Why You Keep Losing at Poker — and How to Turn It Around

Nathan  «BlackRain79»  Williams
10 Oct 2025
Intermediate
This material is for medium-skilled players
Holdem Strategy
10 Oct 2025
Intermediate
This material is for medium-skilled players

People often ask me: “Nathan, how do you consistently win at poker these days?”. Honestly, it all comes down to a simple set of strategies that anyone can use — and today, I’m going to walk you through them step by step.

Tip #1: Float the Aggressive Maniacs

Let’s start with one of the most common questions I get from my students: “How do you deal with aggressive players?”. You know the type — always bluffing, in every pot, constantly applying pressure. These players can make the game chaotic if you don’t know how to handle them.

Here’s the first thing you need to remember: everyone, no matter how skilled they are, misses the flop about two out of every three times. That’s just math — and it’s something we can use to our advantage. Now an example hand. Imagine you raise preflop with and , and one of these aggressive maniacs calls. The flop comes   , a rainbow board, meaning no flush draws are possible.

Your opponent checks. You make your standard continuation bet (c-bet) — and suddenly, they check-raise you. Now you’re wondering, what on earth is going on? This, right here, is classic maniac behavior. Aggressive players love to check-raise on dry, disconnected boards like this one — especially because it’s so hard to have anything strong here.

Let’s break it down logically:

  • Trips (a six) — very unlikely. Making three of a kind is rare, and most players slow-play trips to trap you later.
  • Top pair (a five) — possible, but not strong enough to justify a big check-raise.
  • Straight draws (7-8, 4-3) — this is where most of their range lies. Maniacs love semi-bluffing with open-enders.

That’s why you shouldn’t panic when you face aggression on boards like this. You’ve got two strong overcards (Ace and Queen) and plenty of ways to stay in control of the hand. What you want to do against aggressive maniacs is just call — don’t get into ego wars with them. That’s what’s known as a float: calling a bet or a raise with the intention of taking the pot away later, typically on the turn or river.

Here’s the truth — aggressive players rarely have it. When they check-raise you on dry boards and you’re in position, simply call. Don’t overreact, don’t 3-bet bluff, just let them hang themselves.

Stay patient, and you’ll get your chance to punish their over-aggression on later streets. We’ll dive deeper into how that works in upcoming examples — but for now, remember this: Against maniacs, control the pot and let their own bluffs do the damage.

Poker Floating: The Art of Calling with Weak Hands

Tip #2: Respect the Regulars

Now, let’s flip the situation. What happens when you’re facing a regular, a decent, thinking player — the kind who studies, watches strategy videos, and actually takes the game seriously? This is the complete opposite of the maniac we just discussed. Against these players, when they check-raise you on the flop, you need to give them credit — and often, let it go.

You raise preflop with pocket fives ( ) and get called by a tight player — you know the type: the sunglasses, the hoodie, the stoic posture. They’ve seen the WSOP, they’ve read poker books, they’re solid, careful, and not prone to wild bluffs.

The flop comes   . They check, and you make your standard continuation bet. Then they suddenly check-raise. Now what? This is where player profiling becomes everything. You have to recognize the difference in player types. Against a loose maniac, this could mean nothing — just another random bluff. But against a tight regular, that same check-raise usually means serious strength.

They’re not doing this with gutshots, backdoors, or air. More often than not, they’ve connected with the board — top pair, an overpair, or a strong draw. This is one of those classic spots where you simply need to fold your middle pair.

Ask yourself: what does this type of player really have when they check-raise you here? Most of the time, it’s going to be a strong top pair — hands like A-Q, K-Q, or Q-J. It’s also very possible they’ve hit a set, maybe with pocket sevens or fours, or they slow-played a monster preflop like pocket aces or kings.

Bottom line — against solid, disciplined players, you must respect strength. Don’t try to fight every pot with weak or marginal hands.

When a tight, competent regular check-raises you on the flop, it’s usually not a bluff. Learn to fold your Ace-high or middle-pair hands in these spots. It’s not weakness — it’s discipline. And discipline is what keeps your win rate healthy in the long run.

