How to Win Poker – Best Poker Tips for Winning Games

Knowing how to win at poker is imperative, whether it’s a freeroll tournament or a game of Texas Hold’em. Using table statistics and bet sizing are some of the top tips for winning. Before you play live against others , you must have a strategy. Learn about Game Theory Optimal and other systems on this page.

How to Win at Poker: Getting Started

It’s important to know how to play poker before you fill your head with strategy concepts like bet sizing. Many beginners seem to miss this step before they go off hunting a full house or catching community cards. They get blinded by the potentially profitable moves they can make and forget about the fundamentals.

So, even before you learn basic poker strategy, ensure you know how to play poker. Our guides show you how. Once you’ve got a foundation to build on, these are the proverbial bricks you need to build a system of ways to win in poker.

How to win Poker

Picking the Righ Games

Always aim to be one of the best players at the table. Learning how to play Texas Hold’em poker online is great because there are dozens of different games to choose from. A good poker player knows what stakes to look for and who to play against.

The lobby tells you how passive/aggressive players are. Look for tables where players are playing a lot of hands (high VPIP % or high Flop %) but not raising very much (low PFR %).

Look for the Fish

Learning how to win online poker is about using all the information. Previously, the only way to find weak players (aka fish) was to sit and watch games.

Of course, there are times when spotting fish in live games is easy. You may know what a big blind is and that a straight flush beats a full house. But do you know how to exploit weak hands and exploit poor players?

It takes just a few seconds to find a weak poker player online. Firstly, you can use online poker sites that attract players with below-average skills. Offshore poker sites with casinos or sportsbooks attached usually fall into this category.

Use Tracking Software

You can also use tracking software and table stats. Look at the statistics relating to the number of poker hands people play. Then, compare this to how many times they bet or raise during a card game.

Fish often play multiple hands without raising significant funds. Learning how to win at Texas Hold’em Poker involves targeting the right players and making the correct moves. You’ll have a much better chance of winning if you can find players who are weaker than you, so always look at the stats.

Bet Sizing

Mathematical strategy poker books break down the intricate details of how to bet correctly,  based on your objectives.

For example, if you know someone calls a lot on the river, it’s more profitable to bet the size of the pot – or over the pot – than anything smaller. The main thing to remember is that your bet and raises sizing matters when you’re playing Pot Limit and No Limit games.

That’s why one of our top Texas Hold’em tips is to size your bets based on the amount of money in the pot. For example, the standard pre-flop bet is 2.3x to 3x the big blind. The standard pre-flop raise/3-bet is approximately 3x the previous bet.

Pots and Stacks

The amount you bet post-flop needs to be based on whether you want an opponent to call, raise, or fold. Once you’ve got your intention set, take these two variables into account:

Bet an Amount That Aligns With the Size of the Pot

For example, if there’s $100 in the pot and you bet $25, your opponent has to call $25 to play for a $125 pot. That means your opponent has pot odds of 5/1. Think about how attractive these odds are for your opponent. If you want them to call, make the odds attractive. If you want them to fold, make the pot odds unattractive.

Bet an Amount Based on Your Stack Size and an Opponent’s Stack

A bet that equates to a significant percentage of your stack suggests you’re confident. Why? Because you’re committed to going all-in. The same is true if the bet represents a significant percentage of your opponent’s stack.

Table Image

One thing almost all novices miss when they’re learning how to play poker is that people watch every move you make. Consider how you’re being perceived and think about your table image.

For example, you might get five good hands in a row and play them all aggressively. No one else at the table will know that you had five strong hands if you don’t go to a showdown. Therefore, they’ll probably assume you’re a loose-aggressive player.

Your table image is based on people’s perceptions. If they think you’re a loose player, they will likely play back at you and vice versa. This means you need to think about how your actions affect what people think about you and adjust accordingly.

Reading Tells

Everyone has tells. Tells are behavioral patterns that give away something about poker hands. One of the best ways to win in poker is spotting tells and reducing the number of tells you give off. Spotting tells in other people allows you to better understand their poker hands.

It’s important to note that live poker tells differ from online tells. That’s pretty obvious because you can’t see people online. In live games, physical gestures might be more important than betting patterns. When you’re playing online, all you’ve got to go on are betting patterns.

In the interests of showing you how to win in poker, regardless of the setting, here are some of the most common online and live tells.

Online Poker Tells

Online poker tells are harder to find. However, there are some signs to look out for. Players who:

  • Check, bet, call, or raise quickly usually have a strong hand
  • Take a long time to act, usually want to appear wea,k or have a tricky hand
  • Constantly timeout aren’t focused, usually because they’re playing multiple games
  • Fold instantly, except when they enter a pot, tend to have strong hands
  • Talk too much in the chat box are usually on tilt.

