Raise your poker game to the next level | IXGAMES

Here are three simple poker tips guaranteed to raise the game of any beginning or low limit Texas holdem poker player to the next level. You neednt be a rocket scientist or Johnny Chan to apply them either. All it takes is discipline and the desire to play a winning poker game. 1. Fold more than you raise, raise more than you call. Too many poker players call unless they have a strong reason to do otherwise. Its their default position. But calling is passive poker, and goes against pokers strategic Rule No. One1: — Be selective, but be aggressive. Aggressive play provides two ways to win — it can cause an opponent to fold a better hand, or you can make the best hand. A caller can only win in a showdown. While its fun to play a lot of hands, folding weak hands — rather than calling — is whats required for winning poker game. 2. Dont bluff players who call too much Its tough to bluff when the table sheriff is involved in a pot with you. Forget about bluffing habitual callers. Instead, try betting your good hands for their intrinsic value, secure in the knowledge that your opponents will pay you off with relatively weak hands. 3. Narrow the Target You cant present your opponents with a big target and expect to win very much money. If you take the worst of it by risking too much money in unfavorable situations, you wont win. Dont call a raise hoping for a miraculous card that overcomes the long odds against you. Dont play weak starting cards in early position, and dont try to prove what a tough, tricky player you are by bluffing players who usually call. Youll win far more money by virtue of your opponents mistakes than you ever will through your own strokes of genius. While it takes great skill to maneuver a skillful player into making a serious error in judgment, nothing more sophisticated than basic poker technique — the stuff found in most beginners poker books — is all thats needed to rake in those extra bets from players who called when they really should have folded.