Online poker can be a great pastime when waiting for the results of your parlay bets, but it’s not a game to be taken lightly. It’s actually one of few gambling games that require real skill to play. There’s a little bit of luck, as always, but skill is key as you’re playing against other players, not the dealer or the house.
However, poker takes a lot of practice to master, but it also demands learning. That’s why we wanted to explain some critical tactics you can use in online poker.
Naturally, there are plenty of tips we can give you, but it would take a whole book to explain them all. Let’s begin with three of the most important ones, which you can master at an early stage and still hope to win more than you lose.
Tip #1: Start With Free Online Poker or Micro Stakes
Alas, the first tip might not be the most exciting one to all players, but it’s the one beginners definitely need to hear. If you’re not a pro player, you should definitely start small. Ideally, you should play free online poker first or start small with micro-stakes.
If you want to spend some money, it’s best to stick to $0.01/$0.02 blind games. You can also go up to $0.25/$0.50 blinds, but not above. The lower the blinds you go for, the more money you will have in your bankroll to play.
In reality, whatever the lowest values you can find on the sites you prefer to play, are the blinds you should stick to until you’ve gained some experience and won several sessions. Preferably, you should do this for at least a week or two, or even longer if you feel the need.
But why does doing this matter? It’s simple, playing for free or with low stakes will get you to stop thinking about winning big and start thinking about the basics. It will help you fully learn the fundamentals, like hand rankings, positions, starting hand selection, and even basic poker terms.
And yes, poker does come with a lot of unique terms, even when you’re not playing live, because online poker games won’t guide you through everything.
Since you’re playing online poker, it’s smart to keep a page with the hand rankings open on the side (unless you’ve already memorized them) and also one with preflop charts. These charts tell you the best move to make based on the two cards you’re dealt.
Tip #2: Always Join the Pot With a Raise During Preflop
A fundamental law of aggressive poker, or the type of poker you should definitely be playing online, is to always enter the pot by raising preflop. Preflop being the early stage, there’s simply no way to win later on unless you raise.
In other poker games, calling immediately after the big blind is common. However, there’s a reason why it’s called “limping”. Players consider this move a weakness and will look at you as a passive player. In other words, they’ll likely look to take your chips.
However, if you raise at this stage, you’ll enter the pot strongly and make the others think you have a strong hand, so they might decide to fold preflop. As a result, you’ll win the blinds. And if the game moves on, you can still win later by building up the pot with great cards or by simply bluffing your opponents out of the game.
By raising preflop, you show others you’re the captain, and they will likely look to call you, which gives you the chance to determine the price of the following cards.
Bear in mind that there’s still one situation where you don’t need to raise and should call instead. If someone has already been limping before you preflop, you should definitely just call the bet. You’re effectively allowed to overlimp them because there’s no reason to increase the value of the pot. The pot is already bigger, and the price to get to the next stage has just become cheaper, so there’s no need to invest more than that minimum.
Bonus tip: It’s also good to re-raise preflop often. This is good for the same reason as raising preflop. You get more ways to win the pot. If a player has already raised and you’ve followed with the same move, you get the same benefits just multiplied.
Tip #3: Avoid Calling Many 3-Bets Preflop When You’re Out of Position
If you’ve never played online poker, this entire tip might sound like gibberish, but it’s still one of the most important rules to know. So, if you don’t already know, here are the basics to help you understand this tip:
- A 3-bet is a poker term for the preflop re-raise. The first bet are the blinds, i.e., the mandatory bets at the start of the round, while the second one is the raise players make upon getting their cards. So, in other words, the 3-bet is what follows and what we’ve already explained to you in the bonus tip.
- Out of position (OOP) means you’re in a position where you need to act first in every round or after the flop. OOP includes all the players who play immediately after the dealer, i.e., the two blinds and early-position players, like under the gun (UTG).
So, in essence, if you call a 3-bet out of position, you’re effectively raising even if you don’t know what the other players might have. You’re just paying a premium fee to stay in the game and putting more of your chips in the pot when you have no idea what the players are thinking about the newly dealt community cards.
This is simply a terrible thing to do in poker, because OOP means you’re simply at a disadvantage. It doesn’t matter how good of a player you are, it’s just that this is a cardinal rule in the game you can’t surpass, no matter what you do.
So, if someone 3-bets you and you’re OOP, you should fold, or raise (which is called a 4-bet) but only if you have a premium hand with two Aces, two Kings, two Queens, or an Ace and a King.
Bottom Line
There you have it. Playing for or with low stakes, joining the pot with a raise in preflop, and avoiding calling re-raises during preflop are some of the most fundamental tips you should take to heart if you want to play online poker like a pro. They’ll help you master the game faster and win more games than you ever hoped as a beginner. Particularly the first one, which can also help you hone the other two.
