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Online Poker Playing Strategies
Before the Internet came along, all poker games were played
face-to-face. This meant that opponents
could see the physical reactions of each person against whom they were
competing and try to determine the strength of their hands based on patterns of
prior behavior. In poker jargon,
figuring out whether an opponent is likely holding a weak or strong hand based
on their reaction patterns is called a ‘tell.’
Then it all changed.
Online poker hit like a hurricane a few years ago and has been steadily
growing in popularity ever since.
Obviously, playing poker online removes the ability to see your
opponents and be seen by them. This
increases the chance element of the game.
After all, when you can see your opponents and figure out their probable
hand strength through their ‘tells,’ poker becomes more a game of skill, and
less a game of chance.
Want proof that online poker and its different strategies
shook up the poker-playing world? Here’s
a name for you: Chris Moneymaker. This guy was literally unknown in
professional poker playing circles until he swept into the 2003 World Series of
Poker and beat the best of the best to win it all ($2.5 million). So where did he learn to play? That’s right – in online poker rooms!
Mixing Up Your Betting Patterns
Several of the famous pros he beat lamented that they didn’t
know the guy, so he had a distinct advantage over them. In other words, they weren’t familiar with
his ‘tells,’ which increased the amount of guessing they had to do. To his credit, Moneymaker employed one
primary strategy he learned by playing online, and it worked beautifully among
all those top players in face-to-face games.
He mixed it up.
When you play online poker, the game becomes more about the
actual cards and less about psychology and your opponents’ physical
reactions. To be sure, online players
still bluff and often fall into predictable betting patterns that better
players will pick up and use. But what
Moneymaker became a master at was mixing up his betting patterns, which
essentially eliminated his online ‘tells.’
Mixing up your bets simply means taking unusual chances with
weak hands and giving up good opportunities with strong hands – all with the
goal of throwing off your opponents in order to win big pots. You might implement it by playing a few hands
in a predictable manner: fold weak
hands, bet strong right off the bat with strong hands, and bet timidly with average
hands. That’s what most players expect
their opponents to do when they do not know them.
After a few rounds of this normal play, you will have
established yourself as nothing special to your opponents. They’ll think they have you pegged and
probably disregard you. That’s when you
strike! Start mixing things up by
betting strong on weak hands. You’ll
probably cause a lot of folding by your opponents, since your early pattern was
to fold weak hands. They’ll assume your
hand must be strong since you stayed in and raised. Easy money for you, at least for a few hands.
Then, fold 10 hands in a row, no matter what you’re
dealt. That may be poker blasphemy to
some, but if you want to win big pots over the long haul, you have to establish
a pattern, then deviate from it.
Finally, lure opponents in by betting timidly early on with
a strong hand. Just call bets or check –
don’t raise. Once you’ve got several
opponents thinking you’re holding an average hand, the pot will be nice and
big. That’s the time to raise! They’ll realize you suckered them, but it’ll
be too late.
It’s a good tactic for all of us who play online to
emulate. The idea is pretty simple, but
takes practice to develop it to the point where it’s second nature. Try playing in the rooms where you use play
money until you’re comfortable with this technique. Who knows?
You might become the next Chris Moneymaker!
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