Video:Tips for Playing Poker

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Transcript:Tips for Playing Poker

Hello and welcome to About.com. I'm Jennifer Shahade and today we're going to talk about some tips for No Limit Texas Hold Em.

Poker Requires Patience

My first tip is patience. When you're playing in a home game or a casino, there will usually be nine or ten players playing at the table. So you want to be really selective about the hands you play, especially if you are first or second to act. If you happen to be playing heads-up or a six-max tournament, you can play more hands. But patience tends to win out, especially if you're one of the first players to act.

Size Your Bet

Bet-sizing is both a skill and an art in No Limit Hold 'Em. Before the flop, we like to think about our bet-sizes in relation to the big blind. So if the big blind is 100, a good bet size would be 3 times the big blind or 300 chips. After the flop, we tend to think of bet sizing based on how many chips are in the pot. And a good general framework is to think about betting somewhere between half pot and full pot. Think about your plan for the hand as you bet. Are you trying to get all the money in or are you planning to fold to a raise?

Poker Position is an Advantage

Professional poker players are obsessed with position or acting last. If you're on the button, you always have position in the hand. Similarly, if you're raising from early or middle position and players in the blinds call, you'll also have position. So what's so great about position? Well your opponents are going to be betting throughout the hand first, so you'll always have a little extra information to decide whether you want to call, raise or fold. This is really helpful when you're trying to decide whether to slow play your monsters or bluff when you have nothing. So pre-flop, if you're deciding whether to call or fold or raise in a marginal situation, think about whether you have position after the flop and that may make your decision easier.

Adjust Your Poker Strategy

My final poker tip is to always adjust. Poker is fun but it's also an intellectual game. You may think that you have your table figured out but there's always something new to think about, a new player who's stepping into the game, blinds going up, players getting eliminated. So just remember, always have your thinking cap on, keep those wheels turning and take home the money.

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