front hand.

• This is the only round.
• There is no betting.
• There is no people reading or searching for “tells”.

If you do want to gamble for real money, you would need to place your bets before each player is dealt their 13 cards. For example, whoever wins gets $10! You would need to wager before seeing your cards.

Now let’s talk about the three hand arrangements, which is how to play Chinese Poker in a nutshell. The three Chinese Poker hand rankings are as follows:

• Back Hand (can also be known as the bottom or rear hand): The back hand must contain 5 cards and be stronger than either the middle hand or the top hand.
• Middle Hand: The middle hand must also contain 5 cards but it must be weaker than the arranged back hand and stronger than the front hand.
• Front Hand: The front hand will contain the final 3 cards and it must be the player’s weakest hand of the 3 arrangements.

These arranged holdings must follow this specific hierarchy: the back hand being the strongest 5 card hand of the 3 arrangements, followed by the 5 card middle hand which must be weaker than the back hand and stronger than the final front hand. The front hand itself must consist of 3 cards only.

Here are the Chinese Poker hand rankings displayed in a different way (just to make things easier!)

• Back hand = strongest
• Middle hand = 2nd strongest
• Front hand = weakest

What If I Make A Mistake?

Uh-oh – let’s say you didn’t arrange the hands in accordance with the hierarchy (ex. Your middle hand is the strongest). That’s a penalty! This is considered a foul or miss-set and all your hands will be effectively rendered dead.

You will automatically lose and, yes, receive penalty points too (more on Chinese Poker scoring in the next section).

This is a common way beginners get tripped-up when learning how to play Chinese Poker. Be careful and pay extra attention.

Who Wins?

Once all players have arranged their cards, everyone reveals their hands by flipping them over. Each hand is then compared with each opponent’s corresponding hand (back vs. back, middle vs. middle, and front vs. front). The winner of each comparison is scored, and the player with the highest total points wins!

Chinese Poker Scoring – The Basics

Scoring in Chinese Poker centers around the ‘point’ system. This is very different from other poker variants where you bet chips each round. Instead you can decide on a monetary value – such as ‘one dollar = 1 point.” These points are then settled-up for cash value at the end of the game.

How do you earn points? Winning a comparative back vs back, middle vs middle or front vs front hand versus a single opponent will usually win a player one point in most Chinese Poker scoring systems.

So, if I won the back and middle hands but you won the front hand, our score would be 2 points vs. 1 point.

Another way to execute your own Chinese Poker scoring is by wagering a certain amount – let’s say $10 – and playing winner-takes-all.

Whoever wins the most points simply wins the full amount set aside.

Chinese Poker Scoring – Special Cases

There are special circumstances where Chinese Poker scoring changes – namely surrenders and bonus points. Here’s what I mean:

Choosing To Play Your Hand Or Surrender

In Chinese poker, it is common to give each player the option to announce (in turn with the action moving to the left) if they wish to play or surrender their hand before the top, middle, and back hands are set and revealed.

If a player decides his 13 cards can only produce weak back, middle, and front hands that are very likely to be second best vs his opponents, then the player can decide to “surrender” rather than play their hand.

Surrendering comes with a price. This will often incur a penalty fee somewhere between the 2-3 points they would almost certainly lose if they chose to play their hand and it went to a showdown. 2.5 points in this instance would be typical.

The benefit to surrendering a weak hand in a Chinese Poker scoring system is damage control — it is better to lose 2.5 points than to likely lose 3 points plus the potential 3-point sweep penalty and all the royalties that may apply also.

Royalties (Bonus Points)

In addition to basic single point scoring and surrendering, variations of Chinese poker frequently offer bonus points for players that make specific strong hands. These bonuses are known as royalties. While they can vary, here is an example of what a typical format might be:

Note: the amount of bonus points change depending on which arrangement these hands are made.

• Back Hand:
  • Royal Flush: 25 points
  • Straight Flush: 15 points
  • Four of a Kind: 10 points
  • Full House: 6 points
  • Flush: 4 points
  • Straight: 2 points
• Middle Hand:
  • Royal Flush: 50 points
  • Straight Flush: 30 points
  • Four of a Kind: 20 points
  • Full House: 12 points
  • Flush: 8 points
  • Straight: 4 points
• Front Hand:
  • Three of a Kind: 9 points
  • High Pair (Aces): 2 points

With these royalties, double points are allocated for the middle hand vs the back hand. This is because the back hand must always form the strongest of the three hand arrangements — therefore making a very strong hand like a straight flush in the middle hand is much more difficult to attain.

Winning Outright

Another need-to-know concept is winning outright. If any player makes three flushes or three straights, they will outright be declared the winner — and collect three points from each opponent that hasn’t surrendered their hand. It’s a sweep!

(As with many of the rules in Chinese Poker scoring, this is also normally agreed on by the players in advance.)

Remember that each player’s back, middle, and front hands play against each individual opponent. Each player must compare their hands separately. Imagine here that we are Player 1 in a four-player Chinese Poker game. Our scorecard might look as follows:

In this example we would be owed 1 point from player 2, 4 points from Player 3, and 0 points from Player 4 after two complete games of Chinese Poker. Using tally ledgers like this makes it easy for each player to see where they are when it comes time to settle up with opponents after the game.

Variations Of Chinese Poker – Open Face Chinese

The most popular variation is Open Face Chinese Poker.

Similar to standard Chinese Poker, the goal remains the same. Each player needs to make a 3-card top, 5-card middle and 5-card back hand arrangement.

Here are the major differences:

• You do not receive all your cards at once.
• You must make your hand arrangements with your cards “face-up” — revealed for all other players to see.
• You act in turns.

So, once you’ve created your hand arrangement, the player to your left will make their hand arrangement next. You do not form your hand arrangement at the same time. Everyone gets a turn that finishes once they declare their hand complete.

Note: You cannot change your hand arrangement after your turn. Your cards are considered “set” and cannot be rearranged. There are no “take backs”!

What makes Open Face Chinese Poker intriguing is that you need to make your hands without knowing which cards are coming next — it adds an element of unpredictability. You are acting with incomplete information.

Since you are drawing unseen cards, it also increases the likelihood of fouls or miss-sets. Open Face Chinese Poker is much more swingy, making it one of the most popular variations of Chinese Poker.

Fantasyland

“Fantasyland” brings an added dimension into any Open Face Chinese Poker game.

To enter Fantasyland, a player must set a pair of Queens or better (e.g., QQ, KK, AA, or any three of a kind) in the top 3-card hand arrangement. All other rows must still be set in proper order — the middle row still must beat the top row. This makes having a pair of Queens or better in your 3-card front hand difficult to achieve… rewarded by the benefit of Fantasyland.

Fantasyland Benefits: After a player qualifies for Fantasyland, in the next hand they will receive all 13 of their cards at once. This allows them to make their back, middle and front arrangements with full information and provides a significant strategic advantage.

1. Continuing in Fantasyland: While in Fantasyland, a player can also stay in Fantasyland for subsequent rounds by setting either: four of a kind or better in any row, or three of a kind in the top row.
2. End of Fantasyland: If the player in Fantasyland fails to meet the conditions to stay, they return to the normal play mode in the next hand. Fantasyland significantly enhances a player’s chances of making strong hands and potentially sweeping all opponents — a game-changing feature unique to Open Face Chinese Poker.

Conclusion

In short, Chinese Poker is a fast-paced variant of poker that focuses on hand rankings rather than betting and bluffing. The barrier-to-entry and speediness makes it much more beginner-friendly than games such as Texas Hold’Em or Omaha. It’s a quick rush — I’ve even been at poker tables where people play Chinese Poker on breaks!

The core gameplay revolves around creating three hands—back, middle, and front—each with specific strength requirements. Mastering this hierarchy is crucial, as misplacement leads to penalties. Scoring is straightforward, with points earned through hand comparisons, and additional complexity introduced by special cases like surrenders, royalties, and outright wins.

Open Face Chinese Poker kicks things up a notch by revealing cards one at a time and adding the Fantasyland feature, which can give you a big advantage if you play it right.

Whether you’re playing for fun or with real money, Chinese Poker is a more relaxed alternative to traditional poker. It’s easy to learn, quick to play, and combines luck with a bit of strategy — making it a great choice for all kinds of players.

Lead image credit: Jenni Konrad/Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0

Hopefully, these tips will help protect you and your bankroll, especially if you regularly play in private games.

1. Don’t Play With Shady Characters

As a poker player, there’s nothing wrong with looking for “spots.”

You want to play with people who are bad at poker but have plenty of money to put on the tables.

However, if you’re playing in private games, you should be very careful about the lineup, especially if you get invited to a new game.

Whether it’s through marking cards or using some other system (see: the Tip Scam or false deals), you’ll be much more likely to get cheated in a game filled with or run by shady characters.

Of course, this isn’t always easy to recognize, and sometimes you’ll have no idea you’ve been set up. But sometimes it’s blatantly obvious.

The very minimum you can do for yourself is to stay away from suspicious games.

As a poker player, you should be able to “read” people to some extent, so use these skills when deciding where you do and don’t want to play.

If you’re being promised a game full of rich fish by someone who doesn’t even know you that well, you should ask yourself why they picked you for this awesome “opportunity”?

2. Pay Attention To How Players Handle Their Cards

There are tons of different ways to mark cards these days, but most cheaters aren’t particularly sophisticated.

The most common way to mark cards on the spot is by making slight markings on the edges using your fingernails.

Now, it’s perfectly common for players to shuffle their cards around and even lift them from the table. It happens all the time in private games and casinos alike.

However, if someone’s paying too much attention to their cards and seems to be squeezing them weirdly, it might be a sign they’re up to no good.

Don’t be too quick to call someone out, though.

Calling someone a cheater at the poker table is a serious accusation and a big insult for most honest players, so you have to play it smart.

Observe, but keep your observations to yourself for the time being.

3. Look For Unusual Physical Markings On The Cards

If you have a reason to believe a player is marking cards in some way, you should look for any unusual marks at the back of the cards.

Are there small, barely visible cuts, or have edges been bent slightly?

The most efficient way to go about this is to pay attention to big cards like aces and kings.

When using these on-the-spot card marking techniques, cheaters usually don’t have enough time to come up with an elaborate scheme to mark the entire deck.

Instead, they’ll try to make important cards stand out, which will provide them with quite a bit of an edge if they can get away with it.

4. Be On The Lookout For Unusual Play Patterns

Unfortunately, there are way more advanced techniques for marking cards these days.

Invisible ink that can only be seen using special glasses or under special lightning is usually impossible to detect by the naked eye, no matter how hard you look.

This is why you should always stay alert when you play poker and be particularly careful about highly unusual situations.

Sure, it happens every now and then that someone calls down a big bluff with queen high, but it’s hardly a common occurrence in regular games.

If there are too many weird hands happening in a short period of time, it might be a sign that something isn’t right.

You can share your concerns with the floor in a casino or an official poker room, and they’ll usually look into it for you.

In private games, though, things can be a bit trickier.

It’s not only that you need to be pretty sure there is cheating going on, but you must also worry about who else is in on it.

If the person running the game knows about it, your complaints won’t be welcomed, which circles back to the first point.

5. Ask For A New Deck

No matter where you’re playing, there is usually nothing wrong with asking for a new deck if you suspect there’s cheating going on with marked cards.

However, if you’re in a private game and don’t feel safe, you don’t have to state the reason why you’re asking for the change.

That way, if your request is met with hostility of some sort, you can still get out of trouble by laughing it off and saying something along the lines of the current deck not being particularly kind to you.

Even if the person in charge knows about the cheating, they’ll usually let it go at this point as they don’t want to upset their other potential marks.

Of course, they will most likely come up with a reason why they can’t change the deck, but at least you’ll have a pretty good idea of where you’re at.

6. Don’t Be Afraid To Leave

You can’t fix the world, and you can’t win in a rigged game.

Even if you play your best and get very lucky, eventually, they’ll get you.

And why would you want to spend a second more than you have to in a game where you suspect the deck is marked?

If you feel something isn’t right, simply get up, cash your chips out, and leave.

You don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why you’re leaving but you can always come up with an excuse.

Understandably, you might be afraid to share your suspicions in a completely new environment where you only know one or two people, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it.

Once the dust settles, you can maybe talk to the person who invited you to the game and share your concerns, but only if you’re pretty sure they aren’t in on it.

If you have your doubts, don’t go there again. That’s the easiest and the best way to protect yourself!

7. Don’t Be Too Paranoid

While it’s important to stay safe, you shouldn’t be too paranoid about marked cards and other forms of cheating to the point where you’ll start seeing them everywhere.

It’ll just ruin your overall experience and it won’t be long before you can’t find a good game because you think they’re all rigged somehow.

I’ve seen and experienced all sorts of things in poker and have personally played some very strange hands and got extremely unlucky bad beats.

So try not to jump to conclusions and pass judgment based on a few isolated incidents.

If there are several different indicators, though, such as these things happening way too often, the game host refusing to switch the deck, etc., it’s fine to move on and look for a new game.

That said, the biggest advice is to avoid any unknown private games in the first place.

The cheating technology could be way more advanced than we think, so I wouldn’t even consider joining suspicious games.

The best thing to do is stay in regulated poker rooms, where you will be very likely to get help when needed.

You can always ask to exchange decks, inspect the one that is used, and have all your concerns answered.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Few moves carry as much weight as the all-in bet. The powerful maneuver can present a make-or-break decision for both you and your opponent. Let’s explore the rules, tactics, and psychology behind this high-impact play.

What Does All-In Mean In Poker?

All-in in poker means betting every chip you have. When you declare, “I’m all-in,” you’ve committed your entire chip stack.

(Yes, in poker, verbal is binding. Announcing a poker all-in is the same as physically pushing all your poker chips in the middle.)

This is specifically for No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker, where you can bet any amount you want – unlike Limit poker, where your bets are capped. In Limit poker, you can only end up “all-in” if your remaining chips are fewer than the current bet or raise limit.

What Are The Poker All-In Rules?

The beauty of No Limit Hold ‘Em is that you can go all-in whenever it’s your turn. However, there are a few caveats to be aware of.

