Online Poker Tips For Beginners
Since then, I have read several other poker strategy and poker theory books, some of them fascinating and some of them as boring as reading the phone book. So, when I decided to build this site, I wanted to provide beginner poker players with a list of books that will give a solid foundation of poker game theories and strategies.
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- Free Online Poker Tips And Tricks
- Online Poker Tips For Beginners Tricks
- Online Poker Tips For Beginners Beginner
Online Is The Best Place For New Players Learn The Game. Every poker star, from Chris Moneymaker to Martin Jacobson, had to start somewhere. There's no shame in being a beginner poker player, and the great thing about being a beginner online is you get to learn the ropes anonymously, and in the comfort of your own home. The same goes for online poker games. Luckily, there are many tips and tricks that new poker players can read and use to their advantage. Moreover, the amount of available information these days is astounding. This means that you will be able to get full details about online poker games and avoid basic mistakes right from the start. The same goes for online poker games. Luckily, there are many tips and tricks that new poker players can read and use to their advantage. Moreover, the amount of available information these days is astounding. This means that you will be able to get full details about online poker games and avoid basic mistakes right from the start. Stick to table games, video poker or poker if you want to reduce the house edge as much as possible, much less win money. Understand that making the right plays pays off in the long run. It doesn’t mean you’ll see the (positive) results of playing the right way, or playing the right games, right now.
So, you’ve decided that playing poker with your buddies in the garage every other Wednesday night isn’t enough. You want to explore some online alternatives.
Online betting can seem like another world to folks who have no experience in it. You might find that an online poker tournament is different from what you’re used to, but some simple advice will make you feel a lot more comfortable if this is your first time.
Here are my seven best strategy tips for your first online poker tournament.
1 – Research
This one may seem like a dead giveaway, but many people just go online, punch their card info in on some website, and enter whatever online poker tournament they see first. Take some serious time and do solid research.
Become familiar with different poker variants and terminology. Make sure that you have a basic understanding, not only of the game but also how the website that you are using works. There will be a multitude of new terms, rules, and features you are unfamiliar with.
Buy books, read blog posts (like this one), and constantly seek to improve your knowledge of poker and gambling in general.
2 – The Fewer Opponents, the Better
While this is a simple concept, it’s often overlooked in the world of poker tournaments. Sure, if more people are playing, the prize pool is likely going to be larger, but the odds of you winning are dramatically decreased.
If you’re playing against fewer people, you have a higher chance of actually winning. What good is having a $100,000 pot if you have no chance of taking that money home?
My uncle, who enjoys playing lottery games, often uses this logic and has managed to win two fairly decent jackpots. He always buys the more expensive scratch tickets because fewer people buy them and the rewards are usually better.
He also only plays the smallest state lottery using the same idea.
3 – Start With Low-Stakes
Playing online poker is different from playing cash games. When first beginning to play online, you should play games with lower stakes, even if you’re used to playing for large sums of money at a table. The main reason for this is to familiarize yourself with online poker and gambling platforms.
As a beginner, this allows you the opportunity to play online with a relatively small bankroll. A smaller bankroll offers less reward but also causes less stress.
Think about longevity here. You want to continue to play online poker for years and continue to get better right? Getting turned off to playing online can happen fast if you blow a ton of money in your first tournament.
Start small and work your way up. Just because you’ve played your buddies for a ton of cash before or won a large pot at a casino doesn’t mean you should get in over your head. Take your time, and soak up all the knowledge you can and always practice bankroll management.
4 – No Distractions
In today’s world, we are constantly bombarded by stimulation from outside sources. Think of the following scenario, and tell yourself honestly how many times this has happened to you.
You’re working on a project on your computer or reading. You’re trying to focus, and *ding* you get a text message. You pick up your phone and respond to the text. Then, you go to the home screen of your phone and open some form of social media like Instagram or Facebook. You scroll and “like” for a few minutes and *ding* the person you texted has now responded.
You reply again, then go back to Instagram or Facebook, scroll and like, then *ding*… You repeat the process until the next thing you know, it’s 40 minutes later, and you have absolutely no clue how you just burned through the better half of an hour, but you did.
Don’t have any other tabs open, leave your phone in the kitchen, turn off the TV, and tell your family that you can’t be bothered until you’re finished.
This advice can be applied to any other time in your life where you need to have absolute and total focus. Cut out the distractions and get better.
5 – Don’t Play Drunk
This may not be an issue for many of you, but I’ll still address it. Gambling and drinking often go hand in hand, no matter how badly they shouldn’t.
They just do. I’m not your doctor. I will not dive into the multitude of issues that overconsumption of alcohol brings, but I will tell you that gambling drunk is a bad idea. Getting too loaded at a casino and stumbling over to a blackjack table or even slot machines can end in catastrophe.
The same goes for playing poker in the comfort of your own home. I can think of a time or two where one too many beers caused me to wake up embarrassed of a silly purchase I made online. I cannot imagine waking in the morning hungover, checking my bank account, and seeing that I blew thousands of dollars playing in an online poker tournament.
If you enjoy having a drink while playing online, that’s fine. But try to limit yourself to one or two drinks. You will not only be more fiscally responsible, but you will make better calls while playing.
6 – Avoid Tilt
Tilt is just as real in the online poker world as it is at a brick and mortar casino. This is the mental or emotional confusion and frustration that will completely throw you off your game. Players will toss all strategy out the window and start becoming overly aggressive.
