POKER: Learn Before You Earn

Poker for beginners

At one time or another, we were all bad Poker players - you, me, the guy winning all the money at your table tonight, as well as every player who has ever won the World Series of Poker. Even David Beckham couldn't bend it, Michael Shumacher couldn't drive and James Bond couln't score with the ladies. They were beginners to start wtih and guess what: they were bad - terrible, even. Raw talent? Sure, they were blessed with an abundance of raw talent, but they all had to work long and hard to refine it.

So, don't bemoan your current skill level as a Poker player. You can improve and you will if you're willing to learn. Every good Poker player has been where you are now and they've improved. Some accomplished their goals faster than others; some progressed by leaps and bounds, while others have taken baby steps, one after the other, until they reached their goal.

You can do the same thing. You do have some innate potential as a Poker player and if playing winning Poker is important, you need to build a foundation that will help you reach your potential as quickly as possible. Everyone who has progressed from beginner to intermediate to expert to superstar shares one trait in common. They built a solid foundation and that foundation allowed them to spread their wings and fly. If you're still grappling with fundamentals, you're not yet ready to fly. Once those fundamentals are imprinted in your Poker consciousness and you can execute them instinctively, then, and only then, can you think about digressing from these basics and improve.

When you see an expert make what you consider to be a bad, even amateurish mistake, consider this: he probably knows the book move like the back of his hand. Why did he deviate? While he could be on tilt, it's more likely that he is deviating to practice deception. His take on that innfluence of events - the players, the action, the cards, the feel of the game - convinced him that the move he made was for the best. However, he has a rock-solid base of techniques to fall back on - then deviate from - based on his assessment of the situation at hand. Without learning the mastery of basic Poker skills you have no assurance that you are making the best play. In fact, most of the time you will be making a bad play, or at least a play that has a poorer expectation than the textbook play.

Pick up Tips,Tricks & Strategies

Poker Bankroll

One strategy that might seem obvious but is often overlooked is "Money Management" or what we call "Bankroll". We strongly suggest that you set personal limits as to how much cash you are prepared to put down before you start playing a game. If you decide before the game, rather than during play, you will keep a clearer idea of how much you can afford to lose and will be better able to stop playing once you reach this point.

We offer two suggestions on how much to invest in a game, see below for more information:

1. If you're playing "just for fun", then you shouldn't invest any more than you think it would be okay to lose. If losing $100 isn't a big deal to you, throw that in and enjoy the game. There's a fair chance that you'll end up with more money than when you started – maybe even a lot more than the original $100 you started with, but, should things not go to plan, know when to call it a day and leave the game. Once you've passed the limit you feel you can comfortably afford to lose, things will only get more difficult.

2. On the other hand, if you are playing poker because you want to make money, you should aim to have the means to finance about 200 big bets at the limit you play. So if you're at a $2-$4 table, you should have $800 to invest in the game ($4 big bet x 200). If it's a $5-$10 table, your target range should be $2,000, etc. If you keep this in mind, it should prevent you from betting too much in one go.

Whereas other experts or websites might claim that 200 big bets is too low, we advocate a strategy of moderation. If you feel comfortable investing more, than of course that's fine, but we strongly advise you to hold off until you've had several successes at the lower limit first. A more cautious attitude is less likely to lead to regrets later!

Bluffing

Poker Strategies

Clearly, there are major differences between bluffing in a real poker room, facing your opponents, and bluffing when playing poker online, where you have the advantage of not being seen. As you might expect, players are generally more likely to bluff online. There are countless differences between a live and a virtual game and bluffing is certainly one of the most notable among those. In an online poker room, all it takes is one click to place your bets, and the virtual environment enables players to behave more deceptively than they might feel able to in a real game. The virtual environment removes a lot of the psychological aspects of having all your moves watched by other players.

This means that in online poker, you should be even more aware of the likelihood that your opponents are bluffing and learn how to spot this even in the virtual environment. You should also be extra cautious when bluffing, and assume that your opponents are well aware of how Internet poker works. Don’t be careless when bluffing just because the game is online, other players are aware of this and it’s likely that they will be just as able to call your bluff, or even more so, than at a real poker table.