1. Verbal is binding

As stated above, announcing, “I’m all-in” is the same as manually betting.

2. You can go all-in with one chip

Experienced players might softly say “all-in” and throw one chip in the middle. Do not be deceived and think this is them only betting a singular chip – they are betting their entire stack. When in doubt, you can always turn to the dealer for clarification and ask, “Are they all-in?”

3. Your hand may be revealed

If an opponent calls your all-in bet, prepare for your cards to be flipped over for everyone to see. Poker tournament dealers will always lay the cards face-up. Cash games won’t always have this done in practice, but most casinos have a rule where any player at the table can say “all hands” and the cards can be exposed. This happens after the action is completed.

4. Players may re-raise after an all-in bet if the all-in constitutes a full raise

One of the most crucial poker all-in rules to know is whether or not it re-opens the action. For example, if somebody raises and you go all-in, can that person reraise again? It depends on how much your all-in is for, and whether it qualifies as a full raise (a full raise is equal to or greater than the size of the previous bet or raise).

Here’s an example:

1. Person #1 bets $5
2. Person #2 goes all-in for $6
3. Person #3 calls the $6

According to poker all-in rules, can Person #1 reraise again and make it, say, $20? (This would probably be very unsettling for Player #3).

The answer is no, because Player #2’s all-in of $6 is not a full raise from the previous bet. In poker, the ability to reraise requires the previous incoming bet or raise action to be at least a full bet or raise.

However, let’s try it this way:

1. Person #1 bets $5
2. Person #2 goes all-in for $12
3. Person #3 calls the $12

Can Person #1 reraise again? Absolutely – this completely abides by the poker all-in rules as it constitutes a full raise.

Maybe they’ll increase the price to $40, which would put Person #3 into an unfortunate position. They probably thought their hand was worth $12… not $40.

To avoid finding yourself in these shoes, you’ll need to pay attention to the size of the all-in jam vs. the original bet or raise.

5. You can always go all-in – even if it’s for less than the bet size

If someone bets $80 and you only have $60, you can still call the bet by going all-in. Now, you can only win a multiple of your all-in amount. For example, if you win the hand, you would win $120 (your $60 bet plus your opponent’s $60 bet, but not their additional $20).

6. When there are multiple players involved in a hand, the dealer will usually create a side pot after an all-in

Let’s take the same example. Someone bets $80. You only have $60 and go all-in for the rest of your stack, but another player in the hand calls the full $80 bet. The dealer will then designate a main pot and side pot.

The main pot will contain $180 ($60 x 3 players). The side pot will be just between the other two people, since they have more chips remaining.

You would only be able to win the main pot, because you wouldn’t have contributed to the side pot.

When Should You Go All-In?

You can go shove/jam/ship/go all-in at any time, but you should keep the pot size in mind. Generally, going all-in is most appropriate when you have a pot-size bet or less.

• If there’s $75 in the pot and you have $50 in your stack, is this a good time to go all-in? Yes, because your stack-to-pot ratio is less than 1:1. You have under a pot-sized bet left in your stack! This would be a good time to go all-in with the right hand.
• If there’s $75 in the pot and you have $500 in your stack, is this a good time to go all-in? Not likely. When you have a good hand, you’ll probably scare your opponents away into a fold. It’s also not a good time to bluff – you’re risking $500 to win $75. The price is bad.

Poker tournaments force all-ins much more than cash games. In a poker tournament, the blinds increase – it gets more costly to play a single hand. Sometimes players will be pushed all-in automatically!

This can happen when, say, you only have 400 chips left but the big blind is 500 chips. For this reason, players start shoving all their chips in the middle preflop before they get to this point (they want to avoid the dreaded auto all-in).

It’s common to go all-in before the flop even with bad hands in poker tournaments as a tactic to “steal the blinds” – hoping everyone folds and winning chips by default. It’s an extreme all-in bluff!

Why Would You Go All-In?

When you don’t have a lot of chips relative to the pot, it makes sense to go all-in much more frequently. This applies to both tournaments and cash games. Above we included that going all-in preflop is a vital tournament maneuver.

What’s more polarizing is going all-in on the river – the final betting round in poker.

There are now no more cards to be dealt and you know your final poker hand ranking. Because your hand is determined and cannot improve, you should only go all-in if you have an excellent hand (and want your opponent to call) or a terrible hand (and want your opponent to fold).

A good example of going all-in would be if you had Jack-Ten on 9-8-7-2-5. You have a straight! (The “nuts” – no other hand can beat you). You would want to go all-in here for value. Alternatively, you could have Queen-Ten and go all-in as a total bluff. You’re going all-in here hoping to apply max pressure and convince your opponent into a fold.

What you don’t want to do is go all-in with a hand like Ace-Eight. Your hand isn’t good enough to warrant committing all your chips in the middle, nor is it bad enough to turn into a bluff. This is a time you should check and not bet if given the option.

The strategy behind going all-in on the river involves only your very best hands and your very worst hands.

This will really put your opponent to the test. Balancing river shoves between your strongest and weakest hands makes it nearly impossible to determine whether you’re full of air or whether you’ve got the goods.

What Do You Do If Someone Else Goes All-In?

Keep the same philosophy in mind when analyzing your opponents – they are likely either begging for you to call or begging for you to fold.

Most people, however, under-bluff – they are not bluffing at a high enough frequency to be professional poker players. The average player is slanted towards value hands rather than bluffs.

You should usually fold to an all-in bet against the majority of opponents, unless you are near certain you have them beat. They’re probably not bluffing as much as they should be, theoretically.

The poker term for the best possible hand at any given moment is simply “the nuts.” When you have the nuts, there is no hand that can beat you. Many players only go all-in with the absolute nuts.

Fun fact: The poker term “nuts” comes from the Wild West – if a player bet absolutely everything they had, someone would remove the nuts from their wagon wheels so they couldn’t get away. It was thought that a person wouldn’t bet their horse and wagon without having an unbeatable hand (the nuts!).

The Best “All-In” Poker Moments

1. One of the greatest examples of this happened at the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event. In this spectacular hand, James Obst has a full house and Michael Ruane has a straight flush. Can James fold to an all-in shove? Would Michael shove a worse hand? You can watch the all-in river action below. This hand exemplifies strength vs. strength.

2. Another legendary hand happened at the final table of the Season XVI WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event. Ian Steinman rivers a fantastic set of kings but there’s a straight possible – laying the groundwork for an extremely polarized all-in maneuver. You can also watch professional poker player and card room owner Doug Polk’s analysis in this video.

3. On a personal note, one of my favorite all-ins was when I made the 2021 World Series of Poker Tag Team final table. I missed my straight draw… and decided to go all in. We were at the river in this monumental event and I had nothing!
   
   When my opponent asked, “Will you show if I fold?” I had to think quickly. If I said no, that I wouldn’t show her my cards, she’d probably call my bet because she was curious. If I said yes that I would show her, she might think that I was trying to convince her to fold, and call as a response.
   
   Instead I said, “I’ll show you one.” I knew that this clever compromise of offering to show her one card would satisfy her curiosity and compel a laydown. She folded instantly!

Lead image credit: F8 studio/Shutterstock

In 2023, we had the largest Main Event prize pool in history – Daniel Wienman took home a cool $12.1 million dollars. This summer presents huge opportunities for players of all bankrolls.

But we know that when it comes to WSOP, a lot of people have a lot of questions. I’ve answered the ones you’re asking most below.

Where is the WSOP held?

The 55th WSOP is taking place at the Horseshoe (formerly Bally’s) and Paris Las Vegas hotels, marking a significant (much needed) departure from years past at the Rio. This change – implemented in 2022 – still feels fresh and is greatly appreciated.

Located in the heart of the strip, the Horseshoe and Paris are extremely conveniently located – you can walk to practically any destination. Gone are the days of relying on rented cars or rideshares for every tournament – or, even worse, enduring grueling stays at the expired Rio.

The Horseshoe and Paris are linked, meaning you can travel between them easily to enjoy the combined 150,000 sq. ft. of tournament space. Last year there were a few tournaments where players were even instructed to walk between venues as tables combined.

Where should I stay for the WSOP?

Their interconnectivity means you can stay at either the Horseshoe or Paris and be “on-site.”

Last year, I played the 2023 WSOP Main Event and was very grateful for my suite at the Horseshoe. There are executive rooms past the Horseshoe poker room area with dazzling views of the Bellagio fountains and Paris hotel’s Eiffel tower.

I’d say the main perk of splurging for this upgrade, however, is the elevator access. The problem with staying at Horseshoe or Paris is you’ll struggle to access your room on breaks for major events – the elevators become incredibly jammed and crowded. By the time you’re able to get upstairs, break will often be over.

There are also many neighboring casinos available for all budgets. The LINQ is a solid affordable choice; Bellagio is obviously more decadent. My personal favorite is Planet Hollywood – it’s  the only hotel on the Strip which includes bathtubs in their base room (no need for an upgrade).

Where can I find the WSOP schedule?

The WSOP schedule was released in February.

There are 99 live bracelet events, including the return of the Gladiators of Poker tournament – a $300 buy-in with a $3 million guarantee.

WSOP offers new twists on olds classics such as the Double Board Bomb Pot, Seniors High Roller, and the crowd favorite mystery bounty tournaments (both the Mystery Millions and the introduction of the Mystery Bounty PLO variant). Not to mention numerous online bracelet events you can play while in Vegas too.

You can find smaller buy-in daily tournaments running throughout the entire WSOP. These are faster, single-day events and a great way to get started if you’re at the beginning of your poker journey.

Where else can I play tournaments during WSOP?

Definitely check out poker tournaments happening at other Vegas casinos during the same time frame. The Wynn, Venetian, Aria, MGM Grand, and Golden Nugget all host their own corresponding summer series. These will usually be one and two-day events rather than the lengthier multi-day WSOP tournaments.

When is the WSOP Main Event 2024?

The Main Event will run from July 3-17 and, as usual, the buy-in is $10,000.

What is the buy-in for WSOP (How much does it cost to enter)?

The WSOP isn’t just one event, but instead a large number of tournaments, each with their own individual buy-ins.

In 2024, the lowest buy-in event is the $300 Gladiators of Poker and the highest is the $250,000 Super High Roller.

The Main Event, which is the highlight of the entire WSOP festival, has a buy-in of $10,000.

In previous years, there was the Big One for One Drop event in aid of charity, which cost a jaw-dropping $1 million to enter.

As you can see, there’s no set price for entering the WSOP. It’s also possible to qualify for events via online satellite tournaments, some of which can cost just a few dollars to enter.

Keep in mind many events also have rebuys, so you can get back into the action if you lose – for a price, of course.

Where can I watch WSOP?

You can watch the most exciting WSOP events this year through a live stream by PokerGO.

Although PokerGO will be the main place to watch the WSOP, CBS Sports Network will also broadcast episodes of WSOP Main Event coverage and certain bracelet events.

Any additional advice?

Yes! Make sure to take plenty of small bills. Water bottles are free but don’t forget to tip!

WSOP General Questions

How does the WSOP work?

The World Series of Poker is a series of individual tournaments, each with different buy-ins and poker formats.

Essentially, it is a festival of poker that takes place over the course of around six weeks annually, with the Main Event being the pinnacle.

Each event follows a tournament format, with every player starting with the same number of chips.

The winner is the person left standing at the end. Those winning any WSOP event will not only receive a prize but will also get a coveted WSOP bracelet as well.

How do you enter WSOP?

You can either register online or in person. You’ll need a valid photo ID and your Caesars Rewards Loyalty card, plus an additional form of ID if you’re an international player.

If you don’t have a card, the Caesars Rewards Center can easily print one for you.

Can anyone enter the WSOP?

Yes, absolutely anyone can enter a tournament at the WSOP, providing they are at least 21 years old and present a player’s card.

This is part of the thrill. The final table could be made-up of total novices or big-name poker pros – and it usually is!

The cheapest way for an amateur to gain entry is to win one of the many WSOP satellite tournaments. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker – yes that’s his real name – turned a $39 satellite ticket into a $2.5 million dollar score! At the WSOP, you, too, could be the next breakout star.

• 5 Cheapest Ways To Get Yourself Into The Main Event

Who won the 2023 WSOP Main Event?

Daniel Weinman from the United States of America was crowned winner of the 2023 WSOP Main Event, taking home a record-breaking $12.1 million in winnings.

Who has the most WSOP bracelets?

Phil Hellmuth holds the record for the most WSOP bracelets, having won 17 since 1989.

Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson all tie for second place, with 10 WSOP bracelets each.

Who has won the most WSOP Main Events?

Two players are tied for the most WSOP Main Event wins – Johnny Moss and Stu Ungar. Both have won the event three times.

Johnny Moss won the first two WSOP events ever held, however it was different back then, as the winner was decided through a vote by the other players.

How much money can you win in a WSOP tournament?

The prize for each tournament changes depending on how many people enter the event, so there is no clear-cut answer for this question, although some events naturally have the biggest prize pools.

More players equates to grander payouts, but you must also outlast a larger field in order to win. WSOP events are always heavily attended…it’s common to see paydays cracking one million dollars!

This is what makes bounty formats so alluring. If you reach Day 2 of the Mystery Millions, for example, you will draw a random variable bounty every time you eliminate a player – this bounty can be worth enormous sums of money. The highest bounty in this event is worth $1,000,000! You don’t have to reach the final table in order to achieve major payouts.

There are likewise standardized bounty tournaments such as the $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty where every player has a $500 bounty on their head from the start.

• The Top 10 Biggest Main Event Winnings Of All Time

Who has won the most money in poker?

The highest-earing player in all tournaments is Bryn Kenney, who has won over $65.1 million (and counting) in his career so far.

He is followed by Justin Bonomo and Stephen Chidwick. This doesn’t take into account money won playing in cash games behind closed doors, though.

How do poker satellites work?

Satellite poker tournaments are qualifying events to another, usually larger buy-in event. It’s essentially a way of gaining a ticket (entry) into an expensive tournament.

