The casino is an alluring place. Poker tournaments are analysed by experts and watched by millions in the hope of collecting winning tips with which they can return victorious to their favourite online casino. The truth is that the real skill in poker comes from reading the game – including your opponents – and there are a number of methods which can be employed in order to have the best chance of emerging triumphant.
Practice Is The Key
It seems an obvious statement, but the old adage “walk before you can run” applies to card games as much as it does to any other walk of life, or in this case, “think before you raise”. The more free games a player has undertaken and the more free tournaments he or she has under his or her belt, the more the game will be understood.
Poker, for example, has a hierarchy of winning hands. If you enter a game thinking that a two-pair is going to bring you riches and push “all in”, only to discover that the next player has three-of-a-kind and the player after him holds a straight, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Familiarise yourself with the hands and play as much free poker as possible – including with your friends in offline games.
Think Tactically
For reasons that are immediately apparent, the “real” game of poker is different from that online. Ergo, the visual or audible “tells” a player may express every time he has a winning hand can give live players a clue as to whether or not that player is bluffing. Patterns of movement, breathing or speech can all betray the cards in their hand.
While these clues do not exist online, this does not leave the online game completely within the realm of luck. It does, however, mean that all we have to go on is the visual clues given out by the players on screen, namely the bets that they make.
“Probe betting” is the act of essentially buying the information that is not available to you through visual tells. When any bet is made in online poker – as in regular poker – the next player must “see” a bet, “raise” it or “fold”. Should you make a bet and your opponents “see” it, it is less likely that their hands are valuable. Should a player raise his bet, it is more likely that the hand he holds is a valuable one.
The difficulty comes when players bluff - raising a bet even though they do not have a powerful hand. This is a dangerous manoeuvre, as you are essentially betting blind. It can occasionally pay off but it is not a long term strategy, as it can become a tell of your own, even in an online game. If a player constantly raises, he becomes easy to read, and opponents will not take your raise as a warning. Before you know it, you have gone all-in and your chips are well and truly down and out.
The Tip of The Iceberg
When thinking strategically, the phrase “keep your cards close to your chest” certainly applies. While practice is as helpful as probe betting, your knowledge of the game can never be complete. There are many packages and tutorials on game play and strategy out there to help you and, if you want to be the best of the best, it is worth seeking out all the help you can get, after all those casino bonuses don’t win themselves. This article is literally the tip of the iceberg.