Posts Tagged ‘Strategy’
Posted February 13, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
Poker is a game full of contradictions and competing ideas, and one of the trickiest balancing acts players will have to manage is betting, and walking the tightrope between getting value and bluffing your opponents. In this article I'll try to outline the three reasons you should be betting your hand, and how you can find some kind of balance between the two.
The three reasons for betting are: To get value from your best hands; to charge players on a draw; and to bluff better hands out of the pot. Below you will find some basics of these three concepts, and I highly recommend you put some serious thought and study-time into this part of your game.
Value betting
Value-betting is about as simple a concept as you will find; bet your hand when you have a better hand than your opponent. However, knowing when to value-bet and precisely how much you should bet is a bit trickier. Value-betting is one of the hardest parts of the game to master: when to bet, how much to bet, and how to avoid being bluffed.
The less secure you are that you have the best hand means you will want to value-bet less often, and for less money. But there is another reason to avoid going for the jugular too, and this is when you're not sure your opponent has an overly strong hand.
Charging draws
Unlike value-betting, where your goal is to extract the maximum amount of money from inferior hands, when you are charging players to draw you are trying to give them a reason to call, but make sure they are paying as much as they are willing.
Think of charging for a draw like a negotiation where you can only make a single offer, you want your opponent to either pay the maximum or just walk away. What you don't want is for your opponent is to haggle with you, lowering your price to where you are only eking out a little bit of profit, essentially giving him the upper hand in the negotiation.
Bluffing
Bluffing is the wild-card in poker. By bluffing a player gives himself a chance to win with the worst hand. Bluffing is what makes poker so different from other strategy games, allowing players to win without having the best hand –imagine a game of backgammon where you are at a huge disadvantage but convince your opponent you are going to win and he should just resign now instead of accepting your double.
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Posted February 4, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
One of the great things about poker is that there are usually multiple ways to play hands, multiple benefits when you do a particular thing, and multiple ways to second-guess yourself when things don't go as planned. In this column I want to look at the second thing I mentioned in the opener , "multiple benefits when you do a particular thing" and examine the difference between doing something as part of a strategy versus taking advantage of a situation that arises because of said strategy; what I call a "Happy Accident."
Actually my wife was the first person I heard use this term when one of my kids made a mistake drawing a picture, which then turned into an even more elaborate picture, so it was a "Happy Accident." What started off as a near-temper-tantrum over a ruined project turned into the "greatest thing ever!" if my son can be believed. He didn't set out to make the greatest robot fighting a snake ever, but when the situation presented itself he jumped all over it.
Let me use a sports analogy to explain this difference between a predetermined strategy and a Happy Accident: Suppose Tom Brady and the New England Patriots go to the "hurry-up" offense. They are doing this to keep the defense form changing personnel, using elaborate blitzes, and to tire them out. But suppose during this hurry-up a Defensive Back fails to cover one of the outside receivers and Brady throws an easy touchdown; this is a Happy Accident in football. You can't rely on the DB to blow his coverage, but because of your hurry-up the situation presented itself and you need to be able to take advantage of it.
So what is an example of a Happy Accident in poker? Imagine you are playing your usual LAG style (balancing your range, keeping your opponents guessing, and winning pots with aggression) and someone decides that enough is enough, they are going to stand up to your aggression. Well, you've just stumbled upon a Happy Accident; you didn't set out to put a player at the table on Tilt, but this is what happened through your style of play. We can't rely on Happy Accidents, but we can take advantage of them when they present themselves.
Now, the difference between a Happy Accident and a predetermined strategy in poker is simple: Strategies are more of your game-plan, the things you do to turn a profit: Happy Accidents are our in-game adjustments, how we react when someone does something completely unexpected like declaring" war" on us because they are sick of our LAG play. Our reason for playing a LAG style isn't to cause tilt, or to scare people away from getting involved in pots with us, but these things can and will happen, and we need to be ready to take advantage of these spots when they come about.