Live Poker Tells

Live poker tells can be clearer. You must still remain observant at all times. Players who:

  • Have shaking hands are fighting adrenaline so they can have a great hand or a bluff
  • Ask, “how much was that” are usually not paying attention and are ripe for bluffing
  • Avoid eye contact are typically nervous because they’re bluffing
  • Lean back in their chair/look relaxed usually have a strong hand
  • Sit up and take notice when it’s not their turn are usually eager to play a strong hand
Manage Your Bankroll

Bankroll management is as important as knowing how poker hands rank. You’ll never be able to implement a basic poker strategy without a bankroll.

Stakes should represent a small percentage of your bankroll. Ideally, you’ll never have more than 2% of your bankroll at risk in a cash game or tournament.

Play in Big Live Poker Events

Experience counts greatly when you’re learning how to win in poker. Our tip is to get out and play live games in your local casino. It’s also worth playing satellites.

Winning a satellite tournament can gain you entry to mid-stakes tournaments, where the prize pools are more generous. These events typically attract a lot of recreational players, so they’re great places to test out your new moves.

Utilizing Poker Bonuses

Of all the ways to win in poker, bonuses are the only things that guarantee a return on your investment. Poker promotions, such as deposit bonuses, rakeback, and loyalty rewards, offer guaranteed returns.

So, even if you struggle to implement a basic poker strategy, claim as many bonuses as possible. Doing this will offset some of your losses. Bonuses can also give you a financial buffer to fall back on when first learning to play poker.

Skills You Need to Win at Poker

There are no guarantees when it comes to poker winning. You can boost your chances by arming yourself with a particular set of skills.

Using a Strategy

Multiple strategies are implemented to try and achieve a poker win. Beginners should use a simple strategy, whereas professionals will alter their strategy based on the situation. Start by being aggressive on strong hands. As your experience grows, bluffing, 4-bets, and others can be implemented.

Reading Others

The best poker players are able to determine which opponents are truthful. Some players are better at hiding their emotions than others. Reading others can tell you which strategy they may use, and their reaction to a good or bad hand. Reading players takes time to master.

Patience

Waiting times can be significant when you play poker. Patience is required. It is easy to be distracted, which may lead to mistakes or decisions that don’t align with your strategy.

Advanced Strategy on How to Win Poker

This is a beginner’s guide on how to win at poker. We’ve given you poker tips that can put you on the road to success, but there are many steps to the top. The next moves you need to take are listed in our more detailed poker strategy guide.

One of the main concepts discussed in that article is Game Theory Optimal (GTO) play. This approach looks at ways to win in poker based on mathematics.

Specifically, GTO aims to make the mathematically optimal play in every scenario based on bet sizing, pot size, a player’s range, and table dynamics. Essentially, GTO poker strategy removes psychology from the situation and aims to play in an unexploitable way using mathematics.

How to win poker chips online

Top 5 Tips for Winning at Poker

We’ve laid the foundations, so at this point, you should have a basic idea of how to win poker tournaments and cash games. You can build a fortress from these foundations, and the following online poker tips are the bricks you need.

Tip #1: Focus, Focus, Focus

The easiest thing to do at the table is to lose focus. The most successful players often maintain their focus and composure the longest.

Tip #2: Think in Ranges

Put opponents on a range of hands and whittle it down based on their play rather than trying to pinpoint one specific hand from the start.

Tip #3: Deny Opponents Value

Don’t make it affordable if you suspect opponents are chasing a draw. Deny them value by making large bets.

Tip #4: 3-Bet in Position

3-betting is a powerful move as it forces an initial raiser to re-evaluate the strength of their hand. Make this move even more powerful by doing it when you have the position.

Tip #5: Squeeze Weaker Callers

The squeeze play is often cited in guides on how to win at Texas Hold’em poker. This move requires you to 3-bet following a raise and a call. You’re raising to squeeze out the person who called the initial raise.

More Information on Playing Poker

Below are more useful resources on how to play poker like a pro:

Play Free Online Poker and Win

Going from this introductory guide on how to win at online poker straight into a high-stakes cash game is a terrible idea. We’ve given you our best poker tips, but you’re still a novice at this stage.

Therefore, the best thing you can do is join some of our recommended poker sites and play their free games. This means using play-money tables and entering freerolls.

These games allow you to learn the specifics of how to play poker without busting your bankroll.

The Bottom Line

How to win in online poker is a subject of interest to many players. Beginners can follow basic strategies and tips to master the rules and learn how to read opponents. Using reading tells, statistics, and the right poker games to maximize your chances of winning.

FAQ

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Responsible Gambling

Always gamble responsibly. You need to be disciplined to make it in poker and survive for a long time. Employ good bankroll management practices and use the tools available at our top-rated offshore poker sites.

Resources

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The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the gambling and blockchain industries for major developments, new product and brand launches, game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to in-house staff writers with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Gavin Beech
iGaming Expert

Gavin is an expert gambling writer who works as one of the chief content producers for ReadWrite since 2024. He has been covering online gambling and sports betting for over 15 years, having written for the Racing Post, Oddschecker.com, Gambling.com and others. Now based in London, Gavin is a big sports fan, particularly when it comes to horse racing, soccer and cricket, and is also a keen frequenter of the Sheephaven Bay in Camden.

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