What separates the average players from the strong players will soon be apparent at a poker online game. The characteristic quality of a strong player is aggressive betting. Unlike average players, who will frequently call—the type of bettor pros term calling stations—strong players will sooner raise than call. You’ll rarely get a free card out of them.

Action will be fiercer, and you’ll soon know the meaning of having to “pay to play.” Strong players instill fear in their opponents at a table and leverage every bet to the maximum effectiveness. When the situation is right, they’ll punish opponents who have the temerity to bet into their position. Strong players know how to read and drive the action at the table. They’re tough players, and they make opponents earn every dime that they win against them.

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Average players will also make too many bets, but not as many as the weak players. They will play a more solid game. But they are average players for other reasons as well. Besides contributing too much money to other people's pots (where instead they should be watching from the sidelines), they don't maximize the wins from their good hands. They drop out of hands they should still be playing. They have some basic abilities in reading the table, but they can't compete with better players, who will eat them for lunch.

Average players play good hands too weakly and allow opponents to draw free cards, thus allowing too many hands to draw out on them. When an average player's hand is relatively strong, he'll call when the action comes his way, allowing players behind his position to come in for just one bet. A strong player in that situation would raise to thin the competition. Among average players there will still be some rocks and gooses, but they'll have some more skills than their more novice counterparts.

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Of course there are many levels and degrees of skill and aggressiveness among players, but to a great degree, skill levels can be grouped into several general categories. We'll take a brief look at each.

BEGINNING/WEAK PLAYERS
Beginning and weak players often share one tendency in common: they play too many hands and stay in pots too long. They place bet after bet into pots they shouldn't be playing because they don't recognize that they are not getting enough value for their wagers. You'll see this type of behavior over and over again among weaker players. In this category, you can also find the rock-the tight player who will play only with good cards. The rock's play is so obvious that all opponents without strong enough hands fold at the very first sign of his activity. But even more prevalent than the rock are the legions of loose gooses, the players who spread money around the pot like it's going out of style.
Weaker players are weaker players for many other reasons as well, but their prevailing feature is that they play too many hands for too long. They'll win more pots than the average player, but at such cost that anything less than really good luck will probably spell losses for their session.

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Lock hands put you in the driver's seat in poker. You figure to have a win, and you want to build up the pot as much as possible. There are two types of lock hands: the exposed ones in stud games (where the strength of your hand is apparent or suggested to all opponents) and the hidden ones (where other players have no idea of the strength of your hand).
For example, if you have three kings in the hole in seven-card stud, and K 8 7 6 as upcards, you're sitting with a monster hand that no opponent can see or perhaps even guess at. The strength is hidden. On the other hand, if three of those kings are on board, there is strength exposed for all to see. Only an opponent who thinks they can beat your represented hand, or the possibility of a kings up full house or better would dare play for a nickel more. Note that I'm using the concept of the "lock" as the strongest relative position in poker, one that is a huge favorite to win except against the most uncanny luck by an opponent.

Lock Hand Strategy
Having a lock hand puts you in a powerful position. Your only strategic concern is to get as much of your opponents' money in the pot as possible. In one ideal situation, other players will have been dealt strong hands as well—though not as strong as yours, of course-and they'll be bidding up the pot. In another ideal scenario, modest betting by many opponents will make the pot interesting and let players stay for more bets in hopes of improving.

Even though you would love to raise and reraise until your opponents' pockets are emptied, on a practical level, overzealous betting will drive your opponents out of the pot, and that is exactly what you don't want to do. On the other hand, overly timid betting, if it's not your style for the situation, may very well clue your opponents in that you've got the goods and are sandbagging them.
So you must strike a balance, gauging the situation for the way to keep the most players interested. You need them to contribute to a pot that will be yours at the showdown.

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This category represents cards which have excellent possibilities of improving into winners, and in fact are favorites or near-favorites, but can in no way be considered lock hands. The starting hand A K in hold 'em, for example, is a strong hand with excellent winning potential. If all players stay in for the flop, though, the A K is subject to all sorts of flops which could make it an underdog.