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Posted January 21, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
Throughout my life I have seen policies implemented, and projects undertaken that have the outward appearance and desire of enhancing some aspect of our life. Unfortunately, many of these things actually turn out to be hindrances and have a lasting negative impact. In this series I'll take a look at three such examples from the poker world, detailing three things that seem to have the poker community's best interest at heart, but for whatever reason they have failed in their execution. 
First up on the list is the 2+2 poker forum.
I have several gripes with 2+2, perhaps the most notable being that the 2+2 poker forum is the 1984 of the poker world. In true Orwellian fashion, 2+2 has become a place where "Big Brother" is constantly watching and the rules have gotten so numerous and convoluted that the users of the largest poker forum on the Internet (in fact, 2+2 is one of the largest forums of any kind on the Internet) don't even know if they are breaking them. I think the management style of the forum has bred the other issues I will now discuss.
Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of redeeming qualities at 2+2, considering the site's massive user-base has broken more than its fair share of poker scandals and poker gossip, as well as turning into one of the biggest poker marketplaces. But these are secondary, or even tertiary, aspects of the forum, the main role of the 2+2 poker forum is and always will be to help educate players about the game, and this is where I feel 2+2 has let us down.
There is still much knowledge to be gained by visiting the 2+2 poker forums, the problem is that the community is wary of any outsiders who contribute in a meaningful way, always suspecting a hidden agenda –probably because most of the current user-base has their own agenda, be it selling themselves as a coach, getting people to stake them, or whatever other project they are working on –most pay 2+2 for the privilege of having their own dedicated forum. This definitely comes from the top down as the principle owner, Mason Malmuth, sees the forum, and every line of every post, as little more than advertising space, which has caused many contributors to be banned or simply leave the forum in disgust.
The number of blowups and fallouts on the forum is almost amazing to behold, from former 2+2 darling Ed Miller to Daniel Negreanu. The management and quite a few moderators tend to only see the potential angles people might be shooting, and this focus on the bad has really impacted the product.
Perhaps more frustrating than the agendas and the Stasi-like scrutiny new posters are put through, is the way the forums treat new players, who often find their simple, basic, questions answered with, "Is this a level?", "Use the search feature!", or some insult regarding their knowledge of the game like "Please come play in my game."
THIS is terrible for poker. Poker forums need to be inviting; the game is currently experiencing its worst fish-to-shark ratio in its history, and here are players doing everything they can to discourage new players. Perhaps it is the mob mentality that causes this, or perhaps it's the heavy footprint left by many of the moderators at the site that causes the users to pull their own power-grabs – I've always advocated that in any business you attract customers similar to the employees that represent you.
Unfortunately, the way the 2+2 poker forums are run is sort of a microcosm of the entire poker world in 2026: Uninviting, Exclusive, and Hierarchical. Instead of being inclusive and welcoming, a large percentage of the 2+2 user base (and the moderator team) would rather flex whatever e-muscles they have to somehow show their importance to the community.
Throughout poker we see this new strange exclusive hierarchy, where players' skills and importance to the poker world are determined by the tournaments they play, $100,000 tournaments, then $10,000 events, then $1,500 events are the domain of the superstar, the name pros, and the grinders. Anything less than this and you are unworthy. With everything considered (slow structures included) you see how uninviting poker has become to a new player, and the 2+2 poker forum brings this mentality to the online arena. For the latest updates on the world of poker check out our Titan Poker news page for daily articles and news.
Posted February 27, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
When I first began exploring the nuances of poker in the late 2026's the conversations were thought-provoking. There were different schools of thought, and theories were being tested constantly. As interesting as these theoretical discussions were they still did very little to the overall "in-game" strategies winning players used –basically in the year 2026 it was Tight/Aggressive or bust—with most of the theoretical work being done on opponents. One example of this was the now long-settled debate between Andy Morton and Mike Caro who were the progenitors of the "should you raise pre-flop" debate which led to talk of "schooling" and eventually to what became known as "Morton's Theorem".
