Poker Strategy
Welcome to our Poker Strategy Articles section. Poker is a game of strategy. Anyone that tells you differently is ignorant or a losing poker player. If you study the game and the strategies, you will understand the tactics to becoming a winning player, improve your game, and ultimately win money. We at ITH have accumulated the most comprehensive collection of texas holdem articles to help you learn, gain confidence and most importantly WIN.
We incorporate strategiy discussions on everything from playing hands to winning the mental game. Peruse the sub-categories here or browse all our strategy articles below.
For more poker strategy content, visit our Poker Forum Strategy sections and join in the discussions!
What do you do when you know you are beat?
Most people know that all of the great Hold'em players play their opponents and not their own hands. Most players believe this is just a matter of sensing weakness in their opponent and then exploiting this weakness by stealing a pot.
Automated Poker
Is the future here?
Why Do Players Go on Tilt?
Why do poker players go on tilt? It's not an easy question to answer .
Final Table Training for the WSOP Main Event
Preparing Darus Suharto - I had the pleasure of hosting an event to help Darus Suharto prepare for the World Series of Poker main event.
Playing (Being) Smart
Keys to success in today’s poker world - Today’s poker environment is much tougher than it used to be.
The Paradox of Poker – Tournament vs Ring
Tournament versus cash-game strategy Very few players succeed in both tournaments and cash games.
Starting Hand Chart
Learn how professional poker player and best selling poker author Matthew Hilger plays his starting hands using our starting hand poker calculator!
Controlling the Turn and River
The check-back range and the float - What follows is an excerpt from Jeff’s books, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II: LAG Play and The Short-Handed Workbook.
One Week as a Professional Poker Player
The possibility of becoming a professional poker player is an alluring one for most players. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to sit at home playing poker all day?
Isolating an All-In Opponent
A Hand on the Final-Table Bubble at the World Series of Poker - Many players struggle to distinguish between the situations in which they should attempt to knock out an opponent and those in which they should merely try to accumulate more chips.
Beginner Poker Mistakes : Misunderstood Concepts
As I sift through the ITH forums, it seems there is a recurring theme, whereby beginning to intermediate players make play errors due to misunderstanding certain concepts. After a long time noticing this, I thought it was time to compile an explanation for some of the most commonly misunderstood concepts in poker.
Reflections on My Results at the 2008 World Series of Poker
A disappointing tournament The 2008 World Series of Poker was extremely disappointing for me.
Misapplying Expected Value Calculations Part II
Eric “Rizen” Lynch provides a hand analysis - A few months ago, I wrote an article about how some players are misapplying expected value calculations.
Playing Pocket Pairs in Tournaments
The situation dictates how they are played - Volume II of the Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time series by Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, and Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet was recently released.
Floating in Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better
Slightly different parameters, but the same principle I spent a few days playing in Downtown Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker this year.
Online Tournament Game Selection
Important factors to consider - “You could be the 10th-best player in the world, but if you’re playing against the nine best, you’re the dog.
Omaha Hi-Lo Starting Hand Strategy Look-Fors
In the previous article, we discussed how winners play to scoop the pot. Winners always keep an eye out on how well their cards are coordinated.
Schooling – Playing in Loose Poker Games
You are dealt Ac Kc in early position and you raise your premium holding. Three players cold-call your raise, as do both the blinds.
Poker Psychology : Logical Fallacies
Everybody likes to think that they are ‘logical’, but in poker as well as every day life, many people show weakness in this area.
Poker Bankroll Mistakes that Cost the Most
The only way to make money at poker is through your opponents’ mistakes. Consequently if you make fewer mistakes than your opponents then you will make money in the long term.
Poker Psychology : Rationalizing Decisions
I’m running badly at the moment.
Heads-up Limit Hold’em : A Complete Guide
I play a lot of heads-up limit hold’em. In fact, it probably accounts for about 30% of the hands that I play on a day-to-day basis.
