You can have a good indication how likely you are to improve your hand by simply multiplying your outs by 2 if want to know an approximate probability of hitting your hand on next street or multiplying by 4 if you are looking for the number how likely you are going to improve your hand from flop to the river. I'll end with some good news, you can become a winner – anyone of average intelligence + and a little motivation can beat online poker. How far you go depends on how much effort you put in. Not just to education, but aspects like site / table selection, focus on the games and bankroll management too.
9 hours ago From the big blind you are getting good odds to continue against a single raise, however, it is difficult to defend profitably with as many hands as you can in another game such as Omaha eight-or.
Good Poker Habits
In addition to learning poker strategy, gaining experience and developing as a player, there are some good poker habits to get into. They will increase your hourly win rate and ROI. This article will detail 7 good poker habits to take your overall game further.
Rest Well
How To Be Better At Poker
Poker is a mentally tough game that can take its toll on you. Ask any tournament player at the end of a tournament day. They're shattered. Getting plenty of sleep is necessary in order to ensure you're mentally sharp so you can make good decisions. Playing tired will increase chances of mistakes, tilt and ultimately cost you money.
Getting Good At Poker
Track and Monitor Results
Many poker players just play. They don't actually record keep or monitor performance one month to the next. I was like this at the very beginning. Whilst this mentality doesn't impact your actual technical game, it is still a good poker habit to get into. You should be able to compare month on month and year on year so you can gauge progress. If you are winning less than 12 months ago, then you can look at reasons why and tackle the problem.
Tracking your results is a must for anyone playing reasonable volume. Check out my poker excel spreadsheet article. It shows how you can use spreadsheets to track results. We also offer monthly reporting as a standalone product if you're interested.
Hand History Reviews
Most online professionals don't sit on their winning game and assume they're the best. They continuously review and think about their game, looking for ways to better themselves.
A hand history review is where you download hands or record a session and watch it back. It's a great tool for improving as you see things after that didn't come to you in real time. Perhaps you incorrectly calculated pot odds or didn't pay attention to the flop bet from your opponent. This portion is not meant to be a plug for our hand history review service, but feel free to check it out if you are interested in discussing and reviewing hands you've played with Texas Hold'em Questions.
Most of the players I perform hand history reviews with record hands from a session and upload. I then watch and narrate, pause and give advice and insights to help. Check out our hand history review page for more information.
Understand Odds Better
Drill down into it and poker is a game of numbers, maths, probability and odds. You need to familiarise yourself with the odds so much that they become intuitive. There are different types of odds you need to learn (pre-flop showdowns, calculating outs and pot odds). They are all important and will help your long term ROI.
If you are interested in other forms of gambling, you should already be familiar with odds. These skills are transferable to poker. You can bone on up these skills at the most reliable and trustworthy sports betting sites according to SportsBookAudit.com.
Take Notes on Opponents
Taking notes on poker opponents is a must. We recently wrote an article dedicated to this topic. It helps you make better decisions and will undoubtedly increase your ROI. Without notes, you are playing only on memory and it's almost like playing a stranger. With notes, you have more of an idea of how that player plays. I tend to colour tag players based on what I see. It's a simple and effective way to categorise players. Obviously, you must be open to amending their notes as you know more.
Take Your Time Over Decisions
Online poker is very fast paced and it's easy to play quickly. This is a blessing and a curse. Yes, you want to see more hands and earn more money, but sometimes it's better to stop for a moment and think. When you act fast, you may miss the trees from the woods and make mistakes. If you take your time, you are more likely to give proper consideration to the situation and make the correct decision. This is an important skill to develop and a great poker habit to get into.
Think Ahead
You can distinguish the great chess players by how far ahead they can accurately predict their opponents moves. This foresight and forward thinking skill can be transferred to poker. One should already be planning ahead for the hand. For instance, you may lead out with Qs 9s on a Kd Qd 8c with intention of folding to raise on flop, betting again on a non diamond turn and giving up on diamonds or Ax turns. Notice the line of thinking. You already have a plan for most reactions from your opponent.
Already considering the next play is a great poker habit as it means you are prepared. You won't be taking aback and will have a good idea of what to do next. This skill can really help your game.
You Can Become A Winning Poker Player
I usually keep the tone of articles here light, friendly and deliberately non-preachy… After all, just because someone is new to poker and wants some concepts explaining does not mean they are not intelligent and successful people!
This time it is different. This time I want to get some home-truths out there – address a recurring theme on poker forums, blogs and in chat-boxes which kind of bugs me.
The kind of questions I'm referring to are these:
- ‘I am playing great poker, so why can't I win?'
- ‘How can I make money when so many donks are making bad calls and sucking out on me all the time?'
- ‘Poker site X must be rigged against me'
- ‘I'm a great player, just constantly unlucky'
- ‘Should I move up levels to where people understand and respect my raises?'
If you can identify with any of these questions then this article is for you.
