Perhaps I’m one of the few that will admit it, but many years ago, when online poker was new there were at least a couple times when I loaded up my favorite search engine and entered such queries as “how to win at poker guaranteed”, “secrets of online poker winning”, and even “how to cheat at online poker”.
It is not at all uncommon for new players, or even long-term losing players, to dream that answers to such questions exist, and that a magical poker genie can make their dreams come true. But this is a poor strategy, to say the least. Players are quick to find any number of external factors that they can blame their failure on, but are slow to take responsibility for their own mistakes.
You win by having a traditional poker hand, and the amount you win is determined by the machine you are playing on. In video poker, just like regular poker, you will be given five cards. With those five cards you'll want to achieve a winning poker hand (royal flush, straight, full house, flush, four of a kind, three of a kind, two pair, jacks or better). This is a discussion on Why can't I win online? Within the online poker forums, in the Cash Games section; I consider myself a pretty good poker player. I usually crush the local home games where.
Winning at Video Poker. One of the things that makes video poker so popular is that it can be beaten, if you consistently make the right decisions. This makes online video poker even more appealing. Since most people who play don’t consistently make the right decisions, the casinos that offer video poker don’t have to worry about going out.
Winning at poker isn’t easy. The vast majority of people that play the game are long-term losers. In fact, even those who devote a lot of time to learning the game may still be unable to become profitable players. Below I’ve outlined some basic tips to get players started, but I must stress that these only scratch the surface. Poker is similar to sports betting, both can be beaten in long-term spans just like modern day stock exchanges.
Proper Bankroll Management is Paramount
The reality is that until you let go of the “get rich quick” mentality, your poker career probably isn’t going to go anywhere. Many poker players, even winning poker players, end up busting their online poker accounts, wiping out weeks, months, or even years of effort, simply because they don’t know how to manage their bankroll. If you move up in stakes every time you win, and fail to move down in stakes when you lose, it is almost inevitable you’ll eventually go bust.
If you’re a winning SNG player, you shouldn’t be playing a game where you can afford fewer than 40 buy-ins with your bankroll. In ring games, if you’re a fixed limit player, you’ll want to stay at stakes low enough to allow for a 300-500 big bet bankroll. When you exceed 500 bets, consider moving up in stakes. When you can afford fewer than 300 big bets, you need to move back down in stakes, and rebuild your bankroll.
The same scenario applies for NL and PL ring games, but we base these on having a 30-50 max buy-in bankroll. If you never deviate from this plan, it becomes impossible for you to truly ever go bust, and your chances of becoming a successful poker player will greatly increase.
Don’t underestimate the importance of protecting your bankroll. In a sense, doing so is all that matters. The level of risk also depends on how much you rely on poker for your income – are you a professional or a recreational player? Taking shots, moving up in limits, and dropping back down, are factors that all players must consider. However, a player can be a little less risk averse if they aren’t relying purely on poker for their income. If they go broke, at least they won’t be ruining their livelihood. That isn’t to say you should take more risks if you’re a recreational player, but doing so won’t cripple your ability to make a living.
The opposite is true of a player who relies on poker for most or all of their income. There’s no sense in taking unnecessary risks, and protecting the bankroll is of the utmost importance. As a professional player, your bankroll is your lifeblood. Just as a carpenter can’t go to work without his hammer and nails, you can’t go to work without your bankroll. Think of your poker bankroll not as mere money, but as the tools of the trade. If poker makes up your sole income or the vast majority of it, busting out will be a disaster.
When it comes to moving up in stakes, there shouldn’t be much pressure. It’s always a goal of players to move up in stakes and increase their earnings. But it’s also fine to simply settle on a certain limit, and to try and rack up the profits. Don’t feel like you need to move up just because you’ve played at a certain limit for a long time. Move up only when you feel comfortable to do so.
Manage Your Emotions: Avoid Tilting and Steaming
Even if you follow our recommended bankroll advice, tilt and steam are still major factors. To be successful at poker, you need to turn your tilt switch off, or remove the switch altogether.
The best players in poker, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan (durrrr), and Daniel Negreanu are players who rarely go on tilt. But even when they do, it doesn’t seem to affect them much. Learn to control your emotions. Take breaks, relax, keep a healthy diet and sleep regimen, vacation often, and generally do whatever it takes to play poker without emotions. When you combine turning off your tilt switch with proper bankroll management, you’ll be 90% further along than most poker players.