Tip #3: Squeeze Every Last Chip Out of the Fish

Now let’s move on to a much more enjoyable topic — playing against recreational players. These are the folks who keep the games alive — and profitable. Let’s imagine you raise preflop with pocket jacks ( ), and one of our fishy friends calls.

This type of player isn’t a maniac; they’re just a casual, fun-seeking participant. They love limping, calling preflop raises, and seeing flops with junky hands. They’ll call down with ace-high, bottom pair, or even a gutshot just for the thrill of it.

This is the kind of player you can — and should — extract maximum value from. Example hand: flop comes   . It’s a wet, draw-heavy board, and you’re holding two black Jacks, meaning you don’t block any hearts. That’s important — because if this player has any two hearts, they’ve now got a flush draw.

On top of that, there are several straight draws available. Recreational players love hands like 7-5, which here would be an open-ended straight draw. So what’s the plan? We’re going to bet for pure value. Against players like this, there’s no need for fancy checks or tricky lines. Bet, bet, and bet again — because they’ll call you with all sorts of hands that have no business putting money in the pot.

Let’s continue with the hand against our recreational opponent — the one who loves to see flops and call everything down. We’re on a    board holding pocket jacks, and we’ve already established that this board is full of draws and second-best hands that we’re comfortably ahead of.

A hand like 7-4 gives them a gutshot straight draw, and 9-7 provides an open-ended straight draw. They might also have simple one-pair hands — A-8, K-8, or A-3 — all of which are easily dominated by our jacks. In short, this is the perfect situation to press your advantage. There’s absolutely no reason to slow down or get fancy. Just make a strong continuation bet on the flop and keep control of the pot.

The turn brings the , which doesn’t really change much. It doesn’t complete any major draws, and if your opponent had a pair or a draw on the flop, they’re not folding now. This is your cue to bet again.

As Nathan always emphasizes, keep your foot on the gas against players who love to call. The combination of a loose opponent and a draw-heavy board is a golden ticket for value betting. You’re still ahead of most of their range — the weaker pairs, the missed draws, and all the speculative hands they shouldn’t have called with in the first place. They call again.

Now the river comes  — and this is where a lot of players make the fatal mistake of hesitating. They see that king and start second-guessing themselves: “What if they hit a king? Should I check it back?”. No. That’s a losing mindset. Remember: poker is a game of ranges, not single hands.

Sure, they can have a king sometimes — maybe K-8 or K-3 — but there are dozens of other hands that completely missed. All those busted straight draws and flush draws are still out there, and none of them got there because the hearts didn’t complete. This means your Jacks are still strong and you can confidently go for value.

Make a strong river value bet, around 75% of the pot. For example, if the pot is $100, bet $75. Why? Because these players will call you with all sorts of hands — weak pairs, ace-highs, busted draws, even total nonsense.

They don’t like folding, and your job is to make them pay for that weakness. Squeeze every last chip out of recreational players on the river. They are the lifeblood of the game — and if you consistently extract full value from them, your long-term win rate will thank you.

Additional Reading: What Is a Squeeze Play and How to Use It Effectively

Tip #4: Play in Position More

Up next, we’ll look at one of the most fundamental — yet often ignored — principles of poker success: the power of position. Being the last to act in a hand gives you an enormous strategic advantage. Why? Because you get to see what your opponents do first. Their actions provide you with valuable information, allowing you to decide whether to bet, bluff, call, or fold based on what they’ve already revealed.

In poker, information is power, and position gives you exactly that. When you act last, you can:

  • Control the size of the pot more effectively.
  • Get extra value with your strong hands.
  • Pull off more bluffs because you know how your opponents have acted.
  • Fold early in spots where you sense strength, saving yourself chips.

It’s no coincidence that most of your long-term profits come from just two seats at the table — the button and the cutoff. These are the positions where you’ll consistently have the advantage of acting last.