A Proposal for the World Series of Poker
There has been a lot of talk within the poker community about the future of the World Series of Poker. The central debate has focused on whether or not the main event is too big in terms of the number of entrants.
Tough Limit Holdem Strategy
We all have an idea of the archetypical bad limit hold’em player or ‘fish’ as they are often called. They are very loose, very passive, chase terrible draws, don’t value bet or protect their hand enough etc.
AP Newswire May 24, 2025: Joshua Hilger takes home the 2025 WSOP
This article was written soon after the birth of my first son, Joshua, back in January of 2004. I guess my estimate of the WSOP reaching 5000 entrants was off by about 20 years!
Poker Bankroll Strategy : Wipeout
It is not a comfortable thought, but every poker player might one day have to deal with the possibility of losing their entire bankroll. There are a number of ways that this might happen, but essentially it will boil down to one of the following:
The Resteal Float
Floating back at a floater Occasionally, when you bet from late position, a player who suspects a steal may try to float you from out of position by calling your bet and then betting out on the turn.
Choosing a Poker Site : Decision, Decisions, Decisions
Some of the most important decisions you will make during a session are made at the outset, before a single card is dealt to you. In this month’s article I am going to look at those decisions and the thought processes you should go through when making them.
Structuring Sustainable Small-Stakes
Pot-Limit Omaha Games Seven general guidelines Editor’s note: This column is an edited excerpt from Jeff Hwang’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play.
River Bluffs in Limit Hold’em
'The River Rule' I have a rule on the river that I follow religiously, which I appropriately call "The River Rule": Never try to make a good laydown on the river in limit hold'em.
Is Poker Gambling or Skill?
For some reason, poker players love to debate the question of whether or not playing winning poker counts as gambling. Intuitively the answer is yes, but winning poker players often don’t see it that way.
Multiway Pots in Limit Holdem
Test Your Skills
Bluffing in the WSOP Main Event Part I
One of the great things I love about the World Series of Poker main event is the big stacks you get to play in relation to the blinds. When starting out with $10,000 in chips, you can find spots to make plays that would be difficult to make in other types of events in which you start out with a small amount of chips.
PLO Practice-Hand Quiz No. 2
Raising preflop, the combo float, and value-betting the river It's a $1-$2 blinds game, $5 to bring in.
Limit Holdem Bluffing : A Version of the Delayed Bluff
The check and delayed bluff can be a powerful poker weapon
Las Vegas Pot-Limit Omaha
Small-stakes game officially born - On Wednesday, July 22, I walked into the poker room at The Venetian with a plan.
Gambler or Gamer : What Attracts People to Poker
What is the appeal of poker?
Master the Basics
Sometime in the 90s, I enrolled as a computer science student at a certain Canadian university. The first year was tough enough.
When to Raise Draws for Value
When and when not to do so Editor's note: This column is an excerpt from the, expanded edition of Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies for Full-Ring and Short-Handed Games. It includes a new chapter on playing multiway pots, as well as two new chapters for shorthanded games.
Quiz: Wrap, Bare Nut Straight Heads Up
Wrap, bare nut straight heads up It's a 50¢-$1 pot-limit Omaha (PLO) game on the electronic poker tables at Excalibur in Las Vegas, and you are playing heads up.
Tournament Strategy : Continuation-Betting
Examples of when not to do so
Playing Sit n Go’s for Profit
When I first started out online, I deposited $50, played for a while and lost it. A few months later, did the same thing.
Button Play in Tournaments
Evaluating some close decisions
Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes
Focus on your poker instincts Beginning players are afraid to make mistakes because they don't want to look like a beginner.
The Three Biggest Mistakes in Short-Handed Limit Holdem
When browsing all of the available tables at online sites, one can see that shorthanded limit hold'em is quite a popular game. Why?
Switching from Limit to No-Limit Holdem
After listening to Ed Miller speak at last year’s ITH convention, I made up my mind that I wanted to learn how to play no-limit cash games.
