How To Be Good At Online Poker

1. How To Be Good At Online Poker
2. How To Be Good At Online Poker
3. How To Become A Good Online Poker Player

1. Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players make is that they play far too many hands. When you're just starting out playing poker, you want to play poker, and that means staying in hands that aren't very good just to be part of the action. But playing more doesn't mean winning more, it usually means losing more.
2. Most players at the very top of the game perform the technical aspects of poker amazingly well. What separates them is their mental and physical conditioning. If one player can play well for 8 hours and another can play well for 12 hours, the player who can play well for 12 hours will almost certainly win more money in the long run.

You’re 23 years old, and you’ve been playing poker for small stakes since you were in your teens. You’ve played home games with your dad, you’ve played with your buddies at the lake house in the summer, and you’ve gotten in a few hours at the local casino.

You love playing poker, but you don’t take it too seriously.

Beyond the WSOP, good casino dealers can make up to $95,000 a year at some of the larger high-end casinos. Poker dealers generally earn an average of around $30 to $40 per hour, but it could be as much as $50 an hour in a busy poker room. Dealers may also have to work their way up from smaller casinos to reach those higher-paying jobs. Certain patterns are easily recognizable at the lower stakes — especially when you play online poker — where it is 100 per cent the correct play to fold your overpair. Good players can let go of.

But for some reason, the last time you played, you thought—maybe I could get good at this. Maybe I could play in some big tournaments—maybe even the World Series of Poker.

If that describes you, this advice on how to become a better poker player is aimed at you:

1- Understand How Hard It Is to Make a Living Playing Poker

It’s easy to start having visions of sugar plums dancing in your head when you start thinking about making a living as a poker player. After all, you’re winning on a regular basis now, right?

Think again.

Poker, especially Texas holdem, is not just a game of skill. It’s not chess.

It’s also a game of chance.

In the long run, yeah, the most skilled players win money.

But in the short run, some players just get luck—even if they’re lousy.

I’m not saying you’re a lousy player. You might be pretty good.

But I do know that most beginning poker players overestimate their skill level. They read a book or 2, play a few hands online, and soon they start thinking they’re the next Daniel Negreanu or Doyle Brunson.

To be a pro player, you not only need to be a long-term winner, but you need to be profitable enough to also pay your bills. This means lots of study and lots of practice. It also means lots of record-keeping.

I read somewhere that at least one online poker room tracked how many of its players showed a profit over a 12-month period.

What percentage would you think to show a net profit after 12 months of play?

My guess would have been 20%.

I’d have been dead-wrong, too.

And of those players, some of them were surely only barely on the profitable side. You can’t be “barely profitable” and make a living at poker.

Of course, earning a living playing poker isn’t the end-all, be-all goal for becoming a better poker player.

Your goals are as individual as you are. Maybe you just want to improve your chances of coming home a winner after a weekend at the cardroom. Maybe you just want a shot at the big money in the World Series of Poker.

Heck, maybe you just want to slow down the bleeding.

No matter what your goal, improving your skill level will help you achieve it. The rest of this post offers specific advice for how to do just that.

2- Read at Least One Good Poker Book to Start With

You’re probably not as well-educated about poker as you think. If you’ve never read a single book on poker, you should start with 2 books:

The first is The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky. It covers most of the fundamentals of strategy that everyone should understand—outs, pot odds, position, bluffing, tightness, and aggression. No matter what game you specialize in, this should be on your nightstand.

Then you should read a book about whatever specific kind of poker you play the most. Limit holdem is a different game than no limit holdem. Tournament holdem is different from ring game holdem. Your choice of book should account for that.

If you play small stakes, limit holdem, you should read Small Stakes Holdem by Ed Miller. This is a great starting point for a poker hobby, too—if you don’t know what game you want to specialize in, this might be a good place to start.

If you play limit holdem for higher stakes, Holdem Poker for Advanced Players, by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth is a good place to start.

