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Online Poker Truths
When it comes to playing poker online, please remember
that it's easier to lose money fast than to win money fast. Many of us
have discovered that weeks and weeks of patient bankroll building can be
destroyed in just a few hours (or even a few catastrophic minutes) of
online play. We've learned, in other words, that while winning is slow
labor, losing can happen lamentably fast. It's easy to see why. Winning
fast requires that we play the right game at the right time against the
right opponents; that we play correctly against very bad players, get
lucky, and then get out. That's quite the harmonic convergence of
circumstance, and it comes along quite rarely. Losing fast, on the other
hand, requires only that we temporarily lose our focus, discipline, or
mind. That can happen any time. Playing tilty, angry, or tired is a
rapacious bankroll stripper. Internet poker can be a winning
proposition, but only if you're self-aware enough and disciplined enough
to get out of your own way! If you stay in a game you can't beat, or
bring a losing mindset to the table, you can lose months of profit
overnight.
Giving action is a major mistake. Hands of internet
poker often turns into frenzies of raises, reraises, and promiscuous
loose calls. In these circumstances, there's usually someone betting the
best hand, someone betting the best draw, and someone (or several
someones) on a total loser. These latter players are giving action on
hands where they have much the worst of it, and it's a leak of
ship-sinking proportion in their play. It's vital that you not be the
one doing this. If you find yourself chasing, chasing, chasing, just
because the pot is large, you're merely contributing to the profit of
others. On the other hand, if you only get involved in these betfests
with strong hands, you'll consistently reap the benefit of the largesse
(and by largesse we mean stupidity) of others. Can you stand to stay out
of the way when the action is coming fast and furious? Of course you
can! The hand will be over in moments. Just be patient, and you'll soon
have your chance to bet with the best of it. Bottom line: In online
poker, never give more action than you get. If you do just this one
thing right, you can probably show a long-term profit.
DON'T THEY KNOW THEY'RE PLAYING FOR REAL MONEY? Again and again we see
people playing for real money (even big real money) as if they were at
the play money tables. They just can't seem to connect the digits they
see on the screen with the green stuff they put in their wallets, and it
causes them to make horrendous playing decisions. This is great for us,
of course; it's where our own (very real, very spendable) money comes
from. But remember two things. First, when people are making senseless
decisions, you'll sometimes suffer mind-bogglingly bad beats, and you
must be able to take these beats in stride. Second, don't you lose your
discipline, just because no one around you seems to have any. When we
see bad players playing bad hands and raking big pots, the temptation is
great to jump into the murky waters with them. Resist that urge! Simply
not playing bad cards will guarantee that you don't give more action
than you get.
PEOPLE HAVE ASTOUNDINGLY BAD MANNERS. Keep in mind that people's
behaviors are far different online than in person. Since they can hide
safely behind their online screen, people will chat up the most
amazingly rude and confrontational things, things they'd probablty never
dare of saying face to face. What you'll need to consider is that
whenever you come across rude or profane chat , just make make sure you
don't let it bother you, since that's why they're likely being rude in
the first place. Remember, the one who chats ugly is revealing something
profound about himself: He's a hothead; he's out of control; he'll
likely call too much, push too hard, and pay off every strong hand you
have. Stay calm. Stick with your game plan. Make this victim of
testosterone poisoning pay and pay and pay.
MAKING BOOK IS LESS USEFUL THAN WE THOUGHT. Online poker is such a
wide-open and dynamic playing community that we rarely see the same
players often enough to make taking notes on them a directly worthwhile
use of our time. Nevertheless, it continues to be indirectly useful, if
for no other reason than that making book on our foes tends to keep our
own heads in the game. Plus, there are certain corners of the internet
where you do tend to see the same opponents over and over again.
Heads-up sitngos are one example of this, for fans of heads-up play tend
to find a happy home and linger there.
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