Secret tips to immediately

win more at poker

from pro players

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 Foreword
As a new player, it's easy to make mistakes that can
hurt your win rate and prevent you from becoming a
winning player.
I know this firsthand because I was once a new poker
player and struggled to succeed.
Luckily I quickly realized that in order to succeed I
needed help and joined poker training sites and
forums.

Through the years, I have invested heavily in my poker education, spending more than ten thousand dollars on hiring poker coaches,
buying courses, and subscribing to training sites.
However, the most valuable lessons I learned came from my experience, playing over 10 million hands and learning from my
mistakes.
In this FREE E-book, I share the seven tips (and a BONUS one) that have had the most significant impact on my win rate.
These tips are simple to follow and can be implemented individually. Although for optimal results, I recommend doing all of them.

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 About Poker Fortress

I started Pokerfortress.com in 2019 to share the knowledge I gained through

playing poker professionally for ten years. You can find hundreds of helpful articles
on the website, with one main goal in mind: To help new and aspiring poker
players get better at poker.

Unlike many other poker websites, Poker Fortress prioritizes the needs of
beginners and inexperienced players. Many poker sites use complicated jargon
and strategies that are impossible for new players to understand.

At Poker Fortress, we strive to make advanced concepts simple enough that even
beginners can quickly grasp the vital information needed to improve your game.

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I play against recreational poker players daily, and I know exactly what they are doing wrong.
If you are reading this, you likely are one of them. Most likely, you are a losing player, or you are not satisfied with your win rate. But
let that not discourage you.

Just by reading my poker articles, you are already doing better than most poker players who never considered learning a
single strategy to improve their game.

The following tips will show you the basics of a solid strategy that even poker pros (myself included) have used for years.
But, a word of warning: The following tips will not magically transform you into a high-stakes crusher. Poker is a very complex
game, pro poker players study the game for hundreds of hours before they get good enough to become professional players.

Tips are intentionally simple and don’t overcomplicate things.

You can go through the list quickly, and it will benefit your win rate forever.
It is created in a way that each point is easy to put into action.
But if you want to go deeper and spend 100s of hours studying the game and playing the stakes where you can eventually quit
your job and play poker professionally, don’t worry. I will include some of the good resources for that as well.

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 TIP #1: DO NOT TILT!
This one is as basic as it gets, yet many players ignore its importance. The moment you start making emotional decisions, you
should leave the table. I am sure that you have heard before that being on tilt is bad.

But do you know how bad it is? It is so costly that it can destroy your win rate and turn you from a decent winning player into a
losing one. It is one of the costliest mistakes that players make in poker. You can play perfectly for hours, and one bad call, just
because you are on tilt, can immediately evaporate your winnings.

I can’t emphasize how costly this mistake is, and I see recreational players do it all the time. Everyone thinks they are great at
poker when running good. But when a bad run starts, discipline and sticking to your strategy are essential. You will always
make money with good hands, but limiting your losses and picking up small pots turns you into a winner.
There is a reason why professional players invest in buying books about tilt and hiring mental coaches; they are practicing to
recognize when tilt is creeping up on them, so they can stop playing.

Everyone goes through bad runs, but it makes a massive difference if you keep playing your solid strategy when running bad or if
you start spewing and making bad calls hand after hand because you are on tilt. If you want to know more about tilt, I have a great
article on what tilt is and how to recognize it and how to get rid of it:

What is tilt and how to get rid of it

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 TIP #2: Fold to river re-raises

Time after time, I see players calling river re-raises with just top pair type of hands in single raised pots (no 3-bet preflop). I first
heard it from my poker coach, who was charging me $200/h. River re-raises and check-raises are most often value bets. I
later confirmed this by checking my database of millions of hands.
The amount of medium to big pots (20bb-70bb) I lost before I realized this was staggering. Luckily you can save them just by
reading this :).

You will save a ton of money if you start folding top pairs and overpairs in this situations. Don’t get me wrong, it is still correct
to go for a river value bet with these hands, but you need to be prepared to fold if your opponent raises your bet on the river. Most
of the time, they will have at least two pair type hands or better.

