Hell, there are no rules here -- we're trying to accomplish something.
--Thomas Edison

This article is for those beginning NL play. This one will cover a lot of different areas and I'll post more advanced thoughts later.

Tricky/creative plays

Playing against good players, you'll need to get creative and unpredictable. You'll need to raise or call raises with hands like 64. This is because you don't want to give away information about your hand. If you opponent is good, then they'll notice that you'll play a lot of hands the same way you play aces. They'll also note that your play after the flop is equally unpredictable. Be capable of calling a preflop raise, a flop bet and a turn bet only because you're in position. Bluff them off the river and show it to them. Being unpredictable will earn you money against players good enough to notice.

With that said, play ABC poker damn it! If you're reading this page to gain strategy insights, then you're probably not playing against sharks. Tricky plays will cost you money against bad opponents. They will get confused and make the right play for the wrong reason.

Preflop raises

Determine a hand range that you're comfortable playing preflop. If that range is large, make your standard preflop raise about 2.5 big blinds. If that range is small, then make your preflop raise about 4.5 big blinds. The more hands you play, then the less you should raise so you're not losing much when you're up against a bigger hand, which will be more often. If you think you can play post-flop better than most, then broadening your starting hands with a smaller bring-in is the way to go. If you're new to NL, consider using the bigger bring-in and play less hands preflop than in limit. Start from ahead and win the pots that are supposed to be yours until you're comfortable with the game/table.

Make the same raise with every hand that you're willing to play. A couple modifications you can make is adding any limper money already in to the size of your raise. So if your standard bring-in is 3 big blinds, and there are 2 limpers, make it 5 big blinds to go. Also, the worse your position, then the more you may want to add to your bring-in. UTG, you may want to add a big blind or two to your standard bring-in. The key is to only change your raise amount based on circumstances excluding the cards you hold. Do not change your bring-in with the quality of your cards.

Limping with middle pairs isn't a bad idea either because you might be able to break someone when you hit a set or better. Not many people will put you on a set of Jacks or tens if you hit. Before you limp, consider the table composition. Full games (9 or 10 people), passive players, poor post-flop players and position are all things you'd like to have in order to limp. Don't worry about giving away your hand by limping. People will not notice that you only limp with pairs. Too many players limp with garbage trying to get lucky for them to put you on a hand.

Ring games are all about patience.

Big pots will come when you hit sets against overpairs, flop flushes or straights or find a maniac. In the meantime, win the small pots that you deserve and don't try to make poker happen. Let the cards come. It is one long session, so don't feel the need to "mix it up" unless you truly think that your opponents will notice and pay you off later because of it. Don't draw unless you have great pot/implied odds. Flush draws are not usually worth drawing to in NL because bets are usually not giving you 4-1 pot odds. To see one more card, your flush is about 4-1. Pot-bets are giving you 2-1. Not even close. If they are betting small, then consider what they might have. If you think they're betting small with a good hand to induce calls, then maybe you can take one off. Flushes are obvious when they hit though, so consider your lack of implied odds. If you think they're betting small with a weak hand or a draw of their own, then raise right there.

You're bluffing though! Semi-bluffs are fundamentally bluffs folks. Low limit players try to justify betting their flush draws with the fact that they are being aggressive just like the pros on TV. There is a big difference. The pros on TV are making a move because they probably believe that they'll win the pot right there or more importantly because they're in a tournament atmosphere where they need to be very aggressive in order to gain chips. In the tournaments, they believe that they have about 12 outs (9 for a flush and 3 for an over card) or so and are willing to take the chance in order to have a better opportunity to win the tournament. In ring games, you're just costing yourself money by semi-bluffing too much.

Another justification I see a lot is that you're creating deception and building a pot so if you hit, you'll make out. You're bluffing with outs. By putting money in the pot with a hand that won't get called by a worse hand, you're bluffing. If the situation seems right for a bluff, then by all means, shoot. If you're up against a preflop raiser or a calling station, then you're risking the money you put in being lost. Don't get upset if this play costs you money over the long run. I would additionally recommend that you avoid this play like the plague unless you're comfortable folding to a big reraise. Lots of my opponents bet their draws into me and then can't let go when I reraise to take their odds away. This might be the situation that I disagree with the field the most on. It drives me crazy seeing people lose a lot of money with 9 outs. You're 2-1 to hit UNLESS they have a set, which will be a hand that will reraise you.

BTW folks, almost every bluff you make should be a semi-bluff. Leave yourself with some outs.

At lower limits, you're not only more likely to be called, but you're also more likely to be raised because the players per flop average is higher at the lower limits. I love people willing to push with 9-12 outs. They hit a lot, which means their opponents' variance increases, but over the long run, they are giving away EV, which means they are giving away money. Basically, I believe that bluffing in lower limit games should be restrained. Save this one for those times where you believe you're opponent will fold at least half the time.

Don't bet weak with weak hands

The biggest leak I've seen at the table has been betting amounts correlated with the quality of the cards. The weak lead is one thing (betting small to induce a raise), but betting small with a small hand is death in NL. It is easy to reraise a small bet on a pure bluff. If your hand is strong enough to bet, then bet it hard. By representing strength, you're more likely to get better hands to fold, get a better idea of your opponents cards (because you've shown strength), and build a pot when you want it built.

If you bet weak, then the range of hands that will raise you grows dramatically and you won't know where you stand. The weak lead works against me a lot because I'm pretty aggressive at times. Conversely, betting weak hands into me with weak bets will lose you a lot of money. I will raise with any 2 a lot of the times. The other times, I may just call and let you do that weak bet again before raising on the turn/river. Weak bets do little to tell you where you are in the hand and promote people bullying you.

(almost) Never slowplay

There are many conditions that should exist before you slowplay. Ring games (unlike tournaments) almost never satisfy all of the conditions necessary in order to slowplay. Even if you flop quads, you should at least put out a weak lead, if for no other reason than to build a pot or induce a bluff. I don't mean that you should never check-raise. I just mean that you should never pass on building a pot on a street as a whole. By betting your quads that you just flopped, you're actually playing deceptively. By not slowplaying, you're creating an opportunity to get called by a wider range of hands because nobody would believe that you'd bet your quads. Checking through not only makes your hand more obvious when you suddenly get aggressive later in the hand, but it also means that someone else could make a bigger hand. Slowplay = nopay.

Check out doubleas's book, Pressure Poker: Poker Strategy and Tools to Improve Your Game (also available in the PokerSavvy Shop)