Imagine you wanted to enter the Main Event but couldn’t afford the $10,000 buy-in. You could instead spend $100 on a satellite tournament, with the hope you’d parlay it into a coveted Main Event seat.

Most satellite tournaments take place online where it’s possible to gain entry into big tournaments with just a couple of dollars. Live satellites exist as well – including at the WSOP in Las Vegas itself – but the upfront cost tends to be higher.

How do you win seats in the WSOP?

To win a seat at the WSOP, you’ll have to enter a satellite tournament. These are held at various different poker sites and online casinos. ClubGG is a flat $49.99 per month for the Platinum Membership available to players all around the world (including Americans) where you can attempt to satellite your way into select WSOP events.

If you can win the satellite, you will gain entry into the specified WSOP tournament.

Keep your eyes peeled online for various giveaways. Last year I won my seat through a Twitter(X) contest! Credit to professional poker player and women’s poker advocate Nadya Magus for hosting the competition and the incredibly generous two-time WSOP bracelet winner Scott Ball for donating the seat.

How much do poker players at the WSOP final table get paid to wear sponsor patches?

This really depends on how well-known players are and what deals they have in place with sponsors, although it’s been reported that some can earn as much as $100,000 just to wear a patch at the Main Event.

2016 WSOP Main Event winner Qui Nguyen reportedly declined a six-figure deal to replace his iconic raccoon hat at the televised final table.

How many people are seated at your WSOP Main Event table?

The beginning of the Main Event is generally staggered over the first four days, as it would be exceptionally difficult to get 10,000 people playing poker at the same time.

Nine people are usually sat at one table in the Main Event, although people are moved regularly from table to table, in order to balance the tables properly. There is always the risk of 10-handed tables if they are at overcapacity, which almost happened in 2023 on Day 1D.

Which Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event should you play?

Choose your starting flight wisely. I have played the last three WSOP Main Events and received dreadful table draws in my first two attempts. Everyone at my tables was extraordinarily timid and tight – it was very difficult to win any pots or garner significant amounts of chips.

In 2023, I learned my lesson – I didn’t want another experience that felt like watching paint dry. I adjusted by playing on July 4 (United States Independence Day) because I knew there would be more international pros since many Americans would be celebrating the holiday. The pro-heavy field was much more aggressive and resulted in a drastically larger average pot size. As a result of the battling, I ended-up chip leader for several hours on my Day 1!

Alternatively, many people target Day 1D as it most closely coincides with the weekend. It is always the biggest field and feeds into its own separate Day 2.

You can now register into Day 2 directly and skip the first day entirely. The advantage here is that many players have already been eliminated and you are much closer to reaching the payouts.

What is the difference between a WSOP bracelet and winning the WSOP Main Event?

Every person who wins a WSOP event receives a bracelet – a “bracelet-winner” is considered the most prestigious title in tournament poker.

The winner of the Main Event is likewise awarded a bracelet but there is only one per year. The enormous cash prize comes with unique international prestige. The Main Event winner goes down in history!

How much money do WSOP dealers make?

The WSOP has said that starting pay for all dealers will begin at $12.50 an hour with a $100 bonus after “successfully completing” their first shift.

There is also $15-$20 per down depending on the event and added pooled tips.

It is a strenuous job but can be lucrative!

Are WSOP winnings taxed?

This really depends where you live, so you should check your local laws.

US players can pay up to 50 percent in tax on their winnings, while those from the UK and many EU countries will not pay any tax at all. In 2022, the 3rd-place finisher (Jack Oliver) from the UK netted more than the 2nd-place finisher (George Holmes) from the US!

This is why many professional poker players live in countries with low or no taxation on winnings.

Check out our blog post on everything you need to know about rake and taxes in WSOP.

Lead image credit: World Poker Tour/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0

You first place an ‘Ante’ bet, before three cards are dealt to each player and the dealer. The dealer’s cards are dealt face down. You then decide to either fold your hand or continue playing by placing a ‘Play’ bet. That’s it! The dealer then reveals their three-card hand – if your hand beats the dealer’s qualified hand (Queen or higher), you win.

How To Play 3 Card Poker

Once you have taken your seat at a 3 Card Poker table, whether at a land-based or online casino, you’ll be asked to make your first bet.

1. Place your bet: The Ante bet box will be sitting empty in front of you, and you will be asked to place some chips there. You’ll be able to place any bet within the table stakes, between a minimum and maximum bet.
2. Cards are dealt: Once you’ve placed your Ante and other players at the table have done the same, the dealer will deal everyone three cards, including themselves.
3. Decide whether to play or fold you hand: Once you have your three cards, your only decision will be whether to keep them by placing the Play bet or to discard them right away. In truth, you will want to keep going with most hands in 3 Card Poker, but more on this a bit later in the strategy section. If you do decide to place a play bet, you will have to match your Ante bet in full, doubling your total bet. You should be ready to bet the whole amount when starting a hand, as this is the only way you will get to showdown.
4. The dealer’s hand is revealed: Once all the bets are placed, and players who don’t wish to proceed have discarded their cards, the hand goes to showdown. The dealer turns over their cards, and every player’s hand is compared to the dealer’s.
5. Winner is determined and payouts given: The dealer must have a Queen or higher to qualify. If the dealer doesn’t qualify (has a Jack-high or worse), you receive even money on your Ante bet and the Play bet is returned to you. If the dealer qualifies and your hand is better, you receive even money on both the Ante and Play bets. If the dealer’s hand is better, you lose both bets. In case of a tie, both the Ante and Play bets are returned to you.

3 Card Poker Rules

The rules of 3 Card Poker couldn’t be simpler. You only have two options to choose from after being dealt cards: Play and Fold.

You will forfeit your cards and your Ante bet if you decide to fold. You won’t be able to win the hand, even if the dealer has a very weak hand.

If you decide to place the Play bet, you will stay in the hand until the very end, when your cards will be compared to the dealer’s holdings.

Keep in mind that there is no drawing or discarding in 3 Card Poker, and you will only have the three cards you get dealt at your disposal, so make your decisions based on these.

When it comes to comparing hands in 3 Card Poker, it’s clear that some hands, such as full houses and four of a kind, don’t exist in this variation of the game.

Hand rankings in 3 Card Poker are as follows:

1. Royal Flush
2. Straight Flush
3. Three of a Kind
4. Straight
5. Flush
6. One Pair
7. High Card

Of course, you won’t be able to make real straights and flushes with just three cards, but three cards in a row will count as a straight, three cards of the same suit will count as a flush, etc.

This simple hand ranking should be easy enough to understand for anyone who has ever played poker, and at the end of the day, the dealer will tell you if you have won or lost anyway.

With that said, I have covered all the rules of the game you need to know about, so it’s time to talk about payouts and special bets in 3 Card Poker.

3 Card Poker Payouts

The most basic payouts in 3 Card Poker come from simply beating the dealer’s hand.

This is done by having a better poker hand than the dealer at showdown, in which case you will always win a 1:1 payout on the Ante bet.

The Play bet only comes into play if the dealer has at least a Queen high in their hand. If this happens, and you also have a winning hand, you’ll be paid at 1:1 on the Play bet as well.

Otherwise, the Play bet will be returned to you.

In addition to these payouts, the Ante Bonus will give you an additional payout if you win the hand with at least three of a kind.

The Ante Bonus payouts are as follows:

• Straight: 1:1
• Three of a Kind: 4:1
• Straight Flush: 5:1

It’s interesting to note that hand rankings in 3 Card Poker are quite different from other forms of poker, simply because getting three cards of the same suit or three consecutive cards is easier than getting three of a kind.

For that reason, there is no payout for a flush on the Ante Bonus, and the straight payout is significantly lower than the one for three of a kind.

Pair Plus Bet Payout

One last thing to keep an eye out on in 3 Card Poker is the Pair Plus bet, which is an optional bet you can make on every hand.

The Pair Plus bet is placed simultaneously with the Ante bet, and you can choose to bet any value you want.

If the Pair Plus bet is activated, you will receive the following payouts on your hand if you hold one pair or better:

• One Pair: 1:1
• Flush: 4:1
• Straight: 6:1
• Three of a Kind: 30:1
• Straight Flush: 40:1

Keep in mind that you will lose any money you place in the Pair Plus box every time you don’t make at least one pair, even if you end up winning the hand against the dealer with your high card.

3 Card Poker Odds

3 Card Poker gives the house quite a substantial edge.

On Ante and Play bets, the casino retains a house advantage of 3.37%. This is significantly higher than blackjack’s house edge, for example.

The Pair Plus bet comes with a house advantage of 2.32%, which is lower than the basic bets, making it an interesting prospect for anyone playing this game.

While the dealer and the player have the same chance of making a winning hand, the fact that your Play bet is not paid out unless the dealer has at least Queen high is what gives the house the majority of its edge.

Here are some interesting odds related to making certain big hands in 3 Card Poker, which come in handy, especially if you enjoy playing the Pair Plus bet:

• Odds to make a straight flush: 0.217%
• Odds to make three of a kind: 0.235%
• Odds to make a straight: 3.257%
• Odds to make a flush: 4.95%
• Odds to make one pair: 16.94%
• Odds to make Ace High or worse: 76.38%

As you can see, you’ll have a hand that does not contain any pair, straight or a flush, the vast majority of the time.

Best 3 Card Poker Strategy

3 Card Poker is a very simple game which means there’s not too much you can do in terms of strategy. In fact, your only concern should be which cards to keep and which to discard.

Traditionally, the optimal strategy for the game is to keep any hand that has at least a Q 6 4 in it while discarding everything weaker than this.

This may not seem like much of a strategy, but this approach will get you the best possible results in the game.

Apart from that, there are no special or fancy plays you should remember, other than the fact that the Pair Plus bet is not a negative EV (Expected Value) one compared to the Ante bet, as jackpot bets often are in poker games.

This means that, statistically, The Pair Plus bet is not a losing bet over the long run when compared to the Ante bet. However, remember that EVs are statistical measurements and don’t guarantee short-term outcomes.

Where To Play 3 Card Poker Online

The game of 3 Card Poker is quite a popular poker variation, mostly because of its simple rules and strategy, so you should be able to find it at most poker rooms.

Remember to always play at a regulated and secure operator, like the ones on our list of recommended poker sites.

Have fun playing this simple poker variation and see if you can beat the house!

Straddling in poker can be overwhelming for beginners. But after reading, you should not only understand the basic mechanics, but the best opportunities.

What Is A Straddle In Poker?

In poker, a straddle is akin to paying an extra big blind.

If this already sounds confusing to you and makes your eyes glaze over, don’t panic—you’re not alone. A poker term that often trips up beginners is “blinds.” So stay with me, as just for a moment, we do need to get technical.

In Texas Hold ‘Em, there is always a “button” placed at the table (see below). This is a physical button. The two players to the left of the button are called the blinds. The first person to the left of the button is the small blind; the person to the left of them is the big blind. If you’re playing $1/$2 stakes for example, the small blind will have to pay $1 and the big blind will have to pay $2.

Paying the blinds is mandatory—it’s actually a shorthand term for “blind bet.” Because you have to pay this amount before you’ve seen your cards. In other words, you have to pay it blindly.

(Bonus technical language if you want to get really precise: This is why players start with a raise preflop rather than a bet. The blinds were already a placed bet, so, for example, you can’t bet $10 but you can raise to $10).

A straddle means voluntarily paying an extra blind.

How Do Straddles Work In Poker?

In the example of the $1/$2 game, the small blind is $1, the big blind is $2, and you can straddle to $4—all without seeing your cards. Again, it functions like an extra big blind because you’ve put in this money blindly before seeing your cards.

People can even “double straddle” at certain casinos. This would mean the small blind pays $1, the big blind pays $2, the straddle pays $4, and the double straddle pays $8.

What would a super-ultra-rare triple straddle look like in this example? The triple straddle player would pay $16.

Straddling in poker is doubling the last bet before anyone has seen their cards. If the stakes were $5/$10, the player straddling would pay $20 prior to being dealt their hand. You need to declare your intention to straddle in advance.

Pro tip: If you choose to straddle, point to those extra chips so the dealer notices. They will then announce, “STRADDLE!” to the table so everyone knows that you placed your straddle before seeing your hand.

Once a player has straddled, that is now the minimum price to continue playing. Instead of it costing a minimum of $2 to keep playing, it is now $4 (or whatever the amount straddled to is). Straddling in poker is a way of raising the stakes.

Who Can Straddle In Poker?

First of all, it is important to mention that every casino is different and will have their own rules and regulations. Some venues will not allow straddling at all. The same applies when playing online poker.

Most commonly, however, you can choose to straddle when you are seated under-the-gun. That means you are the first person to act preflop. This is why in the previous section we indicated the person left of the big blind—that is the under-the-gun seat. If a casino allows straddles, you can always elect to straddle when you are here.

From time to time you will encounter a casino that also permits button straddles (a.k.a a ‘Mississippi straddle’). This means you can straddle when you are located on the button seat as well.

What if both the under-the-gun player and the button player want to straddle?

It is up to the casino who takes priority—don’t hesitate to ask. Good questions to ask when you’re new to a card room are:

1. Do you allow straddles here?
2. Can you straddle on the button or only under-the-gun?
3. Does the under-the-gun straddle or the button straddle get priority?

In rare scenarios, you will find a game where you can straddle from any position at the table. In any case, the action usually starts left of the last straddle preflop. If the under-the-gun player straddled, the person to their left will have the first decision preflop whether to fold or play their hand. If the button player straddled, the person in the small blind will have the first decision.

There are definitely exceptions to button straddles, so it’s always good to clarify with the dealer.

What you need to know is this:

• Most places allow under-the-gun straddles.
• When you straddle under-the-gun, the action preflop starts on the player to your left (under-the-gun + 1).

Why Straddle In Poker: Pros And Cons

Now that we know what a straddle in poker is and who can straddle in Texas Hold‘Em, we need to answer the burning question: WHY straddle in poker?