So what does that mean in practice? It means you should be playing more hands from these positions to exploit that edge. For example, hands like   or    aren’t particularly strong — they’re what we call speculative hands. They can make straights, flushes, or good top pairs, but they’re not strong enough to play profitably from early or middle position.

However, when you’re on the button or cutoff, these hands become profitable open-raises because you can leverage your position to control the hand postflop. You’ll win more pots simply because you’re acting with more information than your opponents.

If you’re unsure which hands to play from each position, it’s worth checking detailed charts or cheat sheets — they’ll help you build a structured and balanced preflop range depending on your seat at the table.

So the takeaway is simple: the later your position, the wider your range can be. Position equals profit — so play accordingly.

Tip #5: Always 3-Bet Your Premiums

Now let’s talk about another fundamental rule that separates pros from amateurs: always 3-bet your premium hands preflop. A lot of beginners make the mistake of just calling with their monsters, hoping to trap their opponents. But more often than not, that strategy backfires. By just calling, you let weaker hands see a cheap flop, and you risk getting outdrawn.

When you’ve got a premium hand, you should be building the pot early and thinning the field.

So, what qualifies as a premium hand? We’re talking about:

  • Pocket Aces (A-A).
  • Pocket Kings (K-K).
  • Pocket Queens (Q-Q).
  • Pocket Jacks (J-J).
  • Ace-King (A-K).
  • Ace-Queen (A-Q).

Let’s look at an example. You’re playing a $2/$5 live cash game, and an opponent raises to $20. You look down and see two queens —  . What should you do? You should re-raise, or 3-bet, to around $80, which is about four times the original raise. This is a good rule of thumb, especially in deep-stacked live games where you want to extract value and protect your hand.

Pocket queens are the third strongest hand in all of poker, behind only kings and aces. You want to get more chips in the middle while you’re ahead, not give your opponents cheap opportunities to hit something lucky.

When you’re dealt a premium hand, don’t slow play. Re-raise before the flop, take control of the hand, and make your opponents pay to try and catch up.

When you’ve got a strong mathematical advantage, don’t waste time — start building the pot immediately. You want to get money in while you’re ahead, not wait for your opponent to catch up. By playing your strong hands aggressively early, you maximize your winnings when the odds are already stacked in your favor.

Light 3-Betting: Essential Poker Move

Tip #6: Don’t Pay Off Obvious Big Hands

One of the biggest mistakes that costs players money — especially against solid opponents — is paying off when it’s obvious the regular has a big hand. Let’s look at an example. You’ve got   and raise preflop. A regular player calls.

Now, this isn’t a loose or recreational opponent. This is a serious player — someone who studies, watches training videos, reviews their sessions, and takes the game as seriously as you do. They’re not out here making wild bluffs or random calls.

The flop comes:   . This is a fantastic flop for your hand even though you haven’t paired. You’ve got:

  • The nut flush draw, meaning you’re drawing to the best possible flush.
  • A wheel straight draw — any 4 gives you a five-high straight (A-2-3-4-5).
  • And because you hold an ace, you also have three extra outs to make the top pair.

In short, you’ve got a ton of equity here. So, you make your standard continuation bet, and the regular calls. Nothing unusual so far. A lot of good players will “float” the flop with medium-strength hands — like pocket sixes, A-5, or even A-high — to see what develops on the turn.

The turn comes: . That’s a perfect scare card to continue barreling. Cards like the king are ideal to represent strong hands because they connect with your preflop raising range. You can credibly represent A-K, K-Q, or even pocket kings.

So, you fire another bet on the turn, continuing your story. Now, when the regular instantly calls again, you’ve got to pause and think carefully. When a good player calls twice on this kind of board, they’re often not floating anymore — they’ve got something. Maybe top pair, maybe two pair, maybe even a set. And if the river bricks out — say, it’s a blank card that doesn’t improve your draw — and they suddenly lead out or raise your bet, it’s time to let it go. This is where discipline pays.

Against regulars, you can’t expect to bluff them off every hand. When the action screams strength — and the story makes sense — it’s time to fold and move on.

