Mike Sexton once famously said that ‘it takes five minutes to learn to play poker, but a lifetime to master it’ and the legendary former player was bang on the money.
Sexton was part of a wave of players who helped the game cross into the mainstream through his exploits on the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Television broadcasts of those events have helped Texas Hold’Em Poker become a global phenomenon – a point evidenced by the results of this year’s WSOP Main Event.
Several Middle Eastern players finished inside the top 100 to showcase how poker has developed a more international flavour than was previously the case.
Many of that people in that group honed their skills at Arabic online casinos, before transitioning seamlessly into playing in-person tournaments.
Their efforts are guaranteed to inspire a new generation of players to take up the game, so here are a handful of useful tips for poker newbies.
Play Premium Hands Aggressively
If you want to become a successful poker player, you must learn the art of playing premium starting hands aggressively rather than trying to be cute with them.
Pre-flop hands such as AA, KK and QQ put you in an advantageous position, and you cannot afford to waste this opportunity by limping into the pot.
A 3x or 4x bet before the community cards are dealt will generally be sufficient to narrow down the number of opponents and boost your chances of winning the hand.
Always Consider Your Table Position
When you first start playing poker you will notice that the dealer button moves around the table by one position after each hand is played.
Its position determines when you are required to make a decision in the hand and you must pay heed to this before committing your chips to the pot.
Professional players rarely play hands out of position unless they are absolutely certain they have got the best hand. Ignoring table position can be costly in the long run.
Know When to Fold Your Hand
Becoming too attached to pre-flop premium hands is a recipe for disaster and is a mistake many newbie poker players repeatedly make.
Your suited AK may look pretty before the community cards are dealt, but can quickly become worthless after the flop, turn or river.
Developing the ability to fold your cards in these type of situations will keep your chip stack intact and give you a better chance of finishing in the money in tournaments.
Play at a Level that Suits Your Skillset
Your ultimate aim when playing poker is to make a consistent profit, so it is imperative to play at a level that allows you to achieve this.
Let’s say you win regularly in $10 games. You should then test yourself at $20 level to see if you can maintain your winning streak. If not, step back down to $10.
If you keep winning at $20 level, take another step up the ladder and so on until you find where your skillset fits into the wonderful world of poker.