Submitted Questions: How do I Beat
the Fish at Online Poker?
written by BeatTheFish.com
...Fishy says, "::raises hand:: Ooh
ooh. Can I answer this one?"
The following was submitted via our
online poker forum:
“First, let me thank you for your
site. You have some of the most honest poker site reviews on the
Net.”
Thanks for the compliments. I try to be as honest to my experiences
with each individual
poker site as possible. The larger goal of this
site is to help online poker players find a new site based on their
priorities and then do well once they get there.
“Right now, I am trying to crush
Bodog. If
loose+agressive+stupid=gold mine, then I'm panning away. I mean,
really, where does Calvin Ayre find these idiots, anyway?
I'm looking for a way to suck maximum value from these morons. My
standard tactic has been to wait for AA, KK, or flopped sets and
then push, but the winrate doesn't impress me much.”
In regards to your basic strategy of waiting for those absolute nut
hands, it's a great way to win in theory but those premium hands
don't come around often enough to live by. Of course, when you do
draw pocket Aces or Kings I recommend raising 5-6x BB on a crazy
site like
Bodog. You should play tight at a loose table (which most are at
most online poker sites), but you don't have to play THAT tight.
Grinding out consistent profits in No-Limit
Hold’em via premium
pocket pairs and flopped sets is tough. Sometimes you can wait
around for a couple of hours, double up with your pocket Aces, and
sign off. This is especially true at loose sites where it seems like
you get plenty of action on any given hand. Unfortunately, more
often you’ll win a small pot preflop, on the flop, or get those big
hands cracked altogether. You need to play a balanced game, and
fortunately these loose games can often give you the pot odds to
take advantage of your position and knowledge of their loose nature.
“I can find no way to play TPTK or two pair because these guys
draw on anything.”
Because of all the draws you'll have to push your TPTK (top pair top
kicker) more than usual. You can't be afraid to continue with the
hand because that hand will win a good chunk of your profit in
No-Limit Hold'em. Firstly, you'll have to analyze the texture of the
board. Are there any obvious draws out (two suited cards?) or a
completed draw on the board already? If there is only a draw on the
board, I would bet over the size of the pot, especially against
multiple opponents. If there is a completed draw on the board and
you get raised, you'll have to re-evaluate your hand.
You're correct in that it seems as though players on this site draw
out on anything so you'll even have to bet out with your flopped
sets and non-nut straights and flushes. Don’t you hate it when those
seemingly fishy players make those higher straights and flushes
using only one of their hole cards? If you aren’t making it
expensive for them to do so, you need to start! If you know that
players are going to try to draw out on you make them pay to do it.
Charge them at least the size of the pot if you see two suited
and/or connected cards on the board.
My main point is that you have to be prepared for tricky scenarios
such as TPTK against known suck outs. Personally, my main defense
would be to bet at least the size of the pot and follow my gut. If,
from my history with the player, I really felt that they were trying
to draw out on me and they rarely gave up in the face of big bets, I
would just set him (or myself) all-in. If he calls that huge bet on
a draw then you should only be so fortunate to be at the same table
with such a truly untalented player. If he doesn’t, you did pick up
the pot…
“1.) I could play more suited connectors and suited aces, but I
hate paying 10bb to see the flop with my A7s.”
I would definitely recommend playing more suited connectors if you
can get in cheaply from late position with 3 or 4 other callers.
This would give you the proper pot odds to play this type of hand,
which can be goldmines when they occasionally hit that straight or
two pair on the flop in No-Limit. However, if you’re going to play
low suited connectors you also need to have the discipline to let
them go when you don’t flop a monster. In regards to paying 10x the
big blind with A7s, don’t do it!
“2.) I could try to limp into the pot with anything and hope to
hit. Both pot odd and implied odds seem to point that way, but those
cards would have to hit the flop pretty hard.”
This would be falling into the same trap thinking that fuels the
online poker fish. Most of the time when you play “anything”
starting cards for the sake of playing them, you’ll be tossing your
hand into the muck after the flop. That’s a small leak. The bigger
leak is when you sort of hit the flop and continue on calling bets
with a second-best hand. Even if you do win a massive pot when you
hit trips with your 7-4 offsuit, you shouldn’t just focus on the
results. It was still a bad decision to play that hand and you’d be
reinforcing bad poker play. It’s something that I talk about in my
Beat the Fish tutorial: don’t sink to their level.
“3.) I have tried making a spectacle of myself in the chat box,
but it seems to have no affect on how the donks play their hands.”
Of course, this would be your personal choice, but I mute the chat
entirely when I play poker. I just don’t like it. Why mouth off (or
listen to someone else mouth off) when you can easily ignore it and
concentrate on your play? Besides being potentially distracting, it
can be harmful to the “donks”. It might make them feel embarrassed
enough to leave the table or it could encourage them to play better.
If they truly are donkeys, you don’t want them doing either.
I hope that these tips can help you a bit in the loose online games
that can be both greatly rewarding and frustrating. If you have any
other questions about specific game situations or online poker in
general, please don’t hesitate to drop me
an e-mail.
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