Hi all,
I'm not a professional poker player, in fact I'm quite average, but I'm more than a rookie or beginner so I thought I would share some simple tips for those who have played the odd home poker game but now want to try their hand at online poker. These tips are just from my own personal experience and I'm sure more seasoned players will have even better tips than me, but it's a start. Having said that, online poker play is a lot more different than your once a week home game.
Remember getting up 2hrs before anyone else so you could train the dog to whimper at pocket aces, or whine at pocket kings? You can't pull that shit in an online game can you now? Remember teaching 5yr old Timmy to wink when your friends had better cards than you? No that crap don't work either online. So there is no cheating online, unless you're a super hacker that can see everyone's cards, or got supernatural abilities like ESP. But seriously, you can't read players online like you can at a real table, so you have to watch their play, and over time you get used to certain players that bluff, over raise, and those that play conservatively, aggressively and you will eventually be able to tell good players from bad players and average players, like me.
In poker you're not really playing the cards as much as you are playing your opponents, and if you don't know how your opponents play you could end up getting knocked out a lot. It takes a little while, although some games you can work out how a particular player plays within one tournament, with other players it can take much longer. Moreover, you want to work out what your weaknesses are and work on those, while focusing on your strengths. If you try and come into online poker and bluff your way through a tournament, you're not going to do well consistently, bluffing on a regular basis is not the best way to go.
In order for bluffs to work better, you have to have your opponents believe you don't bluff, or rarely bluff. It could be safer to say you may do better playing premium cards, you know the ones, AA KK AK AQ and so on, cards that have a chance of getting a really good hand if you hit the flop so you can capitalize on it by the river. Or you can play these cards quite aggressively, some people go all-in with AA or they will put in a big raise to see who calls, if someone calls you can assume they have an A or a pocket pair, you get the idea.
When starting out, play it safe until you get the feel for the table, cards and other players, and as time goes on you can build confidence in your ability to play certain cards, and take some risks from time to time. Another thing you can do when starting out is visit the poker school on SPL if you want to learn how to play better poker. Remember, all poker players are constantly learning, and switching strategies, yes even professional poker players will tell you they are always learning, and getting better.
Probably the most important advice I can give to a beginning poker player is have some fun, play freerolls, enjoy the game and if you are lucky enough to win some loot, celebrate your win, no matter how small the amount it should make you feel great, that's how you know if poker is for you. Moreover, don't give up because you lose a few tournaments, or you have the best hand but someone manages to somehow beat you on the river, it happens to everyone, don't dwell on it, move on and put it in the history hands where it belongs, forget about it. Every hand is a new chance to win, new cards, new story, different end result every time, this time could be yours.
By the way, if my tips help you win your very first tourney, I want half, just kidding, come play at SPL, give it a go and have some fun, and good luck, and don't forget to say hi to me if you meet me at the tables. Good luck all :)
I did this post for fun, and I'm hoping that some of my fellow steemian poker players will add some tips for newbies here, and if you are a newbie poker player and got some questions, feel free to ask here and we'll try and answer your questions below.