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 TIP #3: Open according to table position
Every poker pro knows exactly which hands are profitable and should be played from a specific position on the table. The hands
that are not profitable should be folded. It is so simple. There are some deviations to open (raise preflop if folded to you) less hands
if players on the table play very loose, and open more hands if players on the table are very tight.

You need to have a standardized preflop list of hands (preflop hand range) that you
will open on a certain position. I understand memorizing hands for each position can be too
much initially. That is why I have found you a great resource to start with. BlackRain79Poker
has a great simple YouTube video regarding this.

With his top 20% hands hand chart, you need to memorize only one hand chart for all
positions. Then, add a few hands barely worse than 20% of hands (hands like A8o, QTo,
JTo, K8s, J9s, etc.) when you are on the button. And remove a few hands at the bottom of
the 20% range (like A9o, Q9s, K9s, etc.) when in the early position.

This will ensure you avoid many tough spots postflop. Preflop mistakes get multiplied
postflop, so having a proper preflop raising range, is mandatory. You will make a ton of
money from players who don’t have a set preflop open hand range.

Top 20% of hands

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 TIP #4: Start thinking in terms of hand ranges rather than
specific hands
This one is a bit related to the previous point. I will give you some insights on thinking of ranges of hands rather than specific poker
hands. When you get good at this, your win rate will improve drastically, and you will have a much easier time outplaying
opponents.

You should think about what type of hands you are representing to the table with your poker actions, and assume the same from your
opponents.
Just like you have a certain range of hands that you should open in each position, the same goes for your opponents.
For example, a player in an early position holds more broadway type of hands, while the player on the button and big blind will
have many more hand combinations of middle hands.
Therefore high flops are great for EP (early position) and MP (middle position) preflop raiser, while low to medium high flops are
much better for late positions.
It is a lot easier to sell the story that you have hit something on the QJ7A8 board, if you have opened in EP, than to convince a button to
fold on the 378J6 board.

Why is that? Because the hand range that you open in EP preflop with has many combinations of broadway hands, but not very
many hands that would connect with 378J6 board. On the other hand, a QJ7A8 board heavily hits your EP preflop range.
Contrary, on the 378J6 board, you should be much more likely to give up because the buttons range consists of many middle hands
that could have hit this board. The button will have many pair+ types of hands or be on some sort of a draw so he will be unlikely to fold
to our continuation bets.
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Let’s quickly check one more example:

Let’s say a flush draw was present on the flop that missed on the river. The opponent called our bet on the flop and the turn. The
opponent doesn’t just have missed flush draws here. In his calling range, he has some showdown hands as well (some pair)
that are not good enough to reraise and are likely to call you down because, to the opponent, you are likely to have some missed
flush draws that you want to bluff now on the river with.

I will not go into detail about how to play those hands as that is a book written on its own. These examples were just to show you
how professional poker players think in terms of ranges.

Always try to ask yourself what is the opponent’s preflop hand range, what type of hands he would bet on the flop with,
which hands would he check, and which check/raise. Do the same every time you are betting: is this flop good for my preflop
raising range, does it hit button more often, if I continuation bet here which hands is it likely that I have?

The more you play, the better you can define opponents’ ranges.
You will also start to understand how your hand ranges look to the opponents. Once you play enough, all of this becomes
automatic. Just try to slowly incorporate it into your game next time you are playing.

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 TIP #5: Against tight players you can open any two cards
on the button
This one is a bit more advanced. Please, don’t start opening 100% of the buttons immediately!
Slowly build it up from what you usually open and what you are comfortable with. But at the same time, know that this move is
backed by pure math. Long term, you are guaranteed to make money from it. Only apply this if you have enough hand history on
the opponents (I would say to be on the safe side when you have 1000 hands on each of the opponents involved in the hand).
If you get called preflop, it is fine to give up postflop (and expected of you to do on many flops, to keep this move profitable). Don’t
make the mistake of trying to win a pot postflop at any cost; you already made money from stealing preflop! The amount of profit
you can make depends on how often your opponents fold to steal. If you play online, it is effortless to know how often your opponents
fold to steal.

