Part Six: Basic Online Poker Strategy
written by BeatTheFish.com
Since you've learned the basic rules of
the game, chose your favorite poker site, made your first deposit,
and you're comfortable with the poker software. What's the best way
to play? Most importantly for new players is to have strict starting
hand standards. Many published poker books provide comprehensive
diagrams for how you should play in each position.
Basically, if you're in early position
(the first 3 places to the left of the big blind in a full ring
game), you shouldn't be playing anything other than A-A, K-K, Q-Q,
or A-K. For middle position (the next 3 or 4 places), you can open
up your play a bit to include more lower pocket pairs and many hands
with two face cards. The best position to be in is in late position
(the last 3 places, including the "button"), and you can pretty much
play any pocket pair or two face cards. This is all assuming that
the pot hasn't been raised. If it has, you'll need a much stronger
hand to call with. Your opponent is trying to tell you that he has a
good hand, and even if he's bluffing you need a good hand to fight
back with. You should also realize that you can afford to play worse
cards when there are 5 or 6 players seeing the flop. Because of all
the money in the pot, you're getting better odds to play a mediocre
hand and hit a lucky flop. This is, in basic terms, the concept of
pot odds.
The biggest mistake that new players
make is playing too many hands. Don't do it! Most of the time,
you're going to miss the flop with your mediocre hand. If you do hit
a piece of it, it probably won't be the best holding. Instead, just
give it up preflop and save your chips for a better hand. As a new
player, you should play very tight. When you gain more experience,
you can open up your game a bit and play more speculative hands. You
need a better feel for the game before you outplay your opponents
with weak cards.
Another big mistake made by beginners is
slowplaying vulnerable hands. I suppose that many players learn this
from televised tournaments, but they fail to realize the context.
Professionals do this against top-notch players, usually in heads-up
situations. When you're holding top pair or even a set, you can't
give your opponents a free card when you see an obvious straight or
flush draw on the board. Make your opponents pay for their draws.
Even if you're a tight-aggressive player, you'll quickly learn that
the internet is full of idiotic players. They'll play any two cards
just for the chance to draw, so don't make it any easier on them. On
the other hand, if you have a huge hand like the nut (best possible)
flush or the top full house, then you should slowplay your
hand in order to give your opponents the chance to catch up.
Finally, you shouldn't play draws too
often as they can slowly leak away a lot of your chips. Unless there
are more than a few players in the hand, we don't recommend that
beginner's draw to straights and flushes after the flop. Most of the
time your draws won't hit, and if you have to act after your
opponent, you're at a major disadvantage. Save your money as a new
player until you learn the odds of hitting your hands. View our
Beat the Fish tutorial for more on odds
and draws.
While this short article doesn't even
begin to scratch the surface of poker strategy, we think that it
should give you some good basic guidelines to start playing by. Play
tight, play good cards, don't slowplay vulnerable hands, and don't
go after the draws. Online poker can be a lot of fun if you know the
best place to play for your priorities, how to learn the software,
and how to hold your own at the table. Feel free to browse our
online poker reviews for help in deciding where to play, and also
take a look at our poker strategy section for many more articles on
how to play the game right.
Until next time, always flop top full...
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