Poker is one of the most popular and most exciting card games out there. With a strong competitive industry surrounding it, it pays handsomely to be a skilled poker player. Of course, it’s best to start small and aim at impressing not the pros just yet.
If you and your friends have poker nights every week, it would be good to practice your skills on them. Here are a few tips to start dominating your friends in a friendly game of poker.
Keep A Straight Face
You might have heard of the term “poker face” before and this refers to keeping a neutral demeanor regardless of what the situation may be. As cliche as it may sound, one of your best assets in poker isn’t your luck or your ability to count cards, it’s keeping a straight face.
If you are able to maintain a neutral face throughout the game, your friends are going to find it hard to read whether you are bluffing or not. It may seem difficult at first but you can master the art of staying neutral over time. As a general rule of thumb, never get too excited or too disappointed if you see the cards being dealt with you.
Settle For Small Gains
Staying patient is another great mantra for poker players. Remember, winning $10 pots 10 times in a row bags you more cash as compared to winning an $80 pot in one game. Other than that, you face fewer risks if you settle for small gains instead of going for big ones.
Playing poker is all about maintaining a solid amount of money the longest. This isn’t a game like a slot online where your goal is to hit the jackpot as soon as possible. As you stay patient, you’ll be able to accumulate a good amount of money by your side in no time.
Familiarize Yourself With The Terms
There’s a lot of poker lingo to learn and mastering these around your friends can be a great way to impress them. Familiarizing yourself with the terms doesn’t just make you sound like a pro, it can help you familiarize yourself with the game’s rules as well.
Use Statistics
This is for the pros to use but believe it or not, learning how to use statistics and probability is one of your best assets when playing cards. How does this come into play? For instance, if you are given two Aces, and there are two other players left on the table, what are the chances that the rest of the Aces are going to appear in the dealer’s hands?
It can be tough at first but it’s definitely a skill you’d want to have by your side. Some will call counting cards cheating but it requires a lot of skill to effectively use this. Would you consider it cheating by then?
At the end of the day, always treat poker as a fun pastime. Don’t suck out all of the fun by becoming too competitive. These skills are just there to ensure that you can win over your friends in a friendly game.