Profile of a Typical Omaha Hi-Lo Fish
In this article, we will look at some of the most common characteristics that poor omaha players share.
Dominating Draws in PLO
A game of draws - The truth about pot-limit Omaha (PLO) is that about 99 percent of the game is played on the draw.
Pot-Limit Omaha: The Pivot Card
Its impact on post-flop hand valuations - This is an edited excerpt from Jeff’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play.
Poker Table Chat
Table chat is a long-standing and accepted part of poker, both online and in live card rooms. When playing online, the amount of chatter varies greatly from table to table.
The Basic Floats in PLO
Naked, weak-stab, and semibluff In my last column, I discussed the basics of floating in pot-limit Omaha (PLO) and identified the key indicators - the weak stab, the continuation-bet, and a possible steal bet - that a float may be in order.
Pot-Limit Omaha Hand Quiz
Playing top two pair, and the nut-flush draw - Here are a couple of hands from a $2-$5 game at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
6 Reasons to Start Playing Omaha Hi Lo
When I first started to play internet poker, I headed for the texas holdem tables. One day, while distracted, I accidentally joined a single table Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo tournament.
PLO Practice-Hand Quiz No. 3
Three-betting after the flop without the nuts This is a hand from the early days of the now-raging $1-$2 blinds, $5 bring-in ($500 max buy-in) game at Harrah's in St.
Seat Selection in PLO
Guidelines - Editor’s note: What follows is an edited excerpt from Jeff Hwang’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play.
Winning the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Event
Restealing is important I recently won the Full Tilt Poker $750,000-guaranteed event under the moniker "IonlyplayAA.
Floating – The Key to Advanced Play
Pot-Limit Omaha: FloatingThe key to advanced play Editor's note: The following is a special preview from Jeff Hwang's upcoming book, tentatively titled Pot-Limit Omaha Poker Volume II: Advanced Play.
The Realities of a Re-buy Tournament
One of the most important things to keep in mind while playing an R&A tournament is that the first hour offers a very different style of play than just about any other possible Hold ‘em table. Typically, you’ll have a fair share of opponents playing a loose/super-aggressive style (LAGs).
Why Pot-Limit Omaha Games Must Get Smaller
It’s crucial to the game’s growth “You can shear a sheep many times, but you can skin him only once.
Limit Hold’em Tips : The Secrets of Success
Before talking about the merits of single tabling, I should give you a brief history of my playing career. I started playing internet poker three years ago after watching it on TV.
Hand-Strength Classifications
Categorizing starting hands by playability Editor's note: What follows are edited excerpts from Jeff Hwang's book Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy.
The Emotional Paradox of Poker
Remove all emotion from decisions, but …
The World Series of Poker Bubbles
Take advantage of them I've been fortunate enough to cash in three of the last four main events at the World Series of Poker.
Draw Equity vs Float Equity – Part I
What do you get in return for your call?
A Shorthanded Limit Hold’em Hand
Breaking it down I recently played an interesting hand online during a shorthanded six-max limit hold'em game.
Are Satellite Tournaments a Good or Bad Value?
It depends on the player - I read an article recently that reconfirmed to me why playing the online Sunday major tournaments is such a good value.
More Poker Lessons From My Daughter
The expertise involved with calculating odds, surmising hand strength with incomplete information, negotiating with bluffers, and staying within a bankroll all offer lessons that my daughters will eventually learn to apply to other aspects of their life journeys. In this world, I think those are especially valuable lessons and applications for women to have learned.
The Danger of Optimism : Texas Holdem Odds
In most things in life, there is little danger in being optimistic. In fact studies have shown that optimists tend to be happier and more successful than pessimists.
Poker Pitfalls Resulting From a Faulty Mindset
Players need more than the technical skill set to achieve success There are dozens of poker books on the market that are designed to teach the technical aspects of the game.Let’s Play Poker!
