Category: Poker Strategy

Play Poker Online and Be a Winner

Be a Winning Poker PlayerPlaying poker is a great activity for many people and this is why so many are taking the opportunity to play poker online. There are a huge number of sites providing the chance to get involved with tournaments and events while taking opponents on. If you love poker, it makes sense to be playing poker online.

One of the most important things a poker player needs to do is to learn the rankings of poker hands. This is the best way to ensure that the hand they hold is good enough to win and to calculate what the likelihood of being beaten by an opponent is. A player that does not know the rankings of the hands in poker will find themselves losing and will also probably greatly annoy the other players with their lack of knowledge about the game.

Minimise your losses

Poker is definitely about winning but it should also be about minimising your losses. A player that loses often but small can often up the evening or game in a far better position than players that rarely lose but when they do, they lose big. Being able to minimise the extent of your losses is a great trait for a poker player to have and this is something that players should look to develop.

Know that sometimes bad beats happen

Another thing it is important to remember with online poker is that sometimes there will be very little you can do, sometimes the cards will just fall against you. There have been many occasions where poker players have held a great hand and felt they were guaranteed victory only for their opponent to trump them at the end with an even better hand.

This is often referred to as the bad beat and when you lose on the bad beat, it is immensely annoying. Some poker sites are now giving players that lose in this manner a bit of a bonus by returning some of their money but this is something that will have to be checked on site. There will always be an element of luck involved with poker but sometimes no matter what you do to bluff your opponent, they will hold a set of cards that means they can afford to ignore what you do and just play for themselves. The trick is to realise when this situation happens and to make the most of it.

Play as often as you can but don’t chase losses

One of the best ways to develop poker skills is to watch and play as much as possible. Sometimes taking part to watch the actions of other poker players is a great way to learn about the game and many players have developed their own style of play after watching others perform. It can be helpful to have additional money when doing this and this is where a referral code can come in very handy. If you were looking to play online poker at the Full Tilt poker site, a poker bonus boosting your initial amount would go a long way with a Full Tilt referral code.

Playing Poker – The Key to Success

Poker Bankroll
Poker Bankroll

Any professional poker player will tell you, poker is a game of skill. To be successful in poker requires patience, at least some idea of how to calculate odds, the ability to read your opponents, knowing how to control the pot, and sometimes even all that is not enough.

While it goes without saying to anybody who knows better that poker is indeed a game of skill, there is an element of luck involved. You can do everything right, read every hand your opponent is holding correctly, and still lose sometimes. The secret to being successful despite this element of luck involved in poker is to learn to minimize your losses while maximizing your winning opportunities. In other words, when you can’t win a hand, protect your money. When you can’t lose a hand, win as much money as you can manage. There are a few strategies that can be employed to achieve this goal, the most important of which is bankroll management.

The first rule in bankroll management is never to put any money into play that you cannot afford to lose. Many gamblers will end up playing with money they should be using to pay bills, or buy food. If you ever find yourself in this position, you need to step away from the game. This is the road to ruins that all too many people have traveled. Set aside a portion of money to play with, and do not over-extend that limit… this is your poker bankroll.

Once you have your bankroll established it’s time to play some poker, but don’t jump into the first game you find in which you can play all the money in your bankroll. This is another classic mistake that many gamblers make. You should never sit at any table, or buy into any tournament with more than a certain percentage of your bankroll. As we’ve already mentioned, regardless of how skillful a player you are, there is an element of luck involved, and therefore there will always be losing streaks. It is simply the nature of the game. Laying down most, or all of your bankroll on a single game puts you in danger of losing your entire bankroll on that single game should you find yourself in a losing streak.

The bankroll percentage played will vary from player to player depending on their own style, but you should set up your own bankroll management strategy before playing, and stick to it religiously. One popular strategy is to never lay down more than 5%-10% of your bankroll on any cash game, and never buy into any tournament for more than 2%-5% of your bankroll. This is a sound strategy, but you will have to decide for yourself what is right for you. You may even have to adjust your bankroll strategy until you find one that works well for you.