As poker became more and more popular in the early and mid-2000's the level of theoretical talk actually went down, while the strategic talk skyrocketed. With so many fish, and so much money to be made, there just wasn't enough free-time, and the idea of having philosophical arguments about the game got pushed to the backburner. Strict X's and O's suddenly trumped theoretical talk on the forums, and the game of poker became closer to a math class than to a lecture in the philosophical studies department. You could see this shift on the poker forums, as well as in the poker books that were published.
Before the poker boom there weren't all that many books to begin with, and many of them didn't detail strategies (and most of the ones that did were focused on Limit Holdem and were just the same book written by a different author: starting hand chart, semi-bluffs, pot odds, etc), instead many of the books written before the boom were somewhere between poker theory and philosophy.
This changed during the poker boom, with the vast majority of poker books being "primers", otherwise known as strategy guides. Authors would throw together the latest strategies in a palatable way, and bingo, you had yourself a poker book. Like theoretical discussions, these authors were interested in bating the game, not in understanding it on a deeper level – So it should come as no surprise that of the 200 or so poker books I have owned over the years the only ones I have kept were written pre-2026and as you'll soon see, post-2011ish –As far as "poker boom" books I felt were worth holding on to, they are Small Stakes Holdem, Mathematics of Poker, Ace on the River, The Tournament Poker Formula volume 1 and 2, and Kill Phil/Kill Everyone.
That being said, theory seems to have come back into fashion since the poker world experienced Black Friday –actually the trend seems to have started changing a bit before this. Perhaps the idle minds of out of work poker players sparked the resurgence in theoretical talk, but in the past couple of years poker books have once again started to be thought-provoking and interesting.
Between 2026 and 2026 if you asked me to recommend a poker book my answer (with some exceptions) would have been that it really doesn't matter; they all pretty much say the same thing. Now there simply are too many books I would recommend to players. Poker authors are no longer some recent WSOP champion or the latest player on a hot streak, now we are seeing true students of the game putting their thoughts down on paper.
As a writer, and sometimes reviewer of poker books, I couldn't be happier. In fact I have actually taken to soliciting certain authors for books I find interesting (something I truly hate doing and avoided for a very long time, and thankfully I get many sent to me already) because the quality is much higher now. It's a good time to be a student of the game.
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Posted February 26, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
Before I get into the gist of this series let me start off with a DISCLAIMER: Quantifying the importance of different strategies, concepts, and theories in poker is often a difficult if not impossible undertaking. For one thing, different situations put an emphasis on different strategies and concepts. For instance, when you are playing a 10 Big Blind stack in a tournament the only thing that is of importance is getting your chips in the middle with some fold equity, where playing in a cash game with 200 big blind stacks there are a multitude of factors to consider: position, cards, your opponent's tendencies, table dynamics, your table image, and so on.
Ok, with the disclaimer out of the way let's get down to business and discuss the Three most important factors players need to know and utilize while playing poker.
- A Solid Understanding of the Basic Strategies
- Focusing at the Poker Tables (Tells)
- Adjusting to Different Opponents and Table Dynamics
Focusing at the Tables
When you are playing poker you are basically on a fact-finding mission. Reading a newspaper, watching TV, surfing the Internet, or conversing with your neighbor would be like studying for a test and skipping every third paragraph in your text book. When you are playing poker you need to focus on the game, your opponents, and even yourself.
Think of it this way; how many times have you been playing cards and seen a player make a terrible mistake only to lament that they weren't paying attention and didn't know the action? It happens multiple times in every session; players don't realize a pot has been raised, or act out of turn, giving away chips and valuable information.
As a poker player you must focus on the game, just like you must focus on the road when you are driving; there is no way around it and the consequences are deadly.
Of course, it's not the easiest thing in the world, since poker is a fairly boring game with long moments of inactivity. But there is always something to be learned by focusing on the game and your opponents, not to mention a way of staving off tilt if you keep a close eye on your own mentality throughout the session.
Here are a few ways you can maintain your focus at the poker tables:
- Leave the distractions at home or turned off: Phones, iPads, etc.
