Poker Strategy

Nobody is certain about the details of the origin of poker but a form of poker, with a 20 card deck, is believed to have been played back in 1829. Somewhere around 1925, poker variations that use community cards like Texas hold-em and Omaha, began being played, much like we know them today. Up until the 1970’s the only way to learn how to win at poker was through a very expensive school of hard knocks. But some great poker players wrote very serious books on poker strategy. These books were pioneered by the likes of Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro, and David Sklansky. Online poker rooms were becoming popular and the media attention of Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 WSOP Main Event was exposing, the world of poker, to a much bigger public.

Strategy Articles for Beginners

Vast numbers of new poker players came along and, with experience gained at speeds that you can only develop playing multiple tables online, many have become very good players. There are still quite a few “Fish” playing poker online but these are people that are unwilling to accept that it takes some work to get good at poker. These people would prefer to attribute their losses to bad beats and opponents that play poorly. If you are just starting out playing poker and have made the decision to learn the game and win money, then here are a few basic steps that you should take:

Read and Understand the Rules of Poker – Invest a few minutes in reading, and making certain that you understand the basic rules of poker and the particular variant of poker that you will be playing. Spend another few minutes watching a couple of games from the rail. This way you will be familiar with how the betting action works. This may feel that you know all of the important rules but does it really make sense to risk you money without making the effort?

Read About Basic Poker Mathematics – By understanding how to calculate basic poker math, you will be better able to make poker decisions that result in the highest possible expected value, or EV. For you to be able to calculate EV you will need to spend some time reading about how to calculate outs, pot odds, pot equity, and fold equity.

Set up a Poker Bankroll – Before you start out actually playing poker you should set up a bankroll specifically for poker that is kept and accounted separate from your other financial matters. As time goes by you will add guidelines to your bankroll and this is called bankroll management. An example of these guidelines is not to lose more than 2 % to 5 % of your bankroll in a single session.

Start Out Small – Regardless of how much money you have, it just doesn’t make any sense to wager more money than necessary while you are still learning the game. Learn to consistently beat the lowest level until you move up to a higher limit game.

Keep Learning – Because of the nature of poker new strategies are coming up all the time. By keeping a simple ledger for your bankroll you will be able to look back at your results and find areas where you can continue to improve.