I was talking with a friend yesterday – one that doesn’t play poker – and I found myself having to defend my losing some 50 tournaments since my last big win. I had to explain my 156% ROI, and lecture on how the long term is what’s important. You see – I won $25,000 playing online poker last year, by playing mostly $10-$30 tournaments, but all she saw was the fact that I lost $540 back in a month.
Having this conversation made me realize that her erroneous outlook is actually all too common, especially among novice players that lose – but continue to play – losing poker. In this article today, I’ll give you 5 quick tips on how to beat the odds when playing poker online.
- fact is, in a game of luck, the best hand always wins – period. It doesn’t matter what your card-counting tells you, the hand you’re holding does not Lost at the Showdown like most hands. This is simply because of the pure, unadulterated odds of the game – you have to win a pot-sized bet to be ahead, regardless of your cards.
- fact is, in a game of skill, the best hand often loses – period. Now this is where I get a little controversy – how can it be that skill can defeat luck? Well, it can if you rely on the River as your final decision. River play is the exciting, sometimessyou’llplayit either way, but in the long run, a river bet is a losing poker play. Now that’s certainly debatable – but if you came to gamble, you’d certainly gamble to lose, wouldn’t you?
- fact is, in a game of limited stack, the best hand often clocks in at better than 8 outs, sometimes better than 10. When you’re playing with fats, the best hand can be anywhere between 12 and 16 outs, with a few more particularly close to the top like 14, 15, and 16. The reason for the wide range of hands is that the demand on hands nearly always exceeds the supply. When players get short-stacked, they have to get involved – sooner or later.
- fact is, in a game of deep stack, the best hand often reassures you that you have the best hand. This is Especially true pre-flop. When you’re the first one to enter the pot, you should make a strong move with any ace, king, or queen that you feel you can win with. You’ll earn further respect and have more room to maneuver by letting everyone else fold.
- fact is, in deep stack games, the best hand determined by stack size is 3-5. That’s with 8 or less. With 6 or 7, you should feel free to play any two cards you want, since you’ll likely have a better hand than to be the small or big stack. With a deep stack, you can even take blinds with hands like A-10 or K-10.
therein may be some excellent tips for improving your game. Take the advice given at face value and broke it down into 5 formulas for quick and easy decision making when playing any of the online poker games.