Poker Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
Since the goal in poker is to get your opponents
Since the goal in texas hold'em poker is to get your opponents to make the biggest mistakes possible, and get your good hands paid off as much as possible, understanding hand ranges and equity is paramount in being successful at texas hold'em poker. Once you understand hand ranges and equity really well, betting, checking, folding, and raising become much clearer with each decision you have to make. Each decision is like a mini-goal. You want to achieve each goal with excellence, and in order to do that you need to bet or raise when the hand ranges and equity dictate to do so.
For example, if you have a slight equity advantage with middle pair on the turn
For example, if you have a slight equity advantage with middle pair on the turn against an opponent's hand range that will be mostly draws, and you check instead of bet, then you are not achieving your goal. If you get to the river and have almost no showdown value versus your opponent’s hand range, then you need to look to bet or raise in situations that make sense for a hand you can reasonably represent.