- When the dealer shuffles the cards at the start of ah and ask yourself, "How did I play the last hand and am I in a good state of mind?"
- Every time a hand is revealed or you pick-up a piece of physical information on an opponent add a point; every hand that is played where you learn nothing subtract a point, and see how you do at the end of each session.
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Posted February 20, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
Before I get into the gist of this series let me start off with a DISCLAIMER: Quantifying the importance of different strategies, concepts, and theories in poker is often a difficult if not impossible undertaking. For one thing, different situations put an emphasis on different strategies and concepts. For instance, when you are playing a 10 Big Blind stack in a tournament the only thing that is of importance is getting your chips in the middle with some fold equity, where playing in a cash game with 200 big blind stacks there are a multitude of factors to consider: position, cards, your opponent's tendencies, table dynamics, your table image, and so on.
Ok, with the disclaimer out of the way let's get down to business and discuss the Three most important factors players need to know and utilize while playing poker.
- A Solid Understanding of the Basic Strategies
- Focusing at the Poker Tables (Tells)
- Adjusting to Different Opponents and Table Dynamics
Adjusting to the Situation
Adjustments are a critical part of being a solid poker player, and the ability to adjust on the fly is generally the mark of a high-level, winning, poker player. In a session of poker players typically sit down ready to play their basic strategy, but as you get deeper and deeper into the session there are multiple adjustments that need to be made:
Adjusting to the Table Dynamics
Everything from where you are sitting to how the table as a whole is playing should be considered when you try to tweak your strategy for maximum profit. A table full of aggressive, fun-loving, raisers needs to be approached differently than a table full of nits.
Additionally, precisely where you are located at the table will also factor into how you play. If you are surrounded by agro players than you'll need to step with a little more caution and tone-down your aggression with marginal hands. On the other hand if the three players to your immediate left are all relatively tight you can join in on the agro-fun.
Adjusting to particular opponents
A hand like AT can be 3-bet against some opponents, and should be snap-folded against others. Far too many people fail to consider not just what their opponent plays, but how they play post-flop and how they react to different situations.
One example of this is the player who never folds when you re-raise him pre-flop (maybe they just hate being bullied). In this case you should be more inclined to see flops with your marginal to good hands and raise with your powerhouses.
Making adjustments based on your table image
The final determinate in how you should play is your own table image. How your opponents view you is crucial to exploiting them. When you get a good run of cards you can use your new loose/aggressive image to get paid off with your monster hands, as everyone will be looking to take down the bully. When you are card-dead you can start stealing blinds, and if caught you can then switch back to the strategy outlined above and get paid-off with your good hands.
The point is, whatever happens during a hand (whether you win five hands in a row without a showdown or get caught playing 48s for a raise) you can then use it to your advantage.
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Posted February 12, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
Before I get into the gist of this series let me start off with a DISCLAIMER: Quantifying the importance of different strategies, concepts, and theories in poker is often a difficult if not impossible undertaking. For one thing, different situations put an emphasis on different strategies and concepts. For instance, when you are playing a 10 Big Blind stack in a tournament the only thing that is of importance is getting your chips in the middle with some fold equity, where playing in a cash game with 200 big blind stacks there are a multitude of factors to consider: position, cards, your opponent's tendencies, table dynamics, your table image, and so on.
Ok, with the disclaimer out of the way let's get down to business and discuss the Three most important factors players need to know and utilize while playing poker.
- A Solid Understanding of the Basic Strategies
- Focusing at the Poker Tables (Tells)
- Adjusting to Different Opponents and Table Dynamics
Understanding the Basic Strategies
The basic strategies of the game often get overlooked in today's world of light-five-bets, equilibrium plays, and ICM decisions, but the basics are far more important than any of the advanced concepts and strategies you'll learn. The reason I say this is quite simple: Without a complete understanding of the basics you'll never fully understand or be able to implement the far more advanced strategies into your game.
