Whether you’re playing online poker for fun or you have some serious career plans in your mind, there’s always a good piece of advice you could use to improve your games. We’ve got here a couple of tips and tricks from the professional players to help you understand your opponents’ moves better as well as to avoid the common mistakes. Some of these guidelines apply even to the more experienced players, so check out all the things you should watch for in a online poker game…
Don’t stick to a hand just because you’re in it
So, maybe you chose to stay with a hand that isn’t all that great, but as things are getting hotter, you blindly stick to it because you’ve already put money in the pot. Just because you’ve invested cash in the pot doesn’t mean you’re gonna win it, and if the odds are telling you that you’re more likely to lose, you should better just fold. Yes, you’re losing the money, but playing a hand all the way to the end isn’t gonna get it back.
Pick the right game level for your experience
This is one of the most important pieces of advice for new players: never overestimate your playing skills and keep it small in the beginning. Maybe you’ve been playing in the $2/4 for a while and you keep winning so you feel ready to switch to $5/10 games. Keep in mind that not only the stakes will rise, but you’ll be playing more serious opponents with the higher level you choose. Just because you’re better than an average beginner doesn’t mean you’re ready for the next level, so if you find yourself losing, go back to the small league and keep practicing some more.
Don’t play at too high stakes
Even if you’re having the day/night of your life with a streak of winnings, it’s not a smart idea to invest the amount of money you could seriously regret losing. Never play with money you can’t afford losing, no matter how confident in yourself are you.
Watch out for fast bets
It has been commonly considered that when a player makes a fast bet, it must mean he’s got a strong hand. Since you can’t actually see your opponents, the only way of trying to tell their reaction to the hand is by the time it takes them to react. Knowing this, many players try to bluff by constantly placing fast bets, and you can easily see through these bluffs if you play against them long enough.
Learn your opponents’ betting patterns
Watch carefully and try to find patterns in your opponents’ behavior and style of playing. Keep track of how much do they usually invest when raising in case they have a good hand and in case their cards are bad. This will help you guess their hand later on. If a player raises for a couple dozen dollars before the flop, then raises for a small amount, it usually means they’ve got a bad hand.