Live poker
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Playing live poker can be tricky. There are a few more factors to take into account playing with live people than there are with purely online poker players. That said, live poker can be both fun and profitable so long as you play your cards right and don’t make a few common mistakes.
Proper betting is the key to playing a good game of poker, whether live or online. If you have a good hand, be sure to build the pot as high as possible by aggressively betting and raising, especially in the later rounds of the game. Be sure to keep this aggressive reined in until later, though: you don’t want to scare players away prematurely and lose your chance of raking in a big pot. Wait until they’re sufficiently committed to winning and then force them to up the ante. And be sure to bet quickly and decisively: if you do you’ll reduce the amount of time players have to read your facial expressions, thereby giving them a glimpse into how your poker hand looks.
At the same time, keep an eye on how your opponents bet. If they act in a similar fashion then they probably have a decent hand. Conversely, if they bet aggressively at first and then start to check themselves later, they probably didn’t get what they were looking for.
If you think you can make a successful poker bluff, follow these same rules. Go at it aggressively. Act as though you have the best hand in the world. Try and force players to fold their hands so you can take the pot with the worst hand imaginable. A cocky attitude can go a long way in winning big money so long as you employ it strategically (not to mention not too early, lest you scare players off before they’ve committed a decent chunk of their money to the pot).
Never forget that folding is always an option. This is the best way to ensure that you’ll survive to later rounds. If other live players are getting aggressive, don’t be afraid to walk away.