(The Unofficial) CC's 100 Greatest Poker Tips

I've learned the hard way when I was first starting on this one....

if you are close to having a straight off the flop, but are one card away, don't bet and play like the turn or river card will give you that hand.

Play it like you'll be lucky to get your straight and fold if necessary. If you get the straight, awesome, otherwise, you better have plan B.

A tip from a new guy pertaining to AA (or KK) in limit holdem:

If you play it strong (and you should) and get several callers (4+), you don't necessarily want to bet or raise the flop. You need bet such that several players are forced to call two bets cold, otherwise check or smooth call the flop and bet out on the turn. If the pot is big and you bet it wrong, even gut shots can be getting the right odds to draw out. (See Small Stakes Holdem for more details)

Unless they are suited, throw em out...

The money at a poker table moves clock-wise.

Players behind you are very dangerous to your stack.
Always be nice and friendly to them.
Players at your right are much more easier to profit on.

Never show if you bluffed a player on your immediate left.
If you chose to show your bluff as a future set up, show it when you bluffed a player on your right.

If any of you keep a journal of great tips and notes of mistakes you made most of these would be great to write down. I keep a journal of every game I play and review it at the end of the day. A daily journal of games played, mistakes made and what you learned from it all will help improve your game alot.

many times i have seen people betting into a dry pot when someone is in, I myself have been bet off a pot i would have won and knocked somone out. I feel that when there are two against one both should check it down unless u make a hand u think can beat the all in guy, i have also seen people make a hand like small pair,bet and then lose and triple the guy up thinking there pair is good enough. Remember most of the time it does not cost much to call the all in so unless 5 people call and the pot is worth playing for. The point to a tournament is to make it to the money, and to do that you must take players out of the game, not triple them up so they end up taking you out.

Always find the nuts before betting. "Wow I didn't see a straight on the board" - don't let that happen to you!

SHIIT HANDS CAN MEAN WINNING, BY LOOKING AT THE FIRST FLOP
DEPENDS ON THE BET, THE BIGGER MAKES IT HARDER TO LOOK
HOW MANY TIMES WE HAVE BEEN BEATEN WITH POCKET ROCKETS
IF YOU HAVE IT!!!! ( or bluffing)..... GO FOR IT
REMEMBER, ALWAYS BET YOUR CARDS
BETTER TO WIN BLINDS..........
THEN TO LOSE ON A FLOP, TURN, RIVER AND GET POT COMMITTED AND LOSE A LOT MORE..

SO BET YOUR CARDS AND DON'T PLAY GAMES TILL LATER

Small bets show Who is slow playing as well as pull out the bullies. Knowing the difference between the two is what gets you to the final table. There is no excuse for not betting on a hand that could evolve until the blinds make up 10% of your stack. Which hopefully ends up being at least in the final 3 tables.

ahh.. are we assuming this is no-limit?

Since this thread has been going on since July, and some have posted dozens of replies since, I'm going to fudge a bit and give you my Top Five All-time Poker Nuggets.

1.) The most overvalued, overplayed hand in Hold Em is AK. Without help, it's nothing but Ace-high. A pair of twos beats it. Never go all-in preflop with it, not even in heads-up play. If you don't flop any help, muck it.

2.) The key to winning any tournament is SURVIVAL. Make it a rule to only play AA, KK, QQ, or AKs in the first hour of a tournament. You can't do anything but lose a tournament in the first three hours. Your primary goal should be to reach the final table, not to climb the leaderboard.

3.) The best way to mask your play is to adopt standard opening bets based upon position. Early position - 2 x BB. Middle position - 3 x BB. Late position - 4 x BB. If you have a relatively weak opener in early position, you can easily muck it if raised. If you have big cards, you can re-raise. If you bet preflop by position, no one can ever put you on a hand, because you're betting AA preflop just like you're betting 78 suited.

4.) When playing stud, if you can't beat what you can see...fold. Period.