If you specialize in no limit holdem, the Doyle Brunson section on no limit in Super/System is excellent. Ed Miller also has a book about no limit holdem worth your time. It’s called No Limit Holdem: Theory and Practice.

If you specialize in tournaments, Tournament Poker for Advanced Players is a must-read. Harrington on Holdem is also essential reading.

You can find good poker books from Two Plus Two Publishing on almost any variety of poker game, but more obscure games might require some searching for a different publisher with more diverse titles.

3- Start Paying More Attention at the Tables

One of the biggest leaks in my game, when I got started, was not paying enough attention at the table. In fact, if I weren’t involved in a hand, I just watched television or chatted with the other players.

Truth be told, that’s still a big leak in my game.

If you can pick up ANYTHING at all about your opponents’ tendencies, it can help you get a few more percentage points of expected value on a future hand.

At the very least, you should know which players at the table are bluffers, which ones are loose, which players are tight, and which players are aggressive. Then behave accordingly.

I was in a game in Vegas with a player from Dallas who was nicknamed Rock. (I think his real name was “Raq” or something like that.) At any rate, I knew he was a tight-aggressive player.

We were playing no limit in Vegas, and he fired off a raise from early position. I have AK offsuit, so I re-raised. When it got back to him, he went all-in.

I should have folded. I knew him well enough to know that he had at least a pair of kings in the hole.

I called, though, and of course, he had pocket aces and took down the pot at the showdown.

That’s not an example of paying attention versus not paying attention, but it’s a good example of how understanding the other players’ tendencies should inform your playing decisions. If you don’t pay attention, you won’t know what the other players’ tendencies are.

4- Tighten Up Your Game and Become More Aggressive

Any beginner article about poker strategy is going to explain the difference between tight and loose players. It will also explain the difference between passivity and aggression.

Your goal is to become a tight aggressive player.

If you’re still new to the game, you’re probably not playing tight enough or aggressive enough.

Luckily, those tendencies are easy to fix:

Just fold more often.

When you do play in a hand, bet or raise. If you never called a bet again—just raised—you’d probably still be able to profit as a poker player.

Most new poker players learn to fold early in the hand really fast.

It takes them longer to learn how to fold on the later rounds. Once they get involved in a pot, they like to see it through to the end.

5- Change Your Mindset

If you want to improve your poker game, you probably need to change your mindset. Many beginner poker players are gamblers. They want to get in there and win pots.

That’s the wrong mindset if you want to win.

If you want to improve your poker game, change your mindset to that of someone who’s happy to wait patiently for profitable opportunities.

Don’t just exercise this new mindset at the poker table, either. Think about this mindset and commitment the next time you want to place a single-number bet at the roulette table, or the next time you want to bet the hard eight in craps.

You also need to stop worrying about whether you win or lose money on a single, specific hand. Bad beats are an inevitable part of the game. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t have any profitable opportunities.

You make your money in poker from other players’ mistakes. When they make a bad decision and win money, the game has just given them positive reinforcement for their mistakes. In the long run, this will make you more profitable.

6- Start Hosting a Game at Your House

Few things are more enjoyable in life than hosting a home poker game. If you’re committed to being the best player in your home game, you can see profits from that which will be far superior to what you’ll see at the casino.

Players are more likely to play drunk at your home game. There’s no rake to cut into your potential profits. People are more relaxed and willing to play dumb games that are easier for you to adjust to.

If you’re not sure how to host your own home poker game, you can find plenty of reasonably comprehensive guides to doing so on the web. You can also read Poker Night by John Vorhaus, which is one of the more entertaining guides to home poker available.

If you’re serious about being profitable, don’t waste a fortune on snacks and drinks. But spend enough money on snacks and drinks that people enjoy your game and are willing to come back for more action next week.

Just like the car salesman who wants to sell you 10 cars over the next 20 years, you want to win $20 or $50 from your opponents 50 weeks out of the year—not $100 or $200 once a year.

Part of keeping those players coming back is playing the part of good host.