There are reasons both for and against straddling in Texas Hold‘Em:

Pros

• Straddling in poker raises the stakes. It now costs double to continue playing—and raises will be adjusted even bigger accordingly.
• Poker is a people game—you want to create a fun atmosphere. People that don’t straddle are often viewed as uptight. Even though you might lose money straddling when you are dealt lousy cards, it can be worth it because it encourages everyone at the table to play looser and more relaxed. Think of it like buying a cocktail.
• When the player(s) in the blinds are fish, it’s good to straddle when you are under-the-gun because you will play bigger pots while having direct position on them.
• When you straddle under-the-gun, you no longer act first preflop. It is an advantage to see what everyone else does and then get to make your decision.

Cons

• You waste chips every time you straddle and aren’t dealt a good hand.
• Straddling in poker raises the stakes—which can also be a negative. The game might play bigger now than you can afford. Even if finances aren’t an issue for you, everyone’s stack depth gets cut in half.
  
  For example, in a $1/$2 game where everyone starts with $100, all players have 50 big blinds. If the game is straddled to $4, now everyone only has 25 big blinds. This means players will be all-in much more frequently and the game will play higher variance. Luck will play an outsized role.

When You Should And Shouldn’t Straddle In Poker

For the reasons above, you should avoid straddling when short-stacked (or most players at the table are short-stacked). All you are doing is minimizing your skill edge by making the game wilder and more swingy.

There is also a big difference between a button straddle and an under-the-gun straddle. When you straddle under-the-gun, you are making the pots play bigger when you are in a relatively bad position at the table. When you button straddle, however, you are putting more money in the middle when you have an advantage (because you get to act last after the flop and will get to see what all the other players do ahead of you. You will have more information to make your decisions). Button straddling is the most powerful option in Hold ‘Em.

A button straddle is considered such a huge advantage that many casinos do not permit it. It is too great of an edge. High stakes players don’t like it because it “kills the game” since poker pros can manipulate button straddles so effectively.

Under-the-gun straddles don’t provide that same advantage. The times they do are when fishy players are seated in the blinds, in which case that can sway you towards a straddle. Otherwise under-the-gun straddles are best avoided unless most players at the table are deep-stacked.

Can You Straddle In A Poker Tournament?

Finally you may wonder if you can straddle in a poker tournament. This one has an easy answer… no!

The poker chips you lose in tournaments are more valuable than the chips you gain. You can’t afford to be splashy and throw on a straddle to bump up the stakes. Even if you’re chip leader, you won’t be permitted to straddle in a poker tournament anyways!

Lead image credit: Poker Photos/Flickr, CC BY 2.0

• Poker Hands Cheat Sheet
• Poker Staring Hands Cheat Sheet
• Poker Odds Cheat Sheet
• Calculating Outs Cheat Sheet
• Printable Poker Cheat Sheets

Don’t underestimate their power! When I first started playing poker, I didn’t even know how to hold my cards right. But I studied diligently and three months later, when I entered my first poker tournament, I won first place. The secret? Mastering the fundamentals.

I wasn’t a poker tells guru or mathematical whiz. What I did know was which cards to play and when – that alone was enough to have an extreme edge on my competition.

Poker Hands Cheat Sheet

For starters, remind yourself of the poker hand rankings, so you know what hands you’re trying to make.

But this poker hand cheat sheet alone isn’t enough to make you a great player. As with my story, the first place you really need to start is with what’s called your starting hands.

Poker Starting Hands Cheat Sheet

It may surprise you to know that professional poker players fold close to 80% of their hands… BEFORE the flop! Most hands are bad hands not valuable enough to enter the pot.

As I say in my book “A Girl’s Guide to Poker“, the first peek at your cards provides a mini rush, until you realize most of your hands are destined for the muck – poker’s trash pile.

…Truth is, most poker hands are awful. Statistical miscreants. Mathematical losers. That one D-list celebrity who can just never seem to get it together.

That’s right—the first thing you need to know about poker is that most hands are statistical losers. The fastest and easiest way to get ahead is by playing better cards than your opponents.

In a moment, you’ll see how to adjust which starting hands you play based on your position at the table. But for now, here’s your starting hands cheat sheet separated into three different levels:

Beginner

• Only play suited A-K-Q-J-T

Play any two cards that can make a royal flush. Said another way, BOTH of your cards need to be the same suit and either an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, or Ten. Nothing else counts.

If you implement this strategy, you will find yourself folding A LOT. That’s OK. Poker is a game of discipline – good habits start now.

Intermediate

When you’re ready to level-up and take your poker starting hands to the next level, stick to the following three categories: BROADWAYS, PAIRS, SUITED CONNECTORS.

• Broadway cards are A-K-Q-J-T, but they don’t have to be the same suit. So now you can play a hand like King-Queen even if they’re different suits (like the King of Clubs and Queen of Spades).
• Pairs are two of the same card, like a pair of nines or a pair of Jacks.
• Suited connectors are numerically consecutive and the same suit. Hands like a nine and eight of spades or a six and seven of diamonds. What if you’re dealt a nine and ten of different suits? Fold it!

These are card categories you can loosely play in any position.

Advanced

You really begin to develop your edge when you fine-tune which cards to play based on position. This is a preflop raise first-in guide. These are the hands you raise if no one else has raised ahead of you.

First what you do is determine your position at the table. Then you check this cheat sheet to see which starting hands you should raise.

What if I don’t want to follow these rules? Poker is for you—obviously play the game you want to play. This is just a foundation. As your skill level increases, you can deviate from these norms based on player types, stack sizes, preflop action, and so on.

However, you do want to know the general reasoning behind these tight guidelines.

The Guidelines Explained

Why do you want both cards to be broadways?

Why not just play any starting hand with an Ace? The problem is that you will often find yourself “outkicked” —meaning if you do this, your Ace-Eight will lose to someone else’s Ace-Jack. It is going to cost you significantly because you will hit a good hand that is second-best. Poker doesn’t reward silver medals.

Why do you want to play pairs?

When two of your hole cards match, it’s called a pocket pair. This is great because you already have what’s called a “made hand”—you don’t need to connect with the flop! A pair is a pair and no one can take that away from you. (Not even the government.) It’s also surprisingly hard to flop a pair.

• You’re only going to connect with the flop around one-third of the time.
• This also applies to your opponents. A pair provides a nice head start because they’re usually going to miss.

Why do you want to play suited connectors?

Number cards are the hardest to play because they are much less likely to be the best hand at showdown. Flopping a pair of sixes isn’t going to hold up frequently enough… and even if it does, the pot will surely be small. You play suited connectors for their ability to hit straights and flushes.

This is also not a guarantee, which is why you shouldn’t play these starting hands until you’re comfortable bluffing. You need to be confident playing draws.

Let’s say you have 8-9 and the flop is A-K-4. Sure, another spade will improve you to a flush and most likely give you the winning hand—but what do you do if another spade doesn’t hit? You’re going to need to have a back-up plan.

For all the times your straights and flushes don’t come in, you’re going to need to know when a bluff will be successful vs. when it’s better to give-up (sometimes your opponent just isn’t folding). Suited connector starting hands require more advanced post-flop strategy, unlike a hand like pocket aces which is strong enough to win on its own.

Poker Odds Cheat Sheet

Here’s a beginners cheat sheet for poker odds. You can print this out like a master list or keep reading as I break the most important ones down in more detail.

• Flopping a pair… 29%
• Flopping two pair… 2%
• Flopping a set… 12%
• Flopping a flush… 0.84%
• Flopping a straight with two connected hole cards… 1.3%
• Making a flush by the river… 35%
• Making an open-ended straight by the river… 32%
• Making a gutshot straight by the river … 16%
• Making a full house by the river if you’ve flopped a set… 33%
• Pocket pair vs two overcards … 51%
• Lower pocket pair against higher pocket pair … 18%
• Pair vs one overcard … 70%
• Kicker pairing … 25%
• Pairing either overcard after the flop … 25%
• Backdoor/runner-runner flush … 4%

Even though this is a poker cheat sheet for beginners, you’d be surprised how many regulars don’t know some of these essentials. People chase backdoor flushes all the time – even though they’ll miss with near 95% frequency.

Tip: A backdoor flush is when you need both the turn and river to be the same suit in order to make your flush. For example, if you have KJ and the flop is 893, you need both the turn and river to be a heart in order to complete a flush.

You can also refer to this poker odds cheat sheet featuring common scenarios to help you calculate odds when trying to improve your hand.

These are the 3 most vital poker probabilities for you to know:

• Making a flush by the river… 35%
• Making an open-ended straight by the river… 32%
• Pocket pair vs. two overcards … 51%

Making a flush or straight with one card to come rather than two—ex. You’ve flopped a straight draw and want to know your probability of hitting your straight on the turn—means you just cut the statistic in half. So making a straight is about 16% and a flush is about 17.5%.

The pocket pair vs. two overcards is a scenario commonly referred to as a FLIP… because it’s nearly a coin toss. A hand like pocket tens vs. Ace-King will win just over 50% of the time. Poker players will frequently say, “we’re flipping!” when you’re racing a pair against two higher cards.

What I recommend all beginners do is download a poker odds calculator app on your smartphone (there are many) and plug-in the hands yourself. If you do this enough, you will see the same probabilities appear over and over again. It’s an easy way to begin to recognize standard situations and statistics.

Calculating Outs Cheat Sheet

An alternate way to look at your hand’s chances of winning is calculating “outs.” Think of how many cards are available in the deck to give you the best hand.

If you need to hit an open-ended straight draw for example, then you have eight outs. For example, you hold 76. Flop is 983. Any 5 or 10 will make you a straight. There are four 5s in the deck and four 10s, meaning you have eight cards to hit for the winner.

• Multiply your number of outs by four in order to roughly calculate your odds of hitting on the river.
• Multiply your number of outs by two in order to roughly calculate your odds of hitting on the turn.

Example:

Flush draws contain nine outs (there are 13 cards of each suit in the deck, subtract the two in your hand and the two on the flop). Multiply 9 x 4 to calculate your likelihood of hitting your flush by the river (36%) and multiply 9 x 2 to calculate your likelihood of hitting your flush by the turn (18%).

Some people prefer to calculate outs and run these equities in their heads. I can assure you however it’s not necessary—if you follow this poker cheat sheet, then you will see the same odds and statistics pop-up so regularly you’ll naturally store them to memory.

Printable Poker Cheat Sheets

Use the links below to print poker cheat sheet PDFs, or download them to refer to later.

For more guides from Amanda, check out What Is A Straddle In Poker?

These are the voices that take us through riveting high stakes, heart-breaking losses, and triumphant wins, all the while providing helpful advice and analysis. So without future ado, let’s salute 10 of the best in the business.

#1 – Norman Chad

Commentated On: World Series of Poker (WSOP)

“Someone needs to tell this guy he’s going home – he’s drawing dead!”

No-one perhaps embodies the World Series of Poker more than commentator Norman Chad, who has been commentating on many of ESPN’s poker broadcasts, including the WSOP, since 2003.

In fact, no-one could deliver the lines, “he’s been dealt Queen-Jack!” with such enthusiasm for thousands of hands ad infinitum and still make it sound interesting. But, with over-excited co-anchor Lon McEachern in tow, Chad is rightly considered one of poker’s best commentators.

While not all viewers may warm to Norman’s references to his many marriages, no one can fault his no-nonsense approach to the game and dislike of egos.

Norman Chad isn’t your guy if you want a detailed, step-by-step poker hand breakdown with tips on what a player should do in a particular situation. He’s also prone to a little quip (“Bet sizing is a key component of Texas Hold’em, but so is shirt-sizing”), and some may fault him for this light and funny approach to poker.

However, he’s one of few personalities with the power and charisma to make the game entertaining, even to someone who’s never played a single hand of Hold’em in their life. This is what makes him our favorite of the World Series of Poker commentators.

#2 – Mike Sexton

Commentated On: World Poker Tour (WPT)

“OMG! I cannot believe he just tried that!”

The dulcet tones of Mike Sexton flowed through 13 seasons of the World Poker Tour, ever since the first televised tour event aired in 2003.

With his trusty steed (former tennis pro Vince Van Patten) by his side and armed with a wardrobe of badly-fitting shirts, Sexton (and his Florida drawl) is rightly considered one of the best World Poker Tour commentators of all time.

Sexton had the rare advantage of actually being a decent player himself. He had a successful run of results in the WSOP, even before he started in front of the camera. Mike’s career tournament cashes total $6,708,146, including a WPT Montreal Main Event win in 2016.

Sadly, Sexton passed away in 2020, but his influence on the game lives on.

#3 – Jesse May

Commentated On: Late Night Poker, Poker Million, Irish Poker Open, Poker Nations Cup

The original “Voice of Poker”, Jesse May was many Brits’ primary school teacher in the late 90s and early 00s as he took a whole new generation through the bewildering world of Texas Hold’em in the iconic ‘Late Night Poker’ show.

Always assisted by the laconic tones of Nic Szeremeta, Jesse’s commentary was notable for its frequent bouts of chuckles and incredulous cries of “WHATTTT?!” as one young upstart dared to raise it up pre-flop with K-2 offsuit.

The comment itself is much funnier if you know May’s background story and how he got involved with poker commentary in the first place. Initially, “Late Night Poker” had no plans to have a commentator, but it turned out that players, although they were all “characters,” were terrified of being on camera, and there wasn’t much banter going on at all (save for late Devilfish, of course).

Jesse busted out of the tournament early on, making a play with 9-3 offsuit, so he really didn’t have much going on. He volunteered to commentate on the rest of the action, secretly hoping he would get a chance to explain his move at some point. From there, stars simply lined up for the man who would become the “Voice of Poker.”

In 2012, Jesse was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the European Poker Awards for services to the game. What a legend.

#4 – James Hartigan

Commentated On: EPT, PCA, PokerStars Shark Cage

The British journalist and broadcaster from south London started out with the BBC and commercial radio before being given his big break in gambling with the cable-based The Poker Channel (the starting out point for many British media starlets).

Currently, James can be seen fronting up the TV commentary for PokerStars’ European Poker Tour and PCA coverage on UK television.

Hartigan has formed a dynamic duo with Joe Stapleton. Joe happily takes on the role of a “clown” while James is the serious one that tries to tame and control young Stape’s enthusiasm. It can feel awkward at times, but that’s precisely what show producers are aiming for, and once you get used to it, it adds to the whole viewing experience.

