Poker"DEMOCRACY"
Some Basic Tips for Online Play
Sometimes
you’re running bad, or maybe you’re just playing bad. Sometimes it’s a
combination of both. Running bad can put you on tilt subconsciously,
which leads to poor play. But when your poker results start to suffer,
particularly in online play where good players will take more than their
share of bad beats, sometimes you need to step back and re-assess your
play.I’ve found that, most of the time, simply freeing myself of distractions and other influences that might affect my mind-set is the most effective way to renew my focus and see improved results. Here are a few tips that have worked for me:
Eliminate
distractions ahead of time – This means turning off the TV, telephone
and keeping the music down to a low volume. If you have children or pets
to take care of, make sure their needs are met before you play.
Develop a
routine – This means everything from signing up the same time before a
tournament to sitting in the same seat position at the table. Every time
I play, I click the “sit here” option on the bottom seat exactly in the
middle. This helps me focus, as I never have to change my eye level and
look for my seat, as I always felt a little awkward if my seat was in a
corner position or at the top. Plus, just getting into a routine this
way helps me focus on the game at hand.
Be prepared to
play – This covers everything from being rested, showered and focused,
to making sure you have no time commitments that are going to get in the
way. If you are playing a multi-table tournament with 2,000
participants, you should anticipate that you will be playing for the
next 5 hours or so. Clear your schedule. Do not play if you have another
imminent time commitment. Also, make sure you have eaten and used the
bathroom before you start. Just as is in live games, failure to do this
will result in you missing potentially valuable hands at the table. The
breaks are short; make sure you have snacks or beverages readily
prepared so you can re-fuel in a timely fashion.
Eliminate
distractions at the table – In addition to sitting in the same spot each
time, I recommend turning off all avatar images and avoiding chat at
all costs. Many avatar images appear intended to distract you and, let’s
face it, some of them do. Whether it’s a picture of a bikini-clad,
buxom model that has your attention, or some other sort of violent or
semi-graphic image, it’s relatively easy to have your attention drawn to
these images. Eliminate that possibility by shutting them off. Also,
keep chatting to a minimum. If your opponent chats “nh” or “nice hand”
after losing a pot to you and you believe his sentiment is sincere, a
“ty” or “thank you” is acceptable, but do not draw out the conversation.
If he is clearly being sarcastic, ignore him. Resist the temptation to
engage in personal battles, even if someone types an offensive sentiment
such as “nice call, donkey.” Engaging in prolonged chats will only
distract you from the game and task at hand, and could possibly put you
on tilt. Leave tilting to your opponents.
Follow the
general rule of HALT – That is, do not play if you are hungry, angry,
lonely or tired. As previously stated, make sure you are fed if you
intend to play a long tournament. If you are angry, from taking bad
beats or for some other personal reasons, it’s never a good idea to play
because you will have a compromised mindset. Playing to kill time
before you go to bed is usually a bad idea, too, as you will have
less-than-optimal focus and be tempted to make plays you normally
wouldn’t make.
Play better
than your opponents – Isn’t this always the goal when you play? Of
course, but this is meant in the most basic sense. Online players
notoriously play too many hands, try too many ill-advised bluffs and
overvalue and overplay starting hands. They refuse to fold when they
clearly are beat, and shove all-in when they clearly are behind. The
masses are asses … don’t be one of them. Don’t lose sight of the fact
that patience is still a key virtue in poker. Many new players seem to
crave instant gratification, and all it leads to is an early bust-out.
So let everyone else ram-and-jam in every pot, and put all their chips
in the middle on a three-outer. You, meanwhile, sit back and pick your
spots. Be selective about your starting hands, and don’t be afraid to
fold when you are beat. Don’t make foolish calls or push with marginal
hands just because you’ve been running cold. You’d be surprised how huge
an advantage a little patience will give you over your opponents.
Poker"DEMOCRACY"
Top Ten Secrets of Professional Online Poker Player!!!
Use Sound Bankroll Management
Many poker pros
have wild swings and end up bankrupt. Correctly managing your bankroll
is the most important skill in poker. Play lower limits when you lose
and only attempt higher limits after a good run. Do not be afraid to
change limit up and down as frequently as necessary. Always play in
games that you can afford.
Focus on Making Good Decision
Good decisions in poker do not always lead to a profit. The statistical poker edge of a good decision is sometimes just a few percent chance, so that you will lose nearly as often as you win when following your decision. Do not let results affect you. Just focus on making the good decision and profits will follow. Raise or Fold, do not Call
This rule can be hard to follow literally, but it should be your goal to get as close as possible. The weakest decision in poker is calling, which is synonym with passive play. Avoid it like the plague. If your hand is strong you must take the lead by betting or raising. Otherwise, just fold.
