Wed, 08/17/2011 – 06:07 – PokerPages Staff

As a beginner poker player, the chances of you being the underdog are very high. This, of course, is not the best situation. However, there are certain tactics that can help you out.

Creating the right image

Try and pigeonhole yourself as a tight player. Only play very good hands at first, so that with any large bets you present your opponents fold. Once you’ve made this impression, you can bluff as much as you want and win yourself some small pots.

Choose the right buy-in

Don’t choose a buy-in that is too large for you. Your betting will be tainted with fear and you probably won’t make the right decisions. However, if you’re at such a table, a good move is to convince your opponents that you’re not afraid to lose. For example, if you know your opponent won’t call, go all-in. This will make the other players more wary.

Playing the fish

If you’re the only beginner poker player at the table, your opponents will no doubt underestimate your skill. Play with this assumption and make yourself look worse before taking all their money. The traits of a fish are running after flush draws and holding onto aces. If you discover you always have the ace and suited cards, you can bluff a lot of pots.

Visit PokerSchoolOnline for more betting information and advice or try out your poker skills and some free bets at PokerStars.net.

Tue, 08/16/2011 – 10:21 – PokerPages Staff

As a beginner poker player, bet sizing can be one of the hardest aspects of the game to get to grips with. In order to win as well as you can, you need to be able to place good bets. It’s an important aspect to all types of no limit poker.

When placing bets, you need to think of them in relation to how big the pot currently is. This is due to the fact that your poker bets will dictate what your opponent’s pot odds are. If they then call with incorrect odds, you make a profit.

The general rule is if you have a good hand and think that the other players have bad hands you should bet about ¾ of the pot. This is because by doing so you give your opponents wrong pot odds, which means you win more money.

It’s not advantageous to bet half the pot or less, because a weak bet usually means that you lose value on your hands and risk being outdrawn by the other players. However, if you think that this won’t happen and that your opponents will call a smaller bet, you can risk it.

A major mistake, which can be made by a beginner poker player, is making minimum bets and raises. If you do this before a flop, most players will call you. It’s always safer to make strong bets or just not bet.

For more advice visit PokerSchoolOnline – the Internet’s #1 poker education website. Or, to put your betting skills to the test for free, go to PokerStars.net.