Online Poker Essentials

The key to online poker, as in live poker, is a tight but aggressive style.  You don’t want to give your opponents a chance to draw out on you.  If you haven’t noticed already, online players like to chase down cards quite often.  This information can be used to your advantage. 

You know you have a statistical edge if they are chasing, so bet BIG.  Either they will pay you off, or you will occasionally lose. It hurts to lose an all-in to someone who had an inferior hand, but this is what you want.  You want to be heads up against a chaser.  They will pay your mortgage payment every month. 

Always remember a huge percentage of online players are “donkeys”.  They are just there to have a good time.  They love to bet at lots of pots with nothing, and pay people off on the river.

You can’t bluff a donkey, and that is one thing you need to embed in your head forever.  Yes, you can occasionally make some money from a bad player by bluffing, but the thing you see most in beginning online players is that they try to outplay a donkey.  The donkey at the table has no idea what you are trying to do.  The unbelievable play or bluff you just made might get a good player to fold, but not a donkey.

People play much looser online than they would live.  The reason behind this is pretty well known.  It’s the same reason casinos use chips at the table.  Online poker takes this idea to an extreme, as players don’t have tangible objects to hold. 

Many online players are less careful with their chips, because they are converted into digital numbers on a computer screen.  They are less likely to think about the consequences of losing a couple hundred or thousand dollars.

All someone has to do is click a button and their money disappears.  They are also quick to reload.  This carefree attitude about money is what makes online poker so appealing.