The pair’s terrific chemistry won them the ‘Best Podcast Award for Poker in the Ears’ in 2022, while Hartigan won the ‘Best Broadcaster’ award at the 4th Global Poker Awards in 2023.

#5 – Gabe Kaplan

Commentated On: Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker

Not many people combine sitcom acting, poker playing and commentating, but then, not all people are Gabe Kaplan. Now retired, he was perhaps most famous for his stint analyzing and commentating on High Stakes Poker. Kaplan’s dry and down-to-earth demeanor was a stark contrast to the mayhem going on at the table as Negreanu, Hansen et al proceeded to knock seven shades of bankroll out of each other.

It’s fair to say Gabe was instrumental to High Stakes Poker’s huge success. While fans enjoyed watching the game’s best duke it out on the green felt, it was Kaplan’s commentary that helped people understand what was going on, and his funny remarks helped pass the time when someone would go into a long tank facing a river bet.

When Gabe and HSP parted ways, the show just wasn’t the same anymore. Kaplan wasn’t an outsider, and he personally knew many of the best poker players appearing on the show, which probably helped a lot.

“It’s funny – once someone gets a $500 tip, the cocktail waitresses [sitting in the High Stakes Poker studio] start to multiply.”

Saying it how it is….

#6 – A.J. Benza

Commentated on: High Stakes Poker

While Gabe was the star in the commentary booth of High Stakes Poker, A.J. Benza was there to keep him company throughout the first five seasons of the show. Although Benza didn’t really know much about poker at all when the show first kicked off, he and Kaplan made an interesting duo.

A.J. was happy to take the role of an “armchair quarterback” (as he called himself in an interview describing his experience with HSP), who asked questions and let Gabe take things from there.

The chemistry between the two was good, and poker fans warmed up to A.J. co-commentating. In fact, when he was let go at the end of Season 5 and replaced by Kara Scott, fans from all over the world urged the GSN to reconsider their decision and bring Benza back.

A.J. wasn’t thrilled about the decision, either, but he always emphasized he was very fortunate to have an opportunity to work alongside Kaplan and help make HSP the success it had become.

Then in 2020, PokerGO relaunched High Stakes Poker with Kaplan and Benza in the commentary booth once more.  

#7 – Ali Nejad

Commentated on: Poker After Dark, National Heads Up Championship

To the poker community at large, Ali Nejad is best-known for his commentary on NBC’s Poker After Dark, although he did coverage for the National Heads Up Championship as well.

Unlike many more outspoken commentators out there, Ali had a different style, mostly calling out the action and throwing in an occasional pun. He largely let the chips and the players do the talking and kept to trying to explain things where necessary.

This approach divided the fan base. To some, it seemed like just wasn’t doing much at all, save for calling out the action. Others were happy with Nejad’s style as he wasn’t spoiling the actual play or trying too hard to add commentary where it wasn’t necessary.

#8 – Lex Veldhuis

Commentated on: Triton Poker Series

Lex isn’t in the same boat as many of the others covered in this article as he’s primarily a player – and a pretty good one, having won over $700,000 over the years. However, Veldhuis decided to take on a more active role as a poker commentator as well, covering certain events and high stakes cash game sessions taking place during various Triton Poker Series stops.

Lex may not be the showman that has an endless supply of jokes, and he doesn’t approach poker in the funny and relaxed way that some other commentators do, but that doesn’t take away anything from his commentary.

Instead of trying to make it fun for all, Veldhuis is more focused on the strategic aspect of the game, so he’ll offer his insights into hands, providing useful analysis and explanations for certain plays.

He may not make you laugh all the time, but he can definitely help you learn about the game along the way.

#9 – Tony Dunst

Commentated on: World Poker Tour

With over $4.2 million in lifetime tournament cashes, Tony Dunst is an excellent poker player in his own right. He merged his passion for the game with his desire to spread his knowledge with the rest of the world, working as a WPT commentator.

Dunst was primarily in charge of the “Raw Deal” segment of the show. During every WPT episode, producers would select one or two exciting hands to break it down play by play, and Dunst was the man doing the breakdown.

When Mike Sexton announced his retirement from WPT commentary, Dunst was promoted into the role.

Dunst is quite popular with the fans. His unique style of analysis with just the right dose of humor and expert opinion added some flavor to the WPT coverage.

#10 – David Tuchman

Commentated on: Live at the Bike, Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game, World Series of Poker, PokerStars Highlights Show, 888 Live

David Tuchman is one of the best-known voices in poker. Having started his commentating career in shows like Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game, he joined the World Series of Poker team in 2011, making his claim to poker fame.

Tuchman has also regularly appeared as the voice behind PokerStars Highlight shows, calling out the action for Sunday Million final tables as well as many other critical online events.

David Tuckman has also been involved with 888 Poker, commenting on their events and live streams. All in all, his name belongs to this list of the best poker commentators, and poker fans around the world will likely be listening to Tuckman’s voice for many years to come.

For similar articles, check out the Top 10 Biggest Poker Scandals Of All Time and The Most Memorable Moments In Poker History.

Of course, it’s much easier to access these stats in online games, as you can use various trackers and software which display key online poker player statistics. But even in a live setting, you can get a very solid understanding of your opponent’s play by observing them in action.

Let’s talk about what you should look out for in your games.

Skip to:

1. VPIP (Voluntarily Put $ In Pot)
2. RFI (Raise First In)
3. 3bet
4. Fold to 3bet
5. Fold to steal
6. C-bet
7. Fold to c-bet
8. Went to showdown
9. Aggression % by street
10. River call

1. VPIP (Voluntarily Put $ In Pot)

VPIP stands for “Voluntarily Put Money ($) In Pot” and helps you understand how often your opponent is choosing to play.

If a player performs any voluntary action like raising, calling, or even limping, and chooses to play the hand, his VPIP stat increases.

Of course, if he’s sitting in the big blind and was forced to post it because of the game structure, but then folded to a raise, this does not count as an action and does not influence this stat.

While it only gives basic information, you can profile your opponents by how often they choose to play, since many recreational players opt to get involved with way too many hands making their range too weak.

If you notice these tendencies, it can help influence your final decisions.

2. RFI (Raise First In)

Preflop raise or raise first in (RFI) shows how often the player decides to enter the pot by raising when everyone before them folds.

While good players have similar VPIP and RFI stats, since they often enter the pot by raising if they decide to play, you will find opponents who have a wide gap between these numbers.

This is a huge indication of weaker players because they usually decide to limp or call a raise instead of raising, and take passive lines post-flop most of the time.

You should look to play as many hands as possible against these players, because they will usually call your bets and rarely bluff, so you will always know where you stand.

3. 3bet

This poker statistic shows how often a player decided to re-raise instead of calling or folding when someone already entered the pot by raising.

The higher the 3bet stat, the more aggressive your opponent is.

As a rule of thumb, you should be looking to play fewer hands against players with a high 3-bet percent because you will be forced to fold a lot when facing aggression.

It is better to avoid these situations with the weakest part of your range, and only play reasonable hands or add more 4-bet bluffs in the mix.

4. Fold to 3bet

Knowing how often your opponent folds to 3-bet after raising is one of the most important online poker statistics.

If you find opponents who are opening too many hands, they are also likely folding to 3-bet too often. If that’s the case, you can add many weak hands to your 3-betting range and exploit their mistakes.

Contrary to this, if these players choose to call many 3-bets after raising with a wide range, you can exploit it by 3-betting only a strong part of your range.

No matter what, knowing this stat will help you adjust against various opponents and put them in some tough spots.

5. Fold to steal

Fold to steal shows how often a player in the blinds folds when facing a raise, and is something you should evaluate when choosing which hands to play from later positions.

The player sitting in the big blind is especially important because they get the best odds and close the action, so will likely be your main competition.

If you find an opponent who is folding a lot, you can raise with more hands than you usually would, or even open every single one of them if the big blind is particularly weak and you find yourself on the button.

Of course, if you’re up against a tough opponent who’s not so keen on folding and chooses to 3-bet a lot, the best adjustment would be to fold your weaker hands and choose a tighter approach.

Knowing how often people fold to steal can be very valuable when choosing what hands you opt to play, so always consider your opponents and how they react to your raise.

6. C-bet

Continuation betting (known as c-bet) is a situation where the preflop raiser opts to continue his aggression and bet after the flop.

If you notice how often a specific player is c-betting, you can adjust your play against them and even build your entire strategy based on this information.

Even though c-betting is a very wide and complex topic, people rarely change their strategy and mostly keep doing the same things over and over again. If you caught someone c-betting too much or way less than they should, you could make simple adjustments and exploit irregularities in their play.

Thinking about your own strategy, one thing that you should avoid is c-betting too often and then being forced to fold almost your entire range after checking.

Instead, put some medium-strength hands in the checking range to protect it, and you will be a much tougher opponent to play.

7. Fold to c-bet

The name is self-explanatory. This poker statistic shows how often your opponent folds when facing a continuation bet.

Often players chose to play too many hands and then fold to any bet if they miss the flop, which is probably one of the worst strategies to have.

Against these players, you should forget about balancing and c-bet every single time you miss yourself to take advantage of their mistakes.

However, if you’re up against a player who’s not very keen on folding, the previous strategy would cost you a lot of money. Instead of betting all your bluffs, you should choose to continue with hands that have some equity and give up with complete air.

Of course, it’s not as simple as that, but knowing how often other players are folding on the flop can help you make superior decisions, so always observe your opponents.

8. Went to showdown

Went to showdown stat lets you see how often your opponent goes to showdown after seeing the flop.

If your opponent has high “went to showdown” stats of more than 35%, it means you should not try to bluff them. Instead, you should be value betting more medium-strength hands, because they are not going to fold if they have any piece of the board.

Contrary to this, if your opponents rarely go to showdown, it means they are only playing very strong hands after the flop, and you should be looking to punish them every time you get a chance to bluff.

Of course, it’s way easier to observe this in online games, where you can quickly see the difference. But even in a live setting, you will notice who is calling down no matter what and who is opting to check/fold most of the hands on the flop, so make adjustments based on that information.

9. Aggression % by street

I am referring to Flop Aggression %, Turn Aggression %, and the same stat for the river.

These numbers show how aggressive players are in any given street, and how often they perform an aggressive line by betting or raising, instead of calling or checking. It’s quite a good indication of how aggressive the player is in general.

While many have reasonably high aggression stats on the flop because of an automatic c-bet, you will find plenty of opponents who play later streets passively, and this is where you can take advantage.

You can categorize various players to see when you should be barreling multiple streets or when you should check your strong hands and let your opponent dictate the action.

Many aggressive players love to bluff, so give them a chance to lose their money.

10. River call

River call efficiently shows how often your opponent is calling with weak hands.

So, whenever you see a player with river call efficiency lower than 1, you know they’re losing money when calling on the river, which is quite hard to do because of all the strong hands players have in these situations.

When you notice something like that, you can be sure they are calling way too wide, thus can value bet more often.

A final word on poker statistics

All of these poker statistics should be in your HUD (heads-up display) when playing online. When playing live, the theory behind these poker statistics should still be observed to help you make better adjustments.  

Be sure to check out some more poker articles by Tadas, such as the 10 most common mistakes in Texas Hold’em or the most common poker cheats.

After a beginner’s guide? Check out this article on poker cheat sheets.

Lead image credit: PokerTracker

Skip to:

• Standard Poker Chip Values
• Poker Chip Values in Cash Games
• Poker Chip Values in Tournaments
• Special Chip Values and Sizes
• Poker Chip Values at Major Poker Tours
• Chip Values in a Home Game
• How to Stack Poker Chips

Standard Poker Chip Values

Here’s a look at some popular poker chip values you may find in poker rooms:

• White Chips: $1
• Red Chips: $5
• Orange Chips: $10
• Green Chips: $25
• Black Chips: $100
• Purple Chips: $500
• Dark Red Chips: $1,000

There are two different types of poker chips: cash game chips and tournament chips. The above values are common in cash games.

Cash game chips have direct monetary value and can be cashed out at the cage for the exact value they display. A $25 chip is worth exactly $25, and you can walk away from the table and cash this chip in for real money at any time.

On the other hand, tournament chips don’t have any real money value and can only be used for the duration of the tournament. At the end of the tournament, all chips are taken back by the casino and players are then paid out based on their finishing positions.

Tournament chips typically have higher denominations as well.

Poker Chip Values in Cash Games

Typically speaking, chips that can be used on the casino floor are also used at cash game tables.

There is no universal industry standard for the value of poker chips, but many major casinos use the same poker chip color values to help players easily adjust when switching to a new venue.

These are some of the most popular poker chip color values that can be found at cash game tables around the world:

• Grey or White Chips: $1
• Red Chips: $5
• Orange or Blue Chips: $10
• Green Chips: $25
• Black Chips: $100
• Purple Chips: $500
• Dark Red, Yellow or Orange Chips: $1,000
• Red-White-Blue Chips: $5,000
• Red-Blue Chips: $25,000
• Grey-Orange Chips: $100,000

Red, green, and black chips are staples of the poker world and are found in nearly every poker venue. The red poker chip value is $5, the green poker chip value is $25, and the black poker chip value is $100.

Chips with values of over $1,000 are less common, but the Red-While-Blue $5k chips offered by the popular Aria Poker Room in Las Vegas are the chosen currency of many high rollers.

Poker Chip Values in Tournaments

Tournament poker chips can come in varying denominations depending on the venue you’re playing at. Plus, different poker tours around the world usually have sets of chips designed specifically for that tour.

For these reasons, it’s particularly difficult to explain poker chip values in tournaments in a universal way. Our advice is to examine the chips carefully before you start playing.

Tournament chips universally display the chip value in the middle of the chip. This allows you to figure out what every chip is worth without having to ask the dealers or other players.

Remember, when you see a new chip introduced into play, find out what the chip is worth, even if you don’t have any for the time being. You don’t want to end up calling a big bet accidentally.