Make Continuation Bets
It is vital to make continuation bets otherwise it is like telegraphing that you missed the flop. Make your c-bets against solid observant opponents, but be more cautious against calling stations. The optimal c-bet rate is around 70-80%. A lower rate makes you too transparent whilst a higher rate makes you too much of an obvious bluffer.
Make Value Bets
A lot of your potential profits come from value betting, especially river value betting. Value betting consists in making bets, hoping to get called by a weaker hand. It requires good hand reading skills and also courage because there is always the risk to be raised, check-raised, bluff-raised or shoved.
Use Software Tools
Online poker is a very competitive game and you must use the software tools that your opponents are using. Poker tracker systems are mandatory. Odds calculator, online database and poker coaching tools can also help. Check our poker software reviews for a complete list of what is currently available in the market.
Review Your Hands
After each poker session that you play, try reviewing your hands with a hand replayer software. Analyze your mistakes and determine alternative ways it could have been played. If time is short, focus on the biggest losses and profits of your session. Post your most confusing hands on online poker forums to generate comments or discuss them with your poker buddies.
Don't be Emotional
You must develop the mental strength necessary to always play analytically, and not emotionally. Your emotions are your enemies at the poker tables. Your emotions will almost never make you money at poker, but very often will make you lose money. If you take a bad beat and start tilting, just leave the tables.
Use Position
Position is often more important than your hole cards. Make the most out of your position. Learn to bluff more in position and to fold more out of position. Steal aggressively from the cutoff and button. If in position, do not miss an oportunity to exert pressure on your opponents.
Don't be Predictable
Do not play predictably. This sounds like a truism, but you have to introduce randomness into your game so that your opponents can never put you on a hand. Always have a few ways to play the same situation. For example when you have AA UTG, you may raise 80% of the time and limp 20% of the time in order to induce raisers. Use the seconds of your clock to make the decision. If the seconds of your watch are between zero and 12 you limp, otherwise you raise. If this sounds like it may be a problem to you, then you may be better off playing blackjack where you don't need to worry about being predictable or fooling other players.
Get Rakeback
This 11th item complements our #1 item: bankroll management is the most important secret to get a better win rate, and the simplest first step to improve your bankroll is to get rakeback. If you have not yet started a rakeback program, learn more here. Good Luck at the tables.
Focus on Making Good Decision
Good decisions in poker do not always lead to a profit. The statistical poker edge of a good decision is sometimes just a few percent chance, so that you will lose nearly as often as you win when following your decision. Do not let results affect you. Just focus on making the good decision and profits will follow. Raise or Fold, do not Call
This rule can be hard to follow literally, but it should be your goal to get as close as possible. The weakest decision in poker is calling, which is synonym with passive play. Avoid it like the plague. If your hand is strong you must take the lead by betting or raising. Otherwise, just fold.
Make Continuation Bets
It is vital to make continuation bets otherwise it is like telegraphing that you missed the flop. Make your c-bets against solid observant opponents, but be more cautious against calling stations. The optimal c-bet rate is around 70-80%. A lower rate makes you too transparent whilst a higher rate makes you too much of an obvious bluffer.
Make Value Bets
A lot of your potential profits come from value betting, especially river value betting. Value betting consists in making bets, hoping to get called by a weaker hand. It requires good hand reading skills and also courage because there is always the risk to be raised, check-raised, bluff-raised or shoved.
Use Software Tools
Online poker is a very competitive game and you must use the software tools that your opponents are using. Poker tracker systems are mandatory. Odds calculator, online database and poker coaching tools can also help. Check our poker software reviews for a complete list of what is currently available in the market.
Review Your Hands
After each poker session that you play, try reviewing your hands with a hand replayer software. Analyze your mistakes and determine alternative ways it could have been played. If time is short, focus on the biggest losses and profits of your session. Post your most confusing hands on online poker forums to generate comments or discuss them with your poker buddies.
Don't be Emotional
You must develop the mental strength necessary to always play analytically, and not emotionally. Your emotions are your enemies at the poker tables. Your emotions will almost never make you money at poker, but very often will make you lose money. If you take a bad beat and start tilting, just leave the tables.
Use Position
Position is often more important than your hole cards. Make the most out of your position. Learn to bluff more in position and to fold more out of position. Steal aggressively from the cutoff and button. If in position, do not miss an oportunity to exert pressure on your opponents.
Don't be Predictable
Do not play predictably. This sounds like a truism, but you have to introduce randomness into your game so that your opponents can never put you on a hand. Always have a few ways to play the same situation. For example when you have AA UTG, you may raise 80% of the time and limp 20% of the time in order to induce raisers. Use the seconds of your clock to make the decision. If the seconds of your watch are between zero and 12 you limp, otherwise you raise. If this sounds like it may be a problem to you, then you may be better off playing blackjack where you don't need to worry about being predictable or fooling other players.
