How to Win at Poker

The home game, on Friday night. Enough to stop giving money away to friends who read one book.

Who winsFive cards make a hand, and they are the best five of the seven you can see. When both players get there, the kicker settles more pots than the pair does.
Read the boardBefore you ask what you have, ask what the board allows. Three of a suit means somebody can already hold a flush, whether or not you do.
FundamentalsStrong hands want the pot to grow. Bet them for value. Politeness doesn’t pay in poker.
Outs & Pot OddsA normal call buys one card at a time: compare outs × 2 with the price. Use × 4 only when calling guarantees both remaining cards.
Position & Preflop RangesPreflop defence depends on position and hand strength. Out of position you need stronger hands. Trash folds, however cheap it feels.
Play fewer handsThe chart is not a list to memorise; it is a shape. Suited hands sit above the diagonal, offsuit below, and the shape tightens as the seat gets earlier.
Position is informationThe same two cards are worth more when fewer people act after you. That is the whole reason a chart tightens as the seat gets earlier.
vs the Calling StationA bluff is a bet that needs a fold. Against someone who never folds it is not a bluff, it is a donation — and the arithmetic says so before the hand does.
A bet that means somethingPot odds run both ways. If you can work out what a call costs, you can work out what to charge — and it is usually less than it feels like.
Stop chasing every drawSome draws are worth the price and some are not, and the only way to tell is to do the arithmetic before the money moves.
One full handThree decisions on one hand: count the outs, price the call, then get paid. The opponent plays the same way throughout, and that is what makes each answer computable.
Friday simulationTen hands, three kinds of opponent, no hints. The arithmetic is the same every time; who is across the table is not, and that is what decides half of these.