Poker is a game of chance and skill. While luck plays a significant role in the outcome of any hand, players can improve their chances of winning through a combination of probability, psychology and game theory. It used to be that only a few people had the knowledge to do this, but these days anyone can learn the basic principles of winning poker strategy. However, staying the course when this strategy doesn’t produce the results you want is a whole other story.
The first thing you need to understand is that position has a huge impact on starting hand range and strategy. The earlier you are in the pot, the more risk you take because your opponents will be able to see how much you’re betting and adjust accordingly. Similarly, your opponent will be able to read your actions from your previous hands and use this information to assess the strength of your own hand.
This is why it’s important to play your cards close to the board as often as possible. This will help conceal your strength and make it hard for opponents to put you on a particular hand. For example, say you have pocket fives on a A-8-5 flop. If you raise, then opponents will have a hard time putting you on that specific hand and may chase all sorts of ludicrous draws hoping you’re bluffing. If they call, then you’ll be able to control the price of the pot and inflate it with value hands or reduce the size of the pot with weak ones.