Where to start?

You are (kind of) new to the game and you want to learn it and become a winning player. Maybe you can become a professional someday, you'll never know. But when you arrive on this site you will be overloaded with information and you might just don't know where to start.
The best way to approach this learning is to do it step by step. Proceed with the next theory once you fully understand the one before. We numbered all the theories so they already stand in the best sequence. It may sound strange but it is best to start with the helpfull learning strategy. This is because it will cover your learning path completely. Always use this one whenever you play. Then below shortly sais some things about the specific theory. Good luck and enjoy!

Preflop schedule

First it is handy to print out the preflop schedule so you can have it besides your computer to make quick decisions. Here you cover all the actions preflop and this is affective most of the time. By using this schedule you will be playing a roughly 20% of the total dealt hands and most of them don't even see a flop. Using this schedule is an easy and effective way to start and you should stick to it. It proved to be a winning strategy by only playing this hands in the beginning. It is true that playing more hands can be more profitable in certain situations, but it gets you in a lot of marginal and difficult spots. These marginal spots has to be played with a lot of post flop skills in order to turn up a profit out of them and if you don't have the skills then you will end up losing on average with those hands. So stick with the schedule and then luckaly there is getpokerskills.com to make you a better postflop player!

Analyzing

Poker is not easy and it has loads of variables in the game. Every hand is different so it is important to make the best out of every one. What you need to do is analyze your opponent. You need to estimate the range of hands he can possibly have in this spot and you have to make decisions based on this hand range. This automatically shows that analyzing is the most important skill in poker but it is also the most difficult one.
You will improve your analyzing skills trough experience but the theory we explained is the way to do it. Because this is the most difficult theory it might be best to already look to the next one. But whatever you do, always drop back on this theory!

Postflop betting

In the postflop betting chapter we tell you what types of betting are possible. A bet should always cover one of the three purposes or else you bet without a plan. Use the analyzing from above and then see if one of the three purposes will cover your goal.

The continuation bet

The continuation bet is the most standard bet in poker. This occurs very often and will be done by you and your opponents. Doing this right will have you earn money the easy way!

Being a preflop caller

When you are the preflop caller and you hit you can make easy money by letting your opponent make a continuation bet. This mostly means nothing so money will go straight in your pockets!

Bluffing at a scarecard

When you have seen your continuation bet fail then there might be another way to earn some easy mobey. Bluffing at a scarecard is another basic theory wich is highly effective.

Making a semi-bluff

This theory is a little more difficult to master. You have probably seen this happening a lot of the time when you watched telivision. And the pro's do it for a reason. In the semibluff theory we will explain when to make a semi-bluff and when it is better not to. Very important stuff.

Bet for protection vs. potcontroling

Bet for protection vs. potcontroling is an advanced concept. Basicly this is already covered by using good analitical skills but this little theory might be helpfull still.