Poker Strategy: Beginner Poker
Basic strategy concepts to teach new players how to play poker.
Whether you’re new to poker, a beginner player looking to sharpen your skills, or just new to FlopTurnRiver.com, this beginner’s section will get you acquainted with all of the above. Poker is different from other forms of casino gambling games because you play against the other players, not the house. The house takes a rake out of every pot, and that’s how they make their money. They couldn’t care less how each player plays their hand or how much each player wins or loses. Out of this unique structure, strategy is born. If you make fewer mistakes than your opponents, over the long run, you will make money. It’s as simple as that.
If you’re new, everything may seem overwhelming. But the best way to approach becoming a poker shark is to take it one step and one hand at a time. Browse all of our beginner poker strategy articles below, or signup for our poker forum and introduce yourself in the Beginners Circle. There are many winning players who are willing to give you advice to help plug your leaks and improve your game. Poker is a game of skill, anyone can get lucky in one hand or session. But it takes the people who become students of the game to become a consistent winner. Start your poker education now!
Featured Beginner Poker Articles
Most Recent Beginner Poker Articles
Poker Hand Percentages for Omaha
PLO is growing in popularity because it affords recreational players the chance to gamble, and it gives skilled players a pretty large edge. Keep reading to find out the best starting hands and learn the effects that the pot-limit betting structure has.
Practical Game Theory in Poker (Part 2): Pre-Flop Ideas
Take it to your opponent before the flop by covering up your own weaknesses when they are being attacked and going after the weaknesses that your opponents show you.
What Makes a Player Top-Tier?
I have been thinking a lot lately on self-analysis and focusing on what I need to do to become a better, more profitable player. Tournament play is a very results oriented business and the internet ranking systems and idolization that follows from it make this...
Should You Multi-Table?
If you were to ask this question to any player who is a successful multi-tabler, then they would probably laugh you out of the room. Anyone who successfully plays multiple tables and plays them very well without making stupendously dumb plays and who makes good money...
Bankroll Management: A Basic Concept Revisited
Every serious poker player knows that bankroll management is a huge part of the game regardless of what variant they’re playing. What are the keys to it? Playing at the highest stakes you can beat and ensuring your bankroll is large enough to give you a reasonable shot at winning over the long haul.
Implied vs. Reverse Implied Odds
This seemingly simple topic might be one of the most misunderstood by beginners in poker. Learning about reverse implied odds was quite eye-opening for me and led to a large improvement in my ability. Most players, even those new to the game, understand what is meant...
Bust-Out Blues
It’s happened to all of us at one point or another. Even the great Phil Ivey went bust several times before hitting his stride. Rather than beating yourself up over it, take your bust-out as an opportunity to learn. But before you leap right back into the action, take a few minutes to consider how you want your comeback to go down. Will you make the same mistakes you did the first time around?
An Introduction to the [0, 1] Model for Ranges
One of the problems with studying poker as a whole is that different poker games have different ways of dealing the cards across multiple streets. If you want to study poker on its own, then you need to have some sort of standardized model for dealing with ranges. It...
Transitioning from Online to Live Play
If you’ve only played poker online, you will need to make some changes to your game before you play live in a brick-and-mortar casino. For instance, you’ll need to manually track your opponents’ stacks and the pots, abide by the casino’s house rules, tip your dealers and adapt to slower play.
Taking the Next Step
In poker, it’s important to keep improving your game so that you can move up in stakes. By carefully considering bankroll management, studying the player pool at your new level and approaching the bigger game with the right mindset, you can increase your chances for success.
Tactics vs. Strategy (Part 1): The Study of Tactics in Poker
The study of tactical play in poker is about figuring out which plays are likely to work well against certain player types and against the field as a whole.
NLHE Foundations #03: Calling to Close the Action in No-Limit Hold’em
This is the third installment in the No-Limit Hold’em Foundations Course. Before you read this lesson, you should have completed lesson 1 and lesson 2, and this includes doing the exercises and posting them in the forum threads for each lesson. Also make sure to...
NLHE Foundations #05: Putting Opponents on Pre-Flop Ranges (Part 2)
Introduction This is the fifth part of the NLHE Foundations Series. This series is designed to give a clear set of topics to study and methods for studying that will bring players up to the intermediate levels in no-limit hold’em. People who are signed up in the...
Building Your Bankroll
Even if you’re an experienced player, you should still give some thought to how you can build your bankroll so you can move up in stakes and increase your winnings. From avoiding tilt to taking advantage of bonuses and rakeback, this article gives meaningful advice about building your bankroll.
Microstakes Grinding
Most players who are new to online poker will start at the lowest stakes possible, commonly known as “Microstakes”. In general, microstakes are considered to be any poker stakes up to $0.10/$0.25 blinds in NL and $0.50/$1.00 in Limit games. The concept of...