It is moves like this that poker pros are using all the time to
make money from recreational players. It is impossible to get
accurate numbers on players without a poker HUD, which is
why almost all pros are using a poker HUD of sorts.
My favorite HUD, which I am using myself, is PokerTracker 4
(great customization), with HoldemManager 3 (more graphically
appealing) being a close second.

Let me explain to you in a bit more detail how the math above
works on the next page:
Knowing how often blinds fold to steals is extremely useful HUD stat. Screenshot is from
PT4 HUD builder. 10
For example, we have 1000 hands on both SB (small blind) and BB (big blind), and we are on the button with 72o when it gets
folded to us.
Usually, this is very easy fold and wait for a next-hand scenario. But, in this case, SB folds 85% to steals, while BB folds 80% to
steals.

If we open 2.25x on the button, we are risking 2.25bb to win 1.5bb already in the pot (1bb from BB and 0.5bb from SB).
68% of the time, we will win 1.5bb immediately (0.85 * 0.80 = 0.68 -> 85% chance of SB and 80% of BB to fold), and 32% (100%
- 68%) of the time, we will lose 2.25bb when we get called by at least 1 player (assuming we always fold postflop, even when
we hit the nuts).

In 100 such scenarios, we will win 1.5bb * 68 = 102bb, while we will lose 32 * 2.25 = 81bb. We are expected to make a profit
of 21bb (102bb - 81bb). This means that each single such scenario makes you 0.21bb (21bb/100 hands) in profit. That is a very
decent profit from what is usually an easy fold preflop.

On top of that, we win even more when we hit with our hand, and when we miss, we just give up. I would fold anything less than
top pairs, I am prepared to even fold top pairs, because opponents’ ranges are very tight preflop to begin with - meaning they will
mostly have a stronger hand postflop and have us dominated.
Remember; usually, you will not win much from tight players, and stealing their blinds is the primary way to win the money from
them long term.

This extremely powerful strategy works against 2 tight players on blinds and us on the button. But it works even better if
you are on a small blind and it gets folded to us. Now we are up against only 1 player and we can easily take advantage of him
not defending his big blind wide enough.

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 TIP #6: Table selection
Next to tilt, the table selection is the 2nd easiest thing you can do to win more in poker immediately.
You have plenty of tables to choose from in online games and many casinos. And if you don’t table select, you are costing
yourself a fortune.

Professional poker players don’t like to play on a table full of professionals, so why would you?
Weak and recreational players are the bread and butter of any poker pro. Add a tilting player, and you have a dream
table.

The easiest money is made on tables with the weakest/recreational players. If you are not a pro, then make sure the table has
players weaker than you. In a scenario of 6 recreational players and only 1 of them is sticking to the preflop ranges, guess who
the winner will be?

Players without solid preflop strategy are easy to spot. You already know that you should play around 20% of hands in a 6max
game, so anyone playing over 35% of hands over, let’s say 150 hands (for preflop raising percentage, we don’t need hand
samples of 1000 hands). Also, observe what hands they show at the showdown. If their hands are looser than your preflop raise
hand chart from that position, then good chances are they are weaker than you.

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Do not try to build your ego by playing on the toughest of tables.
It is mathematically impossible to win as much against a decent player (over a decent amount of hands) as against
someone who doesn’t understand poker and its basic strategy concepts (like preflop ranges and stealing profitably).

Start table selecting even at the lowest stakes and make it a habit. Most poker pros would not beat the stakes where they play
if they wouldn’t be table selecting! And for you, there is no need to battle it out with other decent players. There is plenty of bad
players around at micro stakes.

If you want to learn some good basic poker strategies on how to beat microstakes, then MicroGrinder has plenty of
microstakes content suitable for beginners. You can also go through his YouTube videos.

I also really like BlackRain79 Elite Poker University. He played hundreds of thousands of hands at microstakes and has an
enormous win rate by having a strategy that is very suited towards beginners. His course is a bit more costly, but there is no
doubt it will make you a better player.

