Have you ever played poker? If you have, it was probably Texas Holdem, where the dealer gives you two cards. The game can be casual and relaxed or competitive and complex, depending on who is at the table. Everyone has their cards, a stack of chips, and shared cards in the middle of the board.

Regarding strategy, professionals are way ahead of fun-loving weekend poker players. The wheels start turning as soon as they pick up their cards from the dealer.

According to some estimates, there are about 100 million online poker players, but most of them still need one valuable tool that could give them an edge. You haven’t heard of Flopzilla yet, but it might kickstart your poker career.

What Do Poker Players Do With Their Cards?

The dealer shoots cards across the felt. You place a hand on the first and catch the other when it slides your way.

You take a peek and see a not-so-pretty sight. Instead of pocket Aces, the best hand in Texas Holdem, you’ve got 8♥ 5♥.

Most players need help figuring out what to do in this spot. Is this hand good enough to keep playing, or should you throw the cards away? You can learn exactly what to do with hands like 8♥ 5♥ by using poker apps unless you are friends with some professional players.

These apps will show which hands can win and interact well with the shared community cards. You can also check how your opponents might have matched up with the community cards, which is very helpful (since you want to avoid losing to them).

The funny thing is that the training tools for this poker strategy are affordable. Many programs like Flopzilla even have free trials to see how your poker skills improve without spending a cent.

What Does Flopzilla Help You With?

Without getting too wordy, here’s what this program does for poker players:

When you get your cards in Texas Holdem and other poker games, you have a certain amount of equity, meaning your chance to win the hand. Players need to know this to commit to certain hands and get away from others.

You can check your equity and a slew of other things by looking at these hands in a PC app like Flopzilla (which has a 7-day free trial). The tool also tells you how often your hand interacts with the community cards, which everyone in the hand can use for their poker combination.

A screenshot from Flopzilla in trial mode, still with lots of available functions

It’s vital to know about your hand’s strength, but you must also think about your opponent’s. Professional players spend a ton of time thinking about their opponents’ ranges (possible hands).

Do You Have to Study Poker to Improve?

When players want to work on strategy and improve, there are better places to do it than a huge poker tournament with millions of dollars in the prize pool. Many of the moves players make in real games come from self-studying in poker programs, where losing chips in the learning process won’t be as painful.

The movies might make it seem like players show up at the tables and use instinct for every decision – but you knew it wasn’t like that. Studying the game is the best way to become a more formidable poker player. Start by reading strategy guides and devoting some time each week to learning.

When you’re ready to enter the action online, start at the lowest real money stakes and work your way up very slowly. Only rise to a new stake level when you have grown your bankroll and shown a healthy win rate over a significant time.

Good luck with your study and poker games.