The Best Poker Strategies to Play Like a Pro

Take your game from basic to pro with advanced poker strategies. The game of poker is known to be a skill game, thus a good strategy will make you succeed in ways you could hardly imagine. Strategies may vary from game to game, so we’ve decided to cover the basic ones that will come in handy with the most viral types of poker.

Given the media coverage and online presence of Poker games, nowadays it’s a lot easier to hone the gaming skills and strategies. Amateurs and professionals alike can explore and test new techniques to up their games using all the platforms they have at hand.

Strategies are crucial in order to play poker like a pro, however, mastering just one strategy and applying it to every gameplay isn’t exactly viable. If you actually want to succeed try to develop some quick adaptation and observation skills first.  Your Poker strategy should mostly depend on the types of game you’re playing, whether you’re up for some cash game, tournaments, or Spin & Go you can develop the basic strategy and then adapt it to the game. This will help you always be one step ahead of your opponents.

Let’s break down the basic terminology first. Based on your playing style there is the following classification of poker strategies:

• Aggressive: Aggressive strategy assumes that the player raises or even re-raises hardly limping into a pot. After a flop, the player with the aggressive tactic will go on betting and pursuing the pot with all the hands. These are usually the risk-takers and are not afraid to put some chips.
• Passive: Limps and calls make up most of the tactics used by the passive players, who are passively playing their range. Passive players are not prone to take risks and have the fear of losing the game.
• Loose: Loose refers to players who tend to play more hands before the flop than the average. A number of loose players that play in most hands form a loose game. These players deal with a wide range of hands, weak ones as well.
• Tight: Players with this strategy deal with a small number of only strong hands. This is one of the most viable tactics for beginners as it lowers the risk of losing marginal hands. The tight game is not packed with action: players mainly fold or do not want to call raises or raise themselves.

Most of the strategies professional poker players use in their gameplay feature the combination of these base styles. Among the combinations that can propel your gameplay to a new level include tight-aggressive, loose-aggressive, tight-passive, and loose-passive.

Tight-Aggressive Strategy (TAG)

If you are a newbie in the poker world this is the strategy to stick to. Tigh-aggressive strategy or TAG is one of the strategies that might be the one in a wide variety of poker games. TAG features a strategy with a lower frequency of playing hands—this is the tight part, however when playing the players display aggressive and action-packed gameplay. Overall TAG features a game during which players aggressively play a limited part of the range, consisting of strong starting hands.

Loose Aggressive Strategy (LAG)

Loose Aggressive Strategy (LAG) is known as the strategy that works best for one of the most viral poker types—Texas Hold’em. LAG is usually adopted by some advanced poker players as it allows them to remain unpredictable for their opponents. One of the downsides of the tactic is that you need to go from beginner to pro to be able to use it.

This is because of the advanced gameplay the strategy requires. The player needs to have a deep understanding of the post-flop game. In fact, the strategy can increase both—your winnings and potential financial losses. To use the strategy and stay a winner you need to stay calm during the rounds. This will help you to decide when to stop the aggressive game against your opponent in time if your strategy doesn’t work for you giving you the desired result.

The strategies discussed above are mainly for the regular players. But there are plenty of tips and tactics that recreational players can make good use of for smooth gameplay and wins.

Tight-Passive Strategy

A tight-passive strategy in poker can be the one for both amateur and pro players. This poker tactic features playing with a limited range that only includes strong hands. Players with this strategy tend to just call pre-flop once they find the hand they wanted. These players are mostly easy to bluff. They will most likely fold to scary board cards. Among the downsides of the tactic is that the players using it can be easily exposed and are thus predictable. One trait that gives this strategy away is that the players fold frequently once they spot aggression.

One more option is combining loose and passive styles. Loose-passive players are prone to limping. The strategy usually requires playing a higher frequency of hands than the others. Loose-passive players will most probably check and call instead of betting or raising.

Tips on How to Play Poker Like a Pro

Now Your Opponents

While playing one of the crucial features is to be able to observe your opponents. Trying to read your opponent’s psychological and emotional state while playing will help you pick up on the strategies and tendencies they use. Spot the tactics they apply to find the ways to beat them. Stay alert during the game and watch every action taken around that table.

Once you think you’ve watched enough try to define your opponent’s strategy based on the cheat sheet of basic strategies we’ve just discussed.

Find out How Tricky They Play

Strategies might be tricky. Even if you’ve categorized your opponents by identifying what’s the strategy they are using, their gameplay might not be so straightforward. Thus, keep on observing and changing your strategy accordingly.

Keep It Fun

Keep the gameplay fun. Be it a professional tournament or a friendly poker game, it shouldn’t lack excitement. To have the best experience possible choose the place that ensures smooth gameplay. Given that the technology is surging forward, there are plenty of platforms that can bring the real-life poker experience you crave from the comfort of your home. All you need is to find the right betting platform that meets your requirements best. Go with a tried and tested online betting platform that can give you access to the most viral poker games.

Find the place or platform that works best for you, master the strategies, observe your opponents and most importantly enjoy every phase of the game.

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