Poker Tips for Beginners: 10 Habits (Play Chips Only)

The most useful poker tips for beginners are about discipline: play fewer, stronger starting hands, play more hands when you act last, raise rather than just calling, and use pot odds to decide whether a draw is worth chasing. These ten tips are for Texas Hold'em, and you can try every one in the free poker game, which uses play chips with no value. There's no real money in it.

If you need the rules first, start with how to play Texas Hold'em.

1. Play fewer hands

Beginners lose most of their chips by playing too many weak hands and hoping the flop helps. Most two-card hands are worth folding before the flop. Folding costs nothing (unless you're in the blinds) and saves chips for hands that can win big pots.

2. Know your good starting hands

A simple starting list that works well while you learn:

Group	Hands	Pre-flop plan
Premium	AA, KK, QQ, AK	Raise from any seat
Strong	JJ, 10-10, AQ, AJ suited, KQ suited	Raise, especially later in the betting order
Playable	Smaller pairs, suited connectors like 8-7 suited, other suited aces	Play from late position if it's cheap
Fold	Everything else, like K-4 or 9-2	Fold

Some numbers to keep in mind: you're dealt a pocket pair about one hand in 17, and pocket aces one hand in 221. A pocket pair flops three of a kind about 12% of the time, which is why small pairs are best when they're cheap to play.

3. Position matters

Players who act after you give you information: you see what they did before you decide. The dealer (marked D in our game) acts last on the flop, turn and river, the best seat at the table. The blinds act first after the flop, the worst.

The practical rule: play more hands when you're near the dealer button, fewer when you're early. A hand like 9-8 suited can be worth playing on the button and a clear fold right after the big blind.

4. Raise or fold; don't just call

When you decide a hand is worth playing before the flop, raise. Raising wins the blinds when everyone folds, thins the field, and gives you the lead in the hand. Just calling (limping) lets many players see a cheap flop, which helps weak hands catch up.

In the free game, the Min, ½ pot, Pot and All in buttons set the slider for you. About three times the big blind is a common raise before the flop; after the flop, half to two-thirds of the pot is a solid default.

5. Count your outs

An out is a card that would improve your hand to one that's probably winning. With four hearts after the flop, any of the nine remaining hearts makes a flush: nine outs.

A handy shortcut to turn outs into a percentage (the exact figures for nine outs are 35% by the river and 19.6% on the next card):

• On the flop, with two cards to come: outs × 4.
• On the turn, with one card to come: outs × 2.

Your draw	Outs	Hit by the river (from the flop)	Hit on the next card
Flush draw	9	about 35%	about 20%
Open-ended straight draw	8	about 31%	about 17%
Inside straight draw	4	about 16%	about 9%

6. Use pot odds before you call

Pot odds compare what you have to pay with what you can win. If the pot is 100 and your opponent bets 50, you must call 50 to win 150 (the 100 plus their 50). You'd need to win more than 50 ÷ 200 = 25% of the time for the call to pay off over many hands.

With a flush draw on the turn (about 20% to hit on the river), calling 50 into that pot isn't worth it on these numbers alone. On the river, a draw that missed is just a fold.

7. Bet your strong hands

Checking a strong hand to "trap" usually wins a small pot. Bet instead: weaker hands often call.

8. Bluff rarely, and with a reason

A bluff works only if your opponent can fold and your story makes sense. Bluffing into several players rarely works, because one of them usually has something. The computer players in our game weigh their chance of winning against the price of the bet, so they fold weak hands to large bets. A big bet on a scary board (four cards to a flush, say) is more believable than a random one.

9. Watch the blinds and your stack

In the free game, blinds start at 10/20 and double every 10 hands, so waiting for aces gets expensive. With about 10 big blinds left, you'll mostly want to go all in or fold before the flop rather than make small raises you can't follow up.

10. Keep it as a game

Treat poker as a game and a skill to practise, not a way to make money. Our free poker game is built for that: the chips have no value, there's nothing to buy, and nothing can be cashed out. If you ever feel the urge to chase losses or play for money you can't afford, step away and talk to someone you trust.

Practising poker tips for beginners

Open the free poker game with 3 opponents. For ten hands, play only the premium and strong hands from tip 2. For the next ten, add playable hands, but only on or next to the dealer button. Whenever you face a bet with a draw, count your outs and check the pot odds first. Look up the hand order any time in poker hand rankings; for another card game with play chips, see blackjack basic strategy.

Play a practice table

Use one tip per session until it's a habit. The free poker game runs in your browser with play chips only and no sign-up.