Poker is a game of incomplete information, and every action you take gives your opponents bits of information that they can use to build a story about what you’re doing. Often, these stories tell them that you have a good hand or bad hand.

The best way to improve your poker strategy is through self-examination and practice. This can include analyzing your own hands and reviewing the hands of others, plus discussing your play with other players for a more objective look at your strengths and weaknesses.

One of the first things you need to work on is understanding your opponent’s ranges. A lot of new players will try to put an opponent on a particular hand, but the better players will analyze the entire range of hands that the player could have and then work out how likely it is that they will have a stronger hand than yours.

A big part of poker is being able to read your opponents’ actions, so pay attention to how long it takes them to make an action. A quick check or call usually indicates that they have a weak hand, while a long pause before calling or raising usually means that they have a good hand.

Another big part of poker is knowing how to fold. Unless you have a monster, it’s generally best to fold before the flop. This allows you to get the maximum value out of your chips and also keeps your opponents on their toes, because they’ll never know if you’re bluffing or holding a strong hand.