Winning poker is not just about taking down the big pots and stealing the blinds. Winning at poker online isn’t about only playing when you hit premium hands.
Many poker online players conveniently forget the big hands they lose or put it down to bad luck – and this is a huge hole in a lot of players games – Losing big hands costs big cash.
Seriously how many times have you got well ahead in a tourney only to blow it on one big hand that eventually you figured you’d lost – yet still chucked in loads of chips because you were “pot committed”? How many times have you had a winning session only to decide to gamble on making a load more on just one more hand because it looked promising – and then ended up having your stack after you got carried away even when the cards just didn’t sit right?
A chance to cut your loses
The important thing is that 9 times out of 10 you could have seen it coming and you had a chance to cut your losses – and yet you didn’t. Recognizing this hole in your game and seeing a hand is going to be expensive to stay in means that losing less becomes winning more.
Let’s face it if you’ve got a draw to a monster hand or makings of a great hand the chances are those big cards you’ve hit on the flop have more than likely helped the other player(s). You need to be looking ahead seeing problems as well as the opportunities in the cards and take note of the way best online poker players are betting.
If you’re up against a very tight online poker real money player and he’s raising back at you before the flop – you must be thinking he has a strong hand and expect he is going to make you pay for every card along the way – maybe this isn’t the time to chase a draw with you suited high cards – is just going to be too expensive to be worth it.
Think ahead of everything
Maybe you’ve made a straight on the flop but there is a flush draw out there, of course, you’re going to crank up the pot. You want him out before he hits his flush. But you have to be thinking, what if the next card makes the flush am I up against a player who is going call a big net and make a big bet if he hits his draw? Then when he hits his flush, you’re already expecting his massive bet, you’re already thinking how your hand has gone bad and you’re already looking to get out – you’ve thought ahead.
Expected odds are when you call a bet or raise based not on pot odds or what’s already in the pot but on what you expect to be able to make on future rounds – If you’re on the flips side i.e. the victim, then you have to also assess your early bets based on what you think the future calls could cost you. If someone has called your big raise then you’ve got to be prepared for them coming straight back at you when their hand hits and yours doesn’t.
Losing small pots when you’re trying to pick them up or generate some action is fine – this is where you can make good money using skill and leading players by the nose – you won’t win every one but when you lose it won’t cost you your seat or all your money – but being led by the nose and adding to big pots even when your beat is where you lose the most.
Happy playing!
Read more:
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Beat Your Opponents with Freeroll Tips in Poker Online