Nearly every online poker player has watched
poker on TV
at least once in the past few years, who hasn’t seen the
famous shots of amateurs Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer taking
down the pros and winning a bracelet, at the same time
playing poker online
has swept the nation as being one the fastest growing pastimes
(bye bye baseball) since 2002 – continuing solid growth
through 2010 despite unclear and unfair legislation attempts by
government institutions, but that’s a whole other post.
Although poker, in its many varieties, is quite easy to learn, playing properly and stacking the odds in your favor is something usually reserved for the table sharks and TV personalities.
Below are 3 online poker tips that all poker players must employ in order to win consistently.
Play Good Starting Hands In Position
Although it seems quite simple, the most overlooked and easy strategy you can immediately employ is only playing starting hands that statistically win more times than lose. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and start playing hands you probably should have folded. Research and study one of the thousands of starting hand charts available on the Internet. This will allow you to understand why certain hands are OK to play which ones aren’t. This will also allow you to understand why playing certain starting hands in one instance is correct and wrong in another.
Raise Or Fold Instead Of Just Calling
Calling a bet is simply matching whatever amount your opponent bet during the last betting round. Calling is usually wrong. If you are holding Ace/King before the flop and 3 people call the blind before you, calling is the absolute worst play you can make. Sure, Ace/King is a good hand, it wins more than it loses against most other hands, but only if you are playing against 1 opponent. The % of time that Ace/King will win heads up is usually 75%, while the number of times you will win the hand with 4 other people is only 15-20% By simply calling before the flop, you are allowing weaker hands an opportunity to hit big with a connecting hand like a straight or flush (if playing hold’em games online) and therefore making your opponents obvious mistake of playing with a lesser hand, proper strategy.
Also say you still have Ace/King and the rest of the table besides one fold. You hit top pair on the flop and your opponent bets into you. This can only mean three things, he’s either bluffing, has the same hand (maybe with a weaker kicker) or has a draw.
The odds of hitting his draw are probably somewhere between 20-33%. If you call his bet without raising, you are giving him the opportunity to hit a longshot, without having to pay for it. The proper strategy is to raise, so that if he does call your raise he is putting money into the pot on a draw that will never make him money over the long run.
Use Pot Odds And Keep Track Of Your Outs
Without knowing the odds of improving your hand during a game of poker and how much money you will profit if you win, you are playing blind. There is no possible way of winning consistently without knowing this information. There are several odds charts available on the internet that can show you the odds of improving a hand both for you and your opponent. The math is based off of “outs” or the number of cards that can potentially increase or decrease the value of your hand.
Say you have a 9/10 in your hand, and there is a 7 and an 8 on the board. You can hit a 6 or a jack and most likely win the hand with your straight. There are 8 cards that can help you and 40 that will not, meaning there is a 20% chance that you will make your hand. This means that you are getting 1-5 odds. In order to profitably continue with this hand there must 5 times or more money in the pot than it costs to play in this round of betting. If you call a bet without getting 1-5 odds on this play then you will absolutely lose money over the long run.
With these 3 tips, you will be able to take your poker game to the next level. Keep your cool, brush up on your math, and never stop learning. In no time, you’ll be raking in the chips and leaving your opponents floating down the river.