Great Poker Secrets

You've logged onto your favorite online poker room and you are settling down for just a little Saturday night practice session in a no cost, Limit Texas Hold 'em game, say $10/$20.

Having fun? Sure. Learning the best way to play poker? Not really.

The best way to learn how NOT to play poker is to play in free online games.

What should you need to do? Watch how poker is played in a free online game and after that become an observer within the online rooms where real money is in play.

What differences should you watch for?

In the free games, what do you need to lose? That is the point. In a standard free, Limit Texas Hold 'em online game, a player "buys in" (at no cost) for let's say, 1,000 chips. The cards are dealt and just about every player goes to the flop. Then most players shall take a card at Fourth Street, which is not unusual to view six or seven players in a cost-free online game go to the river.

Why? Because against all odds, they can be hoping for "miracle hands." And since they have nothing to lose. Should they run out of chips, they "buy" more free chips.

What have you learned? You've learned how NOT to play real poker, poker with cash on the table.

You'd be crazy to take that strategy into a table where real money is used. In a money game, that should never happen. If it did, the naive player who played that way could be eaten up in a flash.

Watch the money tables in online games, especially at higher levels, and watch the pros on tv in tournament play.

What does solid betting do? It weeds out the players as well as the hands. It gets down to the 2, occasionally three players, who go up against each other with strong hands (or perhaps a bluff where they're indicating strong hands).

What else is missing in online play: "Tells," the twitches, tics, scratches, blinks, tremors, and flop sweat running down a player's face - maybe even your face - that telegraph the strength of a hand.

Pro Annie Duke says she can "tell" a great deal from betting patterns in casino online (mouse click the following web page) real money play. Probably so.

But you are missing a big a part of the psychology of the game by playing in online poker rooms. You are NOT learning how exactly to gauge the actions and reactions of other players when you would in live play.

So, what do you do? Have fun at the free online games as long while you understand that you might be learning bad habits that must not be taken in to a money game.

To really learn to play poker, move in to a low stakes, real money game, online and otherwise. Some start as low as fifty cents as well as a dollar. Then they move up: $1/$2, $2/$4 and so forth. Notice how the style of play is very different as additional money goes on the table.

If you master a lower stakes game, don't think that you'll do as well at the next level. If you watch TV interviews with the pros, you will hear stories about how they moved up, lost, came back down, established their stake, moved back up, etc.

Expect to do the exact same. The online experience can be fun. You can also make it a meaningful learning experience with a money game to meet your budget.