Of course, a well-timed bluff can be seriously lucrative, but don’t over-do it! The more you bluff, the more likely that your opponents will be able to spot it and call you on it. If you have a good hand, of course you can turn this back on your opponents – one of the oldest tricks in the book. Be aware though, that other players may well be trying the same trick on you. Another important consideration when playing online is that your opponents may not pay as close attention in a virtual game as they would in a real gaming environment.

You should adapt your bluffing strategy accordingly. Take all these factors into account, take good care when bluffing, look out for your opponents doing the same and with a bit of luck, it’ll all pay off at the end of the game!

Starting Hand Values

Poker Strategies

Any good strategy begins at the BEGINNING of the event. In the case of poker, this applies as well. Below, we've listed and broken down 'starting hands' according to their strengths. The starting hands (the two cards dealt face down in a Texas Hold'em game) are listed in groups according to their relevant strength.

The key to understanding this listing is:
• Ace - A
• King - K
• Queen - Q
• Jack - J
Note: In Poker shorthand, AKs means Ace and King of the same suit.

The Strongest Starting Hands:
• Pair of high cards - AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010
• Ace and high card suited - AK, AQ, AJ, A10
• Faces suited - KQ, KJ, QJ
• Ace King – AK

Medium Strength Starting Hands:

• Face ten suited - K10, Q10, J10
• Medium pairs - 99, 88, 77
• Two high cards - AQ, AJ, A10, KQ down to J10
• Ace and medium suited - A9, A8, A7
• Medium suited connectors - 109, 98, 87

Other Conditional Starting Hands:
• Low pairs - 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
• Ace and low suited - A6, A5, A4, A3, A2
• Low suited connectors - 76, 65, 54

In other words, if you are dealt the King and Queen of Clubs, this is a much stronger hand than if you would have received a pair of nines.

Playing Multiple Games

Poker Strategies

One of the many advantages of playing poker on the Internet is the ability to play several games at once and many players obviously take advantage of this. Before making that plunge, however, it's important to know whether or not such a decision will improve or hurt your chances for success.

IMPORTANT: The decision of whether to play 2 games at once is NOT to be taken lightly! Keep in mind that it can have a huge effect on your win-loss ratio and we don't mean in a 'good' way... When playing 2 games at once, you WILL NOT be able to pay as much attention to your every move and will most likely play a little worse. This is unarguable; think about it - if you average $25 an hour playing at one table, you might only able to average $18 at each table in a simultaneous set-up when the lack of focus and concentration plays a role.

However, since you're playing at two tables, you would of course be averaging $36 an hour, which is still better than the original $25. Therefore, the key factors when deciding whether or not to play two tables are establishing what you believe you make an hour by playing at one table; how much this will be decreased if you play at 2 tables (the effect lower levels of concentration will have on your ability to play); and whether or not this new number multiplied by 2 is greater than the original amount you were making per hour.

Because playing at 2 tables decreases rate of profit, you must first establish that you can beat a game consistently in order for it to be profitable to play two games at the same time. If you are breaking even at a limit table and decide to play two games at once at that limit, you will probably begin to lose money since your profit rate will go from 0 to, say, -$5 an hour per table, which amounts to -$10 an hour. You wouldn't believe how many players make this (stupid) error in judgment.

If you are winning a game, you may or may not be able to continue beating that game if you play 2 tables. If you're consistently beating a low fixed-limit game for instance, you can probably still beat the game even if you play 2 of them at once. That's because you're probably (and hopefully) beating this game not by paying close attention to your opponents, but rather through solid poker fundamentals which have become ingrained in your head! However, if you're playing nolimit games, you may not do so well if you play 2 at once since no-limit games rely much more on reading your opponents and adjusting your play to the style of those around you.

Another thing to consider when making such a decision is that playing more than 1 game at a time can be incredibly stressful. You'll constantly be checking each game, making snap decisions every 15 seconds, etc. This may make the game less enjoyable and perhaps not worth the extra bit of cash you'd be making playing 2 games at once.

If you're really considering playing 2 games at once, your choice should probably boil down to how you answer the following questions:

• Are you able to beat this game consistently?

• Are you beating this game because of solid poker skills rather than reading your opponents?

• Do you think you'll make more money playing two games at once? If so, does that money compensate for any potential enjoyment which may be lost because you won't be able to get into the game as much?

If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, go ahead and try to play two games at once. See how it goes; some people like it and some people hate it. If you answered "no" to any or all of these questions, you should probably stick to playing just one game for now.

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