1. Bet hands that you feel are in the lead for value. Don’t let your opponents draw out a bigger hand without making them pay more than they should have to see another card.
2. Only draw to hands in which you’re getting proper odds. Calling a big bet into a small pot with a drawing hand will be a losing practice long term.
3. Only slow-play very big hands and bet any vulnerable hand for value. Bet hands like two-pair and trips if there’s any possible draw hands out there on the board.
4. Try to control the betting with drawing hands by making small bets from early positions so you get good pot odds on your draw; as long as no one raises the action after you.
5. Semi-bluff at pots with draw hands and middle pair when you’re in a late position and no action has occurred in the hand before it’s your turn to act.
6. When bluffing at the river don’t make an odd-looking bet that sends up a red flag to an opponent. Make it look like a value bet and you’ll have more success.
7. Avoid going all-in in a tournament if at all possible. Even with a monster hand you don’t want to be in a situation where your tournament life is at stake.
8. While in the blinds, try to re-steal the blinds from late position raises where the action has been folded around to them. The raise in this situation will often be a blind steal attempt.
9. Call reasonable pre-flop raises with any pocket pair if any other players enter the hand. Try to hit a set for a big pot, or just get out of the way if you don’t hit it and there’s action on the flop.
10. Limp into pots with medium strength hands in late and middle positions if the players after you don’t raise the action often.
11. Play big pocket pairs conservatively pre-flop in early positions and re-raise them for value if anyone raises the action after you.
12. Make the biggest bet possible at a board that is showing the absolute nuts. Some novice players will not know that it’s an automatic chop and will periodically fold their hand.
13. Checking the action in a hand that you made on the river, after semi-bluffing at it twice on the flop and turn, will often induce a bet from an opponent who will put you on something else.
14. Over-betting the river with the nut hand can sometimes induce a call from a curious opponent who may think the bet is a bluff, designed to make them fold.
15. Against novice players make larger value bets. These bets will have a better chance of being called as long as you don’t make an all-in bet, which will scare away the novice.