Online Poker Strategy
Winner's
Guide to Internet Poker
by Steve Badger
Since little has been written specifically on how to beat online
games, why am I? Why give away "secrets"? First, I
want to encourage more and more people to enjoy poker in all
its forms. Some new players, too far away or too intimidated
to walk into a conventional cardroom, will be glad to start
out in a relatively unthreatening online environment. Online
free games represent the best opportunity ever for new players
to learn the game.
The first thing to understand is that online poker is not the
same as brick & mortar casino poker (hereafter I'll call
this "casino poker"). They are different games. I’m
not saying one is better than the other, or necessarily more
or less profitable. They are just different in fundamental ways.
Many of the abilities needed to win in casino poker of course
also exist in online poker. You still need good starting cards...
you still shouldn't tilt... you still shouldn't play at a level
you can't afford, and so on. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel
on that stuff.
Check
out the rest of this website, the poker magazines and books
to study those things that are the same online as in a casino.
A flush beats a straight online. We don't need to go over that.
Signing Up
Joining an online site is simple. You use an online payment
service like Neteller (see below) or give them your credit card
to buy chips just like you would buy a book at Amazon or a plane
ticket at United Airlines. You don't even have to do that at
first. You can play free games without giving any credit card
information. You should play the free games for at least an
hour or so to get the hang of how fast the action goes, what
buttons to click, what happens when you click a button that
you aren't sure what it does, all the bells and whistles of
how the site works. The free games have little value in learning
to play to win though. They are excellent for a total novice,
offering newbies a way to practice calculating basic odds on
the fly and discovering the relative strengths of hands, but
you still should get off free games as soon as you can. Even
playing the .5/.10 games will offer you far more useful learning
opportunities than the free games. Give thought to your login
name. Some people want to be distinctive, memorable. Others
want to be as anonymous as possible. Your screen name is the
first bit of "table image" you present to the other
players. Choose one that presents the personality you want to
convey to your opponents.
Building an Online Poker Bankroll
The first enormous difference you confront between playing online
and in a casino is when you go to buy chips (you can also send
a bank draft or do wire transfers). Some card rooms limit you
to $600 a day and $1500 a week in purchases. Since they offer
$20/40 as a limit, this restriction seems ludicrous. No sensible
person can play $20/40 with a $600 bankroll. The first day I
played, playing $10/20, I lost my first two hands and was down
$200. Clearly I could not play optimally, taking the normal
swings involved when playing a sensible strategy. If I lost
my remaining $400, I was simply done for the day. Winning ring
game poker is all about putting in hours. If all games are about
equal, and you always play the same winning way, the more you
play, the more you make. So, putting yourself out of action
by losing your bankroll is a critical mistake.
In casino poker, you can reach into your pocket and grab more
cash (for good or ill). Not so online. The first thing you need
to do is build an online bankroll. No matter if you are properly
bankrolled to play $40/80 in a casino, when you first join,
you should avoid playing anything higher than $5/10 for 48 hours.
(This also makes sense just to get used to the technology.)
If you want to play bigger than $5/10, charge up $600 the first
day, then $600 twenty-four hours later (even if you don't play),
then $300 the next day. Now with a $1500 bankroll you can carefully
play $10/20 -- at least as long as you stay above $500. If you
sink that low, it is important to again play smaller, even $3/6
or $2/4, until a week passes and you can again add another $1500
to your bankroll. Basically, you can't play correctly online
until you have accumulated a correct bankroll.
The Quickest way to build your bankroll at most online poker
rooms is to transfer funds from an existing player. Obviously
none of the above applies if you have a friend who can just
transfer you funds.
Cashing Out and Your Internet Bankroll
Another artificial problem the online cardrooms create out of
necessity involves cashing out. Suppose you have carefully charged
up a $1500 bankroll, and you have won $800 in a week. Not bad.
You want that $800 in your pocket and you want to make another
similar amount the next week. Well, you can't do it using a
credit card. The cash out rules require you to first pay back
your original deposit method, and then get sent your profit.
So, to get your $800, you have to pay off that $1500 you sensibly
charged up, leaving you with a zero bankroll. It's a bit complicated,
but in essence, cardrooms require winning players to play on
their profits, not on their credit cards.So, if you don't have
a friend to fund your account via a transfer, the process you
need to do is: play carefully at a moderate limit until you
have been able to charge up an adequate bankroll, play at your
chosen limit, pay off your original deposit as you win amounts
above that adequate bankroll figure, then finally cash out your
profits that exceed your chosen bankroll. For example, you want
to play $20/40. You buy $1500 your first week, and win a few
hundred dollars playing $5/10, $8/16 and $10/20. The second
week you charge an additional $500, (in this example, if the
cardroom has a $2000 monthly maximum) so now your bankroll stands
at $2400, and you begin playing $15/30. As you continue to win,
you pay off your credit card (or Neteller) to the level that
you always have a $3000 bankroll (or perhaps a $2000 bankroll
with your entire weekly $1500 worth of charges available to
you). Finally, on a weekly basis you cash out your winnings
that exceed your $3000 bankroll. For most players, the most
convenient way to deposit and withdraw funds from online poker
sites is to use an e-wallet service.
Neteller
is the market leader.
FirePay
offers a similar service and may be a better choice for those
interested in instant transfers, but the differences may just
come down to a matter of personal preference. Needless to say,
this simplifies the cashout process immensely. When you cashout,
choose to cashout to Neteller. Once your money is on Neteller,
you can then transfer it to your bank account (again, taking
two to four days) or get a check mailed (free) or FedEx (costs
$25).
Online
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MORE
ONLINE STRATEGIES
By Steve Badger
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