Poker is a game of chance, but it also has quite a bit of skill and psychology. The divide between break-even beginner players and big-time winners is often much smaller than people imagine, and a lot of it comes down to learning to think about the game in a cold, detached, mathematical, and logical way.

Position

It is crucial to learn positions and understand how your opponents are betting before making a decision. For example, if you have a good hand, but your opponent is raising every time he acts, then you need to reassess your options. In this case, it is likely that your opponent has a strong holding and is bluffing with the hope that you’ll fold.

Odds

Learning the odds of a given hand is essential for any poker player, as it allows them to make more educated decisions and improve their winnings. It’s a complex topic, but the main idea is to determine what kind of hands your opponent could be holding by observing the way he plays, his stack size and the amount he raises, the time he takes to make a decision and so on.

In addition to these basic skills, it’s also important to be mentally tough in order to succeed at poker. This means accepting that you’ll win some and lose some, and not getting too excited after a win (except when you take down a World Series of Poker bracelet, obviously). It’s also helpful to watch videos of the best poker players in the world, such as Phil Ivey, to see how they react when they’re dealt bad beats.