Enjoy money and looking to make more?  Understand the game of poker, but want to take your game to the next level?  Looking for poker tips to help you get there?

These days, the majority of poker tips that you find on the internet are written for the ultimate beginner level poker player.  If you are looking for tips, don't you already have a general grasp on these ideas?  Here are a few real tips found on Poker Tips HQ to help you along your way:

Intermediate Poker Tips
Been playing poker for a little while and understand the basics?  Work on a few of these tips to better improve your game.

-Know the percentages.  Assuming you know how many outs you have, run simple math on your percentages and see if it is worth it for you to bet, check, call, etc.  Assume that you are in a hand and flopped an open-ended straight draw.  Your opponent bets and you feel that the only way you can win is to hit your straight.  With an open-ended straight you have 8 outs.  After the flop you are considered 32% or (8outs x 4%), after the turn you are considered to win 16% (8outs x 2%).  What are your chances of hitting a flush?  A set?…Learn the percentages.

-Know the odds.  Odds are everything in poker.  Is it worth it for you to get your money in?  Do you know how to calculate pot odds and implied odds?  At the intermediate level you should already be taking these odds into consideration on your every move.

-Put your opponents on hand ranges.  What do you think your opponent really has?  Does he really have a flush or is he just trying to bluff you?  Generate their hand ranges in your mind by taking into consideration how you know they play vs. how they are playing this particular hand, the theory behind why they would play this hand in such a way, their tells, and more.  You should always know in your mind what kind of range your opponent has in his hand.

-Track your statistics.  Your game will change and evolve as you learn more skills.  By keeping track of your statistics you will be able to see where you need to improve.  Maybe you are playing too many hands and as a result you have been losing more.  Thus, you need to tighten up your starting hands.  The internet and poker sites have really in-depth poker tracking software that will create graphs, databases, statistics, and more for you, look them up.

-Mix your game up.  Good poker players learn how you play and adjust so that they can beat you.  You need to adjust as well.  If you play the exact same way every single hand you will get obliterated.  You only raise with AA and KK?  Pretty soon you raise and win 1big blind and its not worth it.  Keep mixing up your game and varying your play.

-Avoid tilting and know when to quit.  This is one of the biggest mistakes that many players make.  They do not know when to quit.  Every poker player has downswings and you need to minimize them by stepping away.  So what if you lose one big pot?  You cannot get it back by gambling or changing your game.  Stick to what makes you successful as a poker player.  Do not let one $500 dollar buyin lost turn into a $3,000 loss.

-Playing draws.  There are different ways to play draws.  Many people will actually bet and/or raise on draws just so that they can see the following card generally cheaper.

-Betting on the river.  There are certain times that you should bet on the river, and there are times you should just give up.  Generally, at this level of poker playing, this skill is fairly obvious.  Have you invested a good amount into the pot and you think the only way that you can win is by betting on the river?  Was there a good card for you to bluff at?  Have you been representing a strong hand and the opponent is obviously weak?  Bet.  Do not be ashamed to give up.  Opponents could be checking the nuts to you the entire way and letting you hang yourself.  Go with your instinct. 


Advanced Poker Tips

Got the basics all figured out?  Have you been playing poker for awhile and need a few tips to freshen up your game?  Here are a few tips to help you on your way.

-Expected Value (EV)- This is one of the hot terms in the poker world.  A concept that has been around for a while, EV refers to your expected return on a wager.  For example, if you make a bet with a friend over flipping a coin.  Heads and he will pay you $100.  Tails you will pay him $10.  Should you take the bet?  Yes, obviously.  But mathematically why?  The probability that you win is 50%.  Therefore, your expected win is worth $50 ($100 x 50%) and your expected loss is worth $5 ($10 x 50%).  This makes your expected profit on each coin flip during this bet being worth $45 ($50-$5) and you should attempt to bet your friend as many times as possible.  Apply this concept to poker when drawing to hands.  You should only draw to hands when you have a positive EV should it hit.  EV plays a part in many hands and can help you stay out of trouble and win big pots!

-Widen your range-You will often see professional poker players raising with hands that a beginning player would never raise with.  For example, a good player sitting UTG could raise 4x with 34s just as easily as he could raise on the button with 72offsuit.  Don’t become such a TAG that you cannot mix up your play.  Keep your opponents on their toes and never become too “textbook.”

-Categorize your opponents and exploit them-Label everyone at your table as a TAG, LAG, fish, tilter, etc.  Then depending who you are in the hands against, modify your play to best exploit each player.  Play mind games with everyone at your table, especially the super-aggressive players that are just waiting to slip up and send you their entire stack of chips.

-Tells-Study up on tells as players at every level have them.  You can make quite a bit of profit and probably stay out of a lot of trouble by knowing when your opponent is giving off a tell.  Mike Caro wrote an excellent book on poker tells that most players can benefit from.

Meta-game.  This is an advanced skill that many of the top pros are currently exposing.  As defined wikipedia, “Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game.”  This is a form of reverse-psychology that a player uses in hopes that it will pay off for him in the long run.  For example, a player might make a quick call on the river with obviously not the winning hand and then show it to the table.  This action could induce the rest of the table to begin trying to bluff him/her more.  These plays, also known as balancing plays, should be mixed into your game.


Poker training is not just for the beginners these days.  Take advantage of the opportunities presented and get yourself some poker training today!