Article Surfing Archive

Every poker player has been there. They want to try their hand at poker so they sit down at a competitive weekend game or make their way to a casino and sit at a table in hopes of getting a little lucky. Within an hour they are cleaned out and headed to the cash machine.

The fact is that poker newbies generally can be spotted and ultimately taken advantage of. A beginner poker player may act in a certain way and have certain tendencies that give away the fact that they are not experienced. Here are a few basic tips to follow, in order to disguise yourself and blend into the crowd.

Avoid string betting

String betting is a classic example of a rookie mistake. A string bet occurs when a player calls a bet and then they make a raise. The player will say, 'I call your bet of 'x''and I raise you 'x' amount.' Usually the player will push in the amount of the call after they state that they are calling.

If you do this at a poker table you might as well have a t-shirt on that says 'Dead Money'. A more seasoned poker player will immediately pick up on this and hassle you all night long.

Proper poker etiquette states that you announce that you are going to raise before you put your chips into the pot. After this you may push the amount of the call into the pot and if need be contemplate how much you would like to raise your opponent.

Seems like a small thing but it makes the poker game flow much smoother.

Control Your Emotions

Poker newbies tend to show their emotions at the table much more than the average poker vet. Sometimes it is not even apparent to the beginner poker player that they are giving away information with the slightest movement.

For instance, someone that is new to the game is being dealt rags all night long. Each time they are dealt a hand they look at their cards and grimace slightly in disgust that they are not getting a chance to compete. As soon as they receive a hand that is playable, there is no grimace anymore and they call. This can definitely be seen as a tell.

An experienced poker player can pick up on the slightest body language and use it against you. Remember, your body language can reveal your cards just as much as actually showing your cards. Poker players have memories like elephants and they are groomed to remember your slightest tendencies and use them against you.

Don't Show Your Hand

You are heads up with your opponent on the river and he checks to you. You make an incredible bet and after pondering what you may have, your opponent folds his hand. You and he talk about the different possibilities and why he folded and finally he asks you what you had. You show him that you had absolutely nothing!

WRONG! You do not want to do this.

As a rule of thumb you should never reveal your hand to an opponent if you playing a serious game of poker. All this does is give your opponent more information about how to beat you in a later hand.

Sure, you want to rub it in your opponent's face that you got him with a stone cold bluff but it is to your benefit to make him squirm and try to figure out for himself whether you bluffed him or not.

It is not a guarantee that your opponent could use this information to get back at you in a later stage of the game but it does bring up that possibility. Do yourself a favor and guard as much of your information as you can.