Top 10 Online Poker Tips/Tricks You Must Know

It takes a lot of work to become a good poker player. The effort is comparable to completing a university degree if you want to be a professional. But you don’t have to commit so much time to your development as a player to learn how to beat the lower stakes. And poker is so much more fun when you’re actually winning money, even if you’re not ready for the higher stakes.

To get you ready to beat poker online we have compiled a list of our top 10 tips/tricks for you to learn. We promise that if you follow all of the advice below you will be ready to begin winning money right away.

#1 Poker Is a Long-Term Game

Many new players mentally struggle with the wild swings their bankroll goes through. With no baseline to know what to expect they tend to assume that they’re playing great when on a heater and are inconsolable when they’re losing.

It is crucial that you learn to accept that your immediate results are not a great indicator of how well or bad you have been playing.

A rough ballpark figure to aim for is at least 150,000 cash game hands and 3,000 tournaments before you stress too much over any results.

#2 Position

Poker is a game of incomplete information. Therefore the more information you have the better quality decisions you can make.

Logically this means that if there is more chance of you having to act before your opponent you must play a tighter range of hands than if the opposite is true. You can also use this concept of your opponent having to worry about what you will do while making their own decision to apply additional pressure.

#3 Balance/ Game Theory Optimal Play (GTO)

Balanced or GTO play is what everybody is talking about today. These concepts are all about calling/raising/folding a certain percentage of the time in order not to be exploitable. For example, if you fold 100% of the time when your opponent raises your flop continuation bet then you are highly exploitable.

The problem with this approach is that it does not maximise your profits. So be aware of the concept of balanced play but do not obsess over it. Aim to exploit your opponent’s errors.

#4 Aggression

Aggressive play is the best approach to beating online poker. Forget the age old advice of playing cautiously and waiting for good hands, because that advice is well out-of-date. Forcing play will make your opponents nervous about dealing with you at the table, and many of them will just side step you entirely.

#5 Bankroll Management

There is no more commonly ignored advice in poker than that of how to manage your money correctly. Bankroll management is key to your success as a poker player. If you are playing stakes too high for your bankroll then a bad run risks busting you out of the game for good.

Research what the current bankroll requirements are for your game and stick to the plan without fail. By all means take shots at higher stakes but move back down to your regular game if it doesn’t go well.

#6 Don’t Play too Many Tables

This advice should be obvious but many players ignore it. It is okay to push yourself to your limits once you are a competent player but playing too many tables is a poor environment for learning. 

Maximising your hourly rate is not your primary concern while you are still learning the ropes.

#7 Tight Is Right

Tight-aggressive is still the most recommended playing style after all these years. Don’t try to push your luck by playing too many hands that you don’t yet have the required skill level to handle.

#8 Don’t Play Stakes that Are too High for You

It is always a temptation for new players to play as high stakes as they can afford, even when following bankroll management. You should resist this and always start at the smallest stakes available to work your way up.

This way you will know exactly what your skill level is.

#9 Only Play When You Are Feeling Sharp

Don’t force yourself to play when you are not really in the best condition for it. Your results will suffer leading to motivation issues down the road.

If you have free time for poker, but are too tired to play, then study instead.

#10 Use Analysis Software

Online players have a wide range of software tools at their disposal. You should use these where they are permitted to save your hands to a database allowing you to find leaks in your game.

This is the quickest method of improvement for online players. Take full advantage.