While the signs that someone is experiencing tilt may be less obvious online than face-to-face, your ravenous actions and playing style will be noticed by other players who can capitalize on it.
Stay calm, breathe, and don’t let a loss ruin your time. Luckily, dealing with tilt behind your computer screen is easier than at a physical table.
7 – Play Tight, Not Aggressive
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This one goes hand in hand with avoiding tilt. It’s your first online poker tournament. You need to be testing the waters and getting the hang of all of the new aspects of playing online.
Making big bets against people who have been at this a while may end in disaster. You will have plenty of time in your life to enter more tournaments and play as aggressive as you want, but for now, let’s just take it easy and play it safe. There are instances when aggressive play is less profitable, so be careful.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve got a few different suggestions for what to do or NOT to do, get out there and do your research. Immerse yourself in learning for a week or so before you even enter a tournament. Learn all there is to know about online poker, then get out there and win big!
Table Of Contents
Be honest, how many of you reading this article have wanted to be an online poker pro at some point since discovering such a thing was possible?
I know I have — and on more than one occasion.
Being able to play poker for a living seems like the perfect job — for someone who loves poker at least. But it's harder than you would like to believe.
How to be an online poker pro? We have a few quick poker tips for you to set you on your way to your dream job.
How to become a professional online poker player in one easy step would be to quit your job and use poker as your sole source of income.
While this instantly makes you a poker pro, it is not advised, not even a tiny amount, for reasons that we'll cover shortly.
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1. Study all aspects of the game
Studying the game of poker is crucial if you want to learn how to succeed as a professional online poker player.
When you think you have learned all there is to learn about poker, you need to study and research even more.
In fact, you should never stop learning because standing still in this game means you're going to be left behind.
Read articles on PokerNews, check out the 10 most important poker strategy books ever written, join a poker training site, or hire a coach. Any edge you can create for yourself will eventually lead to profits.
You can also practice Texas holdem and pot limit Omaha cash games and tournaments for free on the WSOP Poker app.
The games are completely free to play, meaning you can play poker for fun, try new things, play online poker with friends and never risk any of your bankroll.
2. Prove you're a winning player
Remember how we said that handing in your notice and jumping straight into being a professional poker player isn't a good idea?
This is one of the main reasons why: you need to prove to yourself you know how to be a profitable online poker player first.
Many people bag a big score in a poker tournament, or win the equivalent of two months' wages at the cash tables and start thinking that this game is an easy way to make a living.
Wrong!
You need tens of thousands of cash game hands and tournaments (if not hundreds of thousands) to prove you're a winning player.
If you're not a winning poker player over the long term, you'll soon be heading back to your old boss cap-in-hand hoping to be reemployed.
3. Be realistic
Once you've ascertained that you're a winning poker player, it's time to begin trying to figure out how many poker hands or tournaments you'll need to play in order at least to match your previous salary.
Here's where many people fail.
When you have a salaried job, you are usually paid on the same date every month regardless of how productive your week or month is (within reason). You're almost certainly paid while on vacation, or if you're sick.
Are you really going to sit grinding for 60 hours every week?
The fact you have to go to work five days per week is probably enough to make you get out of bed and go to your job. But what if none of that was true?
You may have aspirations of making $150,000 a year, and that may be possible. But make sure you factor in at least three full weeks 'holiday.'
You should also plan for being sick and unable to play for a couple of weeks per year. Also, ask yourself — are you really going to sit grinding for 60 hours every week?
Do you think you can make enough money at $0.25/$0.50 to warrant giving up your job?
Do you know how many online poker pros are there who wake up at 12:00 p.m., play online poker for two hours, and then swan off enjoying life to the max?
The answer is not many. And those who do generally don't succeed as professional online poker players for any meaningful length of time.
4. Give playing poker professionally a trial run
Even if you have done all of the above, you should at least give playing for a living a trial run, so you have experience of how to play online poker professionally.
Take a week's holiday from your job and spend the next five working days doing nothing but playing poker (at least you'll be getting paid even if you have a bad week!).
You may surprise yourself at how difficult it is to motivate yourself to play poker non-stop for a week.
Or how after four hours grinding you suddenly lose all concentration.
Or how after losing 15 buy-ins during the first three days you no longer want to get out of bed at 7:00 a.m.
It's best to find out you're not cut out for the life of a poker pro before you take the plunge into playing for a living.
5. Build a big bankroll and liferoll
Free Online Poker Tips And Tricks
You have gone through all the previous steps but still think you know how to be an online poker pro. That's fine, but do you have a bankroll and your other finances in order?
Most poker pros like to have at least six months' worth of life expenses tucked away in a separate bank account in case things go pear-shaped.
Dipping into your poker bankroll to cover your bills is a big no-no.
Your bankroll should be larger than a recreational player would have because you never want to drop down in stakes.
Doing so, dropping down that is, makes it harder to reach your monetary goals — much harder. It's better to be a bankroll nit than it is going broke.
6. Act professionally
Professional poker players often cite the freedom it gives them for playing for a living, but that's not to say you shouldn't have a professional attitude towards the job.
Some of the best poker players in the world are extremely disciplined and in their approach every single day.
You wouldn't rock up to work and put your feet on the desk or lounge around on the sofa with your laptop, so don't do it as a poker pro. How to become a professional poker player?
Starting acting like one, a professional that is.
Additional Readings
Online Poker Tips For Beginners Tricks
This article was originally published on Jul. 5, 2017. Last update: May 7, 2020.
Online Poker Tips For Beginners Beginner
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