When playing poker, you have to keep in mind that probably you will need to switch your favorite strategy during a game. In poker, we meet maths, psychology, and bet types.
An out is a card that would complete your current hand. After the flop, you must start counting your outs and should do this automatically for every street. Knowing your outs allows you to calculate your odds of hitting your best hand, which can help you weigh whether a bet is justified or not. Do not count outs twice. It is very easy to quickly count outs twice when, for example, you are hoping to catch a straight and flush draw.
A deck of cards contains 52 cards (4 suits, 13 ranks). The board would show 3 cards after the flop, or 4 after the turn. Add your 2 hole cards. This sums up to roughly 47 or 48 unknown cards left.
The Rule of Four and Two. With this method, simply multiply your number of outs:
- by 4 when both the turn and river will be dealt, or
- by 2 when one card remains to be dealt.
In poker, pot odds represent the ratio between the money currently in play in this pot and the money you are required to pay to stay in this pot. Poker pot odds are an easy way to see how much you must bet, and how much you could win.
When we see the bet types, we know that bet types are the different ways a player can use his chips to place a bet with a clear ulterior motive.
- Value bets - try to entice as many players to bet as much as possible in order to secure the largest pot around you believe you will easily win,
- Over bets - make an oversized bet to push your opponent(s) into making gross negligence in their next move (e.g. an all-in bet),
- Continuation bets - bet just enough to maintain the perception that you set preflop by raising or betting a lot,
- Probe bets - placing a bet to counter an opponent's continuation bet in order to gauge their hand a little better,
- Slow plays - get players to gradually commit to the pot in order to downplay the very strong hand you have.
A tight-aggressive poker player plays aggressively after the flop but conservatively before the flop. They are very selective with their starting hands, but once they are game, they will show strength. Most experienced online tournament players will adopt this poker betting strategy. It is relatively safe and intuitive, especially when multi-tabling online.
A loose-aggressive poker player raises a lot and rarely calls. Their betting pattern might come as a surprise. While being a LAG is a high-risk poker strategy, it also makes it very difficult to read. However, in order to save their bankroll, a LAG must know when to fold even if they somehow got themselves pot-committed.
A hyper-aggressive poker player gets involved in most pots preflop. They are easily recognizable once you sit at a table for a few rounds. Maniac poker players generally fold whenever a conservative player shows strength, but not always.
A loose-passive poker player plays many hands just to see the flop. Because they enter with weak hands, even when they hit a pair or two, any figure on the board will scare a calling station from betting big.
A tight-passive poker player plays very few hands and rarely raises. This strategy, just like the maniac at the other end of the spectrum, is too obvious and readable. Their stack will last for a while since they mostly lose chips with blinds.
Professional poker players follow strict guidelines for their lifestyle as well as their mental conditioning. A player's lifestyle heavily influences sleep patterns, attention, focus, and readiness for upcoming poker playing sessions and tournaments. Mental conditioning is mostly practiced under real conditions, generally during low-stake poker games. Being a poker player, emotions should ideally be out of all equations whether you win or lose. Indeed, you should remain pragmatic and confident in the moves you made, and the decisions you took.