18 Aug 2025 Intermediate This material is for medium-skilled players A-game bluff catching fish initiative moving up stakes studying According to the latest data, less than 2% of all poker players have ever made over $10,000 in their entire career. As a professional with over a decade of experience, this is both shocking and eye-opening. Here, I’ll share the key principles that helped me become a consistently winning poker player. I’ll break down several key strategy fundamentals — including which hands to play and when to bet, raise, bluff, or fold. Let’s go! #1: Punish Weakness One of my core rules at the poker table is simple: they check, you attack. For example, imagine you raise with — a strong hand I recommend playing in nearly every situation. A recreational player calls. These players are often just here for fun, not taking the game seriously like you do. The flop comes . You’ve flopped top pair with a top kicker. If your opponent checks to you here, the move is clear: bet big. By “big,” I mean pot-sized. Bottom line: don’t overthink it. Weak players will always find a reason to call, whether they have a draw, a weak pair, or even nothing at all. Your job is to make a strong bet and apply pressure. #2: Keep the Game Moving Once you’ve punished weakness, the next principle is: don’t slow down. Here’s something most players already know: passive opponents won’t build the pot for you. For instance, you call with pocket Sevens — — against a passive player, someone who checks frequently and rarely bets or raises. The flop comes . You’ve flopped the middle set, the second most powerful hand possible on this board. This hand is well hidden, and the passive opponent makes only a small bet. What does this tell you? Passive players seldom take the initiative. A small bet from them often signals strength — they likely hold a King here. The strategy is clear: no slow play. Make a large bet to build the pot and set yourself up to take all their chips later. When you have a middle set, your goal is to get maximum value now. Don’t delay. Don’t play tricks, better just make a strong, decisive bet and let them make the mistakes. Related Article: How To Exploit Passive Players #3: Avoid Bluffing Maniacs Another key rule at the table: never bluff the maniacs. Imagine you raise with the . For reference, I provide a full list of recommended hands in my free poker cheat sheet — you can memorize the poker charts and never guess which hands to play. In this hand, an aggressive player calls — someone who loves to bluff, play loose hands, and mix things up. The flop comes . You hold the middle pair with a good kicker and make a bet, but your opponent raises. What should you do? The answer: flat call. Folding would be too weak, and raising would be a mistake. Many players, especially my students, overplay middle pairs in these spots, often falling into traps set by aggressive opponents. The key here is to use their aggression against them. Let them hang themselves. By flat calling and controlling the pot size, you maintain a strong position and capitalize on their bluffs later. #4: Fold When It’s Obvious Another simple, often overlooked rule: fold when the correct play is clear. Sometimes the best decision is to step back, protect your stack, and wait for a better opportunity. A knit, also known as a rock, is the tightest player at the table. They wait for the best hands and, when they bet or raise, they almost always have it. For example, imagine you hold pocket Queens like , the third strongest starting hand, and a knit raises you. By the turn, the board shows . At this point, if the knit raises you again, you can take it to the bank: they have a straight, a set, or two pair. One-pair hands are done. Many beginners convince themselves that a tight, passive player might be bluffing out of nowhere. They’re not. Fold, protect your stack, and move on to the next hand. #5: Don’t Chase Miracles Another major rule: small pairs can lead to big trouble. Chasing improbable outcomes often costs more than it’s worth. This is a lesson many players, including myself, learn the hard way. Imagine a tight player raises, and you call with pocket Threes — . The flop comes down: . They make a bet. Disaster. This board completely misses your hand. Only two cards — the — can give you a set. The odds of hitting one of them on the turn or river? Extremely low. You could also be drawing almost dead. For example: Jack-Eight flops a straight. Eight-Six flops a straight. They could have a higher set: Pocket Tens, Pocket Nines, Pocket Sevens. Or just a strong top pair: Ace-Ten, King-Nine, Seven-Six. Bottom line: when you miss a set with a small pocket pair (twos through fives), fold. You have only two outs versus a monster range — don’t risk it. #6: Crush the Fish Now we move to something I’ve built an entire career around. Target the weaker players, known as fish, and maximize value when you have strong hands. This is where disciplined aggression pays off. There's really no explanation needed. Let's just jump into the example hand. You’ve got pocket kings, the second-best hand in the game — the . Naturally, you raise, and one of our fishy friends calls. This is a recreational player, someone who plays just for fun. They love calling down with any pair, any draw, or even nothing at all. They enjoy playing all sorts of trashy hands and often have a couple of drinks — it’s just their form of entertainment. Now, the flop comes: . This is a perfect situation for us. With pocket kings, there aren’t many draws to worry about. There’s no flush draw, and the only real straight draw would be a hand like Eight-Seven, which is hoping for one of the four remaining tens or fives in the deck. Other than that, the board is very safe. The correct play is simple: make a strong bet. Our recreational opponent calls. The turn comes: . Again, there’s no need to get tricky. If they called on the flop, they’ve shown they have something, so just give them another reason to call with a strong bet. They call again. The river is the . This brick pairs the bottom card and completes no draws. What do we do here? Again, bet strong. They call, and reveal . They were behind the entire time, fighting the math — and in poker, fighting the math usually means losing. This is exactly why recreational players are your number one profit source. I’ve made a career off exploiting situations like this. Bottom line: when you hold a strong hand like an overpair with pocket kings, bet, bet, bet — and thank me later. #7: Take a Break And number seven: take a break. This is something I had to learn the hard way early in my professional poker career. And that’s the thing — tilt destroys more bankrolls than bad cards ever will. Tilt, as you might know, is poker-speak for getting frustrated and playing emotionally. In other words, you start playing poorly after a string of bad beats. This is when you put a lot of money into the pot as a big statistical favorite, and the other player just gets lucky. It happens all the time in poker. And it’s exactly what keeps recreational players coming back, eventually donating their chips to you. Let me give you an example. You raise with pocket queens — the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Spades — and one of our fishy friends calls you all the way with a trashy hand, Seven of Clubs and Five of Spades. By the river, the board reads Ten, Seven, Three, Deuce, Five. Yep, they hit two pair on the river. They called the entire way and got lucky at the very end. So what do I do in situations like this? Step one: step away from the table. Step two: breathe. Step three: reset. This kind of thing is frustrating. Don’t kid yourself—it doesn’t get easier, even as a professional. You did everything right, and another player gets rewarded for playing poorly. But this is also why poker is so profitable. This is why top players in the world make so much money. Recreational players keep coming back, chasing their lucky river cards. For me, the bottom line is simple: I step away for 15 minutes. That short break can save hours of wasted play and prevent me from digging myself into losses by playing on tilt. So never play poker when you’re at your worst: emotional, frustrated, or stewing over a lucky fish hitting a river card. If you feel yourself getting frustrated, take a break, clear your head, and come back ready to crush the table again. Tilt Control: How to Stay Cold at the Poker Table Conclusion Guys, here’s the bottom line from everything we’ve covered today: Play your strong hands confidently – when you have overpairs or premium hands, don’t hesitate to bet, bet, bet. Respect the math – know when you’re drawing almost dead and fold small pocket pairs when the flop misses you. Exploit recreational players – understand their tendencies and use them to your advantage. Control tilt – never let frustration or unlucky rivers force you into bad decisions. Step away and reset. Don’t just watch — start applying these tactics today and turn your knowledge into real results. And if you want to take your poker game to the next level, it’s better to visit Getcoach. So what do we have here? 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