7- Start Writing About the Game

To write clearly about a subject, you first need to be able to think clearly about a subject. This is as true of poker as it is of any other endeavor. This doesn’t mean you need to write a book, though.

Writing about poker can be as simple as keeping a poker diary or a poker journal. You should be keeping careful records of your wins and losses anyway because that’s how you keep score in poker.

But writing little letters to yourself about how you’re doing can help you improve in ways that you can’t imagine.

The act of writing stimulates thought and ideas. If you want to improve at poker, you have to think about the game. There’s no way to get around it.

But you don’t want just to sit and daydream, either.

Journaling is only one option, though. You could also start writing and publishing a blog about your experiences playing poker. This can help you make money by selling advertising on the internet, too. If your blog becomes popular, you should start seeing people comment there, also.

This makes every blog post you write a conversation started.

Getting into meaningful discussions about the game will improve your understanding of it, too.

You might even try participating in some poker forums, while you’re at it.

And if you want to write a book someday, well, that’s a great idea, too.

8- Get a Mentor

The smartest thing I ever did in my business life was to find a mentor. I’ve had several, of course, but I had one formal mentorship where I paid my writing and gambling webmaster mentor 10% of my earnings for a few years while he taught me the business.

This was a win for both of us. He told me what to do and what mistakes to avoid. I sent him money that he didn’t have to work hard for. We both enjoyed the relationship, and we remain good friends.

I don’t take my poker game as seriously as I took building my business, but if I did, I’d find a mentor or coach who’d achieved what I wanted to accomplish as a poker player.

Finding a role model who can point out potential mistakes along the path toward achieving your goals is a good idea no matter what you’re trying to accomplish.

It can really shorten your learning curve, too.

9- Play With a Buddy

I sort of had a poker mentor for a while, but he was really just a college buddy who had started playing. He took the game more seriously than I did, and we had a lot of fun playing in the games in the underground cardrooms in Dallas. He went on to play professionally for several years, although I think he has a “real job” again now.

Okay, I have to make an admission. I Googled my old buddy and found his LinkedIn profile, and I guess he’s still playing poker professionally and has been for 15+ years. I guess those good times in Dallas were a while back now.

The advantages of having a buddy to play with are varied. It gives you someone to discuss the game with. It also provides you with company, which can lead to you spending more time at the tables. If he’s a good friend, he can provide encouragement and helpful advice.

I learned a lot from my experiences playing with my best poker buddy, but I’ve had several other poker buddies through the years. I learned something different from each of them.

10- Learn Some of the Math Behind the Game

Most people hate math. I hate to break it to you, but you can’t become an elite poker player without at least some familiarity with the math behind the game.

I think you might have an easier time with this kind of math than algebra or geometry because of its practical application.

Taking your poker game to the next level inevitably means taking your mastery of the math to the next level, too.

Conclusion

You can become a better poker player. That might not involve becoming a profitable poker player, but even if it means having more fun while losing less money, it’s a worthwhile goal.

What tips and advice can you offer someone who wants to become a better poker player?

Table Of Contents

Are you struggling to turn a decent profit at the poker tables on a consistent basis? Are your results best described as 'somewhere around break-even'?

First off, don't worry because you are not alone. This describes the results of the majority of poker players.

Often, however, it is just a few small poker strategy adjustments that can take your game from mediocre to amazing — from break-even to crushing it.

In this article, I am going to provide you with seven subtle but highly effective poker tips to take your game to the next level.

While I can't promise you'll win a lot of money with these beginner tips, you should add everything you find on this guide to your poker strategy if you really want to improve your poker games.

Continue reading to discover poker tips like:

I've also added something about pocket aces because you should be always careful when you get them. I have seen so many people play them the wrong way...

1. Think About Ranges, Not Hands

It doesn't matter what type of casino poker you play: one of the easiest ways to spot average and beginner poker players is to look at how they think about what their opponent has.

• Beginner poker players try and put somebody on a specific poker hand.
• Advanced poker players think in terms of ranges. This type of thinking that can be extremely important when calculating pot odds.

