10 Tips to Play Winning Online Poker
Concentrate your table position and strong starting hands
This is a common rule and one that should be adheared to if one is to become a sucessful online poker player. This is due to the fact that most online players are involved in way to many pots and see way too many flops, mainly with marginal to weak starting hands. It is permissiable to play marginal hands in late position when there is no action in front of you. The way to beat these super-loose online players is to just tighten up and wait for the right cards at the right time so you can felt someone.
Avoid playing too loose online
Again, this goes back to tightening up your play against these super-loose online players. In the long-run you, as a tighter more disciplined player, will be more successful and take down more pots. These loose-as-a-goose players try to see way too many pots, maybe because of the low limits, maybe because of the action. Whatever the reason, tighten up your play and take down those pots.
Practice reading the flop
Since the speed of online play is part of its allure, the games move at a much faster pace. Being able to immediately scan a flop and determine the “nuts” or best possible hand, is imperative. Does the flop have a possible straight or flush draw? Who may have hit the flop? More importantly, who missed the flop all together? McEvoy reccomends sitting out a few rounds the first time you start a game or new table session to get a feel for the style of play you’re up against.
Adjust to the speed of the online game
This one is pretty self explainitory, but important still. In a Brick & Mortar casino a player can expect to see around 30 hands an hour. This number can be expected to easily hit 50 hands per hour in an online casino and one must be able to adjust to the faster pace. There are several reasons for this, first, the online “dealer” is much faster than a live dealer in a casino. Second, there is a time clock that immediatelt begins to run as soon as the action is on you which causes an annoying beep when you have delayed too long. If a decision isn’t made 10-20 seconds after this period, the players hand is automatically folded and play continues. There is a way around this however, a player may request an additional period of time when faced with a very tough situation such as an all-in call. This feature is available on most gambling websites.
Take notes when you play
This one, in my opinion, is a biggie. On most sites there is a little “notes” box that you can click on and jot down small tidbits of information along and along during a game. An example of this would be keeping a list of hands that a particular player shows down. Another example would be to keep track of your own play so that you can review it at a later time and fine-tune your play. Also, when playing online at a particular site, one will notice that at certain limits and in certain rooms, it is common to see the same players so keeping track of their betting patterns and what hands they show down is extremely helpful. To this I would add: there are a few great programs out there that auto track lots of information, one must just be certain not to become dependent on this software and use it strictly as a supplement.