Poker is a game of skill, and while luck does play a factor, over time, players can learn and practice enough to improve their chances at winning. Whether your focus is strategy, bankroll management, or studying bet sizes and position, there are a few key concepts you should keep in mind to be successful.

The first is position. It’s important to know where you are at the table – not only your position, but also what your opponents are doing. For example, if you have position on the preflop and you are dealing yourself a fairly good hand (say, pair of kings), the correct move is usually to raise to price all of your opponent’s worse hands out of the pot.

It’s also a good idea to be able to guess what other players have in their hands. This is called reading “tells,” and it’s a crucial aspect of the game. If you can’t tell what someone has, they will always be able to make a bet that will get paid off, and your bluffs won’t succeed.

Finally, you should be able to calculate your odds and EV (expected value) during the course of a hand. This will help you to understand when your hands are strong and when they are weak. Poker numbers can be hard to grasp at the beginning, but if you spend some time working on them, they will become a natural part of your game.