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If you want to win more poker hands, be it at free poker games or cash tables it's essential to put the opposition off balance, unnerve them and make them fear what you might have planned next. Above all you should make them pay big for any hand wins they get or for any play style information you might have to show with the overall aim being to set up your big pot win later. This is not simply about bluffing. Bluffing I define as a hand level tactic, what we are looking at here is more strategic. Your goal is to force them to think that the risk of their potential gain in playing in a way that might beat you is too risky to justify. Instead they play too cautiously and fold, or aggressively and make mistakes and bust themselves, or if they do take the risk and beat you on a hand then at least they pay you with information on how they play and at the same time learn that you are unpredictable. Lets look at some examples of this in action. If you have A-A and the Flop comes 9-8-3, if you bet and you get a call, you expect your opponent to have paired one of his hole cards. Your opponent may also have a Straight draw with J-10 or 7-6. In the first case, you can afford to reach showdown because your opponent is also willing to reach showdown, but is unwilling to raise or call raises, so you play semi-aggressively; check-call or value-bet. In the second case, your hand may be unplayable if your opponent hits a Five or a Queen later. In this situation you have to play your Aces more aggressively than in the first case. How is this? If the opposition has nothing why would you play stronger? Precisely that, since they don't have anything. In the first case, your opponent has a "something", but it is not strong enough against yours. You can afford a few value-bets because your opponent may fold if you bet too strongly. In the second case, you play more strongly because you want your opponent to stay in the state where he doesn't have something. If he hits the Five or a Queen (or a Flush card), your Aces are quite unplayable if he plays-back too strongly later. Make your opponents pay for their draws. Usually they are unwilling to pay; if you check, they check too. If you bet, they call. So: if you think your opponent is drawing, don't check, and bet massively. Make the pot odds turn against their favor. If they decide to call your bet, it's time to be careful. If they suddenly take the lead during the later rounds by betting or by raising you, you have to think twice whether they are really on a draw or not during the Flop. But if they check, take the lead again. Perhaps they are still on a draw, and if they have hit it or not, they'll remind you with their sudden and swift but all-too-readable actions, and you can fold your Aces without much remorse. In the river, if no Straight or Flush-possible cards fall, you should bet again. Avoid showing your hand as much as possible. Your opponent can't call here - and will fold. If you show your hand then your opponent will get a hint as to what your playing style is. So make your opponent pay for this information as well. And what better place to practice your poker mind games than at free online poker heaven http://www.NoPayPOKER.com where you can play free poker games 24-7 with no risk of losing money like you do at on money sites while still winning real cash.

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If you want to win more poker hands, be it at free poker games or cash tables it's essential to put the opposition off balance, unnerve them and make them fear what you might have planned next. Above all you should make them pay big for any hand wins they get or for any play style information you might have to show with the overall aim being to set up your big pot win later.