A range is the entire spectrum of poker hands somebody can have in a specific situation. For example, player X can have a flush, top pair, middle pair, bottom pair, a draw, ace-high or a complete air-ball bluff.

Good players who have already gone through a few poker strategy articles understand that player X will show up with this entire range of hands with various frequencies. They don't focus on identifying a single winning hand, but they try and figure out those frequencies and then make the best play.

Average players try to put an opponent on exactly (or some other specific hand) because that's 'what their gut tells them.'

How To Be Good At Online Poker

If there's one thing you need to know when you learn the game, this is that poker strategy tips and 'gut feeling' don't go well together. Basing your tournament strategy or cash game play on what you 'feel' is never a good idea.

In the first video of this beginner's guide to poker tips for beginners, poker pro Jason Wheeler explains how uses every possible information available to understand his opponent's cards and choose his play.

Poker Tip Key Takeaway: Be Realistic

Don't put your opponent on a single hand but think about ranges. Nobody has a specific hand in poker — they only have a range.

If you are in still the process of learning the game and you need some help, have a look at the complete poker hands ranking.

2. Ditch Your Favorite Hand

A lot of people have a favourite hand. I know that every time I get dealt the old -suited my eyes light up and I want to play it so bad!

However, in reality, I know that -suited is a mediocre hand. Definitely not one of the best starting hands you can hey in a game of Texas hold em.

Calculate your poker odds FOR FREE with the PokerNews pot odds calculator!

It makes sense to play it in some spots — late position, for instance, in an unopened pot. But it should almost always be folded in early position.

If you currently have some favourite starting hands, that's fine — most people do. But don't give them preferential treatment and make bad plays with it.

Winning poker is about math and cold hard logic, not superstition.

Poker Tip Key Takeaway: Be Smart

Playing too many hands is a widespread mistake (see: Five Common Mistakes New Poker Players Make).

One of the best ways to avoid it is to introduce range-based thinking in your reads.

3. Adopt a Consistent Strategy

Another big key to becoming a great poker player (and perhaps one of the most important poker tips on this strategy guide) is to consistently apply a winning strategy.

It is not okay suddenly to change things up (e.g. to open with -suited from early position or turn yourself into a calling station) just because you are bored or tilted.

All of your learning, experience and study over the years has given you a body of knowledge telling you how to play Texas holder poker profitably.

But your poker strategy only actually matters if you apply it at the poker tables all the time. Every hand counts and every session counts.

The best poker players, those ones who know how to win at poker, apply the same winning strategy over and over again, no matter how they feel or what their recent results have been.

Poker Tip Key Takeaway: Be Consistent

Poker is a long-term game. You need time to build your bankroll and find the right cash game or poker tournament strategy that works for you.

You should not change your strategy after a big win or a big loss (here's why).

If you really feel like your approach needs to change, make sure you read this article on Handling the Ups and Downs of Low Stakes Poker first.

4. Always Have a Reason

Big-time winning poker players will sometimes break from their standard, successful strategies, but always for obvious reasons.

An average player might start raising -suited in early position because he is bored or wants to make something happen.

An elite poker player will raise with this hand in this position on occasion because he notices the table is playing passively and there are a couple of recreational players in the blinds.

There is a clear reason then to believe that raising -suited in early position (typically a fold under normal circumstances) might be a profitable play in this situation.

If you can produce a well-reasoned argument why deviating from your regular strategy might be more profitable, then it is okay. It is the 'because I feel like it' or 'I am bored' reasoning that has to go.

Poker Tip Key Takeaway: Be Reasonable

Think. Use your experience to analyse the situations, and then understand 'why' you would take one road and not another.

If you don't have enough experience to evaluate different situations yet, you better go back to the free games and grind.

5. Know When to Fold Your Aces

Another clear difference between average poker players and great poker players is the ability to fold an overpair.