While poker chips are different at every venue, here’s a good example of how poker chip values are represented with different colors at the European Poker Tour (EPT):

• Green Chips: 25
• Black Chips: 100
• Purple Chips: 500
• Red Chips: 1,000
• Yellow Chips: 5,000
• Blue Chips: 10,000
• Grey Chips: 25,000
• Pink Chips: 50,000

Color-Up in Tournament Poker

An essential part of any poker tournament, especially one with a big playing field, is the color-up or chip-up process. This is where the tournament staff introduces bigger chips into play as the blinds go up.

For example, if you look at any big field tournament, you’ll see that players start with some small denomination chips in their stacks, including 25 chip and 100 chip values.

These poker chip values become obsolete once blinds go to 1k/2k and above, increasing in increments of 500 or 1,000.

For that reason, tournament staff will go through the chip-up process, exchanging players’ small denomination chips for higher denomination chips. This doesn’t influence the overall value of each stack.

Color-Up Example:

• You find yourself with 30 chips worth 100 at the 1k/2k level.
• The floorman takes your 30 chips and hands you three chips worth 1,000 each.
• You will still have 3,000 in chips, but 27 less physical chips to have to stack.

The chip-up process is most commonly used to remove the 25 and 100 poker chip values from play, but the 500 chips, 1,000 chips, and higher denomination chips are removed in some events.

The biggest events, like the WSOP Main Event, eventually use chips worth 1,000,000 and 5,000,000, forcing multiple chip-ups throughout the tournament.

Special Chip Values and Sizes

The difference between most poker chips at a single venue will be in the color and the number displayed on the chip. But on rare occasions, you’ll notice that very special chips are introduced, which also have a different size or shape.

Oversized circular poker chips are sometimes introduced at later levels of play in poker tournaments to help ensure that the players know exactly how many “big chips” each player has.

While common poker etiquette suggests players should stack their chips by color and in stacks of 20, 30, or 40, some players don’t adhere to this. Players may even shuffle their big chips in with smaller chips for deception purposes.

Oversized circular chips in a new color are introduced to ensure that such deception cannot occur.

In many cash game venues, oversized chips of a rectangular shape are also offered for similar reasons. Although this is mainly to ensure that the player does not put these into the pot unintentionally.

For instance, large $25,000 chips are used in some high-stakes games. These chips have a rectangular shape and are called plaques. Larger plaques worth $100,000 or more are used in some games as well.

Poker plaques and oversized chips can also be used in poker tournaments to represent bounties in KO events, as well as in cash games to represent time bank chips.

Poker Chip Values at Major Poker Tours

As we mentioned, all major poker tours have unique sets of poker chips that they use across all of their events.

WSOP, WPT, and EPT use such chip sets in order to ensure their regulars get accustomed to the poker chip values throughout the tour.

We’ve already shown you the poker chip values for EPT, so let’s check out how chips look at two more of the world’s most popular poker tours.

World Series of Poker Chip Values

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the biggest poker festival in the world. Its Main Event is still considered the true World Championship event.

The festival includes over 100 events every summer, along with some extra events in Europe and the Caribbean. One of the things all these events share are the poker chips and their colors and denominations.

Here’s a look at the most common poker chip colors you will find at WSOP and their value:

• Green WSOP Chips: 25
• Black WSOP Chips: 100
• Light Blue WSOP Chips: 500
• Yellow WSOP Chips: 1,000
• Orange WSOP Chips: 5,000
• Dark Green WSOP Chips: 25,000
• Lavender WSOP Chips: 100,000
• Beige WSOP Chips: 250,000
• Oversized Red WSOP Chips: 500,000
• Oversized Yellow WSOP Chips: 1,000,000
• Oversized Purple WSOP Chips: 5,000,000

World Poker Tour Chip Values

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is another one of the most popular tours. It features events on every continent and all year round.

WPT events are offered at different buy-in levels, but the poker chip values don’t change between these different events.

Here’s a quick look at the chips you will most commonly find at WPT tables and their colors and values:

• Black WPT Chips: 100
• Red WPT Chips: 500
• Yellow WPT Chips: 1,000
• Blue WPT Chips: 5,000
• Green WPT Chips: 25,000

Working Out Chip Values in a Home Game

To run a home game, you first need to figure out how to assign the correct number of each chip to each player.

If you’re running a private home game, you’ll need to have the stacks ready to go before the game starts.

Example 1:

Here’s a quick example of how you could set up the starting $200 stacks for a $1/2 cash game (the format most commonly played in home games):

Chip Color	Chip Value	Number of Chips
Grey	$1	20 ($20)
Red	$5	16 ($80)
Green	$25	4 ($100)

As the game starts, each player will have enough small chips to post the blinds, while half of their stack will be sitting in those four green chips with a higher value.

As the stacks get deeper, you can issue rebuys in black $100 chips or green $25 chips, while the dealer can exchange $5 chips for $1 chips as needed.

Example 2:

Here’s an example of how you can set up the chip stack for a deep-stacked $2/5 cash game with 250 starting blinds ($1,250 per player):

Chip Color	Chip Value	Number of Chips
Grey	$1	5 ($)
Red	$5	49 ($245)
Green	$25	20 ($500)
Black	$100	5 ($500)

In this example, we’re using only a few $1 chips since those will only be used to pay for the small blind. Note that the dealer will break up the $5 chips as the game goes on in order to take a rake if the game is raked.

As for the bigger chips, you want to have a lot of red and green chips in play since those will be used for most of the betting. The black chips can be added to the game as players purchase rebuys.

This is all fairly simple. The real complication comes when you try to run a tournament in a home game, especially if you don’t have appropriate tournament chips.

Whatever the denominations on the chips may be, you can quite easily turn cash game chips into tournament chips by assigning them a certain value.

Example 3:

If you want to run a home game poker tournament with 10,000 starting chips and starting blinds of 25/50, here is how you could distribute the poker chip values at the start:

Chip Color	Chip Value	Number of Chips
Green	25	20 (500)
Black	100	20 (2,000)
Blue	500	3 (1,500)
Yellow	1,000	6 (6,000)

Again, the exact poker chip value you assign to each chip is totally up to you, but if you already have chips with certain denominations on them, using them to represent those exact denominations is the best way to go.

If you’re planning to run poker tournaments on a regular basis, the above table is the best way to start. We’d also recommend purchasing a set of dedicated tournament chips with 25, 100, 500, 1,000, and possibly 5,000 denominations.

How to Stack Poker Chips

If you want to be taken seriously in live poker circles, you need to learn how to stack, shuffle, and riffle your chips. While these techniques are not a part of any poker strategy, they are useful tricks that will earn you some respect from your peers.

That said, many serious players purposefully stack their chips in silly ways and act like they don’t know how to riffle their chips to present themselves as less experienced than they really are.

In either case, stacking your chips properly is a part of poker etiquette. You should always stack your chips in even stacks of 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 chips per stack. Keep doing this throughout the game.

Other players will know how to read those stacks and quickly count out your chip stack without having to ask you how much you have. This helps speed things along, especially in tournaments where the blinds escalate.

Check out our poker articles for more tips.

Poker Chip Values FAQs

How much are poker chips worth?

While tournament poker chips don’t have any real money value, cash game chips can be converted into real money at face value. The number displayed on a cash game chip typically represents the dollar value of that particular chip.

What color poker chip usually has the highest value?

In many casinos, the $500 purple chips are the highest value chips, while many other casinos have significantly higher denominations on offer. At this time, the $100k Grey-Orange, $25k Red-Blue, and $5k Red-While-Blue chips spread by the Aria Poker Room are among the highest valued cash game chips.

What color poker chip usually has the lowest value?

In most poker rooms, $1 chips are the lowest valued chips. They typically come in white or grey.

How many chips do you start with in poker?

The number of chips you receive at the start of a poker game differs significantly between different games and venues. In cash games, you may receive as few as one chip to start with, which has a higher monetary value and can be broken up into smaller chips. In poker tournaments, you will typically start with about 50 chips of different values.

How do you assign poker chip values?

In a casino or poker room, the poker chip values will be displayed on the chips. In home games, it’s up to the organizers to decide on chip color value (see above).

Can you play poker without chips?

Yes! While chips are typically used as currency in live poker games, you can use other currencies, such as cash, to represent value at a poker table.

Lead Image: World Poker Tour/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0

The top players think nothing of dropping tens of thousands, or even more, in a playing session, knowing that they could easily win it back when they next sit down at the poker table.

But which professional poker players have the largest bank balances, taking into account winnings, endorsements, movie appearances, plus other income streams?

Take a look below to find out…

10. Antonio Esfandiari – $27 Million

At number 10 on this list of the richest poker players is Antonio Esfandiari, one of the best-known players on the poker circuit.

The former magician managed to win three World Series of Poker bracelets throughout his career, plus he’s won three WPT titles, with the first coming in 2004 at the L.A. Poker Classic.

Esfandiari’s biggest ever win came in 2012, when he won the “Big One for One Drop” tournament at the WSOP. This saw him win a massive $18,346,673 – at the time, the largest ever live poker prize.

At one point, he had earned more via tournament winnings than anyone else, until his title was taken by Daniel Negreanu.

Antonio Esfandiari net worth: $27 Million

9. Tony G – $36 Million

Tony G – real name Antanas Guoga – is one of the loudest, most outspoken poker players around.

He’s also a politician in the European Parliament, as well as a successful businessman. He’s never won a WSOP bracelet, however he has finished in the money 15 times.

During his poker career, Tony G has won several six-figure prizes. Most of his wealth comes from his business activities though.

He is the chief executive officer of Cypherpunk Holdings, an investment company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Tony G net worth: $36 Million

8. Justin Bonomo – $57 Million

Next up, we come to Justin Bonomo, who has found huge success in both live and online tournaments.

He’s a three-time WSOP bracelet winner and has cashed 55 times at the event. He has also won many large online events, including the Super High Roller Bowl Online in 2020.

Bonomo’s biggest ever win came when he won the “Big One for One Drop” tournament in 2018, which added $10 million to his bank account and made him the number one all-time live tournament money winner at the time.

Justin Bonomo net worth: $57 Million

7. Bryn Kenney – $57 Million

Bryn Kenney is an American player and perhaps one of the lesser known names on this list.

He has only won one WSOP bracelet, however he has finished in the money 32 times. He is number one on the list of the players with the highest tournament earnings ever, with winnings of over $55 million.

Kenney is perhaps best-known for winning the highest prize ever awarded at a poker tournament. He won over $20.5 million at the 2019 Triton Million charity event in London.

He actually came second, however he made a deal with eventual winner Aaron Zang when he was the chip leader, allowing him to win the larger prize.

Bryn Kenney net worth: $57 Million

6. Daniel Negreanu – $70 Million

Daniel Negreanu is the most famous poker player of all time. His personality has made him a huge hit with fans, and his skill has ensured he’s one of the richest poker players around.

“Kid Poker” has six WSOP bracelets and is the only player to be named WSOP Player of the Year twice. He’s also a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

Overall, Negreanu has won nearly $42 million in tournament prize money and has earned a considerable sum from sponsorship deals, with the biggest seeing him become the face of PokerStars.

Negreanu and PokerStars parted ways in 2019 though and he’s now an ambassador for GGPoker, which leaves many wondering which is the best poker room of the two. Check out our PS v GGPoker review to find out!

Daniel Negreanu net worth: $70 Million

5. Doyle Brunson – $75 Million

Doyle Brunson is known as one of the greatest names in poker history.

Throughout his career, he won 10 WSOP bracelets and won the Main Event twice, in 1976 and 1977.

The retiree also regularly played cash games at Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio, including a limit mixed poker game with $4,000/$8,000 blinds.

Overall, Brunson has earned over $6.1 million from live tournament winnings. How much he earned while playing high stakes cash games is unknown.

He’s also earned money from various other sources, including his book Super System, which is regarded as one of the best poker strategy books ever written.

Doyle Brunson net worth: $75 Million

4. Chris Ferguson – $80 Million

It would be fair to say that Chris Ferguson is not the most popular man in poker.

He was accused of being one of the people behind a massive Ponzi scheme at Full Tilt Poker, which stole around $444 million from players.

Even though he later came out with an apology, it was considered too little, too late by many.

Despite his shady behavior he is still a great player, having won the WSOP Main Event in 2000 in which he scooped a $1.5 million prize.

Overall, he has earned nearly $7 million throughout his career in live tournament winnings, with a large percentage of this figure coming from his 168 money finishes at the WSOP. ??

Chris Ferguson net worth: $80 Million

3. Sam Farha – $100 Million

Most players will recognize Sam Farha as the man who lost to Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 Main Event. 

The Lebanese poker player has bagged three WSOP bracelets over the years and although he does play tournaments, he’s better known as a high-stakes Omaha cash game player.

Farha’s biggest tournament win, aside from his prize for finishing second at the WSOP Main Event, is $488,241, which he won when finishing first at the 2010 WSOP $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship.

His wealth also comes from several business interests, TV and movie appearances, and writing books.

Sam Farha net worth: $100 Million

2. Phil Ivey – $125 Million

Many consider Phil Ivey to be one of the greatest poker players of all time. The American has managed to win 10 WSOP bracelets – only Phil Hellmuth has more.

He has also appeared at the final table of the Main Event, finishing 7^th in 2009. He has won one WPT title, plus has reached nine final tables.

Ivey has won numerous large prizes at tournaments, including AU$4 million for coming first at the 2014 Aussie Millions LK Boutique AU$250,000 Challenge.

Ivey is also a successful online player, plus he’s a superb high-stakes cash game player, once winning $16 million in three days playing against Texan billionaire Andy Beal.

Phil Ivey net worth: $125 Million

1. Dan Bilzerian – $200 Million

Bilzerian is a huge Instagram star and claims that most of his fortune has come from poker winnings, won playing ultra-high-stakes poker games.

Many are dubious of this claim though, as he received an unknown sum of money from a trust fund, plus has many business ventures, as well as a highly lucrative social media presence.

Bilzerian has made some big claims about his poker playing abilities, including that he made $50 million from poker in 2014 alone.

He has never won a major tournament, instead claiming that his money comes from cash games only. The social media sensation has also been arrested on various occasions.

