Some To Improve Your Game Instantly

While most players focus on popular poker strategies, there are several underrated techniques that can give you an edge at the table. In this article, we’ll explore lesser-known strategies that, when applied correctly, can instantly elevate your poker game.
Overbetting
This play is obviously popular with professionals, but you still see many lower- and middle-limit players failing to overbet enough.
When you raise and someone just calls you out of the big blind, it is unlikely they have their better hands. They likely would have three-bet with their big cards and their good pocket pairs. When the board comes with Broadway cards, you can start piling the pressure on.
Here’s an example. You raise from the cutoff and the big blind flats you. The board comes A-K-2. Your opponent checks. Here, if you know you’re dealing with a timid opponent who doesn’t want to put serious money in, you can start firing huge. Your opponent likely would have three-bet with A-A, K-K, A-K, A-Q, and A-J. Their most likely combination is a mediocre pair. If you don’t think they can stand the heat, fire.
Another example of when you can overbet comes when someone calls you on a board with flush draws and straight draws. Let’s say you raise from the cutoff and the big blind flats you. The board comes 6♦ 7♦ 2♠. Your opponent checks to you and you continuation bet. They call. The turn is a Q♠. Your opponent checks to you.
Normally, you want to be careful on boards with two cards between 4 and 8 on them, because the big blind has many hands in that range. However, in this specific instance, we’re going to go purely exploitative and blast them out of the water.
Most of your opponents would have check-raised on that flop with sets or two pair to protect their hand and simultaneously get money from it. Once they call you, you know their range is likely no better than one pair. They would have three-bet you preflop with many of their overpairs. They would have check-raised most of their sets and two pairs. What they likely have on this board is some kind of mediocre six or seven or a draw.
However, on that turn, we could easily still have A-A, K-K, A-Q, and K-Q because we’re the preflop raiser. If we fire in an overbet, it is going to be extremely difficult for their sixes, sevens, and draws to call another bet.
There are hundreds of situations where you can put extreme pressure on your opponents. These are just a few ideas to get you started. Just remember, it’s called No-Limit Hold’em for a reason.
Folding Rivers In Small Pots
I didn’t believe this one until I started teaching people how to play poker almost every morning. Out of curiosity, one day I pulled up all the river calls one of my students did. I noticed something I’d never seen discussed before. Every time he called a small bet in a small pot he got shown a winner. It was like his opponents were allergic to bluffing in those small pots.
Over the decades, I looked at countless more databases, and I saw the same thing almost every single time. Most people do not like bluffing in small pots.
Why? They assume you don’t want to fold anything in a small pot. They don’t want to bet because they’ll feel stupid if they get caught. Most people don’t play to win. Most people play to feel better about themselves.
If you have a total bluff catcher in a small pot on the river, and your opponent is an unimaginative reg or basic recreational player, do not pay them off. They pot controlled something almost every single time.
Small Reraises Versus Loose Opponents
Sometimes in small- to middle-limit games, your looser opponents will be opening constantly. You need to get these players alone. You know they don’t want to fold to any three-bet, so you can three-bet them small and get them to play with you alone.
Because they never want to fold to your three-bets, you have to be careful about bluffing with something like K-8 suited. Your opponent isn’t likely to fold a K-J or A-10, so that kind of hand doesn’t turn into the greatest three-bet. You’ll often just be building a pot for their better hands.
However, versus these loose players, you can three-bet a K-Q offsuit for example, because K-J offsuit and K-10 offsuit are likely to call your three-bet, not to mention Q-10 offsuit and Q-9 suited. You don’t need to three-bet huge. You just want these players alone post-flop. Against weaker players, maintaining a high stack-to-pot ratio gives you more strategic options.
Folding Preflop From The Big Blind Deep
What most of the general public doesn’t know is that theoretically you should be folding more of your offsuit big cards preflop when you’re in the big blind versus a raiser who is in position and you are both deep stacked. Why is that?
Look at the overbetting section in this same article. On so many boards, you’re just screwed if the player in position has a ton of chips to fire at you. If you have K-5 offsuit or A-7 offsuit and flop a mediocre top pair, your reverse implied odds are staggering when you’re 80 big blinds deep. Additionally, it’s hard to call down correctly if your opponent can just overbet constantly versus you and put you to the test.
When you are 15 big blinds deep with bigger cards, for example, you can call preflop with these hands because if you flop top pair and get it in versus their wide preflop raising range you’re probably fine. However, when the stacks are deeper, you can make much bigger errors chips wise. Your opponent could have a tight triple barreling range and you’re donating chips to them by calling down. They could be bluffing you constantly and you’re overfolding. You have no way of knowing which player is which.
Once you get a more exacting read, that is an entirely different argument. However, when you’re flying blind and you’re deep stacked, you should be more careful with the unsuited big cards out of the big blind.
Folding More Multiway
This one is obvious once we start thinking about it. Let’s say we have 6♠ 7♠. A middle position player raises and the cutoff calls. We call from the button. The big blind flats.
The board comes 10♥ 6♥ 2♣. The big blind checks. The middle position player continuation bets. The cutoff calls.
Most of the general public calls here, but how exactly do we expect to win with this hand? There’s already a bet and a call. It’s highly likely we’re already up against a ten and we’re way behind. We don’t necessarily want to turn the 7, especially if it’s a heart. One of our opponents having 8-9 wouldn’t be inconceivable. Also, don’t forget, we don’t close the action here. It’s not impossible for the big blind to check-raise everyone with a flopped two pair or set. They might get adventurous with a draw.
How do we expect this to work if we call here? Do we really see the turn and river getting checked through? There are truly no great cards for us on the turn except for the two remaining sixes. It’s highly likely we’re already behind and not much will improve our hand.
Most people call here because they feel stupid if they fold and see they had the best hand, but that’s only going to happen a small percentage of the time. We’re allowed to connect with the board and fold to the first bet if we believe our opponents aren’t goofing around. Save the bet here and use those chips for an overbet later.
Conclusion
Incorporating underrated strategies like overbetting, folding rivers in small pots, and using small reraises against loose opponents can give you a powerful edge. By folding preflop from the big blind when deep-stacked and folding more in multiway pots, you’ll avoid unnecessary losses and sharpen your overall gameplay.

Alexander Fitzgerald is a professional poker player and bestselling author who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. He is a WPT and EPT final tablist. He has WCOOP and SCOOP wins online. His most recent win was the $250,000 Guaranteed on America’s Cardroom. He currently enjoys blasting bums away in Ignition tournaments while he listens to death metal. Free training packages of his are provided to new newsletter subscribers who sign up for free at
www.pokerheadrush.com