How To Be Good At Online Poker

Do you know that little sick feeling you get when you have and a tight opponent raises all-in on the turn? You make the so-called 'crying call', and he turns over the set yet again.

Playing online poker for free is the best way to hone your poker skills and practice with no risk.

You need to start paying attention to that feeling a little bit more often.

Certain patterns are easily recognizable at the lower stakes — especially when you play online poker — where it is 100 per cent the correct play to fold your overpair.

Good players can let go of any emotional attachment to their pretty-looking hands. Average players get married to their aces or kings instead, and can't let them go even when they know they are beat.

Poker Tip Key Takeaway: Aces Lose Too

Starting with the best of all poker hands isn't enough to guarantee you a winning hand.

Ask anyone for good poker pro tip, and they will all tell you the same thing: sometimes, you'll need to fold those Aces.

For more info on this specific topic, have a look at this article on How to Play Pocket Aces.

6. Realize Tilt Only Hurts You

Tilt is a destroyer of bankrolls, dreams, and poker careers.

I can't tell you how often I receive emails or comments from people who describe to me how they've tilted vast amounts of their bankroll away when things went badly at the poker tables.

The reality of poker is that sometimes things will go badly for you, and there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it.

This is what you sign up for every time you sit down to play card games.

There's always the possibility you might run terribly. You might run lights out as well, though.

When you allow yourself to lose control of your emotions and throw your strategy out the window, the only person you are hurting is yourself.

All those hours you've spent trying to learn and improve your game were basically wasted because you decided to choose your emotions over reason when it mattered.

Respect the work that you have done. You owe it to yourself to maintain more composure and stop throwing away money when the cards go south.

Poker Tip Key Takeaway: Relax

The psychological side of poker can be overwhelming, and you need to be ready to deal with it.

Swings happen and bad beats will come. If you don't know how do deal with this, have a look at the poker tips Italy's poker pro Rocco Palumbo shared with PokerNews at the PokerStars Championship in Prague.

If these poker tips work for Palumbo, they may as well work for you!

7. Don't Play Bad Games

One more way beginner poker players can sabotage their poker results is by stubbornly playing in games that are full of decent-to-good regulars.

If you can't find somebody at the table who is playing very poorly, then you have to ask yourself why it is that you are even there.

If you only play poker for the mental challenge or recreation or pleasure, then this is fine. This poker tip doesn't necessarily apply to you.

Use this guide to set up your next home game online and play online poker with your friends for free or real money.

But if winning real money or chips is at all a priority for you, then you need to remember you don't turn a significant profit in poker by pushing tiny edges against good poker players.

How To Become A Good Online Poker Player

You win big by playing against players who are making significant fundamental errors and giving away their money over the long term.

As the classic movie Rounders reminds us, 'If you can't spot the sucker in your first half-hour at the table, then you are the sucker.'

Poker Tip Key Takeaway: Choose the Right Games

Don't sit with the pros if you can't beat them. Selecting the right games is key to your successes in poker — one wrong move, and you are out.

Again, there's no shame in playing free poker games or in looking for the best freeroll poker tournaments to play online if that's what you need.

Final Thoughts

The divide between break-even beginner players and big-time winners is not as wide as many people think.

It is often just a few simple little adjustments you can learn over time that can carry you over to enable you to start winning at a higher clip.

A lot of it has to do with starting to view the game in a much more cold, detached, mathematical, and logical way than you presently do.

Emotional and/or superstitious poker players almost always lose or struggle to remain even.

Elite poker players, meanwhile, know they are in it for the long haul and don't get overly wrapped up in each hand or moment. They continue to make the most profitable play again and again, no matter what.

Playing online poker for free is the best way to hone your poker skills and practice with no risk.

Nathan 'BlackRain79' Williams is the author of the popular micro stakes strategy books Crushing the Microstakes and Modern Small Stakes. He also blogs regularly about all things related to the micros over at www.blackrain79.com.

_{This article was originally published on Feb. 13, 2017. Last update: Oct. 12, 2020.}

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