Regardless of how he got his money though, he’s still the richest poker player in the world by far.

Dan Bilzerian net worth: $200 Million

If you are interested in playing poker, check out our online poker guide, or our top poker freerolls.

So today I’ll cover some of the top skills you can learn by playing poker and how they can improve your life both personally and professionally.

1. Managing Your Finances

Your bankroll is your single most important asset in poker, so being able to manage your money is vital if you want to succeed in the long run.

Poor bankroll management, playing higher than you can afford, or taking too many shots are the fastest ways to lose all your money.

This is a lesson many poker players have to learn on their own before realizing there’s simply no way around it.

On the bright side, learning to handle your bankroll in poker will help you prepare for other life situations.

You will learn key aspects of planning and distributing funds in the most efficient way, and even taking necessary risks. Whether in business or on a personal level, this is a very good skill to have.

2. Making Decisions Under Pressure

When playing poker, you’re under constant pressure as almost every decision you make can have significant future consequences.

Sometimes you’ll have to play several really tough hands in a row, and you’ll need to make your best decisions every single time. You can’t take a timeout, skip, or get help from a friend.

Although it can be hard and draining, with practice you’ll learn how to deal with high-pressure situations both in poker and other areas of your life. It will become second nature.

This is why many poker players move to industries like finance and investments after they retire. They become so used to dealing with constant pressure that they’re well suited to this sort of career.

3. Patience

Anyone who has played poker for a while has learned to be patient.

You’ll often have to sit around for long periods of time doing virtually nothing but folding and waiting for good cards or a good situation to appear.

Once you learn how to be patient at the tables, you’ll definitely be better equipped to apply it in other life situations.

Even if it’s just standing in line or waiting for a check, you’ll save yourself from unnecessary frustration about things you can’t change.

While everybody around you will be on edge, you’ll be standing there calmly, simply waiting your turn – because what else can you do?

4. Dealing With Any Situation

If there is one thing you will surely encounter when playing poker, it’s losing.

If you’re a good player, you won’t lose in the long run, but every player will have many, many losing sessions. That’s just the nature of the game.

And when you sit through countless losing sessions and keep playing at your best, you learn to keep your concentration and focus on things that matter instead of losing your temper.

This can be tough at first.

When bad sessions come one after another, it can knock your confidence – and your bankroll. It will make you feel powerless and you might even question your poker playing abilities.

But, if and when you get over these feelings, you’ll come out on the other side much stronger.

Most people don’t have to deal with this daily, so when they have to face a loss of any kind, they are likely to overreact.

You, on the other hand, will be much better equipped to deal with tough situations as they inevitably occur in your life.

5. Reading And Understanding People

Poker requires you to understand your opponents, their motivation, and their reasoning.

I’m not talking about making movie-like reads where you make a call based on the fact they raised their left eyebrow.

Rather, you’ll constantly be in a position to assess other players and think about their actions.

After a while, you’ll become much better at understanding people and their motivations, and not just at the tables.

Poker certainly does a good job of imitating life in certain aspects, and it will teach you to recognize emotions such as fear, anxiety, excitement, and more in others.

Being able to recognize these emotions is a valuable skill to have in your personal life and it can also be an asset in business, when you have to decide on someone you don’t know that well.

6. Making The Most Of The Hand You Are Dealt

There’s an expression you’re probably aware of: “Play the hand you are dealt.”

In life, just like in poker, sometimes you have to make the most out of a bad situation, and you don’t get to change your hand at will.

Unlike most people who never played the game, you will learn full well what this means.

Sometimes at the tables, you won’t get that big hand you’re waiting for and you’ll be forced to find the best possible scenario with a mediocre holding and go with it.

While not ideal, it certainly beats sitting around as your stack turns into nothing as blinds and antes go up, and you keep folding your way into oblivion.

This skill of taking charge of things and making your stand will help you in many life situations.

Instead of accepting things are bad and can’t be changed, you’ll be looking for ways to make the best of bad situations, be it on a professional or personal level.

7. Understanding Risk vs. Reward

Poker will teach you what you need to know about the risk vs. reward principle.

While you may have heard the saying that “tight is right” countless times, the fact of the matter is that you need to take calculated risks to make money at the tables.

Whether it’s in a cash game where you put real money on the line, or in a tournament where you’re trying to climb the pay ladder, almost every single decision you make has certain financial consequences.

Understanding and developing this skill is invaluable in business.

Instead of being reluctant to take any risks, or blindly jumping to an unknown situation, you will learn to calculate your possible rewards.

Poker will teach you how to assess such situations and make them as profitable as you possibly can.

8. Learning To Be More Assertive

Depending on your character, you may or may not be aggressive enough in your life.

I’m not talking about physical aggression, of course, but rather the type of aggression that is sometimes required to get you where you want to go.

For example, in business negotiations, you’ll sometimes need to be aggressive and push for what you want if you feel you can get it.

If this doesn’t come naturally to you, poker is a great environment where you can learn how to be more aggressive when needed.

Pulling a well-timed bluff or going for a bit of extra value where you feel your opponent is reluctant to fold will give you the kind of edge you want to have at the tables.

These skills translate very well to real life.

Next time you’re in a situation where you need to make that extra push, you’ll be ready for it.

You’ll be able to assess the situation correctly and do the right thing instead of backing off with the fear of losing what’s already on the table.

9. Improving Your Focus

With all the mobile phones, tablets, TV screens, and everything else all around us, it’s hard to stay focused on any single activity in this world of distractions.

Poker can be a great training field for your focus.

Most players tend to zone out when not involved in a hand and do something else while waiting for the new deal.

If you want to excel, though, you shouldn’t be one of those players. Instead, stay focused on what’s going on at all times.

Even if you’re not involved in a hand, you can pick up on a valuable piece of information from a hand developing between other players, which could come in handy later down the line when you do get involved in a pot with a particular opponent.

Learning how to keep your focus at the tables will translate well into other life situations. It will teach you to ignore distractions and be present.

It will take some time, practice, and effort, but developing this skill is almost guaranteed to make you much better at anything.

Improve Your Poker Game, Improve Your Life

Poker involves so many strategic, mathematical, and psychological elements, all of which require a great deal of skill.

If you take it seriously, the game will challenge you on many levels and will require constant growth and development if you want to succeed.

This is what makes poker so hard in the first place, but it’s also what makes it one of the most valuable and useful games to learn. It gives you skills that you can take into other personal and professional situations.

You don’t even have to become a professional poker player to take advantage of the game.

Even if you play casually but think about your decisions and work on improving, you’ll develop many of the skills discussed in this article.

So, on top of having a lot of fun when playing, you also reap other benefits that will help you succeed in your day-to-day life.

Casinos across the world invest a lot of time, money, and effort into security and generally manage to keep things safe and secure but, sometimes, things happen that not even the casino security team could have seen coming.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the biggest casino and poker room cheating scandals from recent years.

1. Counterfeit Chips at Borgata Winter Open

Security scandals are usually connected to casino games, which makes the Borgata story that much more interesting.

Back in 2014, a poker player named Christian Lusardi was arrested for introducing counterfeit chips into a Borgata Winter Open tournament.

According to the reports, Lusardi used the fake chips to top up his stack in the festival’s first event, which had $372,000 reserved for the winner.

Not surprisingly, he came in to the second day of the tournament as the chip leader.

However, Lusardi’s trickery was short-lived. Tournament officials quickly detected the surplus of chips and started an investigation while the event was still ongoing.

In full panic mode, Lusardi tried to get rid of the counterfeits by chucking them down the toilet. Naturally, this clogged the pipes, and it wasn’t long before the cause was traced back to Lusardi’s room.

Investigators found $2.7 million worth of chips in the pipes.

Fake chips were of 5,000 denominations and the tournament had to be stopped.

Lusardi was arrested shortly after at another hotel nearby, and he confessed to introducing $800,000 worth of fake chips into the event.

Lusardi was later charged with a different crime and consequently sentenced to five years in prison, and it seems he’ll never face the trial for the Borgata scandal.

2. An Inside Scheme That Cost Bellagio Over $1 million

Bellagio is one of the most iconic Las Vegas casinos and is loved by all types of players, from small stakes casuals to high rollers.

The venue employs some of the best security experts around, but even with all these measures in place, they fell victim to an elaborate scam back in 2016.

This particular scam was an inside job as it involved a craps dealer, Marc William Branco, and two of his friends.

The scam itself was quite simple. Branco’s accomplices would come to the table handled by their friend and announce high-value (hop) bets on particular roll combinations.

However, they did it in such a way that it was impossible to discern what their bet actually was. They would just mumble something that sounded like they were placing a hop bet.

When the roll was over, Branco would pay them as if that were the bet they announced regardless of what numbers fell.

This kept on happening for over two years.

The casino finally caught on after the duo took them for more than a million, guessing correctly in 76 instances over this period. The odds of this happening are 452 billion to 1, so alarm bells were ringing.

The trio was eventually charged with several crimes, and they each got at least four years in prison while also having to pay hundreds of thousands in restitution to the casino.

If they knew how to walk away while ahead, perhaps their scam would have never been uncovered.

3. A Video Poker Bug That Lost Casinos Hundreds of Thousands

Security flaws aren’t always specific to a location. Sometimes they can be tied to a particular game, especially if it’s electronic.

This is exactly what happened with Game King video poker machines, which featured a hard-to-find but fatal flaw – in all its machines across casinos in the US.

It was John Kane who discovered this bug in 2009 and shared it with his friend Andre Nestor. Together, the two took casinos for well over $500,000.

The bug itself wasn’t easy to find, and Kane stumbled upon it by accident.

However, if anyone were to find it, it would be Kane, as he spent countless hours playing video poker in the years prior, losing a lot of money in the process.

What he stumbled upon, though, was a real game-changer.

Kane discovered that he could change the credit denomination on the game after a big win, and it would pay the jackpot based on the new denomination.

So, he could play for a royal flush on a $1 denomination and then switch it up to $10 or $20 when he made the hand for a massive payout.

It sounds simple but the process to actually do this involved switching between game variations, and for the bug to work, the machine had to have the double-up feature enabled.

But the duo figured all this out and managed to perfect their method.

Eventually, the casinos clocked on.

Kane was arrested first at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas, and the police picked up Nestor at his home in Pennsylvania.

But, even though the investigation revealed what they were doing, the prosecutors had a very weak case against the two.

After all, they didn’t use any outside devices or tamper with the machines in any way. Their defense was they simply pressed the buttons, which was what you’re supposed to do on a video poker machine.

In the end, the case was dropped, and neither was convicted. Casinos couldn’t retrieve a majority of their losses, so you could say these two pretty much got away with it.

And, since this security flaw was present in pretty much all Game King cabinets, we can only assume that at least a few more gamblers were able to discover it and take advantage of it.

4. Mike Postle Poker Cheating Scandal

One of the biggest security scandals to rock the poker world took place in 2018 and 2019 at the Stones Gambling Hall, bringing to question the use of RFID cards and live streaming.

The main protagonist of this scandal was Mike Postle, the man who kept winning game after game, pulling in big pots and making incredible plays that left other players and commentators scratching their heads.

Games from the Stones Gambling Hall were streamed live on YouTube and other media channels, allowing viewers to watch the action as it unfolded.

To live stream the games, the organizers used cards equipped with RFID chips, allowing them to identify players’ hole cards and display them for the audience.

Over the period of time, the Stones Gambling Hall hosted many players, some regulars and some guests, and all of them had varying results, as is normal in poker.

Only Postle kept on winning, with virtually no losing sessions.

At first, some people believed that he was just running super-hot, while others thought the poker world had perhaps uncovered another great talent.

But as time passed, it became more and more obvious that something sinister was happening behind the scenes.

Eventually, Veronica Brill, who did some commentary for the live stream and had played in some games herself, came out publicly accusing Mike Postle of cheating.

She accused him of having access to the RFID data, which would allow him to know other players’ hole cards, explaining his stellar results.

What ensued could be described as one of the biggest controversies in modern poker history.

Postle, of course, denied accusations, and there was no solid evidence to back the cheating claims.

His results were way above the expectation, and his demeanor at the tables was suspicious. He’d often look down during hands as if he were trying to read something from his phone.

The poker public had a lot of fun with the latter, saying that perhaps he simply enjoyed looking at his crotch.

The case went to court, but charges were eventually dismissed. Although most players were convinced there was cheating going on, no one could find any real evidence.

It was all pretty circumstantial, at least as far as courts were concerned.

Postle had seemingly got away with it but then decided to file a defamation lawsuit against anyone and everyone who said anything bad about him, including some of the players involved in the original lawsuit, asking for millions in damages.

These suits were dismissed as frivolous, and then Veronica Brill and Todd Witteles (another player Postle went after) sued once again, this time demanding to have their legal fees covered.

With this debt amounting to over $50,000 and whatever money he might owe to his own legal team (who also abandoned him in the process), it seemed Postle was on the verge of financial ruin and inches away from involuntary bankruptcy.

A “confidential settlement was reached” in December 2021, finally putting an end to the whole legal saga.

5. Casino Security Expert Cheated Slot Machine Code

Casinos, game developers, and various control boards go above and beyond to ensure all games found on casino floors are safe and cheater-proof.

But what happens when one of the people in charge of making things secure goes rogue?

As you could well imagine, this can be a real nightmare for the casinos.

Ronald Dale Harris was an employee of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the state’s supervisory body for all things gambling.

He was a computer expert whose job was to write anti-cheating software for slot machines during the early 1990s.

It appears that Harris was a pretty good programmer, as he managed to change the source code of some slot machines without anyone noticing.

? 12 Sneaky Ways To Cheat At Slots

With these changes, slots were primed to pay huge wins after a player would insert coins into them following a very specific sequence.

Once slots were shipped out, he shared this secret with several accomplices, who then proceeded to win hundreds of thousands of dollars from Las Vegas Casinos between 1993-95.

In the end, Harris was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison, but only because one of his accomplices ratted him out to the police when he was caught cheating in a game of keno in Atlantic City.

In addition to serving prison time, Harris also made it to the infamous “black book” which means he’s barred from entering any casinos in Las Vegas.