Think of it this way; when you learn to do math you don't spend a couple weeks on addition and subtraction and then grab a calculus book. There is a progression that must be followed, and if you are lacking in any of the previous areas (addition, multiplication, fractions, algebra, geometry) the chances that you will be able to do calculus are close to zero.
The same holds true in poker. In poker you have hand strengths, position, pot odds, and other concepts that need to be mastered before you can start adding things like re-steals, third-level thinking, and fold equity into your game. Going a step further you need to understand re-steals, third-level thinking , and fold equity into your game before you can move on to four and five-betting ranges, floating out of position, and so on.
The reason the progression needs to be followed is that if you don't understand continuation betting you can't understand floating. If you don't understand the proper times to float an opponent you will never realize when it's correct (and incorrect) to float out of position. Without the basics you will constantly be trying to plug leaks in your game, and while you might think you don't understand the advanced concept, it's actually a lack of understanding and grounding in the basic strategies of the game that are causing you fits.
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Posted February 6, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
Poker can be a very rewarding experience, both in terms of fun and profit. If you’ve been playing at Titan Poker for quite some time now and have been getting mediocre results, then it’s time to stop losing money and give your game a boost.
Here are a few tips on how to win at poker.
Don't play at stakes you can’t afford
High-stakes games also mean high prizes. But if you’re a novice player, it would be wise to start at lower stakes tables. Playing the higher stakes tables increases your chances of losing very quickly. If you’ve previously lost money at a certain stakes table, go down a notch. Regain your momentum and rebuild your bankroll at a table where you can afford to play. Making money at poker should be your long term goal. Don’t risk your cash at tables beyond your financial abilities.
Know the odds and the outs
Outs are the cards remaining in the deck that will help you improve your hand. Odds are the likelihood that you will get the cards you need. In addition to the calculated odds (which don’t guarantee that you’ll win), you also need to consider the size of the pot and your opponents. Poker is a very mathematical game, and while you don’t have to be a math whiz to win, you do need to know the fundamentals and how to relate to your cards in order to stay clear of losing.
Understand the importance of position
Your position at the table with regards to the blinds is a key factor in how you play a hand. If you make your bets according to your position, you’ll have a better chance of winning the hand. In some cases, having excellent position is more important than having excellent cards. Knowing how to take advantage of your position can help you win in poker.
Observe your opponents
Before you take a seat at a Titan Poker table, take the time to observe your opponents. Their actions and tells and game play can say a lot about a particular player. If someone is going all-in on every single hand, you could end up losing your chips very quickly.
Manage your bankroll
The most important rule in bankroll management is to play money than you can afford to lose. Every player loses at one time or another. But if losing everything you brought to the table can get you in financial trouble, step back immediately! You should only join tables and tournaments with a small percentage of your bankroll. A good guide for a recreational player would be not to risk more than 10% of your bankroll at once.
Stop before you go broke
Every time you join a poker table, set a budget for yourself. Don’t replenish your stack with a purchase of additional chips just because one of your hands busted. Take a break. Come back to the table after a good night’s sleep, when you'll be fit to play strategically and not emotionally.
Play only when you’re fit to play
It doesn't matter whether you’re playing online or at a cash game in your living room – only play poker when you’re mentally and physically ready for the game. If you’re tired, you won’t play your best. It’s better to call it a night and return to the game when your batteries have been recharged.
While bad luck can always be a factor in losing at poker, you can limit your losses with a good long-term strategy. Follow these tips and be on your way to becoming a winning poker player.
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Posted February 20, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
If you’re serious in making money from online poker, then Titan Poker multi-table tournaments are the best route to a massive cash out. Finishing in the money is quite an accomplishment, but ultimately your goal is to get to the final table where the big bucks are. Here are a few tips on how to win at Titan Poker multi-table tournaments.
Don’t play too many hands
Be selective about the hands you play, taking into consideration your position in the deal. A hand that can be played in late position may not be a playable hand if you’re sitting in early position.
