Remember that old Kenny Roger’s song? The chorus went "you got to know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em, know when to walk away and know when to run". Kenny must have been a poker player because those are smart strategies for playing poker without losing your shirt. If you don’t believe me, ask any professional poker player – they will tell you that it all boils down to that simple chorus.
What makes a good poker player? To most people, that would be a player who wins more than he that usually indicates someone who doesn’t bet until he has a strong starting hand. You have to be patient to be a winning poker player and be willing to sit out hands you’re most likely to lose. Watch the pros and you’ll see the ones who win consistently will play out maybe a third of the hands they get dealt.
While good poker players may play fewer hands, when they do play a hand they do so aggressively. Instead, they will deliberately build that pot by raising and forcing other players to have to pay to stay in the game. If you follow these strategies consistently, you will build a table image of a player who only plays good hands. This opens the way further along to be able to pull off a bluff or two as your opponents will not be expecting it.
Make sure to hold off trying any bluffs until you have built up a good table image. If you start bluffing early or too often, it will ruin the image and you’ll find your bluff getting called most of the time because your opponents aren’t going to believe you. You will end up losing more than you win so be sure to have the patience mentioned earlier and hold off on bluffing until later in the game.
