Become a consistent winner at online Poker
Online Poker rooms takes a rake from the pots, on average 3%. This means that online poker players on average are losing 3% of their turnover. In casino games with very little or no skill factor like roulette, slots and craps you can do very little to gain back the house edge, everybody but the casino will lose money in the long run.
But Texas Holdém is a game with a big skill factor. In every hand the players have to make a lot of decisions and most players will make a lot of mistakes. With better decision making and fever mistakes the good players gains back the house edge and a lot more. 90% of the online poker players are losing money but 10% are long run winners and they win a lot of money. Some people say “ it’s better to be lucky then good” but the truth is that in the long run luck can newer make anybody a winner, the good players takes the money.
What do you have to do to become a winner?
-You have to learn how to play good poker, and
-You have to apply that knowledge at all times.
I believe almost everybody who really tries can become a winner. To beat the low and medium level games you don’t need much talent. But you do need the will to do what it takes.
The best way to learn correct strategy is to study a few of the poker books I recommend in the Pokerbooks section. If you are going to play No-limit you can start with “Mastering no-limit Holdém” and then you should read The Theory of Poker. Do not try to learn poker from TV! The poker you see at the final table at WPT has very little to do with the poker you play in the low and medium level online poker tables. People who tries to play like the super aggressive top players like Gus Hansen or Daniel Negreanu are perfect targets for you and me online. If you tries to play that loose and aggressive you are guaranteed to lose a lot of money if you’re not extremely talented. The correct way to play for most people are the conservative ( tight aggressive ) approach. This is the way to play you will learn from the books I recommend.
To study the books is a big step on the way but it will not make you a winner from first day. You will also need a lot of experience from actual play.
If you are absolutely new to online poker you can start out with play money. You can learn how online Texas Holdém works and some basics. But you cant learn much from play money tables. The game will be very different when it isn’t any money involved. It’s better to move on to low-limit real money tables.
When you start to play online you shall take advantages of the poker sites sign up bonuses. Its a good idea to open accounts at more than one poker room. It will give you more sign up bonus and you will have the opportunity to try different sites to find out which one suits you the best.
The first weeks or months you plays after studying the books can be frustrating. You plays by the book and your opponents seems to be weak and are making all sorts of mistakes and still you don’t win! You will probably only be a break even player or a small looser if you play by the book but lack experience.
It’s now you have to really patient, a lot of players gives up at this time. They don’t have the inner strength and patience it takes. It’s easy to start believing that it’s something wrong with your conservative way to play and start playing loose like everybody else.
That is a big mistake. Some of the others are maybe winning today but they are probably losers in the long run. If you keep up your good game and tries to improve all the time you will start winning sooner or later. If you play 10-20 hours a week it will take something like 1-6 month before you have the experience you need and you will start winning. With the help of the sign up bonuses from the poker rooms this training period don’t have to cost you anything.
After some time you will start to make money. You are not going to win every session but maybe 6 days of 10, and you will win more on a good day then you will lose on a bad. Now you can move up in limits. But be careful with moving up to quick. If you started out at very low limits I think it’s a good idea to move up relatively fast. You should move to a level high enough so that the money won or lost means something to you. I believe that’s necessary for most people to keep developing and stay focused. But you should of course not play at a level where you can lose to much on a bad run. If you are playing No-limit I think most people should move up to $0,5-1 or $1-2 relatively fast. After that it isn’t that easy anymore. I think it’s best to play at those levels for a relatively long time to build your bankroll and gaining the experience you need at higher limits.
I played mostly at the NL $1-2 for my first whole year and I was making good money with low risk. Most players are to impatient. If they win they immediate move to a higher limit and very soon they will reach their level of incompetence and lose it all. After that it’s hard to start again at the low limits. I believe one of the key factors to success in online poker is not to overrate themselves as poker players. There will always be players who are better then me. The trick is to avoid the good players and seek up the weak.
There is a lot of players out there who have studied the books, are experienced and still newer make any big money playing poker. Their problem is their ability to apply their knowledge. Most players knows that they shouldn’t call a single pre flop raiser with 7-5 suited but still they are doing that time after time. They have all sorts of excuses for calling. They feel lucky, bored, angry or have to take a chance to get even. These bad plays sums up to a lot of money and are often enough to make an otherwise good player to a long run loser or a break even player. You can newer afford to make a play that you know are against the odds. If you feel you have to gamble against the odds then play some Black Jack or Roulette but newer gamble when you are playing poker. If you start making bad plays your game will gradually become poorer and poorer and you will never become a winner at online poker.
Almost all players will sometimes go on tilt. After some severe bad beats you becomes so frustrated that it’s impossible for you to play your best game. When that happens there is only one thing to do. Turn off your computer real fast and you will save yourselves a lot of money.
