I’m not going out on a limb here by saying that poker is probably the most popular card game on the planet – the World Poker Tour (WPT) claims that there are over 60 million poker players worldwide.
With so many other poker players out there, competition is fierce and that means you need to utilize every strategy at your disposal to gain an advantage.
From buying the pot to c-betting, I’ve listed and then explained three poker strategies that players need to know.
Buying the pot
The name of this poker strategy kind of gives the game away – put simply, in this approach, you make a large bet to try and buy the pot from your opponents.
This is a useful strategy because it puts pressure on your opponents – a pot-sized bet could commit a large portion of their stack, so they will have to question if they’re getting the right price to call you.
You need to remember that a lot of the time buying the pot looks like a bluff – you’ve whiffed the flop, turn, and river and are trying not to lose your equity. However, you can flip this strategy on its head and turn it into a double-bluff (make yourself look weak when in fact you’re strong).
Use tracking software
If you’re playing poker online, at an online casino like Ladbrokes or at a poker cardroom like 888poker, then using tracking software has to be part of your strategy. Why? Because it gives you valuable data on the other players’ behavior.
There’s a huge amount of poker tracking software out there, but the one I’ve found most useful is PokerTracker. It gives you an enormous amount of data – how aggressive a player is, how likely they are to fold to c-bets, and a whole lot more.
One thing to look out for is the sites that your tracking software is compatible with. Taking PokerTracker as our example, it works with 888Poker but not 888Casino.
C-betting
C-bet stands for a continuation bet – in short, it’s a poker strategy that develops your pre-flop raise by continuing to bet once the first set of cards have been dealt.
C-betting is a great tactic to use if you’ve put yourself in a position of strength pre-flop – it allows you to continue telling the story that you have a hand that beats your opponents.
It’s important that you keep in mind how to use this strategy if you don’t make a hand on the flop. For example, say you have ace-king and neither an ace nor a king (nor any other picture card) drops on the flop. If you make a c-bet, then your opponent might guess that you haven’t hit and your c-bet bluff might be spotted
Buying the pot, c-betting, and using tracking software are just a few of the great poker strategies that players need to know – a couple of the other brilliant ones are check-raising (checking on your turn, allowing someone to bet and then raising it) and knowing that sets (when your pocket pair becomes three of a kind) are money makers.
Use the strategies I’ve outlined in this article and you’ll improve your chances of being successful at poker and being a winning player in the long run.
Image Credit: Pixnio
