When you are playing against a beginner in Texas Hold-em your goal is to play beyond his/her understanding of the strength of hands. Most beginners look at the first hand and assume they are lucky or they got a great hand if they got cards that are relatively strong. But no, the cards don’t just fall into your lap. If you want to beat the beginner you just have to make the first hand a difficult question.

You already know that next hand is going to be better than the one before it, right? However, you don’t yet know how to play the hand after the flop. Against a beginner you should really play tight, but when you have a bigger stack you can be more aggressive.

When you are in position you should also be playing more aggressively, but in general I prefer to fold unless I have a really big hand.

Before the flop you should play more passive, calling to see the flop and check hoping the flop is good. Later on you can become more aggressive with your QTs, in particular situations where you have raised preflop and the flop is ragged.

When you are playing against a loose-aggressive player you should check more often. Points like this, when you are out of position, make it harder for the loose-aggressive player to build a stack.

When you have a relatively good hand, you should try to get a lot of money in the pot early on. Many times you will have to use this hand to steal the blinds or dull the steel of the new-ciplined player.

Around the bubble or in the money spots you should be mixing up your style of play. Here you should steal the blinds, but you should also protect your stack and your backside.ift to other players. If you are called you should fold unless you have a really good hand.

About once every two hours you should play a TAG tournament (that is, only playing with cards that improve your hand) raise preflop aggressive. Once every 6-7 hands you should reraise a flop with a very strong hand (AA-TT, AK-AJ, JJ-1010-9TT).

Loose-Aggressive Play LAG

Loose-Aggressive play or LAG is one of the most common tournament strategy mistakes. It involves playing too many hands which is neither profitable nor invested to return positive results. It’s often applied to tourneys or sit-n-go poker.

Many skilled LAG players can hence the time and applied this strategy to master the game and later apply it to cash or tilt games. Read more about Loose-Aggressive 7Meter Lovers…

Loose-Aggressive Poker Mirage

The most effective way to win the game is to reduce the bubble, and that is to get in early, before the blinds get too high and your opponents succeed in getting you out of the game. Once you’re in the game, you should be able to win, because you have the edge.

Loose-Aggressive Mirage #1

You should be picking up a very strong hand early. If you have a good hand, you should be raising or reraising as many times as possible preflop in order to induce your opponent to fold, or to steal the blind.

The idea is that you will either get a reraise or a fold. Therefore, you will either double up or build a big stack. This is the point where the LAG strategy comes into play.

Loose-Aggressive Mirage #2

Once you’ve developed a good image as a tight player, you should now introduce a wide range of cards into the game. You’ll either be playing mostly premium hands or calling with a wide range of hands.

It will be very important to choose your moments to play from the moment you get your good hands. You need to manage your game while moving through the different stages of the game. Otherwise, you’ll end up losing too much money.

Loose-Aggressive Mirage #3

Your image as a tight player is essential to your success. If you were to get a very good hand, you would need to consider whether your hand is worth any risk.

Certain hands can be deemed as being solid hands, whereas other hands might fall under this category. You need to take your time to think about the different hands available to you and to the table. There is a wide range of hands available. Each player has their own style. Hence, if you’re not sure whether you have a good hand, you can opt to fold – unless the flop brings a ‘Ace’.

I hope these tips will enable you to play with a lot more confidence. They definitely go a long way in helping you develop the right approach towards the game.