Five Reasons Why You Should Be Part of a Poker Forum

The majority of modern day poker pro’s will attribute much of their success to a poker forum in one way or another.

Poker forums come in various shapes and sizes, some of them are private invite-only forums, others are a small part of a poker website, but sometimes they’re pretty much the entire website, which is the case for the most popular poker forum online.

The TwoPlusTwo Poker forums are the most popular and active forum around. Now this comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Being one of the biggest means that the site has its fair share of trolls and other undesirables, but I would advise anyone to stick it out. It is the first place you want to be to see a story break, to learn from some of the best in the game, or to find some of the comedy gold that is hidden away there when you’re in the mood to procrastinate.

What other poker forums are there? Well one of the other big boys out there is pokerstrategy.com. The site itself has a vast amount of strategy content as well as an active forum. Pocketfives is another, more known for it’s online poker rankings, but the forum is a large and successful part of the site in its own right.

The rest of the poker forums offer some great small communities at sites like CrushLivePoker.com and TournamentPokerEdge.com. These are more niche forums, focusing on one particular aspect of the game, in the two examples above one focuses on live poker and the other specifically tournaments. Some of the forums are restricted for subscribers only, but you can have basic accounts at most of these type of sites.

News & Gossip

This section can probably be broadened to include scandals too. Poker forums are usually full of poker fans with a lot of time on their hands and are usually the first place to break a big story, although they often start off as just another rumor.

Going deeper than that, forums are often the place people choose to hit back at accusations and tell their side of the story, so being part of a forum means you can often get to hear things from the horse's mouth rather than just hearsay.

Poker Strategy

Perhaps the biggest reason you would want to join a poker forum is for all of the strategy advice you can find. Many players start out posting hands in the forums to get feedback. Over time players usually form some type of friendship that leads them to split off from the forums to create Skype Groups and such. Sometimes these guys even end up living and/or travelling the poker circuit together.

Many top professionals usually say they wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for various poker friends they have had along the way. More often than not these friendships began at a poker forum.

For those of you that are new to forums, there are usually ‘sticky’ or ‘pinned’ posts at the top of the strategy sub forum that will link you to some of the best places to start. These threads should be read and re-read if you’re serious about improving your game.

Staking

How many of you would like to play higher? Most of you right? Sometimes this is not always possible for a variety of reasons. You may not being good enough, have the means to do so financially, have the time, or any number of other things. Being part of a poker forum, and wider community with a good reputation, gives you the opportunity to apply for staking and coaching deals. Some of poker's brightest minds are looking to take players under their wing, help them improve, and finance their poker endeavors. Of course they will expect something in return - usually around half of your profits.

Staking is a great way to improve and move up the stakes at a rapid rate without risking your own money. Sound good? Get signed up on a poker forum and start building your reputation now.

Communicating with the sites

All of the major poker sites like Pokerstars, 888 and Party have representatives that post in the major poker forums. They usually have discussion topics open looking for feedback and comments from the players on things such as software, games available, and tournament schedules. If you would like your voice heard there is no better way than communicating on the forums.

Knowledgeable Community

We have already covered strategy advice, which is not the only form of advice to be gained from a poker forum. The community as a whole is vastly experienced with all things poker and most things not poker if truth be told.

If you have questions about your local game, for instance a ruling or a question about rake, someone can help. If you are looking for hotels and travel plans to the major stops on the poker calendar then someone on the board will be able to help you out. Even roommates to cut the cost of a poker trip down can easily be sourced from poker forums.

So they you have it, five reasons you should be part of a poke forum, so what are you waiting for?