Even with the above information, it will be impossible for you to play your “A” game every time you sit down at the table. Not to sound clichéd, but the old adage of “every hand is part of one lifelong session” rings true. Getting upset over a bad beat, or trying to get even if you are down on the session, might seem important at the time, but such tactics are meaningless long term.
Once you become more experienced, you will find that it’s a lot easier to get a beat on how well you’re playing. Advanced statistical programs like Hold’em Manager and PokerTracker can also do this for you, but it should always be obvious to you when you’re getting outclassed rather than simply being hit by bad luck.
What Hands Win At Poker
Are you losing when substantially ahead? Or are you getting outplayed by superior opponents? If you’re losing hands despite being the statistical favorite, you can certainly garner some solace from your play. After a while, bad beats will simply be a part of the job, and you should be able to laugh them off without any tilt issues.
Exercise Game Selection
No matter how good you are at poker, there will always be certain games where, for whatever reason – and the factors may only exist on that particular day – you can’t win. Maybe players are cheating. Maybe your seat position sucks. Maybe an opponent has scouted you in detail, and is exploiting a leak in your game that you’re not aware even exists. Whatever the case might be, swallow your pride and leave the table when you’re struggling to win.
Too often, players persist in believing that they have a massive edge at that table, even though the evidence clearly shows that they’re struggling – if not taking a flat-out beating. Of course, there is a fine line between giving up an edge, and recognizing when something isn’t right and simply stopping for the day. But one thing is clear – if you’re a winning player, you’ll always find games you can beat. So why stay seated at one where you’re struggling to stay afloat?
The poker media likes to create an atmosphere of glamour, making idols of the best players in the world, and turning the game into a chase to the top table. While this makes for great TV, it’s a terrible distraction for those looking to maximize their profits.
Firstly, few players have the talent to beat other elite-level talent. Players like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu don’t exactly grow on trees. It’s a huge mistake to play against players of a similar or higher skill level, rather than focusing on getting into games with fish. Come up with a strategy to beat bad poker players.
Game selection is one of the most crucial factors in becoming a profitable player. In a sense, the above tips are meaningless unless you exercise good game selection. Making the most money playing online poker is a matter of finding the worst players around, and beating them. It’s as simple as that.
Tips for Winning More at Poker
Now that we’ve covered the fundamentals, here are some other tips for winning money playing online poker:
- Use Poker Software – Tools such as PokerTracker and Hold’em Manager with Heads-Up Display (HUD) are critical components in improving your poker game, and will help you build an edge over your opponents. They will track your play, and that of your opponents. These poker tools can also analyze your results, and show you where to improve. Every few months will see upgrades and new features being added, keeping you on top of the latest developments and trends. These are 100% must-haves for anyone serious about online poker.
- Subscribe to a Quality Training Site – Going with a monthly training site, like Deuces Cracked or Card Runners, can be one of the most affordable ways to get a leg-up on the competition. Most training sites offer a large selection of videos, produced by professional players and active forums. These can be a great way to view and learn from experts at an affordable price. Most training sites will come with yearly or monthly fees, but there’s usually a free trial period as well.
- Consider Poker Coaching – This is not important during the initial stages of your poker career, but once you find yourself reaching a level you can’t beat, you might want to hire a poker coach to get you over that hump. Today’s market is stuffed with poker coaches, and many of them are pretenders, so it’s important to do your own research before making a choice. Top end coaching can cost upwards of $300 an hour.
- Post Hands, Discuss Strategy – Develop a group of professional or semi-professional players with whom you can exchange hands and discuss strategy. Posting hands at forums is another excellent way to discuss your approach and receive advice from seasoned players. Two Plus Two (2+2) is the largest internet poker forum, and is the place where many WSOP Main Events winners learned their game. Greg “Fossilman” Raymer is a notable Two Plus Two participant who has achieved considerable success.
Poker Online You Can Win Money
Here conclude the tips I have for winning money playing online poker. I wish you the best of luck.
Why can’t I win money at online poker? Where am I going wrong? What do I need to do to improve my poker game?
I don’t know. Those are some pretty vague questions right there. Maybe if you sent me some stats, graphs and a few hand histories then I might be able to do something. Then again, this isn’t really much of a dialogue, so that’s not going to work either.
However, what I can do is give you a bunch of reasons as to why you can’t win money from online poker and ideas for what you could do to improve. How does, say, a nice, round 26 reasons sound?
Reasons why you lose money playing online poker.
- You’ve played 1,000 hands. Ever heard of variance? Don’t draw any conclusions until you hit at least 10,000 hands, and even then you can’t really rely on the results from that sample size. Just play lots of hands before you resign yourself to the losers’ corner.
