If youre going to play pokerand who isnt these daysyou might as well play it well. Poker is a lot more fun when youre winning. Now even the best poker players dont win every time they sit down at the felt. You cant win them all, but you can win a lot of them. Here are a few little hints to get you started playing poker to win.

The most important thing to know about poker is that there is no substitute for experience. No matter how many books you read or poker shows you watch, your most important lessons will be learned right there at the poker table. You dont have to risk a lot of money at first. Many online poker sites offer games with limits as low as $.25 and $.50. Keep in mind though that the higher the limits, the better the quality of play you are likely to encounter.

While experience is the best teacher, there are a number of quality books on the market that will help improve your poker play. David Sklanskys Theory of Poker is a great starting point. It will introduce you to basic concepts such as pot odds and relative hand strengths that will tell you what hands to keep putting money in the pot with and when. The two Super/System books compiled by Doyle Brunson provide an informative overview of the various poker games you are likely to encounter. If Hold`em tournaments are your thing, Dan Harringtons two Harrington on Hold`em volumes are the best around. The Harrington books get into some advanced concepts though, so you should have a decent grasp of the fundamentals before you tackle them.

If you cant wait to get into action, there are a few key things you should keep in mind. Poker players are typically grouped along two dimensions: Tight to Loose and Passive to Aggressive. The looser a player is, the more hands he or she is likely to play. Passive players do a lot more flat calling, and aggressive players are usually the ones betting. The best way to play is with a tight-aggressive style. This means that you dont play that many hands, but when you do play a hand, you play it very strongly, with betting that puts pressure on your opponents to fold. It sounds easy enough, and most players will tell you they are tight aggressive, but its harder than it seems.

A good tight player is probably only going to play around two out of every ten hands (this is in a cash game, in tournament play, rising blinds will force you to loosen up your standards as you go along). That doesnt sound like too much fun. You didnt come to watch, you came to play, right? But good hands dont come around that often, and when you get involved in a pot, youd like to have a better hand than your opponent. If hes playing a lot more hands than you are, odds are you will have a better starting hand most of the time. The bottom line is that the most important skill for you as a starting poker player, more than the ability to bluff or read tells or anything like that, is patience. If you can wait for a good hand, and if you have the discipline to fold that hand when its clear that someone has you beat, youll have a big advantage over your novice opponents.

So if youre only playing 20 percent of the hands, what should you be doing the other 80 percent of the time, watching football? Absolutely not! Watch your opponents. Just because youre not in the hand doesnt mean youre out of the game. Watch the players who are in the hand. Its a great opportunity because they arent likely to be paying too much attention to you and you can get a more honest read on them. Observe their betting patterns. If youre lucky enough to see their cards at the end, try to remember how they played the hand so that when you are in against them, you may get some clues as to what theyre holding. If this seems somewhat boring to you, make a game of it. Try to guess as the hand goes along what all the players involved have. Adjust your prediction based on the play of the hand. Its quite rewarding to see someone turn over his hand on the river and find he had exactly what you calculated he would.

Finally, youll be doing yourself a favor if you keep track of your wins and losses. At some point, youll have a feel for when youre at the top of your game, and when a game is good or bad for you to continue playing in. Until then, establishing a set amount that you will allow yourself to win or lose will help you to remain disciplined and stay within your bankroll, which will make poker a generally more fun and rewarding experience.