10 Most Important Concepts for New Poker Players

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Apr 21, 2025 5 min read Last updated Apr 23, 2025

Every new poker player is excited to jump right into the action and start winning big. But few actually do win early in their careers.

That is often because they start playing before studying and preparing. The following 10 concepts, brought to you by GTO Wizard, will help you dive into this glorious game with some knowledge of what it takes to become a winning poker player.

1.Mechanics of Game Theory

The best way to start your poker career is, and this might seem a bit controversial, to learn the absolute fundamentals of game theory. You've probably heard poker players float around the term "game theory optimal (GTO)." The most profitable players play as close to optimal strategy as possible.

If you want to progress as a poker player, you need to understand various concepts in game theory, such as indifference, exploitability, expected value (EV), pot odds, equity, just for starters.

2.Thresholds

A threshold is a line of indifference, and understanding this concept is one of the fastest ways to becoming a quality poker player. What is the strongest hand you can fold, or the weakest hand you can continue with? That would be your continuation threshold.

Understanding where these thresholds are on different boards, different textures is fundamental to becoming a good poker player. Beginners almost always massively misevaluate their thresholds.

3.It's Not About Your Hand, It's About Your Range

Pulling off a big bluff is always fun. Showing it to your opponent feels great. This is especially true if you're playing against friends or on a livestream. But you shouldn't concern yourself with the theatrics, and should instead focus on making sure your bluffs make sense from a theoretical standpoint.

When you triple barrel, are you using appropriate hand classes for how much money you put in? Are you roughly using the right amount of value in bluffs relative to the bet sizes? These are questions you should ask before attempting a bluff, and the questions you should ponder when analyzing your play following a bluff, regardless of whether or not the bluff got through.

4.Maximize EV, Not How Often You Win the Pot

Frequently taking down pots is great. It makes you feel like you're winning big. But just because you take down a large number of pots doesn't guarantee big wins, or wins at all. Size actually does matter when it comes to poker.

Let's say we roll a dice. If it rolls one through five, you give me $10. Pretty bad bet, right? Five out of six times you're going to lose. But let's say if you rolle a six, I give you $100. So, five of six times you'll give me $10, or $50 total. And one out of six times, I will give you $100. Who will end up ahead in the long run? You, of course. The point here is that you'd be maximizing value with such a wager instead of being focused on winning as many rolls as possible. The same can be applied to how you play poker.

5.Stop Overvaluing Big Cards

Most recreational players overvalue big cards — hands such as AxJx, or really just any Ax. Hands that win you money in blackjack don't necessarily win you money in poker. You're playing poker, not blackjack.

When "big card" hands don't hit on the flop, or big pairs run into wet boards, they're often going to be beat. So, why continue losing money out of stubborness in those situations? It's okay to just throw your cards in the muck instead of continuing on in a pot that you can't win.

6.Most of Your EV Comes from Nutted Hands

Winning a pot with pocket aces or the nut flush draw is easy. So easy that anyone can do it. But not everyone can maximize their expected value with nutted hands. Those who use GTO Wizard, however, understand how to get the most out of nutted hands.

Most of your value in poker comes from monster hands or from coolering your opponents, not from taking down the blinds preflop or hitting middle pair. It's those nutted hands that are going to win you the biggest pots and the highest EV, so you must learn how to maximize your wins when those hands arise.

7.Master Your Preflop Strategy

We all love to see flops in hopes of hitting a full house or flush or even bigger. But your preflop strategy should be a major focus of your game as it will put you in position to have success on the flop and beyond. Well, that is assume your preflop gameplan is strong.

Every decision starts with preflop action. If you make this part of your game automatic, not only will you set yourself up to play postflop well, it's one less thing to think about when you're playing poker. So, check out GTO Wizard's new Practice Mode, which lets you practice from preflop all the way to the river.

8.Most of Your Heuristics are Based on Lies

Almost every rule of thumb you come up with will be based on faulty assumptions. That's right, if you play through experience, your perception of a winning play will be skewed by the meta in which you play, it will be biased by subconscious factors like risk aversion.

To truly grow as a poker player, you need to let go of old habits and broaden your horizons. This is especially true when you start working with solvers, because solvers are confusing when you're just getting started with them. Forget about how you've always thought the proper way to play poker is and don't let your own confirmation bias get in the way of you growing as a player.

9.Variance is Bigger Than You Can Imagine

You are never "due." It doesn't matter if you've lost eight flips in a row, you are just as likely to win or lose the next flip as you would be had you won the previous eight flips.

The deck never owes you anything. Ever. Just because your opponent sucked out on you three times in a row doesn't mean they won't suck out on you the next time you go to battle. A deck of hards has no memory, which means you need to understand and accept the fact that poker has a lot of variance.

10.Stop Over-Playing Medium Strength Hands

It is imperitave to your game to develop a solid medium strength, showdown value range, pot control, check back kind of range. Most weak-aggressive players have two ranges — the give-up range and everything else gets the gas pedal.

This type of player rarely wins at showdown because they either bet too aggressively, forcing their opponent to fold a weaker hand. Or, they get to showdown against a narrow range that has them crushed. A better strategy is to construct value and bluffs. That way you're polarizing using strong hands and weak hands, and the opponent is guessing with every hand in between.

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