- You don’t use bankroll management. If you don’t use BR management, you’re never going to be able to consistently win money from poker. And no, I’m not just saying that to scare you.
- You play too many hands. Sure, all hands in poker have a chance of winning, but then I also have a chance of having a threesome. Just because an event can happen it doesn’t mean that you should put your money behind it. The odds aren’t always going to be in your favour.
- You undervalue position. How many articles and tips is it going to take before you start to understand that position is actually way more important than you think it is? Have you not noticed how much easier it is to play from the button than it is UTG?
- You make minraises before and after the flop. Why? Raise 3BB + 1BB for each limper preflop and bet at least 2/3rds of the pot postflop and you’ll do much better for yourself. See bet sizing for more details.
- You multi-table too many tables. Yeah sure, all the cool kids are multi-tabling but that doesn’t mean you have to too. Take you time and play within your comfort zone. I’m sure that if I had a Ferrari as my first car I would have crashed it. Thank God that I was broke and had to settle for a washing machine with wheels.
- You chase draws too much. Blindly chasing after any and every flush and straight draw isn’t going to pay off. Pot odds will sort you out.
- You make crying calls. It’s nice to be able to see your opponent’s hand at the end, but if it’s costing you money then it’s not really all that nice at all. Learn to be content with your decision and fold if you think you’re behind.
- You blame the poker room and not yourself. PokerStars is rigged!!11!! - of course. It couldn’t possibly that you have leaks in your game could it. Winning players look inward not outward when they are losing.
- You haven’t read any poker books. Even in this high-tech world of training videos, interactive seminars and snowboarding, there is still room for the good old-fashioned poker books. The better ones are still incredibly helpful, so don't overlook them.
- You chase after stats. You are 28/16/2 and apparently you need to play 22/18/3 to be a winning poker player at 6max NLHE, so you force yourself to play less hands and raise more. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Focus on playing good poker and the stats will take care of themselves.
- You play whilst on tilt. Yes, that’s right. Shoving all-in with 63 offsuit UTG is by far the most effective way to get your money back after that bad beat.
- You make fancy plays against micro stakes players.Floating the flop and check raising the turn isn’t going to go down too well if the guy on the other side of the screen is dribbling, scratching his balls and randomly clicking buttons. Keep it simple. Bet your good hands and check/fold your bad hands.
- You don’t value bet big enough. Seriously, crank your value bets up and your winrate will skyrocket. Why bet $20 in to a $100 pot when you can get called by a $100 bet? Bigger value bets = bigger wins.
- You don’t value bet at all. Even worse! If you have a good hand, get some money for it. Don’t be afraid to lose 1 time out of 10 or whatever. Not value betting is like never crossing the road because you’re always afraid of getting run over.
- You call raises with weak hands and then fold to further action. If you don’t have a plan for later on in the hand you’re no better than a monkey clicking buttons. You should always have a plan of action for later streets. Fold on that turn if you don’t know what you’re going to do on the river.
- You don’t continuation bet.Continuation bets can pick up loads o’ little pots. Adding the cbet to your game is an instant winrate booster.
- You continuation bet too much. Easy now tiger, cbets are good and all but not necessarily 100% of the time. On some flops you’re much better off checking. See this video on continuation betting for a quick quite on when and when not to cbet.
- You don’t double barrel. This is often because you just cbet too much. If you’re not prepared to double barrel then hold back on those cbets.
- You double barrel too much. Just because your continuation bet got called it doesn’t mean you need to go ahead and throw the kitchen sink at your opponent to get them off the hand. Pick your spots.
- You triple barrel too much. I think this is going to be the biggest bankroll rapist. Poor triple barrels are going to ravage your bankroll until it’s a quivering mess.
- You don’t 3bet enough. If you’re not 3betting your AKs and AQs against loose raises you are missing out on easy money. Put money in the middle with strong hands.
- You call too many 3bets. If you raise and get 3bet by a tight player, what sort of hands do you think your AJo is beating?
- You don’t get rakeback. This isn’t going to fix the root of the problem, but if you’re a break even or marginal losing player then rakeback can turn you in to a winning player overnight.
- You play when you’re tired or drunk. As a rule of thumb, if it's not legal for you to drive, then you shouldn’t play poker either. As sad as it is to say this, think of poker as a sport. You need to be in good condition, otherwise your results will suffer.
- You have a “lucky” hand. No, J3o isn’t lucky and it’s not going to win you any money.
Any of those help you out?
Oh, and for what it's worth, you definitely can win money from poker. Have a look at how much money you can win playing online poker.
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