Poker Tips

Many professionals like to cap their hole cards, whether it's just a chip off their stack or a favorite good luck charm from home. It's like a safety blanket to insure that they don't go back and check their cards again. But it can sometimes give away information, especially if not done consistantly for every hand played. So our ruling is this: don't cap your cards unless you plan to do so every time. It's easier to remove that variable altogether and never cap them, but in doing so, you have to be sure that you're just as consistant with not touching your cards until you're ready to fold them or flip them over.

After the cards are dealt, don't look at your hole cards until it's your turn to act. Spend that time instead watching the other players look at their own cards and picking up any tells that you can use in not just that hand, but all the rest. Even if you wind up folding, you can still pick up information about how your opponents play without the added distraction of thinking about your own cards.

Don't be afraid to use your chips to gather information. Sometimes a massage bet of medium strength can help to eliminate weaker hands limping in and help gauge the strength of the remaining players' hands. If you're unsure about the comparative strength of your hand (especially after the flop), it's better to make a medium sized bet that can confuse your opponent (leaving them wondering if it's a bet that you want them to call or a bluff) or test the strength of their resolve than to make a larger bet and wind up folding once you realize they're not backing down.

When peaking at your hole cards, turn them sideways one on top of the other. Then tilt the front right corner toward you at a 45-degree angle. From there you can lift that same corner and spread the cards slightly to view both card values at the same time and with minimum exposure to your opponents. This works best because the card values are printed on the top left and bottom right corners. If you look at your cards from any other angle, you'll wind up looking at the non-printed corners and have to lift your cards higher to see their values.

When playing online, download an odds calculator. This will help to curtail your gambling instincts and increase your understanding of when seemingly powerful cards are much weaker than you realize. The programs themselves range widely in usefulness and price (from free to ad-supported to free-trials to $40 for the full program). Many will automatically plug in to the gaming software and auto-read your hole cards and the board. Just do a google search for "poker odds calculator" and surf around for a good choice. Or check our reviews section for helpful suggestions and reviews of the better, and worse, odds calculators.