Online Poker Strategy Guide

 Differences between land based and online Poker games and how to capitalize on it

There are substantial differences between Online Poker play and conventional game. Learning how to properly capitalize on them means more money in your pocket.

One very obvious difference is luck of ability to observer other players as you play online. You don’t have the option to observer body language of your game partners and catch little tells that help you determine your next move. Instead you need to concentrate on betting patterns, reaction time and other behavioral signs to win.

Play rate is second major difference you need to take into account. In land casinos it takes dealer some time to shuffle and deal cards one at the time, in online poker rooms this is instant, which increases number of hands you can play at any hour. Second big delay is chip counting for a split pot, which takes place in land casinos, is completely eliminated.

The outcome is a higher play rate in online casinos, so instead of average 30 hands per hour, an online poker player can get around 60. More chances to win! But higher play rate is not the only benefit. In land casino, to win more you have to increase you bet limits, online you have a second option – play more tables with same bet limits. For example, a player may make around $10 per 100 hands at a lower limit game. In a land casino, this would earn him under $4 an hour, which minus dealer tips would probably barely break even. In an online poker room, the same player with the same win rate could play four tables at once, which at 60 hands per hour each would result in an earning of $24/hour. This would make a decent income for someone playing online poker! It’s a known fact that good players sometimes play up to 8 tables at same time.

But before jumping into real game, I highly recommend trying your luck in free games, which pretty much all online Poker rooms offer. Take a look at a list of good poker rooms we present if you need help with finding one with great reputation, good player base and excellent game choices.

Tracking your play to learn and win more.

Tracking your play is one of the greatest benefits of online poker rooms. In land casino you can track you winning but tracking actual hands play is nearly impossible, unless you have a photographic memory. Most online poker rooms provide you with “Hand Histories” text files, which give you access to detailed statistics of every action made by you and your opponents. Use it to your advantage, learn what worked and what didn’t and your next game will be improved.

Hand Strength

Once you learned and mastered rank of hands you need to learn its relative strength at the poker table you playing. Usually about half of the five-card hands in any game will be less than a pair of two’s, but only about one-fourth of five-card hands in the long run will be better than a pair of Aces. A full house is such a good hand that it is far more likely to be the best hand on the table than a 7 high (the lowest possible hand) is to be the lowest hand at a given table. Once mistake most beginners make is to bet hands that are unlikely to win in the showdown, hoping to improve during game. Usually you will loose using this strategy, when playing against experienced players.

Pot Odds and Hand Strength Improvement

You can improve with virtually every hand but one thing to remember is that players, who already had a better hand, also have equal chance on the draw. Good strategy here is to fold if you have reason to believe your opponent has a better hand at any point in betting round. However if the amount of the money in pot larger than bet required to stay in the game a call is possible, especially if you are trying to fill a straight or flush. One thing to remember are odds of filling an outside straight on the next draw are approximately 6-1, and odds of filling a flush are about 5-1. One common mistake that rarely pays off is attempt to fill an ‘inside straight’ – a card combination with one of the middle cards missing. Odds against filling this straight are about 13-1 and should be avoided unless pot odds are extremely good.

Art of Bluffing

Many people attempt to use bluffing as a way to ‘buy’ the pot. Unfortunately this doesn’t work very well against less experienced players, who tend to overestimate the strength of their hand and fails to work against expert players, if you bluff too often. Bluffing occasionally is advised strategy to make large bets on good hands look less credible. Bluffing is a big part of poker game and good way to sharpen your skill as a player. In large game it could be difficult to bluff due to higher chance that someone has a good hand. You opponents can also call instead of folding if pot is large enough, unless they are sure their hand is completely dead. If you chance is about 10% and it only cost $10 to call on a $100 pot – it is considered a very good value. So use your best judgment to estimate your chances prior to bluffing.

Playing Position to increase your chances.

Players who have to bet first usually need stronger hands. This is due to raw odds of better hand being on the table increase based on the number of players who have not had the opportunity to bet. For example, in a six-player game of draw poker, it is recommended that you check in the first betting position unless you have at least a pair of aces. However, the last player to bet (the dealer) may open the betting if no-one else has spoken with as little as a pair of twos. One expert Hold 'Em player recommends folding if you are the first player to the left of the blind unless you have the strength to raise.

Reference: Wikipedia