These days, there is an abundance of poker knowledge on the internet; therefore, understanding the game’s basic rules has never been faster or easier. The truth is that you can learn how to play poker in a matter of minutes. While almost all of the information you need to get into the poker game is out there, it’s pretty easy to get lost in the maze of poker articles, videos, podcasts, etc.
Undoubtedly, poker is a game that’s easy to learn and hard to master. There is no way around it, and if you want to play poker at a decent level, you have to do some work. This process is usually time-consuming, so we’d like to draw your attention to a few areas essential to improving as a player. Let us present five concepts that’ll give you an upper hand in your home games and low-stakes games. Hopefully, it will also be a starting point for learning other advanced poker strategies over time.
Do not continuation bet blindly
A continuation bet (c-bet) is one of the first plays that every new poker adept learns. It’s hardly surprising, as it’s one of the most important and powerful moves you’ll see at the poker table. We’ve even written a whole article about it: Continuation bet what’s the logic behind it.
What often keeps poker players from becoming better is c-betting blindly. Continuation betting with almost every hand has worked very well in the past, but it’s not a go-to strategy nowadays, especially against better opponents. If you c-bet mindlessly, thoughtful opponents will make your life miserable by check-raising you a lot. Whether we’re talking about a cash game or tournament strategy, c-betting every hand will hurt your overall results.
So, how to know when to c-bet and when it’s better to check back? Obviously, it’s quite a complex topic, but generally speaking, the higher the board, the better it is for c-betting. Think about it: if you are the pre-flop aggressor, you’re more likely to have high cards and strong pairs. That’s why high card flops will favor your range of hands. Therefore, when the board is low and/or paired, you have to stay cautious. It’s perfect for a player in the big blind position, as their pre-flop range contains a lot of low cards.
Learn when to attack other people’s continuation bets
The advice above can be reversed. Whenever you see someone who c-bets every hand, you can become the one to punish. Doing it with the right hands and correct frequencies is not easy, but it develops any poker player, as it forces you to explore the lines of play that most players omit.
Check-raising and raising c-bets is a part of any sound poker strategy; therefore, the sooner you start studying it, the better. The basic principle is simple. The lower the board, the less likely it is to have improved your opponent; therefore, you can continue more aggressively.
Remember, when you check-raise, you build a pot out of position, and if your opponent calls you, you must tread carefully. That’s why it’s so important to know the qualities of good check-raising hands.
Proper check-raising is a very broad topic, and studying it in depth will be worthwhile. Here are two ideas for a start.
Firstly, ask yourself who is more likely to hit this board hard – you or your opponent? Whose range covers this particular board better? If the answer is yours, that’s a green light for amping up the aggression.
Whenever you’re looking for hands to check-raise as a bluff or semi-bluff, pick hands that have some potential to become nuts or close to nuts on certain runouts. This category includes gutshots, flush draws, backdoor flush draws, and combinations of both.
While the importance of blockers is often misunderstood, keep in mind that on a board with a flush draw, hands with an Ace or a King in a certain suit make decent check-raising hands, as they will block your opponent from having a very strong hand on flush runouts.
Multiway pots – implied pot odds do not always work in your favor
The c-betting aspect can be extended to the multiway pots, as their complex dynamics are often overlooked, even by experienced players. Most hand analyses and reviews are made with the heads-up pots in mind. That’s understandable, as they are the most common, the most studied, less complex, and therefore easier to grasp.
Things change drastically when a third or fourth player is in the pot. Not only does the game tree get exponentially more complex, but the ranges and range advantages are way more challenging to visualize. That’s why you often have to be much less aggressive in such cases.
Whether on the big blind or in any other position, you must remember that the more players are in the pot, the less valuable your weak flush draws, top pairs or bottom two pairs are. Don’t let the good pot odds fool you – be disciplined and do not put too much money into the multiway pot with weak hands, as doing so often backfires badly.
Poker strategy on monotone boards is worth studying
Due to their rarity, monotone boards are an understudied aspect of poker games. That manifests itself in the fact that even quite experienced players who play online poker regularly and have been doing so for a while struggle when the board comes all in the same suit.
As a result of development in poker software, namely poker solvers, crafting a winning strategy on mono boards is not as hard as it used to be. What are these tools, you may ask? Solvers are sophisticated poker calculators which provide you with unbeatable poker strategy. The invention of poker solvers was a breakthrough in how the poker game is studied.
Thanks to the solvers, now we’re more aware of many aspects of the right poker strategy, including how monotone boards are supposed to be played and how to approach them with different categories of hands. While that’s a topic for a standalone piece, we’ve got two easy-to-follow rules which can help you not to overextend on monotone boards.
Firstly, in most cases, hands without flush draws have to play very passively on monotone boards. The reason is simple: even if you have a top pair with a top kicker, but without a flush draw, your opponent’s worst hand with the worst FD possible will have over 35% of equity vs. your hand. With a pair, that’s quite often close to 50/50!
Secondly, sets are the threshold to go all in on a monotone board. That’s a simplification, but from the range of hands that do not have any flush draw, sets are the worst hands you can go broke with in most situations. It means that generally speaking, two pairs are to be played passively.
These two rules are a good baseline for further study. We strongly advise you to explore this topic; it’ll be worth it.
Be aware of the importance of overbets
A few years ago, overbets were mainly associated with recreational players who just randomly piled monstrous bets into the pot from time to time. As it turns out, overbets are a vital part of a winning poker strategy in 2024 and beyond.
The baseline idea is straightforward. Let’s picture it with a common occurrence for overbets. You’re on the river, the last betting round, and you have nuts, or close to nuts, so you’re essentially holding a winning hand. What should be your primary aim? To put as much money into the pot as possible. You might note that if you overbet with the nuts every time, your opponent will start to fold everything. Well, guess what? It will allow you to bluff a lot too!
If you want to take your poker skills to the next level, learning the theory behind overbetting is a must, especially if you’re into cash games or tournaments. Learning when to overbet and why will develop your understanding of the poker game and boost your win rate.
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