10 MORE Essential Poker Tips to Improve Your Strategy — For Intermediate to Advanced Players!
If you’ve already read my 10 poker tips article and are looking to take it to the next level, you’re in luck! Here are 10 MORE essential advanced poker tips to improve your strategy!
These 10 tips will help you move from simply learning how to play poker to implementing poker strategies for maximum success on your poker journey.
Here’s the list.
● Game Select Wisely
● Never Ignore Table Image
● Understand GTO vs Exploitative
● Polarize Your Bets
● Know When to Trap—and When NOT to Trap!
● Don’t Try to Bluff Multiple Opponents
● Calculate Pot odds
● Exercise Bankroll Management
● Keep Your Emotions in Check
● Improve Your Game Off the Felt
Advanced Poker Tips #1: Game Select Wisely
If you’re serious about your poker journey and want to consistently win and build your bankroll, then game selection is critically important. As renowned poker pro Michael Acevedo explains in Modern Poker Theory: Building an Unbeatable Strategy Based on GTO Principles:
“You could be the ninth-best player in the world, but if you only play against the eight players who are better than you, you will get destroyed.”
There’s also an old joke that illustrates this concept.
Two poker players are lost in the wilderness. A bear jumps out of the bushes and starts chasing them. They’re about to start running, but one stops to tie his shoes.
His friend says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear!”
The other friend replies, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you!
That’s how it goes in a poker game. I can’t stress this enough — always seek out “soft” poker tables with less experienced players. Avoid tables where players are glued to their phones or zoned out with headphones on — these opponents are likely to be focused and skilled.
Don’t let your ego get in the way. Poker isn’t about having something to prove — it’s about winning, even against weaker players. As professional poker player, author, and coach Jonathan Little said:
“To be successful at poker, you just need to do two things: find a game you can beat and play it a lot.”
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Advanced Poker Tips #2: Never Ignore Table Image
A common pitfall of more advanced professional players — especially those who transition from online poker sites to the live casino — is that they forget to consider their “table image.” They don’t factor-in how other people may see them.
Let’s be honest: a bet by a 95-year-old grandma is a lot more intimidating than a bet by someone partying at the casino on their 21st birthday.
I remember watching poker vlogger Mariano Grandoli early in his career saying how he had yet to correctly ‘hero-call’ with Ace-High. Every time he tried, his opponents were never bluffing. They always had a hand.
“Of course!” I thought, “That’s because people are much less likely to bluff a 22-year-old guy!”
You must be aware of how people see you at the poker table — and adjust accordingly. If someone perceives you as tight and likely to ‘always have it,’ bluff more. If someone perceives you as loose and full of it, bluff less.
You’d be shocked by how few poker players actually take their opponents’ perception of them into consideration.
When I first started studying poker, I would think to myself, “Is this a good board for my opponent to bluff?”
As I gained more real life experience, my thought process shifted.
Now my first question is always, “Is this person even interested in bluffing?”
Establish your opponent’s M.O. before anything else. Why are they sitting down at this poker table? Are they a retired recreational player just looking for a way to pass time? Or are they there to show off and impress their friends?
Think of who is betting before you think of why they’re betting.
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Advanced Poker Tips #3: Understand GTO vs Exploitative
You’ll want to have a firm grasp on the GTO vs Exploitative debate.
The classic way to think about GTO versus exploitative strategy is the game rock, paper, scissors.
Game theory optimal (GTO) strategy says you should pick each option equally, making your optimal strategy perfectly balanced and impossible to predict.
But if your opponent ALWAYS picks scissors, exploitative theory says you should adapt to their weakness by ALWAYS picking rock — even if it makes you imbalanced and less tricky.
In poker skills, this follows along the above section on table image — adjusting for the player rather than going only by the book. I highly recommend an exploitative strategy for low stakes. Even if it’s unbalanced, it’ll definitely win you more money at the smallest limit tables (ex. only betting when you have premium hands).
That changes as you move up in stakes and face tougher competition.
Now you want to divide yourself more equally between rock, paper, and scissors. Bet when you have a good poker hand and when you have a bad hand because it makes your bets less predictable. If you only play aggressive poker when your hand is nutted, perceptive opponents will pick-up on this.
A good place to start making yourself tougher to read is with a “c-bet” or “continuation-bet” on the flop. If you raised preflop, you should generally bet on the flop to continue telling the story you have a good hand — even if you don’t.
There are definitely exceptions to this and times you should not c-bet. But if this is a new concept to you and you’re just now looking for a way to get trickier with your poker strategy, start by always c-betting after you raised preflop. You can always scale back your c-bet frequency later.
The idea is to get you in the habit of betting because of the wider range of hands you could be holding, not your actual cards.
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Advanced Poker Tips #4: Polarize Your Bets
You always want to know the reason why you are betting. This may sound like common sense, but as they say, common sense isn’t so common anymore.
For example, someone once told me this hand history:
● He had Q♦️9♠️
● Board: K♣️9♣️5♠️3♠️3♣️
● He shoved all-in
Why is this a bad play?
It’s a bad play because he does not know if he’s value-betting or bluffing. It’s a nonsensical “value-bluff,” where he’s merged the two, which is a recipe for costly mistakes.
A pair of kings, a full house, or a flush is unlikely to fold, making it a poor bluff. A pair of fives or a small pocket pair is unlikely to call, making it too big of a bet to extract value.
What he’s done is de-polarize his hand. It’s not quite a value bet and not quite a bluff. It’s… well… something murky in the middle.
Instead you want to polarize your bets.
When you go all-in on that run-out, you either want to be at the top of your range with a very strong hand — like a full house, a flush, or maybe Ace-King if you think your opponent will call with a worse kicker — or your absolute worst hands, your stone bluffs, like Q♠️J♠️ that missed it’s flush and straight draws.
