Check Out These Great Poker Tips For New Players

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) always attracts new players to the game. Seeing people of all ages, shapes and sizes, from around the world winning vast sums of money is a significant lure. You may be one of the new players discussed here, or you may be relatively new to poker. We have some great tips for you as a beginner as you start your journey towards WSOP glory.

Playing too many hands is one of the most common issues with new players’ games. Their only insight into poker stems from TV, where several days’ action is compressed into an hour-long show. This leads new players to believe poker is only about bluffing and showing down monster hands. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Having a strict starting hand policy is your first step into becoming a winner in poker. Playing strong hands pre-flop leads to easier decisions after the flop. Less complex decisions mean fewer mistakes. Fewer mistakes mean you keep hold of your bankroll longer! See where we are going with this?

Completely new players should wait for aces, kings, queens, and ace-king in early and middle position, before working in suited aces and other pairs in the latter positions. This is a super-tight range, but one that allows you to take in the game and learn from those around you while you wait for playable hands.

New Players Need Good Game Selection

New players want to jump straight into the action and splash around in some pots. They should not. Game, table, and seat selection are super important yet so often overlooked by recreational players.

There is no point being the sixth-best No-Limit Hold’em player in the world if you constantly play against the top five players! You may as well set fire to your money.

Those new to the game will not have a skill advantage over most, if not all, their opponents. This makes game selection even more critical. Watch the game play out for a few minutes and watch how aggressive it is. Are there lots of raising and three-betting pre-flop? Are players going crazy post-flop? New players should stay away from these aggressive games.

Do Not Be Afraid to Fold

The late Kenny Rogers famously sang, “you gotta know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em,” which is true in poker. New players often get married to their hands and refuse to fold. For example, they hold Ks-Kc and face bets and raises on every street of the Th-9h-3s-Jc-6h board and still call the river. They are scared of folding a big pair and being wrong. Do not be.

Folding saves you a lot of money in the long term. Obviously, you cannot fold strong hands every time you face some resistance, but be prepared to let your hand go if everything points to your opponent beating you.

This brings us nicely onto bluffing, something new players do far too often! Although it is true you cannot enjoy a career in poker without bluffing, your career will be over quickly if you bluff too much.

Do you remember how we said new players should play a very tight range of hands pre-flop? Doing so gives them some perfect opportunities to bluff their opponents. Observant players will put you in the tight or very tight category and play against you accordingly. Use this to your advantage.

For example, you have not played a hand for some time and are in a pot against a player you know is vastly more experienced than you. Consider raising his bet on the flop, even if it completely missed your hole cards. Your thinking opponent will give you credit for holding an absolute monster hand and will likely give up on the pot there and then.

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

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