Watch your stack
As you play a tournament, compare your chips to the average stack. You should also consider your stack in relation to the blinds. The more chips you have, the more you can make risky plays. On the other hand, if you're far below the average and the blinds are going to deplete your stack momentarily, you will need to move quickly to stay alive.
Play as many tournaments as you can
You're not going to become a better online poker player just by reading strategy tips. You need to play. The more tournaments you play, the better you can perfect your skills.
Make sure you can afford re-buy tournaments
When you play a re-buy tournament, you need to have the bankroll to make re-buys, otherwise you'll find yourself at a huge disadvantage to the other players. Players with big bankrolls may play in a wild manner knowing that they can always re-buy. You need to be on an even playing field with them. If you can't afford re-buys, play only freezeouts.
Play to survive the early stage
Make sure to play to survive the early stage of a tournament and go into the middle stage with an above average chip stack. With the blinds so low in the early stage, attempts to steal them won't increase your stack that much. In the early stage, you'll best benefit from tight-aggressive play.
Don't wait around for good hands in middle stage
You need to be more aggressive in the middle stage of a poker tournament. Stealing blinds is encouraged. Make sure to protect your chips as well, as your goal is to survive and make your way into the money.
Don't bluff too much
You need to know how and when to bluff. Never bluff more than two players and make sure your bluffs are believable. Bluffing should be a tool in your repertoire but don't overuse it.
Sometimes you need to take coin flips
There is an element of luck in the game of poker, and what better time to experience this than in a poker hand where the result could go either way. Conservative players can save up their chips, but at some stage, they're going to have to commit to an iffy pot. Make the best decisions you can, but sometimes you're just going to have to go out on a limb to win a hand.
Be aggressive on the bubble
When the tournament reaches the bubble stage, players are going to become extremely tight with hopes of surviving just one more hand and making it into the money. If your chip stack will allow it, you can take advantage of this situation and steal blinds and antes with little opposition.
Play for the money
In every online poker tournament you play, your goal is to finish in the money. While winning the tournament outright is the best possible outcome, it should not be your goal. You'll have a better chance at tournament success if your goal is to win money.
Posted February 16, 2026 by TitanPokerBonusCodes in News.
A hand of poker is a lot like a story; each bet, check, and raise is just another chapter, a small part of the story. Where poker differs from a typical tale is that the reader (your opponents) is in the dark as to whether they are reading fiction or nonfiction, and the best storytellers are able to make the biggest tall-tale seem believable and nonfiction to seem unbelievable.
The trick to being a great storyteller at the poker tables is the ability to tell a coherent story; one that makes sense to your opponent without being too easy to see through. Like a great mystery writer, poker players are able to lead their opponents down one path right up until the very end when there is a big reveal, and much like Bruce Willis at the end of the Sixth Sense it's simply too late for the audience; by the time the reveal takes place in poker all the chips are typically in the pot.
Poker players tell a lot of stories. ABC poker players tend to tell simple tales; when their story appears to be truthful it usually is, and when their story doesn't add up it's usually false. A terrible player just tells bad stories; there is no rhyme or reason to it, and comes off as disjointed and confusing. Good players tend to be able to blur these two lines; sometimes the story is true and sometimes it's false, but the storytelling remains the same. Good players can be confusing when they need to be, and can be intentionally vague when they need to be.
So the questions are; how does one tell a good story? How do I get an opponent to call when I want him to call and fold when I want him to fold? The answers to these questions are found in just a single poker concept: Range.
By keeping your range balanced you give your opponents two possibilities:
- #1 – You're story is truthful
- #2 – You're story is fiction
As long as your story matches up with your possible range (assuming your opponent is even trying to read your hand) the story will work. From there you need to examine your opponent's story and determine what he is trying to tell you he has, as well as what he actually has.
If your opponent is repping strength (and you believe his story) it really doesn't matter if he believes your story or not, but when your opponent is repping strength and you don't believe his story your storytelling skills come into play.
When a story simply doesn't add-up it's easy for your opponents to make the right decision, but when a story could be true or false they will often be left guessing and making huge mistakes.
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