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Advanced Poker Tips #5: Know When to Trap—and When NOT to Trap!
Rule of thumb when you’re playing low stakes poker: don’t trap too much. Most—but not all—players don’t bluff very often. Or if they do bluff, they’re unlikely to bluff all three streets (flop, turn, river).
The all-in bluff that you see on TV? The average player doesn’t have them in it.
For that reason, it’s generally advised that you do not restrain from betting in hopes that your opponent will commit to a major bluff. MAYBE they will bluff once on a the flop as a test, and then shut it down once called.
You will make a lot more money at lower stakes by simply betting your good hands.
Do not wait for someone to build a pot for you. This advice comes from highly experienced player Bart Hanson, owner of the CrushLive Poker training site and host of its radio-style poker call-in show. He sounds like a broken record at this point—when you have a good hand, bet!
There are exceptions to this rule. If you’re playing against someone you know is prone to bluff, then of course, trap and let them fire away. Give them rope to hang themselves on.
Just keep in mind that the general population doesn’t really bluff. Traps are overrated.
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Advanced Poker Tips #6: Don’t Try to Bluff Multiple Opponents
This tip is straightforward but crucial:
The more players in a hand, the less effective bluffing becomes.
Why? It’s much easier to convince one person to fold than three or four. Statistically, more opponents mean a higher likelihood that someone has connected with the board.
For example, if you’re facing just one opponent, there’s about a 32% chance they’ve flopped a pair. Most of the time they’ve missed—a single bet on the flop could take down the pot.
Now imagine you’re up against three opponents. Each has that same 32% chance of hitting a pair, making it very likely that at least one of them has a strong enough hand to call your bluff.
Bluffing into a crowd is a losing strategy. Focus on situations where you’re up against fewer opponents to play the mental game, saving you from bluffing into oblivion.
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Advanced Poker Tips #7: Calculate Pot Odds
Pot odds is a critical concept for the more advanced player to consider. At its core, poker odds measure risk and reward. Understanding pot odds helps you make a mathematically-informed decision to determine whether or not calling a bet is profitable.
This concept is especially valuable when deciding whether to call or fold with a drawing hand. To calculate pot odds, you must compare the size of the pot to the size of the bet you need to call.
For example, if the pot is $10 and your opponent bets $5, the total pot becomes $15. Since you need to call $5 to potentially win $15, your pot odds are 3:1. This is often described as “getting 3:1 on your money.”
Once you know your pot odds, the next step is to compare them to your chances of making your poker hands. Suppose you’re on a flush draw on the turn with only one card left to come, so the odds of completing your flush are roughly 20% or 5:1. In this case, the right move is folding as the pot odds of 3:1 don’t mathematically justify calling.
Take time to research and practice pot odds. They’ll become more intuitive the more poker you play!
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Advanced Poker Tips #8: Exercise Bankroll Management
Let’s be honest—poker is a very different experience playing for a living vs. playing for fun. When poker is a job, everything changes.
Especially how you manage your finances.
When you have regular, non-poker income coming in, you can afford to take more risks. Why? Because if you “go broke” and lose your poker money, you’ll still be able to replenish those funds.
But if poker is your career, you need to give yourself much wider buffer room. You need to prepare for downswings and bad luck.
The amount of breathing room you need is probably much larger than you’re thinking. Here’s a loose estimate:
● 25 buy-ins for cash games
● 100 buy-ins for poker tournaments
This means if you’re buying-in for $500 at a cash game, you shouldn’t sit down without at least $12,500 in reserve! Even $100 tournaments will require 10 grand.
There are a multitude of factors that can stretch this even further. For example, if you’re playing big field poker tournaments with more than 1,000 people, responsible bankroll management would call for much more than 100 buy-ins since your variance is going to be higher and your likelihood of winning is going to be lower.
It’s important to say that no amount of buy-ins can prevent a bad player from going broke. That’s a skill issue! But a healthy bankroll to manage swings effectively can definitely prevent a good player from going broke.
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Advanced Poker Tips #9: Keep Your Emotions in Check
“Tilt” is the Achilles’ heel of some of the world’s best poker players. Without proper tilt control, your chances of long-term success are slim to none.
Tilt occurs when emotional stress clouds your judgment, and you start to make bad decisions at the table. Even highly-skilled players can fall victim to tilt after a brutal string of bad beats—resulting in reckless play and significant bankroll damage.
Tilt isn’t always about frustration. There’s also “winner’s tilt”—a big winning session sees you playing a lot looser than normal and gambling in spots that aren’t profitable. Taking unnecessary risks can spiral into hopping stakes and suffering major losses.
Tilt control is about keeping an even keel. Your highs can’t get too high and your lows can’t get too low.
We’re all human, so take breaks as you need to and avoid playing when you are drunk, tired, or just plain unfocused. Quitting when necessary is not a sign of weakness—it’s a sign of discipline. Good players need to be able to fold when it’s not fun, and take a breather when it’s not fun either.
Leaks can be fatal!
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Advanced Poker Tips #10: Improve Your Game Off the Felt
True poker mastery is built away from the table. To elevate your skills over your poker career, dedicate time to studying and preparing for key aspects of the game:
● Understand the Math: Learn to calculate outs, ICM, pot odds, and probabilities quickly and accurately.
● Analyze Board Textures: Study when and how to bet based on the board and your opponents’ likely ranges. Resources like training sites and apps can help refine these instincts.
● Plan Your Bankroll: Develop a clear strategy for managing your money to minimize risk and maximize longevity in the game.
Also remember that success isn’t just about grinding at the tables—it’s about preparing and maintaining the mindset and skills needed to win in the long run.
Go to the gym, maintain healthy relationships, touch grass. It’s hard to succeed spending your time grinding in the casino all day.
