By poker_boy | 6 Comments
Last updated: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 | 166 Views Tags: home games, poker
A tough poker question this week. Let’s dive straight in
Question: I consider myself an above average player, and I used to play home games with a lot of success. Now Ive been playing online and the success is not the same. What adjustments are most important to consistently winning? Secondly, what book would you recommend?
Answer: The smaller the stakes the bigger the donkeys. People who barely care a lick about poker don’t mind jumping on a site in their pajames just to see if they can win some money by complete chance. There are donkeys at casinos and card rooms too, but there are somewhat less since it requires a long drive (usually) and larger buy-ins. You also have the benefit of learning other people’s tells (which is a huge advantage over online games) and you are more likely to play with the same people if you go on a regular basis and you know what moves you’re going to make before you even sit at the table. I have /much/ greater success when I play in person compared to online. If you are going to play online I would suggest tournaments. Full Tilt has the best tournaments in my opinion. There’s a new one popping up every 30 seconds. For books I would recommend Dan Harrington’s Cash Game and/or Dan Harrington’s Tournament. He’s a very conservative player, so you know the info you are getting is more strategy based as opposed to strategy/table image based. If you want to play aggressively you need to project a certain type of persona so that people don’t think that you are just a fish. Start with Harrington then move on to one of the other greats after that.
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6 comments
Astaroth
January 1, 1970
Become great at poker.
January 1, 1970
Are you playing other players OR computers. Because of the way some sites set up their games you may never be able to win consistently (ie vs a computer they will stack the deck against you). If its vs humans its basically luck of the card because you are unable to read others and whether or not they are lying and such.
January 1, 1970
The online game is different, it is much more difficult(almost impossible) to read the players you are playing against, so you have to just play your cards, play superior hands, get your money in with the best of it and you should do well. Experience is the key to success. I recommend Pokerstars, Fulltilt, and Bodog they all offer bonuses for signing up which will help keep your profits higher you can find more information at http://www.bonusbeast.com
January 1, 1970
I liked the Harrington on Hold em books.
It was good to get the basics down from there, but nothing beats experience.
January 1, 1970
Play *tight* aggressive. With an extra emphasis on tight. It’s easy to take a lot of bad beats online because there is an increased amount of hands per hour, and bad players have extra courage to play even worse because you don’t have to see their faces!
Play tight, smart, and recognize betting patterns to know when your opponents are chasing hands and know when to dump good starting hands!
January 1, 1970
Jacques has it right, play a tight agressive game.
Every time you have to make a play or fold decision, don’t look for reasons to play the hand, look for the reason NOT to play the hand.
The competition at your home game is vastly different from online, at that game you know the players and their styles, online you don’t.
As for a book, try the Texas Holdem Dynamic Point Count super strategy.
And here is a link to a great page on poker strategy, and the Point Count book.
http://www.thedoverpro.com/poker-strategy.htm
Good luck!