Best Days To Play

I live in Florida and I've played in multiple poker rooms, and the best days are Fridays - Sunday. All night your opponents will be ordering beer and will play extremely poorly, wait for a good hand, and they'll pay off. There has been several occasions where I would even buy drinks for the people at my table. I advise anyone not to drink alcohol until you have left the table. You will have lack of judgement and will end up making a mistake. And remember pokers not about winning ever pot its about not making mistakes, which then makes you money.

Playing The Person

While at the table, one of the most important thing to do is pay attention. If your playing someone who is tight, if your heads up with them and they are betting hard into you out of position. Chances are they have a pretty good hand. Now if your playing a drunk guy Friday night and he's been to showdown several times and has shown trash. And your heads up with him and he does the same, chances are you got him. Learn what people play and their tendencies and exploit it. If you up against a soft player, bet him out of a hand easy. Loose players are hard to read at times, but they usually end up paying for your groceries.

Running Good

Every player runs good at some point in time, if you do those are the best times to be aggressive and capitalize on that. Those are the times you make the most profit, if your hitting the flop with good hands, more than average, people will call you down with trash. Just as good as you run in poker, you run bad. Sometimes it seems like every time you get KK or QQ someone with A3 off flops an ace. It happens and you shouldn't be bothered by it. That's just poker.

Bad Beats

We all experience them, so don't start playing badly when they occur. Getting outdrawn is very common because people are willing to play anything. Never go on tilt to try and win your money back it'll just cost you your stack.

Changing Gears

You've been playing for about 2 hours and you have a pretty good idea of what types of hands your opponents play. Now you can start making moves. By making moves i'm referring to bluffing. Not only will your opponents give you more credit, because they know you haven't been playing many hands. You'll have a better read to see if they are weak or strong. And if you've been paying attention, you might pick up on his betting pattern. Which is crucial because maybe he does have middle pair and makes a familiar bet, you can exploit it by raising him with nothing. If you sit down and try to make moves early, your opponents will label you as a loose player and will most likely call you down easier. If you feel like your opponents are catching up to what your doing, change it up. Start playing a little looser. Never play the same style when playing a session longer than 6 hours. Keep them guessing. 

Knowing When To Fold

As sad as it's to say but poker does involve luck in it, so you shouldn't overplay AA or KK. After all they are just a pair. If you bet and get raised you might want to consider if your opponent has you beat, maybe a set or two pair which is a common made hand that crack Ace's. If you have Ace's, it's best to make a big raise pre-flop for those who call with weaker hands to pay you off, and it also makes people with junk who will out draw you at times to fold. If it's a board with a monster hand to be made, unless you sense weakness, you should fold anything lower than a set. Never pay to draw unless your getting good odds on your money. If your heads-up with someone in the big blind going to the flop, and your on a spade draw and he makes a big bet your getting 1-1 on your money basically so its not worth it. Your not making anymoney. If six people go to the flop with a raise pre-flop of six dollars. Off rip their is 36 dollars in the pot so if someone bets 13 dollars and your on the button and two people call, your getting 5 to 1 on your money to call which makes a drawing hand more attractive to call with. Unless your getting it in good with your money you shouldn't try and play these hands, they'll just end up costing you some of your stack. Never overplay a hand. If you know your beat, fold. Don't call just because you need to see it.

Knowing When To Bet

If your waiting on good hands more than likely you've seen what and how your opponents play certain hands. So it may be easier to put them on a hand range. If you hit, BET, your not always gonna win by betting but it sure will let you know where your opponents are at as far as the current hand in play goes. Remember players usually don't hit 2/3 of the time. Unless someone is running good! Play tight, but aggressive.

Starting Hands

Let me just start off by saying, DON'T PLAY TRASH. Ask yourself how many times have you played Q 9 of spades and then two spades hit the flop and you end up wasting money trying to hit your draw. Unless your running good, most of the time chasing flushes and straights end up costing big bucks. If you insist on playing suited connectors. Keep the pot small and know when to fold. What you want to play are pocket pairs, AK - QJ suited or not, and suited connectors. Trust me if you have the patience to wait for a good hand, some drunk average joe will be happy to call you down three streets with A7 when you have a made hand.

Your Surroundings

Before you can make any bet or try to bluff someone, you need to get used to where everything is. Bathrooms, chip cage, water fountains, etc. You need to be as comfortable as possible, so dress comfortably, you might need a light jacket because most poker rooms and casinos are pretty chilly inside. Remember while playing poker you want to be as focus as possible, being uncomfortable may make you irritated or impatient which is a bad thing if your trying to be a successful poker playing.