A poker player faces some tough decisions on many occasions. He usually has four choices to make: check, bet or call, raise, or fold. To make a wise decision, the player needs to establish the approximate expectation of each possible move and choose the one that has the best return, if any, or simply fold.

Calculate the odds against you, and if the return is greater than the odds, make the bet. If the odds are in your favor, bet as heavily as you can.

Because there is a lot of psychology involved during a game of poker, psychological strategy is very important.

Regularly varying your play is considered a good poker tactics. This means that sometimes you have to 'Bluff' and you should do it tactically, not just for the sake of bluffing. The aim is to make it harder for the other players to be able to 'read' your cards or guess your intentions when it matters.

Therefore, the most important thing a poker player must do is NOT to form a pattern of play.

The next important thing is body language and talk. Both of these can reveal a lot of how strong (or weak) your hand is. Over the time players can develop the ability to 'translate' your body language and what you say, into meaningful insight of what hand you might have.

Remember, poker is about being able to win big pots, not just getting the highest hand. Being able to disguise your play is probably the most valuable asset you can have as a poker player, closely followed by the ability to memorize played cards and be constantly aware which cards are 'Live' cards.