5.) When playing High-Low, never enter a hand playing for the LOW. The most you can win is a chop. Always come in high and play for the scoop. (Note to "wheel" fans: the A-5 straight only scoops in Hi-Lo about one time in five, even if you hit it. The rest of the time, it loses to a higher straight, flush, or boat, leaving only the low chop.)

my coach says
"There are no lucky hands"
~m

Always play your best game no matter the stakes, 1 cent or 100 dollars, because poor practice makes poor play.

I read where someone put in not to use the Play Money sections. Here's another side to that: I like to start at the Play Money section on a new site until I learn how everything works on the site. Losing because I hit the wrong buttons is worse than losing to a lucky player. People do play very differently for play money than real money....but I'm not losing money while I gain valuable information on the site.

when hosting a home tourney rule 1 is first out serves drinks and dumps ash trays... really tightins up the game

Try to keep your emotions under control during & especially after the dealt hand. What goes on in the hand & once your $$$ is in the pot depends on numerous things...it's not always under your control. Once you put your chips or cash in the pot, it isn't yours anymore. So controlling what you say or do is really the only thing you have control over. As my signature below says but in different words................just be cool.

Bet hard if low cards on flop when you suspect the opponents have high cards.

Great advice. I'd like to add that you should keep a running log of all the SNGs you play. As soon as the tourney's over write down entry fee, your result and the biggest reason you think caused that result. You will see long term tendencies, good or bad, that you can work on. It is also a great way to reset your your brain, whether your coming of a bad beat or a shorthanded-huge blinds frenzy, before getting back into another game.

Keep track of your winnings and losses.

Believe me, doing this will let you know almost immediately if you're on a hot streak or a cold streak, if you're a good player or a bad player.

Don't lie to yourself about your results to make yourself feel good, even if you're playing for fake money.

One of the best is dont only think about your hand...think about your oppnents hand...and think about what your opponent thnks you have..and so on..

now you tell me

*Warning - This tip is from a newbie*

At a full table 38% of the deck is on the table before the flop. It's pretty much guaranteed there are going to be a fair amount of big cards floating around.

I remind myself of this to keep me from over playing marginal starting hands, especially in early position.

Best advice if you are betting and you get that feeling that you are beat when you see the turn or river card, 9 out of 10 times, you are.

Just thought I would mention that as sound advice for me.

That is a very good one and my biggest problem. Taught myself to play and "do this" or "do that" no variety. Reading this and taking notes. Old habits hard to break? I sure hope not. Meant to reply with quote "don't be predictable". Sorry new and just learning the ropes

make sure you have a good bottle of hair color to cover all the grey. LOL

When you lose a pot, do not think about the entire pot as the amount that you are losing, just think about the amount you put in.

Another thing is, when you are playing online and you have noticed that some guy has been raising every hand pre-flop, let him take down the blinds for a few hands and he will think he is unstoppable with his strategy. Just play a lot tighter, then nail him to the wall when you have a solid hand in the pocket pre-flop.

People in late position have the ability to influence the size of the pot much more than those in early position.

Go woth your gut.

If you arrive at the final table with either the 2nd or 3rd highest stack, DO NOT engage the chip leader without the nuts until 1/3 of the table has been eliminated. Play against the other stacks.

If you have the nuts on the river and are first to act, bet out. Don't try fancy play of check raise -- get value for your hand.

The best tip I ever got was "any two cards can win". I used to be a really tight player but now I think it's a mistake to wait for that premium hand if you get to see the flop cheap enough.

A few of these were covered in earlier posts. It's just wrong to ME not to have them all together. So here are the 10 rules my dad taught me when i was first learning to play in the 80's. "Almost every other rule you learn from someone else will be variations or combinations of these", he told me. After looking at the ones on this thread so far, I can't really argue with him.

1. Poker player = liar. Though this does not mean they lie ALL the time.
2. You can raise with anything but you can't call with anything.
3. Patience pays.
4. Raise. Callers lose.
5. Position (button).
6. Position (stack).
7. Position (attitude).
8. God rewards gamblers and fools. The crucial thing, when you win, is knowing which you were.
9. There is no such thing as "social gambling". Either you're there to cut out the heart of the other bloke and eat it, or you're a sucker. If you don't like the choice, don't gamble.
10. Rules are made to be broken. Just remember that getting caught has a cost, often large.