Strong Hand Strategy
With strong hands, play aggressively. These types of hands have a good head start, but if you don't raise and force some players out, you take the risk of allowing mediocre hands to draw out and beat you. The more players in the pot, the higher the average winning hand will be and the higher the chance that a strong hand will turn into second best.

Let's illustrate this with an example. Suppose five players all have a chance at winning, and given your starting cards, you have three of those chances. Each of the remaining players has one chance each. Together, of those seven winning chances, you hold only three of them. This makes you an underdog to win the pot even though individually, you have the best chances of any one player. But if you were able to force out two of those opponents, of the five total chances of winning, you would now have shifted the odds in your favor, having three of the five total chances (instead of seven).

This simple example is not that far from the truth. The more weak hands you allow in to see a card, the greater the chances are that one of those weaker hands will improve and become a better hand than yours. By playing weakly with a strong hand, you increase the competition and decrease the chances of your strong hand finishing on top.

With strong hands, play aggressively right from the start. Either force out the marginal and weak hands or build up a pot which you're favored to win. With a strong but non-lock hand, you never should allow marginal or weak hands to play cheaply. If opponents want to see the show, they'll have to buy the tickets-at the price of your bets and raises.
If your previously strong hand appears now to be second best to a better hand, downgrade its relative value. It is no longer strong. The strong hand, by definition, means you're leading the pack. When that hand weakens to a trailing strength, you need to reevaluate it according to the new situation.

It is important to adjust strategies according to the situation. Poker is not a game of rigid corrects and incorrects. You must be able to think on your feet, using your skills and instincts in the context of smart poker play. To sum up: when you've got a good hand, you need to protect it by weeding out the competition so your hand has the best chance of taking the pot.

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One step above the weak hand scenario is the trailing hand. You do not figure to currently have the best hand, nor are you favored to win if the hand is played out. Of course, a good draw will change that designation rapidly, but at the moment, you don't figure to have a strong enough hand to be considered a favorite or near-favorite. You need to improve.

Trailing Hand Strategy
Relatively speaking, a trailing hand is an underdog. Under the right circumstances, though, it does have some redeeming value. If the trailing hand can get into a pot cheaply or even grab a free card—allow a player to proceed to the next round for free because all players have checked-then this type of hand is worth playing to the next card. When the cost is a stiff bet, however, trailing hands must be folded and thrown to the wind. The winning possibilities of borderline hands aren't strong enough to warrant heavy investments into a pot.

A pair of jacks (J J), for example, is a marginal starting hand at hold 'em. It holds some possibilities of becoming a strong hand with a favorable flop, but at the cost of weighty betting, or the threat of having to meet raises behind its position, this hand isn't worth a call. If an ace, king, or queen appears on the flop, the jacks begin to pale under the bright lights. A pair of jacks are heavy underdogs to the probable queens, kings, or aces of opponents. If they are played against a flop like this, they will, in the long run, take heavy losses.

Position also plays an important role in the play of a trailing hand. From the last position, you can play a trailing hand because there is no possibility of being raised. In early position, though, a call would be fraught with the danger of a possible raise after the position. This is not a situation you want with a trailing hand.
To sum up, trailing hands are worth a play when the price is right, but if the cost is at a premium, they're rarely worth betting on. Save your sweet dreams for the late night, after the poker game. And save your money as well.

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This category describes hands with no better than longshot chances of improving to be a winner. These are the worst poker hands, and they have long-term losing expectations. The best strategy is to get out once there is a cost to playing the hands.

Weak Hand Strategy
Weak hands should be junked at the first opportunity. When you're a heavy underdog with little hopes of winning, you have no business investing your money in the pot. You must fold your cards immediately. This advice applies to your starting cards, and it applies to your cards at any point in the game that they become weak.

It doesn't matter how promising the career of your beloved cards was when you began. Losing hands are losing hands. If you have trip kings and an opponent shows trip aces on board, you're beaten, baby. Your kings might as well be marshmallows in a rock fight. They're not going to do you any good.

Too many players chase pots with weak hands, hoping for the lucky draw. That kind of strategy is costly and leads to consistent losing sessions. To be an overall winner at poker, you must avoid throwing away money on poor percentage plays. Every bet you save makes your bankroll that much richer.

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