A Game Of Cat And Mouse

These primarily read as entertaining stories, but they can also be observed as cautionary tales, as you should never let your guard down when in a casino and must always stay alert.

There will always be someone looking to cheat their way into easy money, and you can’t always trust the casino security to save you from trouble.

As we’ve seen in this article, no matter how hard people in the gaming industry work to try and protect themselves, even the biggest casinos and the best-organized events can become victims of cheaters.

The battle between swindlers and security staff is always ongoing and probably will never end.

But, at the very least, we’ll get some good stories out of it!

Lead image: Shutterstock

As a result, there’s a fairly large grey zone where the rules aren’t quite clear enough, opening up space for a practice known as “angle shooting” where people bend the rules for their advantage.

In this article, we’ll cover what angle shooting means in poker, some of the more common angle shoots, and how to protect yourself at the tables.

What Is Angle Shooting?

Angle shooting in poker is when someone does things that are questionable or unethical – but not strictly against the rules – to try and get an edge over another player.

While the practice is generally frowned upon by the community, there are plenty of players who’ll take their chances walking the fine edge between what is and isn’t allowed.

Why Is Angle Shooting Bad?

As mentioned, there is a fair number of players who don’t see anything wrong with angle shooting.

Their reasoning is that if they aren’t breaking the rules, it’s no big deal.

The problem with this line of thinking is that poker is a game of people.

Just because something isn’t technically breaking the rules, it doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.

In every specific life setting, there is usually a set of unwritten rules that you are expected to follow. The same goes for poker etiquette.

And poor poker etiquette for the sake of gaining a small, short-term edge won’t win you any popularity points.

Angle shooters usually aren’t looked upon kindly, and other players will try to avoid them as much as possible.

In fact, it can even prevent you from getting into some of the best games if you get a reputation for it.

This is because angle shooting can create a toxic environment where recreational players, who are crucial for the games to run, refuse to sit down and would rather spend their time and money doing something else.

It negatively impacts everyone, including persistent angle shooters, who have no one to blame but themselves.

5 Common Angle Shoots To Look Out For

Although most of the poker community play by the rules, there will always be some players who try to cut corners and take advantage of unsuspecting victims.

So be prepared by getting to know some of the most common angle shoots in poker.

1. Going South

“Going south” is when someone secretly removes chips from the table during a live cash game.

? 57 Poker Terms And Slang Phrases You Need To Know

For example, a player wins a big $2,000 pot playing $1/$2, and they decide they don’t want to risk it all in later hands.

So, they remove a few hundred from the table when no one is looking.

In most poker rooms, this isn’t allowed, but penalties for going south are usually quite mild.

Another problem is that it’s hard to prove if you don’t notice it immediately.

This is one of the most common angle shoots you’ll encounter when playing live cash games as there are players out there who do it routinely.

The reason why this practice is frowned upon is that all chips that are at the table should be in play at all times, unless a player decides to get up and leave.

Sadly, calling someone out for going south can cause a lot of tension at the table and lead to some unpleasant situations.

That’s why many players decide to let it go and allow others to get away with it to keep the game going and avoid any drama.

2. Intentionally Hiding Big Denomination Chips

Another fairly common practice both in tournaments and cash games involves hiding big denomination chips behind the lower-value stacks.

By doing this, the angle shooter fools their opponents into believing they have fewer chips than they actually have, which can significantly impact someone’s strategy.

For example, you find yourself in a hand against someone you believe only has 15 big blinds.

You flop a top pair with a decent kicker, and when they bet into you, you decide to put them all in.

It’s only after they make the call that you see with horror the full stack of big chips sliding from behind.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do at this point.

While the other player was supposed to keep their big denomination chips in the clear view, the usual punishment for this is a slap on the wrist for them (maybe a few hands away from the table in a tournament and pretty much nothing in a cash game).

It’s one of the reasons you’ll hear experienced players often ask someone how much they have left.

It may be annoying at times, but it helps avoid these things from happening.

When something like this happens to you in a big tournament, and ends up being the reason you bust, it really feels bad.

So, be sure to protect yourself, especially against players you know have done this in the past.

3. Pump Fake

In poker, information is gold, and obtaining the relevant information during a hand isn’t always easy.

So, some players will go to extra lengths to try and gauge a reaction from their opponent – including bending the rules.

The pump fake is one of the most common moves from this category.

This is when the angle shooter will pick up a stack of chips and move them forward while holding them in their hand, seemingly announcing a bet or a raise.

However, at the last moment, they’ll pull the stack back and put it down with the rest of their chips.

This move is treated differently at different venues.

At some places, you can’t get away with this kind of behavior, as any forward motion with your chips will be binding.

However, some casinos and poker rooms aren’t as strict and won’t force the player to stick to their action.

The main goal of this move is to try and gauge a reaction.

Lesser experienced players may even go ahead and fold their hands immediately when they see the big stack of chips in the opponent’s hand, which gives the angle shooter a massive advantage.

If they don’t get the desired result with their pump fake, they’ll take the bet back and reconsider.

Most casinos won’t let someone get away with this repeatedly.

So if you find yourself at a table where someone is doing this over and over again, make sure to complain to the floor.

Even if there isn’t a specific rule to address the issue, they’ll usually talk to the player and warn them that if they do it again, their action will stand.

4. Mis-Declaring A Hand At A Showdown

Once all the bets are in and there is no action left, it’s time for cards to speak.

However, some players like to do the actual speaking before letting their cards do it, and they do it to get you to muck your hand.

Say your opponent bets, you call, and they announce a “full house.”

Even before they turn their hand, you throw your cards into the muck, only to see them turn over Ace-high.

You’re in shock that someone would lie so blatantly at a poker table, but this isn’t all that uncommon.

If you call the floor, they can always say they were just joking.

Again, they might get a notice, while you may be out of a huge pot and a lot of money.

If a player was honestly just messing about, they might let you retrieve your hand or just straight up give you the pot. But don’t count on it.

Even if such behavior is bad, it’s your responsibility to protect yourself against it as much as humanly possible.

To protect yourself from this particular type of “cheating,” you should never release your hand until all cards are face up.

If you’re first to show, table your hand unless you’re certain you can’t win.

Don’t believe what anyone tells you, unless it’s someone you’ve known for years and you can be certain they’d never pull such trick on you.

Someone repeatedly miss-declaring their hand at a showdown will probably run into problems, but they don’t need to do it all the time.

If they pull it off in one big pot, it’s already given them a huge advantage.

It’s up to you to take matters into your own hands here; don’t count on anyone else to protect you.

5. Acting Out of Turn

This is another move aimed at getting extra information.

For example, a player may bet, and while you’re pondering what to do, you hear an angle shooter announce a call or a raise.

This sneaky trick is designed to confuse you into making a wrong decision.

Of all angle shoots out there, this is the least elaborate and least effective one.

It only works if they succeed in their intentions of confusing you.

Otherwise, they’ve just given you an extra piece of information you can work with.

For example, in most poker rooms verbal actions are binding, even if they act out of turn and the action before them doesn’t change.

So if one player bets and you hear someone declaring a raise behind you while you’re sitting there with a strong hand, you can just make a call.

Now, the player who acted out of turn will be forced to raise, and when the action gets back to you, you can spring your trap.

What I will say is that you shouldn’t feel bad about the poor guy acting out of turn when you’re sitting there with a monster.

Often, they’re doing it deliberately, not by accident, so let them have a taste of their own medicine.

Being a nice guy at the table is completely fine, but don’t let others take advantage of you.

Keep Yourself Safe From Poker Angle Shooters

There will always be some degree of angle shooting involved in poker.

With a game that revolves around outsmarting your opponents, this is pretty much inevitable.

Some behaviors are acceptable and tolerated, while others, like the ones described in this article, should be avoided at all costs.

If you spend a fair bit of time playing poker, especially in the live setting, you’re bound to run into all sorts of situations.

Hopefully, with this guide, you’ll be better prepared to handle them and avoid being taken advantage of at the tables.

And as we all know from the infamous Phil Ivey case, casinos don’t take kindly to players using the technique.

But what is it and how does it work?

Keep reading to understand more about edge sorting and what went down with Phil Ivey.

What Is Edge Sorting?

Edge sorting is an advantage play technique used mostly in baccarat, where players make use of imperfections on the backs of cards to help identify specific ones, giving them an edge over the casino.

Edge sorting requires a defective decks of cards – cards with slightly different patterns or cuts – and some seriously impressive vision.

The playing cards seem perfectly normal at first glance, but the patterns on their backs aren’t symmetrical.

While many decks have a standard image and border on the back, many use a series of circles or diamonds instead.

When the cards are cut, they aren’t 100% symmetrical, with one side of the card showing the full circle or diamond, while the other shows half of the shape.

Just seeing this difference in pattern doesn’t do anything, though, so you need to do the ‘sorting’ part.

When one card is rotated 180 degrees, two cards can be distinguished from one another.

As you can’t be sorting through cards in the casino, this needs to be done with a keen eye or by making use of clever requests and techniques to make it happen.

How Edge Sorting Works

Someone looking to take advantage of this defect firstly needs to find a casino where defective cards are being used.

While most manufacturers try their best to avoid such mistakes, it does happen.

So, once the player knows about the typical make of card decks with this defect and they find a casino using them (or convince the casino to use these decks), they can set their plan in motion.

This technique works very well for punto banco (variation of baccarat), the game where you gain a big advantage if you can identify big (face) cards from regular ones.

During the course of the game, the player will ask the dealer to rotate face cards.

They can do this under a guise of superstition, and if the dealer is unaware of what’s going on, they’ll usually indulge the player, especially if the request comes from a high roller.

Once the shoe is out, all cards will be positioned just right. High cards will be rotated one way, and low cards will be rotated the other way.

So, when the deal begins again, the player will be able to distinguish between low (especially 6s through 9s) and high cards and place their bets on the more favorable side.

For this strategy to work, it’s also essential that the casino uses an automatic card shuffler as the machine will not rotate cards during the shuffle.

If this process were done manually by the dealer, the entire setup would be spoiled, and the player would get no advantage.

Is Edge Sorting Illegal?

Although the lines are blurred around whether it’s a form of cheating, edge sorting isn’t illegal.

Most laws stipulate that cheating has to involve some sort of interference with the game.

With edge sorting, players aren’t using any special tools or even physically touching the cards, so there are no elements of cheating as such.

However, while it’s very unlikely for someone to be prosecuted for doing this, they are equally unlikely to get their money if the casino catches on to them – and it seems that most courts side with the casinos on that particular matter.

How Phil Ivey Used Edge Sorting

Edge sorting became well known back in 2012 when Phil Ivey was accused of using it during high stakes baccarat sessions in Atlantic City and London.

During four visits to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in New Jersey he pulled in about $9.6 million, and followed that with a four-day baccarat binge at Crockfords in London where he made nearly $10 million.

When the casinos investigated these huge wins, they claimed he cheated. Ivey admitted to using edge sorting but claimed it was legitimate.

So how did he do it?

Namely, in 2012, Ivey took Crockfords for ￡7.7 million ($9.6 million) playing high stakes baccarat.

The casino was suspicious and refused to pay out, giving Ivey only his ￡1 million deposit back.

It later came to light that the high roller and his accomplice, Cheung Yin Sun, used edge sorting during their sessions.

They’d asked for a specific brand of playing cards with a distinct white-circle pattern on the back.

They asked to use a shuffling machine and, once completing the shoe, they asked to keep using the same decks.

Their strangest request?

In the first round of games, they had the dealer rotate all the 7s through 9s, the most valuable cards in baccarat, as they first came out of the shoe.

As mentioned already, casinos often indulge the superstitions and good-luck rituals gamblers request.

Considering how much Ivey was wagering per hand, of course they wanted to keep him at the table and didn’t mind abiding by his strange quirks.

Ivey decided to take them to court asking for his winnings to be paid in full.

He never once tried to deny they were using edge sorting – he simply saw nothing wrong with it as it wasn’t cheating.

UK courts didn’t see it that way, though.

Although they didn’t say Ivey was cheating, they all agreed that he had no proper claim to the money.

They concluded he was purposefully dishonest, asking the dealer to rotate cards under false pretenses (claiming he was superstitious), which interfered with the regular flow of the game.

Ivey not getting paid his winnings sucked for the high roller, but it wasn’t as bad as the suit from Borgata Casino that emerged soon after the edge sorting story hit the headlines.

After getting wind of what happened in the UK, the Atlantic City Casino filed suit against Ivey, asking for $9.6 million back – the amount Ivey won playing punto banco at Borgata between April and October 2012.

The ball was on the other side of the court in this case as Ivey had already been paid his money and Borgata was trying to get it back.

Of course, Ivey wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and a long legal battle ensued.

In 2018, the battle came to an official end, as the court decided Borgata was in the right and gave the casino the green light to go after Ivey’s assets.

This wasn’t something that came as a huge surprise and Ivey was clearly ready for it, as Borgata found the zero balance in his New Jersey account after the court ruling allowed them to go after his money.

However, they did manage to get some of it back thanks to his performance at the 2019 World Series of Poker, where Ivey had his $124,410 in winnings seized by the Borgata Casino.

He’s one of the richest poker players in the world, although it’s presumed his cash is not located in US banks.

??Find out why Casino.org’s scams and cheating expert, R.Paul Wilson, doesn’t believe Ivey should have been punished for cheating.

Remember: The House Always Wins

While different variations of edge sorting may have been around for a while, it wasn’t until relatively recently that the technique became known to the general public, primarily because of Ivey’s high profile case.

This will probably force card manufacturers to pay much more attention to their production process and avoid these types of errors in the future.

The public opinion remains somewhat divided on the topic.

While some believe there is nothing wrong with edge sorting and is the casino’s fault, others think that cheating is cheating, no matter how you try to wrap it.

At the end of the day, it turns out that you really can’t beat the casino in their own game.

Even if you find an edge, they’ll likely find a way to get their money back one way or another.

Of course, this has never stopped people from trying, and they’ll continue to try in the future, no matter how unfavorable the odds may seem.