Playing Poker: Online Poker Tips
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I'd be lying if I said I played so well that the World Series of Poker was in my grasp, but after many years of playing
poker and a little over 3 years of playing online poker, I can probably share enough poker tips with you to improve
your online poker game if it's new to you.
I won't go into detailed hand or game strategies here, but rather general
gambling tips specific to online poker, so those of
you just getting started can get past some of the learning curve.
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Try To Stay At The Same Table
Unless you're having really bad luck, it's good poker strategy to stay at the same table while you're playing online. This gives you the opportunity to learn other patrons playing styles - do they bluff a lot? Always fold? Each time you change tables you have to figure it out all over again, and you'll probably have to make more posts than necessary too.
Pace Yourself, You Won't Win Every Hand
It doesn't matter how good you are or what your strategy, you're not going to win every hand. The trick to walking away a winner after a good session of
online poker is to maximize your wins on your good hands and minimize them on your bad ones. Know when to fold, know when to raise, but don't think every pair's a sure thing.
Go Ahead And Take Notes
A lot of online poker rooms will let you 'take notes' right through the software on the players around you at the table. Since it's hard to remember who's who without a face to match them to, this allows you to note trends like 'this guy always bluffs' or 'she only raises on an unbeatable hand'. Use these notes to your advantage, this strategy may help you in a deciding moment as to what to do.
Pick A Table You Can Afford
Don't sit down at a table with limits you can't really afford to play. There's nothing worse than getting 'bullied' off the table every hand, or running out of chips when you're holding four of a kind.
Try To Bluff Once In A While!
In any card game who gets what cards is random, as are your chances of winning the hand statistically. Poker is a game of skill mainly because of the art of bluffing, that's where the strategy comes in. If you can win hands with nothing and keep people in when you're got a 'sure thing', you're bluffing well. If you're folding unless you've got two aces in the hole and trying to raise only when you do, you won't win often, and the pots you do won't have many chips in them.
Texas Holdem is by far the most popular poker variation in both online and off-line poker. With only two hole cards
and the remainder face up on the table, many people assume it's an easy game to play. It is; but it's a very difficult
game to master.
- Pick the right cards to stay in on.
Many people think that just because a blind isn't that expensive that they don't have to have great hole cards to
call the flop. This is far from the truth, most bad poker players lose because they stay in too many hands. Don't let
boredom or your impatience decide when you should play a hand, let the probability of a win do so.
- Don't play on tables you can't afford.
It's foolish to sit at a $10/$20 table with $100 in chips, you won't have the bankroll to play the expected number of
hands it may take to get a win. Online especially (presumably because it's easy), players often sit at tables they can't
really afford in the hopes of hitting a good luck streak in their first few deals. It's not good strategy to do so;
you won't be able to call draw hands when you should, and if you get a disproportionate number of bad starters dealt the
blinds alone will eventually force you off the table.
- Play aggressively when you need to.
This is another reason not to play on tables you can't really afford (see above tip), you should not allow players to take
free cards in a situation where you have a winning hand, and they are drawing for one. For example:
You have a pair of aces after the flop, and suspect the remaining player on the table is 4 to a flush (there are two
diamonds on the flop). If the player hits the Flush your hand loses, but it's not possible for him to have the flush
until at least the turn because there's only two suited cards up on the flop.
You have to bet in a situation like this. Your opponent is fishing for a hand while you are currently holding the
winning hand. You gain nothing by letting your opponents take free cards in this situation, make them pay or fold.
- Be careful about setting up a screen for your opponents.
I've seen a lot of poker players that try to feel out their opponents hands early in a hand by raising, despite having
a hand that's far from a guaranteed win. This is effective against inexperienced players, but can often provide an opportunity
for an opponent with a winning hand to have the pot built for them while you're none the wiser, as they can simply call
your bets until the river, only to re-raise on the last betting round.
- Beware of bluffing bad players.
Sometimes bad players are more dangerous than good ones, mostly because they're unpredictable. A professional player
probably wouldn't call your large bet trying to plug a broken straight because the odds are bad, whereas a bad player
tends to think anything is likely. This can work to your advantage of course when you have a strong hand, but when
you're bluffing, bear in mind you may actually have to show your cards and the end of the hand.
I'm sure that many people would disagree with me, but I've never found 5 card stud to be much of a game of skill.
Most online games are fixed limit, and with each player only having one card in the hole it's not hard to guess what
people have. Sure, you can bluff that you've got a pair, but it still has to match an up-card, so even then you've
generally got to have high card on the table to get people to fold.
Seven card stud is better game skill-wise, because the additional hole cards makes players hands much more unpredictable (as
well as your own), which allows for betting to play a greater role in how each hand plays out.
- It's easier to bluff early in the hand when players are less likely to have a straight or flush draw.
- 5 card stud doesn't give you a lot of opportunity to exercise poker 'skills'.
Omaha poker is not something I recommend for new players. While it's technically a form of Texas Holdem, the rules
are a fair bit different, and expected hands are much higher than the regular Hold'em games that most players are accustomed
to. As such, many people new to the game tend to underestimate their opponents hands.
- With each player getting 4 cards, it's more likely than not that each player has 2 cards of the same suit. If the
flop shows two suited cards and you don't hold two of the same suit, assume you'll be playing your hand against an
opponents flush.
- If you've never played before - Yes, you really do have to play 2 cards from your hand and 3 from the table to
make up your final hand. 4 diamonds on the table and one in your hole cards is not a flush, for you at least.
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