Beginner poker strategy: a plan for your first 10,000 hands

Most of the money a beginner loses goes out before the flop, by playing hands that cannot win enough to pay for themselves. Start with the ranges below at a six-handed table. They are tight on purpose. Raise to 2.5 big blinds when nobody has entered the pot, and do not limp: a limp gives everyone behind you a cheap look at the flop and tells them nothing about your hand.

The hand strength calculator shows all 169 hands coloured by these seats. When someone has already raised, play fewer hands still. Re-raise with Q-Q, K-K, A-A and A-K. Call with the other pairs and with suited hands that make straights and flushes, and only when you will have position after the flop. Fold everything else, including hands like A-J offsuit and K-Q offsuit against an early raise.

At low stakes, players call too much. That makes a strong hand worth more than it would be against good players, and the way to collect is to bet it. With top pair and a good kicker, two pair or better, bet about two thirds of the pot on the flop and again on the turn. Do not check to trap. The trap costs you two bets that would have been called.

Bet sizes should mean something to you, not to your opponent. A third of the pot when the board is dry and you want a cheap win. Two thirds when you have a hand and the board has draws on it. The full pot on the river with the best hand against someone who has shown they call.

When you raised before the flop and are heads-up against one caller, a bet of a third to a half of the pot on the flop wins the pot outright a large share of the time, whether or not you hit. Do it on boards with high cards and no draws, such as K-7-2 or A-8-3, where your range of raising hands looks strong. Skip it against two or more callers, and skip it on boards full of middle cards and suits, such as 8-7-6 with two hearts, where callers have more of the strong hands.

The costliest habit in low-stakes poker is calling down with one pair while an opponent bets the flop, the turn and the river. Most low-stakes players do not bluff three streets. When someone bets all three and you have one pair, you are usually beaten. Fold the river, and feel fine about it.

Other folds that save money: a weak ace against a raise from an early seat, a small pair facing a raise and a re-raise, and a flush draw facing a bet of the full pot with one card to come, where the odds no longer pay.

Everything above works better in position. On the button you act last on every street after the flop. You see whether the other player bets or checks before you decide, you can take a free card with a draw when they check, and your bluffs and value bets both work more often. Play more hands there, and fewer hands anywhere you will act first. The position chart lists the seats.

A bluff works when the other player folds, and at low stakes they do not fold enough. Keep your bluffs to one kind for now: the semi-bluff. That is a bet or a raise with a draw that can still become the best hand, such as a flush draw or an open-ended straight draw. If they fold you win now; if they call you still have outs. A bet with nothing and no outs is the one to avoid.

Start at the lowest stake the room offers and keep at least 30 buy-ins for it. A buy-in is 100 big blinds. Move up only when you have 30 buy-ins for the next stake and a few thousand hands of winning behind you, and move back down without a second thought when you fall to 20.

Decide before the session when you stop: a time, or a loss of three buy-ins, whichever comes first. Tired, angry or chasing a loss, nobody plays their own game. Write down the date, the stake, the hours and the result after each session. A log is the only way to know whether you are winning, because memory keeps the big pots and drops the rest.

1. Playing too many hands, and limping with them.
2. Calling three streets with one pair.
3. Checking strong hands to trap, instead of betting them.
4. Bluffing players who do not fold.
5. Playing on after a bad hour, or above the bankroll.

Fix those five and you will beat most tables at the lowest stakes, with nothing fancy at all. The intermediate page is for when the five are fixed.