Poker isn’t a game of luck, it requires skill and strategy to increase your chances of winning. Typically, there is luck involved as you can’t control what hand you or other players are dealt. While many people play poker for fun, it can be pretty profitable for people who play it professionally. If you are struggling to make a profit at poker tables, don’t worry, you are not alone. You don’t need to make huge adjustments in your strategies in order to win more, you only need to follow subtle tips to improve your game. Here are some tips from poker professional players that will make your next game enjoyable and profitable.

Play Tight But Aggressive

Many players make the mistake of playing too many hands whether they have a strong preflop hand or not. Unless you are in the blinds, you should play your strong hands only, which will lower the number of decisions you will take after the flop and it will allow you to play more aggressively. This tweak in your strategy alone will save you money and will make you learn poker faster. As you progress in poker, you can bluff more, and your bluffs will be effective because other players will know you don’t bet unless you have a good hand.

Don’t Limp

Limping is a big no-no for any professional player for a good reason. Limping is when you call the big blind preflop. Stronger players usually take advantage of players who limped early, as they will raise forcing you to either fold or call with a weak hand. If you raised, you will have a better idea of what hands other players might have and there is a probability that everyone will fold and you will take the pot uncontested. If you are in a position to limp or fold, the best decision is to fold.

Know Your Outs

Poker outs or odds is a complicated concept in poker. Simply put, the outs are the cards that may be dealt on the flop, turn, or river that will improve your hand. For example, a gut shot has 4 outs while a flush draw has 9 outs. You will start counting your outs after the flop, and according to Beasts of Poker, you will multiply the number of outs by 2 on the turn or 4 by the river. If you have four of a kind draw, then you have only 1 out, so the probability of finding that out is 2*1= 2% on the turn and 4*1= 8% by the time of river. The higher number of outs you have, the higher the chances are of improving your hand.

Play in Good Games Only

Playing against better or more experienced players is similar to giving your money away for no reason. You need to increase your chance of winning, and that’s by finding a table where at least half of the players are weaker than you. It might be challenging to know if some players are better or worse than you, but you can observe them playing before joining. To know if you are in a good game, you must check if at least one player is limping regularly, there are multiway pots, and re-raises are either very rare or very frequent. If other players are not making any mistakes, you might find another table because it is probably you, who is the weak player in the game.

Don’t Forfeit Your Big Blind Easily

When you are the big blind, you are already investing in the betting pot. When someone raises, you can call to their raise without investing a big amount of money. You can call comfortably with many hands that you wouldn’t usually play in other positions because you have a discount on the raise and you are in the last position to react preflop. It is important to note that defending your big blind doesn’t mean you have to defend each hand you get, as you can get a trash hand. Additionally, you should keep into consideration the position of the player who raised, the number of betters in the hand, the raise size, and the stack sizes before calling any raises.

These few tips from professional players will improve your poker game significantly and the more you play, the more you will refine your strategy and take more risks. When you are unsure whether to raise or call at any moment in the game, you might fold in order to limit your losses. Don’t take decisions based on emotions and always count your outs. If you want to make a profit out of poker, you should always enhance your skills and read other players well.