Never pay off when the signs are clear that your opponent has it. Because every chip you save in these situations is a chip you can use later — in a spot where you actually have the advantage.

So you pick up the  on the turn — a beautiful scare card. And most of the time, this is a spot where you should keep betting, applying maximum pressure. The King connects strongly with your preflop range, so it’s a perfect card to continue representing big hands.

You fire again, but the regular calls. And that’s when the alarm bells should go off. At this point, you’ve got to ask yourself: what is a tight, thinking player calling me with here? The answer is simple — something that beats A-3. Remember, you still don’t have a made hand at this stage. 

When this kind of opponent calls twice on a coordinated board, it usually means one of two things:

  • They’ve already got a strong pair or better;
  • They’re drawing to a monster hand, like a nut straight or flush.

And nine times out of ten, it’s the first one. Then the river comes — . That’s a dangerous card. One of the most obvious draws that could’ve picked up equity on the turn — Q-J — just got there. That means if your opponent had been floating or semi-bluffing with that kind of hand, they’ve now completed the straight.

So, what’s the move? You check, and your opponent fires a big bet. This is the moment where so many players torch money. They see all the draws that missed, they convince themselves the regular might be bluffing — and they hit call. But you’ve got to be brutally honest with yourself here.

You’re holding  , meaning it’s highly unlikely your opponent is bluffing a missed diamond draw. There just aren’t that many natural bluffs left in their range. Most of the hands they can have — K-Q, K-T, sets, or made straights — are all value hands.

So when a disciplined, thinking regular bets big on the river, that’s not the time to “hero call.” That’s the time to respect the action and fold. Because against good players, those big river bets are almost never bluffs. They’re extracting value from second-best hands exactly like yours. Let them have it.

It might sting to fold a hand with so much potential, but in the long run, these disciplined laydowns are what separate consistent winners from emotional gamblers.

Tip #7: Don’t Run a Charity

Let me tell you something — when you start getting too fancy at the poker tables, you lose money. It’s that simple. Here’s a classic example. A recreational player — one of those friendly folks who plays for fun, not profit — opens the pot preflop. For some reason, you decide to just call with two red Kings —  .

Now, we’ve already talked about this before: when you pick up a premium hand, you should always 3-bet. Always. Kings are a monster preflop. You want to build the pot early, get value from worse hands, and deny equity to speculative ones. But instead, you just flat.

The flop comes down   . Your opponent checks, and — inexplicably — you check back. That’s a mistake. You’ve got the second-best hand in the entire game and a strong overpair on a dynamic board. This is a spot where you should be betting for pure value. Don’t overthink it, don’t get tricky. You’re not “trapping”, you’re missing value.

You’re effectively running a charity for your opponents by letting them see free cards. The turn brings the , and now the recreational player leads out with a small bet. Perfect. This is the moment to raise big and start building the pot. But instead, you just call again — trying to be clever, maybe hoping they’ll bluff more on the river.

That’s not clever — that’s costly. You’re shooting yourself in the foot by refusing to raise when you’ve got one of the strongest possible hands. Then the river comes — , a total brick. Your opponent checks, and now you finally wake up and make a big bet. They call, you win, but it’s a tiny pot compared to what it could’ve been. Congratulations, you just left a pile of money on the table.

The point is simple: when you’re up against recreational players and you’ve got a big hand, don’t slow-play yourself into a small win. They’re not folding top pair. They’re not analyzing your range. They just want to see the next card and hope for the best. So when you’ve got the goods — bet big, raise hard, and extract maximum value.

Poker isn’t about showing how tricky you can be. It’s about making the most money possible from every edge you get. So don’t run a charity at the poker tables. Value bet relentlessly against the players who love to call, and watch your win rate soar.

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About the Author
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Nathan «BlackRain79» Williams Professional Poker Player & Author

Nathan is one of the most famous microstakes players in the world and the author of several popular poker books. He shares proven strategies and clear advice that help beginners and low-stakes players improve their results and grow their confidence at the tables.

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