90% Of Players Feel They Are In The Top 20%
Ok, the statistic is just my estimate, however the vast majority of poker players do think they are naturally talented, or somehow innately better than their peers. When evidence accumulates (they lose!) that, well, they might not be such a phenomenon after all several mental defenses come into play. You'll tell yourself that you are good but unlucky, that the blame lies with ‘bad players' who do not understand your skillful play and then keep getting lucky against you – or even that poker sites rig the games against you.
These defenses are all well and good. They explain your frustration and keep you believing that you'll break through one day…
Except you won't break through.
You need a change of mindset to do so.
These defenses hold the huge majority of players back. Once you get over them you can start to work on your game in a constructive way, to give yourself a real chance of breaking through.
Here are my 3 ‘core realizations' which players need to make in order to start constructively working on their games. I'll deal with each point below.
- – Poker is not rigged, and you are not the most unlucky player who ever lived.
- – If you can't beat bad players then you will get crushed by strong players.
- – You are not some innate super-talent, you need to study and work hard on your game.
Realization #1 – Poker Not Rigged, You Are Not Exceptionally Unlucky
There have been billions of poker hands played online, even the smaller sites are in the 10's of millions. These hands are tracked by the various tracking services and individually by millions of players using databases like Holdem Manager 2. You know what, the deal is random. Any perception you have otherwise is not supported by any evidence over large sample sizes. It is 2013, let us put this ‘rigged' thing to bed once and for all!
Luck in poker is short term in nature. While a downswing can be brutal, the upswings will eventually compensate. What holds players back is blaming ‘bad luck' as an excuse not to work on their game… the chance element evens out in the end, get over it.
Realization #2 – Too Many Donks Are Impossible To Beat
I know, I know, you read the strategy, studied the forums to see how the experts handle certain situations and played that hand damn ‘perfectly'. Then, *boom* some idiot who did not have a clue about solid poker strategy made a bad call and cost you your stack. This keeps happening again and again… and its getting to the point where you feel the only solution is to move up levels to where people understand your play and don't make those stupid calls which end up costing you.
This thinking is extremely common, and deeply flawed.
First, players who make bad – as in negative expected value – calls are the easiest of all opponents to beat. Sure, they will stack you with some random hand occasionally, but you have a positive edge every time you play them. Over time you will accumulate money and they will lose it, period… all you need is to play as many hands as possible.
Secondly, poker strategy never works in a vacuum. It is never a case of ‘do x for $$$ every time'. The core of strategy is about playing against an individual opponent – if you are incapable of adjusting your strategy to exploit players who consistently make negative expectation plays of their own free will then you need to work on your game. Instead of thinking about the ‘best way to play hand XX in situation YY' you should focus on the best way to exploit the weaknesses of players who make mistake ZZ.
If are not capable of understanding the adjustments needed to beat the worst players then those players who are capable of doing this will take your bankroll. They will see your tendencies and weaknesses and play in such a way as to exploit them, sometimes taking small edges repeatedly and sometimes attaching big leaks.
Newer readers, please – poker is about learning to spot and exploit the weaknesses of your opponents. No ‘bag of tricks' will help you for long if you do not understand this!
Realization #3 – You Are Not Some Natural Talent
Sorry, I'd love to bring you the happy news that you are the next poker superstar – and that you need not work on your game along the way… unfortunately it just is not true. In fact, poker is tough, if you do not work hard on your game those people you label ‘lucky donks' who have put in the hours will have an edge on you…
What is more this edge will only grow over time.
You see, the players who study their hand histories, locate and plug their leaks, go through areas with friends (virtual or real), read, watch videos and think about how they can maximize the value by changing their bet sizing in different situations (for example) are the ones who will show a profit over time.
The players who feel they know enough and simply log on and play will find themselves getting behind.
What is more, those who get a solid foundation through study will be best equipped to add new ideas and strategies to their games. Instead of an ‘trick' they can integrate ideas into their solid understanding, knowing how and when to use the new idea to max advantage.
Luckily you can make fast improvements in this area by simply taking one hour of play from every 5 hours and using this for study instead. Or of course you could always blame bad luck!
Playing Great And Still Losing – You Can Become A Winner
I'll end with some good news, you can become a winner – anyone of average intelligence + and a little motivation can beat online poker.
How far you go depends on how much effort you put in. Not just to education, but aspects like site / table selection, focus on the games and bankroll management too.
Once you get over the ‘excuses' holding you back you can make the decision on whether to commit to the task of becoming a long-term winner, or relaxing and treating poker as a bit of fun – while enjoying the occasional win.
Plug For My SNG Course: If you are at the stage where you would like to build a bankroll, then please check out my free course ‘The $16 / Hour SNG Blueprint'. This will take you from novice to making $16+ per hour grinding Sit N Go tournaments over 4 parts. I wrote this to help build the audience for my site – and it continues to get fantastic feedback.
Related Article