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 TIP #7: Multiway pots play differently
In microstakes, multiway pots are a lot more common than on higher stakes. This is because recreational players don’t like to
fold preflop. This requires us to change our overall strategy a little bit.

More opponents involved in the pot means a bigger likelihood someone will hit something decent postflop.
The chance for someone to have a top pair or a strong draw is now increased. We counter this by playing tighter and folding
more if someone bets postflop.

More people also means a bigger pot, and having a marginal middle pair on a turn or river when the pot is getting big is a tricky
situation to be in.

Bluffing is less effective against more opponents as well. And you should generally avoid it, especially if you have players to act
behind you. I would consider bluffing only on the boards that really hit my preflop raising range, and the rest I would give up with.

A good rule of thumb when starting is to not bluff in multiway pots. Keep it simple, and your money will come from other
moves we discussed earlier.

Your chances to win with good hands decrease in multiway pots as well.
Just to show you some numbers: AA will win 85% of the time against a single opponent. But that number is reduced to 73.5%
when you are against 2 opponents. And with 3 opponents, you will win only 64%.

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 BONUS: Rakeback is free money
Rakeback is guaranteed money, and you earn it just by simply playing poker. The more you play, the more rakeback you
get. Part of the rake that a poker site takes from you, they give back to the players. And that is called rakeback.

Most poker sites have rakeback, which varies from site to site but doesn’t go above 60% of the rake paid, usually is around 25%.
Rakeback can add to your win rate substantially.

There even are poker pros that aren’t winning players, but because of rakeback, they can play poker for a living.
On NL100, rakeback can be as much as $35 per hour. Just imagine knowing that if you go and spend the weekend on your
hobby, playing for 10 hours, you are guaranteed to earn $350 plus potential extra winnings. In what other hobby can you do that?

am shocked that many players don’t care about rakeback too much and only care about the best-looking poker site when
choosing where to play. Even many pro players are guilty of that.

I care little about the UX of a poker site. After all, I play poker to make money from something I enjoy doing. A soft playing field
and good rakeback matter to me the most, as I know I can make good money there.

When starting out, always scout for the best first deposit bonuses and biggest rakeback deals, as they will help you
tremendously jumpstart your poker journey.

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 Closing thoughts
Before we finish, if you plan to play online, I strongly suggest you get a tool that almost every poker pro uses and will help you
immensely. It is invaluable if you want to start winning in poker. I couldn’t imagine playing online poker without it.

For tracking your progress and have a HUD (heads-up display) while playing:
Poker Tracker 4 (PT4) or Holdem Manager 3 (HM3) - choose one of them; both give you are a FREE trial period. I currently use PT4,
but go with HM3 if you want a more visually appealing design. Both tools are owned by the same company and do the same thing.
Note: Some poker sites don’t allow you to use a HUD, so check compatibility beforehand. PT4/HM3 are the tools that I can’t imagine
playing online poker without.

The truth is that a solo poker journey is challenging. I would never have become a poker player if it would not be for poker coaching
sites. Do yourself a favor and subscribe to one (many offer almost free trials). Coaching sites/courses that I recommend to you:
In my opinion best price/value ratio for beginner poker players:
Micro Grinder coaching site - current promo is $1 for the first month. It is a no-brainer.

If you want to splash out, go for BlackRain79 Elite Poker University - It is an excellent course for poker beginners. Nathan is an
experienced poker grinder at micros with an insane win rate over hundreds of thousands of hands at micro stakes. He is the owner of
several poker books. His course includes everything a beginner needs: preflop raising hand charts, preflop calling hand charts, a
simple yet very effective strategy to transition you into micro stakes winner, and among many other things, a custom HUD (compatible
with PT4).
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Congratulations. You made it to the end. You are already much better off than the majority of poker players.

I intentionally mixed some slightly advanced tips with elementary ones in the tips above. This is to get you thinking about what is
possible in poker and to show you what tools poker professionals use that we don’t want you to know. After all, poker is a
competitive game, and not everyone can be a winner.

But anyone can become a semi-professional and even professional player if they put in enough work and take advantage of
available tools and coaching sites..

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