Playing poker is not as easy as it seems. It is hard to master the game and this page will give you exactly what you’re looking for- Tips and Tricks to Win your next poker game.

Poker is a mathematical game, and it’s a game of incomplete information. That may sound complicated, but it really isn't. The game of poker requires patience, practice and strategic thinking. In order to win you need more than just a good hand. You need solid strategies to help you become a winning poker player.

Having a strong hold on the basics of the game is the first step to playing any game. Knowing the rankings of cards and having 2-3 game experience will help you get your basics in place. Once you're confident with the basics, it's easier to focus on strategy. And once you have a strategy, voila you become a strong contender.

Keeping an eye on your opponent’s cards is as important as playing your game. Watch how your opponent is playing. Try to understand their body language.Do they raise often? Do they fold when pressured? This will help you edit your strategy according to the game.

One of the biggest mistakes a player makes is playing too many hands. An experienced player knows that folding is just as important as making your next move.

If you can stay calm under a demanding game, half of the battle is already won. Stay calm, avoid emotional reactions, and make your decision based on logic, not how you’re feeling at that time.

Emotional play results in poor decisions and lost money. Tilting and steaming can happen to anyone, and sometimes the only cure is a break from the game.

Having a good hand selection is important. But you will also find situations where a well-timed bluff could win you a pot you might otherwise lose. When a poker player bluffs, they are attempting to get their opponent to fold the best hand.

A successful bluff will convince your opponent that you hold cards that will beat them, so it’s important to consider how your play looks to them. When bluffing, make sure that you think through the whole hand to see if the story you are telling makes sense. If you just decide to put a bet out there as your last hope to win the pot then the chances are high that a smart opponent will see through it.

Odds are a way of expressing the probability of something happening. Now let’s look at a common situation in a poker game: you have four clubs and are waiting for that last club to fall on the river, which will make you flush and win you the pot. There are 13 clubs in a 52-card deck, and two of them are in your hand and another two are on the board, leaving nine clubs remaining. Discounting the two cards in your hand and the four on the board, there are 46 cards that could come on the river, nine of which will win you the pot - these nine cards are known as your ‘outs’.

So the odds of you making the flush are 37/9 (37 cards of the 46 cards will not make your flush, while nine cards will). This ratio of 37 to 9, and therefore your chances of making your flush, are approximately 4 to 1.

We’ll use the example above to explore the idea of ‘pot odds’ - the ratio of chips you can win versus the chips you need to put in the pot. Let’s say you’re heads up against one opponent, waiting to hit your last club on the river. There’s 10 already in the pot, and your opponent bets their last 10. You can call, hoping to hit the club, or fold. What is the correct play? Figuring out the math is easier than you think.

In this situation you’re being asked to pay 10 to try to win 20 - that’s pot odds of exactly 2 to 1. But as we know, the odds of you hitting your flush are closer to 4 to 1. Taking a 4/1 risk for a payout of only 2/1 is a bad play, you should fold your flush draw.

But what if there was already 90 in the pot when your opponent put in their last 10? In that case, you’d be asked to pay 10 to try and win 100 - pot odds of exactly 10 to 1. Being offered a payout of 10/1 when taking a 4/1 risk is a good move, in this instance you should call.

One of the things that makes poker such a fascinating and fun game is the sheer variety of different approaches, styles and ways to play. Most styles can be broken down into a combination of the following:

• ‘Tight’: an approach that values caution, playing relatively few hands and not taking too many risks.
• ‘Loose’: the opposite of tight, playing a lot of hands with a greater willingness to gamble.
• ‘Aggressive’: an approach that involves a lot of betting, opening pots and making big bets to put others under pressure.
• ‘Passive’: the opposite of aggressive, calling more often than betting, letting the opponent dictate how the action unfolds.

These are basic types, if you don’t fit in any then don’t worry. Maybe you’re set to add another interesting type to the above list. Think about your own approach when you play poker.

If your answer is ‘all of them and none of them’, you’re onto something. The ability to ‘change gears’ and switch up your style at the poker table is extremely useful, as playing any style too rigidly will make you predictable. However, we recommend that players starting out should try to focus on a ‘tight-aggressive’ combination.

The dealer, or ‘button’, is usually the last player to act in a betting round, and acting last is a tactical advantage as you already know how your opponents have acted. The dealer position changes after every hand so this advantage is shared between all players to help keep the game fair.

To use this tactical edge in your favour, it’s generally wise to play more hands when in ‘late’ position (e.g. after most players have already acted) than ‘early’ position. Good players will often relax their starting hand requirements in late position, as the added benefit of position affords them greater flexibility and more options as the hand plays out.

If you’re playing opponents who have to act before you, it is said that you ‘have position’ on them, while they are ‘out of position’. This advantage can be significant.