online texas hold'em tips

Part of a good modern poker strategy includes playing online Texas Holdem. I've been doing this for a while now, and I've managed to come up with some tippy top online Texas Holdem tips (don't you just love my originality?).

• When playing online Texas Holdem, many people think they should use a different strategy than they do in real life games and play every hand no matter what they get. That's not true. You should play a game very similar to how you would play if you were sitting right next to and across from people at a live poker table in a casino. The only big differences will be your use of electronic odds calculators and the need to use some different tells . So in other words, don't play every hand: play disciplined and know when to fold'em just as you would if your chip stack was made of clay instead of digitized information.
• Remember what I just said about using the different poker tells--and other players are using them, too. It's difficult to be a great bluffer when you're playing online Texas Holdem, but if you learn how to pick up on opponents' betting patterns and if you know how to change gears with your own, you can take pots by online bluffing. In fact, perhaps I should say that there will be one minor difference in your online play vs. your real live play: you should probably change gears a little more often. One of the most effective ways to do this online is to vary the speeds with which you bet or call. You can imply having a better or worse hand than you do by switching up speeds--as if you've got a monster so big you don't need to think about it, or as if you have cards so weak you have to seriously consider whether or not call and hope for a good draw.

It's actually a blessing in disguise if you get beat trying to bluff every once in a while, because you'll frighten other players into believing you are crazy and unpredictable, since as I mentioned bluffing in online Texas Holdem is more difficult than in real life. If you get a reputation for being a brave bluffer people will become intimidated and, consequently, easier for you to put on hands as they take fewer risks against you.

• Just as you would in real life, be cautious about holding and betting on low to mid-size pocket pairs to start the game. However, when it comes to having large pocket pairs, use your "fastplay" strategy and bet with little pause for reflection. This can have the effect of putting more money into the pot as other players unconsciously get roped into also playing fast. It might also cause opponents to think you're using fastplay as a bluff, so they stay in and continue to sweeten your pot.
• If you've put an opponent on an Ace-small or King-small, and you have two high cards after the flop but you calculate they got garbage, bet against them if they raise and re-raise. They will either fold to you, which gives you better odds of winning, or they will be the typical online maniac who doesn't understand poker and they will sweeten the pot for you before you beat them.
• It is important to keep calculating poker odds when playing online Texas Holdem. This should be obvious but many people either get inexplicably loose, perhaps because they expect others to be players with lesser abilities, or they take their electronic calculation help for granted--as in, they know it's there so they glance up at it but don't let it sink into their skull. Online Texas Holdem is a little more coldly mathematical than live because you don't have any hope of reading body language tells, so why would you slack off from using odds calculations in a mindful way just because you're playing online?

I hope these online Texas Holdem tips will be able to strengthen your overall poker strategy.

Exit Online Texas Holdem Tips » Learn Texas Holdem Poker