Posted in Hands on 01. Sep, 2010
A lot of beginning players who are just starting the game want to know what the one most important part of online poker is that they should focus their energy on learning. While it is important to learn all aspects of the game, learning to play the correct starting hands is the one thing that all beginning poker players should learn. Here’s why…
If you play poor starting poker hands, you are already in a hole before the flop is even dealt. Sometimes, the most profitable play for a new player is just to fold a hand and pass up the opportunity for a small profit. A prime example of this is a pair of jacks – more often than not, a new player will lose a big pot with this hand because they over value it, so if they don’t hit the flop with it, they should probably fold.
Also, learning the starting hands to play is quite simple and it is a relatively concrete concept. You can pretty much draw up a chart of the starting hand ranges you should play in each position, follow it mechanically and still be a winner.
If you are a new online poker player, you should learn as much about all aspects of the game as soon as possible. But, the easiest and most effective thing for you to learn are the starting poker hands you should be playing. Once you get this concept down, you will be in a better position to work on the others.
Almost anyone can be a successful online poker player if they work at it and don’t give up. But, too many players are doomed from the start because they don’t focus on the right things and end up going broke or burning out. But, there is one important thing that all poker players should work on, and once you master this, your whole game will improve. It is your mental game.
Too many poker players get caught up in trying to play the best starting hands or learning to execute the perfect bluff. But, if your mental game is not up to par, none of this other stuff matters. You need to learn to be mentally focused and learn not to go on tilt when you experience a bad beat.
One of the major problems poker players have is that they make a bad play or lose a hand and try to chase their losses. They continue to make more bad plays, and in the end they lose a lot more money than they should have. Numerous poker bankrolls have been lost in a matter of hours because of this. If the players would have built their mental game and learned how to stay focused, they would not have lost.
Before you work on any other aspect of your poker game, learn to work on your mental game. It will pay higher dividends than anything else you could possible work on. Not only that, but it will help you in any other games you play too!
Posted in Games on 02. Jul, 2010
Everyone knows the key to making as much money as possible playing online poker is to play as many hands per hour as possible. It is not uncommon to see 60 dealt hands per hour on one online poker table. But, if you play multiple tables, you can multiply that number and make more profit. But, how many poker tables should you play at once?
There really is no answer to this question that will apply to everyone. Some people can’t even be profitable playing one table, while others can play 16 sit-n-go tournaments at one time and make good money. The key is knowing what your personal limits are and sticking to it.
The first thing you need to be sure of is that you are profitable at one table. If you are losing money at one table, the more tables you add, the more money you will lose. You generally want to avoid this. Once you have tracked your results for a while and know you are consistently profitable at one table, you can add another and do the same. Don’t add more than one or two tables at a time until you know you are profitable playing the current amount of tables.
The more online poker tables you can play at one time, the more money you will be able to make. As long as you are a consistent winner, keep on adding tables and see how many you can make it up to.
One of the keys to being a successful online poker player and making lots of money is being able to consistently play your strategy during long poker sessions. When you run into someone you can consistently beat at a poker table, you want to stay and play against them for as long as possible, and sometimes these sessions run over 10 hours. But, with a little training, you can do this easily.
The first thing you need to understand is that you are not going to be able to jump right into a 10 hour session and play your best game – you will have to work up to it. Play a few 2 hour sessions, and then increase it to 5 hours, then 7 hours, and then finally 10. This progression makes it a lot easier.
Next, you need to make sure your playing environment is conductive to long playing sessions. Make sure your chair is comfortable, you have snacks nearby and that you take short breaks every once in a while. You may even consider putting on some soft music to keep you focused. Caffeinated drinks also help in these situations.
Finally, you have to believe in yourself. If you tell yourself you are tired and cant play any longer, that is the truth. Encourage yourself and tell your body to do what you want it to do.
Playing marathon poker sessions is not that difficult if you know what you are doing and practice. Follow the above protocol and you will be playing 10 hours straight and winning big money in no time.
Believe it or not, most online poker players, despite what they tell you, are losing players. Sure, they will have winning streaks and they may even come out with a profit at the end of the week, but in the long run they lose a large portion of their bankroll. There can be multiple reasons for this, but there are two main ones that keep coming up – they don’t track their play and they don’t have discipline.
All the best poker players track their play. It truly is one of the best ways to improve your game. What’s even better is the fact that most online poker software will automatically track your play for you too! But, almost no one goes back and looks through their past play. If you examine your hand histories, you can look and see where you made errors and correct them easily. If you look at the hand histories of most losing poker players, you will see that they make the same mistakes over and over again.
Also, most poker players don’t have discipline. It takes a lot of focus and time to become a great poker player, and very few people are willing to spend the time and put in the effort to be a winner. They watch some of the WSOP on TV and think they are the next Phil Ivey. It doesn’t work like that.
If you track your play and focus on your discipline, you will become a winning player in no time.
If you are relatively experienced in the field of online gambling, you have probably came to the realization that online poker is one of the most profitable forms of gambling online. Generally speaking, the hourly win rate is more than slots, more than roulette, and even more than blackjack. Have you ever wondered why this is?
The answer is quite simple actually – there is no house edge in online poker and the game is based on skill. When you play a game like blackjack or slots, there is a negative expectation. What this means is that if you play a 100% mathematically correct strategy, over the long run you will still lose money. Too many people don’t understand this. But, when you play poker online, the operator (poker room in this case) has no interest in whether you win or lose – they just want to collect the rake. So, when you play casino games, you are playing against the casino, and you will lose in the long run. But, when you play poker online, you are playing against other players, and if you are better than them, you will be a consistent winner.
If profit is your main goal, you need to stick to playing games like online poker. Sure, slot machines and roulette are fun, but they will take your money in the long run. Stick to positive expectation games like online poker and you will be a winner!
