Poker Tips for Beginners

"If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker." - Matt Damon as Mike McDermott, Rounders

Let me guess... you're just starting out in your poker career and are looking for a few tips to help you not look like such a donkey (that's slang for "clueless poker player", if you didn't know) at your next home game? Ok, so maybe you're not completely right off the bus, but even if you're not a complete poker beginner these poker tips should at least reinforce some important tips to help your poker game.

Hopefully you didn't forget what the most important poker tip of all was, right? Very good! Pay attention. There is a lot of easy money out there. Don't be a donator. If you want to pay for poker lessons, buy a book or a poker dvd... don't insist on giving your money to the local sharks.

We are here to help you improve your poker game with a few of our favorite poker tips for beginners:

1. Protect your cards, never let them touch the muck or they may be declared dead.
2. Odds are the likelihood you will win versus the likelihood you will lose. (Odds of a 2 on a die are 1:5). Probability is likelihood you will win among all events. (Probability of a 2 on a die is 1/6).
3. Being a ready player makes it harder for opponents to read you.
4. In late position, you can often gain a free card by raising after the flop so it is checked to you on fourth street. You can choose to check and see the river for "free."
5. Be aware when you might be drawing dead. i.e. when you will lose even if you get the draw you want.
6. Betting and showing a marginal hand may make opponents more likely to call your superior hand later.
7. In limit games, there will often be a showdown, so you must have the best hand to win.
8. In no-limit games, the aggressor will often win without a showdown.
9. Slowplaying, or giving an opponent a chance to catch up, is a bad idea except in cases where you have a nearly unbeatable hand.
10. Small raises are used to build the pot, while larger raises will also narrow the field.
11. Be aware of your emotions - stand up, breathe deep, or force yourself to change through another mental tactic if you are in danger of going on tilt.
12. If you ALWAYS play tight, you may find no callers when you finally do have a hand.
13. You will make mistakes. The reason a successful player wins is that he recognizes when that happens and corrects it for the future.
14. Pot odds are the relationship between what is already in pot and what you must put in. You don't want to put $10 toward a $50 pot if you only have 1 chance in 13 of winning.
15. Chips move clockwise, i.e., players generally get more wins from players to their right than from players to their left.
16. Old adage : If you don't know who the fish is, guess what?

Poker is one of the most popular games in the world because there is always more to learn. There is no end to the depth of this game and we encourage you to continue reading our site for more poker tips. We suggest you take the site in order and read our list of tips on poker cash games next.

If you have any suggestions of beginning poker tips that might help other readers, please feel free to submit your ideas to [email protected].