Real Money Poker Tips for Pro Players
Playing real money poker online is challenging, if you are consistently breaking even, you are doing pretty well and you have a ton of potential. Remember that everyone has weaknesses in their game, no matter how good they are or how good they think they are.
Tip #1: Be selective. The best way to improve your game is to decrease the number of hands that you play. I know that it is enticing to call the big blind to just see a flop, you never know if you could hit a flush or hit three of a kind. The odds are against you hitting a big hand, also, the longer you stay in a hand the harder it will be for you to fold it away, even if you have nothing. If you are playing 50%+ of the hands you are given you are out of your mind! I like to play between 20-35% of my hands that seems like my magic number. Poker is all about making large bets when the odds are in your favor, the odds are in your favor when you have a very good hand. There are plenty of advantages to playing more hands that you should, it would be easy for me to argue either way, but I have seen firsthand how playing less hands can transform someone’s game. Playing poker is not exactly like investing, but they do share similarities. Warren Buffet, the best investor of all time has two rules to investing, the first is to not lose money, the second is to follow rule number one. Every chip you devote to a pot is an investment, be wise.
Tip #2: Play in the right atmosphere. It is easy to play online and be off your game. Everyone I know has TV in the background while playing, there are also plenty of opportunities for you to be interrupted by everything else around you. Turn off the television, close your door, close the other tabs on your computer and devote all of your attention to the table[s] you are playing at online. I do not understand how people can risk their real, hard earned money by playing poker online and not devoting all of their attention to the game that they are playing. Poker is seen as a lazy man’s sport, the stereotypical image is overweight 50 year old men smoking cigars and laughing while playing. If you want to be lazy while playing that is fine, it is up to you, but you will never cut it playing the steep competition you will find online.
Tip #3: Bluff with purpose. Bluffing is a necessary evil in Texas Hold Em poker in my view. I do not like doing it because I simply do not want to put my chips up for the taking if my competitors make a good read. However you have to have variety to your game, playing only when you have pairs or a solid draw of some kind will come back to haunt you in the end, everyone else will figure you out. However the biggest error I see people make time after time online is playing too loosely. It seems like you cannot go three hands before someone goes all in, and then it turns out they only had pocket 8’s pre flop. If you are going to make an investment in a pot, make sure you have something to fall back on, bluffing twice every six or seven hands will end up burning you more often then not. You will find tons of bluffing on low to micro limit tables online, but once you get to mid to high stake tables you will not see many players making this mistake.
Tip #4: Do not play on tilt. The worst thing that you can do in poker, online or in real life is to play on tilt. We all know what tilt is, you lose a tough hand, maybe on a bad beat and you feel like you have to play the next hand, no matter the circumstances, and get all of your money back. It is tough to step away from a table, but if you have to literally take a few steps away from your computer and grab a snack or take a walk to avoid tilting, do so. There is no excuse for your emotions to keep you from becoming a winning poker player. All sports have three components, skill, luck, and the mental game. Staying at the top of your game each hand is tough, but it will be worth it for you in the end. Your wallet will thank you, trust me.
Tip #5: Keep things in perspective and play with money you can afford to lose. You have to enter an online poker table with the mindset that you are looking for entertainment first and financial gain second. Poker is a ton of fun if you are looking to have fun, but if you are dead set on making thousands daily playing poker, it is not likely to happen. You will press and force things on certain hands that you would not do under normal circumstances. Finding out that you are an above average poker player who can profit consistently by playing online should be seen as a great bonus to you. Playing with money that you can afford to lose will actually end up helping your game. There are plenty of players who can profit from playing at low stake tables but suffer when playing at mid stake tables. The higher the stakes the better the competition you will see, that should be obvious. Also, your game will change when you are playing at tables that are out of your league, subconsciously at least.
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