Get Rakeback
This 11th item complements our #1 item: bankroll management is the most important secret to get a better win rate, and the simplest first step to improve your bankroll is to get rakeback. If you have not yet started a rakeback program, learn more here. Good Luck at the tables.
Poker"DEMOCRACY"
7 Winning Poker Secrets Revealed
So what does it really take to be a great poker player?
Play tight at the start. In general, it’s best to play a tight game at the start because then you can sit back more and just observe as others play their games and make their mistakes.
Poker"DEMOCRACY"
Know when to
start loosening up your game. Even if you play tight in the beginning,
it’s equally important to know WHEN to start playing loose. Why? There
are a few reasons to this, two are mentioned below.
As players
begin to get eliminated, you need to loosen up your game because blinds
come around to you faster. This means that it will become more expensive
to fold as the game progresses.
You might be sending the wrong signals to your opponents. If you play too tight for too long, make no mistake, the other players will notice that. The consequence of this is that when you do get a big hand and play it, the other players will not ‘bite’ because they know you will not do so unless you have a good hand. As a result, you will not win big (unless of course, you’re only bluffing you have a good hand).
Practice, practice, practice! Because poker is not a solitary game, it’s imperative that you constantly try to improve your skill. Different poker tournaments have different structures; different players have different game plans; different poker events have different ambiances, and so on. As such you constantly need to practice and be out there so that you’re poker skills are never rusty.
Go in it to WIN. Suprisingly, a lot of poker players say they only play for fun when in fact they really want to win. It’s kind of like not daring to hope or being afraid to win. Well, this is completely the wrong mindset to bring to a poker game! You’ve heard it on more than one occasion that poker is a lot about psychology well guess what… this applies to you too! Go in there with a winning attitude because without it, you’ll only be undermining your own efforts.
Master the art of ‘bluffing’. Everybody knows what bluffing is and that it’s part of playing poker. However, don’t bluff for the sake of bluffing. Remember: bluffs only work in specific situations against specific people! And even then, the ‘success’ of your bluff is partly dependent on how you’ve played your previous hands!
Know when to fold. A lot of poker players are emotionally attached to their bets! Just because you’ve put in that amount of money in the pot doesn’t mean you MUST play your hand else you’ll lose face. You’ll lose money more likely! So try to be detached; assess if you can really win or not and fold when needed.
Spread Out or Specialize? One of the many hot topics on the world of poker is should a player learn all the different poker games and structures or specialize only in one or a few? In the end, it all depends on you: your personality and which game you truly find to be more fun to engage in. However, don’t zero in on one particular poker game before you’ve tried a few.
A lot of players want to specialize in a particular game because of the high stakes and spend years trying to perfect their game only to realize they’re not really exceptional in it. So try out many types of poker games first and only then decide if you want to master many or only specialize in a few.
You might be sending the wrong signals to your opponents. If you play too tight for too long, make no mistake, the other players will notice that. The consequence of this is that when you do get a big hand and play it, the other players will not ‘bite’ because they know you will not do so unless you have a good hand. As a result, you will not win big (unless of course, you’re only bluffing you have a good hand).
Practice, practice, practice! Because poker is not a solitary game, it’s imperative that you constantly try to improve your skill. Different poker tournaments have different structures; different players have different game plans; different poker events have different ambiances, and so on. As such you constantly need to practice and be out there so that you’re poker skills are never rusty.
Go in it to WIN. Suprisingly, a lot of poker players say they only play for fun when in fact they really want to win. It’s kind of like not daring to hope or being afraid to win. Well, this is completely the wrong mindset to bring to a poker game! You’ve heard it on more than one occasion that poker is a lot about psychology well guess what… this applies to you too! Go in there with a winning attitude because without it, you’ll only be undermining your own efforts.
Master the art of ‘bluffing’. Everybody knows what bluffing is and that it’s part of playing poker. However, don’t bluff for the sake of bluffing. Remember: bluffs only work in specific situations against specific people! And even then, the ‘success’ of your bluff is partly dependent on how you’ve played your previous hands!
Know when to fold. A lot of poker players are emotionally attached to their bets! Just because you’ve put in that amount of money in the pot doesn’t mean you MUST play your hand else you’ll lose face. You’ll lose money more likely! So try to be detached; assess if you can really win or not and fold when needed.
Spread Out or Specialize? One of the many hot topics on the world of poker is should a player learn all the different poker games and structures or specialize only in one or a few? In the end, it all depends on you: your personality and which game you truly find to be more fun to engage in. However, don’t zero in on one particular poker game before you’ve tried a few.
A lot of players want to specialize in a particular game because of the high stakes and spend years trying to perfect their game only to realize they’re not really exceptional in it. So try out many types of poker games first and only then decide if you want to master many or only specialize in a few.
