Online Poker Playing Strategies

Before the Internet came along, all poker games were played face-to-face. This meant that opponents could see the physical reactions of each person against whom they were competing and try to determine the strength of their hands based on patterns of prior behavior. In poker jargon, figuring out whether an opponent is likely holding a weak or strong hand based on their reaction patterns is called a ‘tell.’

Then it all changed. Online poker hit like a hurricane a few years ago and has been steadily growing in popularity ever since. Obviously, playing poker online removes the ability to see your opponents and be seen by them. This increases the chance element of the game. After all, when you can see your opponents and figure out their probable hand strength through their ‘tells,’ poker becomes more a game of skill, and less a game of chance.

Want proof that online poker and its different strategies shook up the poker-playing world? Here’s a name for you: Chris Moneymaker. This guy was literally unknown in professional poker playing circles until he swept into the 2003 World Series of Poker and beat the best of the best to win it all ($2.5 million). So where did he learn to play? That’s right – in online poker rooms!

Mixing Up Your Betting Patterns

Several of the famous pros he beat lamented that they didn’t know the guy, so he had a distinct advantage over them. In other words, they weren’t familiar with his ‘tells,’ which increased the amount of guessing they had to do. To his credit, Moneymaker employed one primary strategy he learned by playing online, and it worked beautifully among all those top players in face-to-face games. He mixed it up.

When you play online poker, the game becomes more about the actual cards and less about psychology and your opponents’ physical reactions. To be sure, online players still bluff and often fall into predictable betting patterns that better players will pick up and use. But what Moneymaker became a master at was mixing up his betting patterns, which essentially eliminated his online ‘tells.’

Mixing up your bets simply means taking unusual chances with weak hands and giving up good opportunities with strong hands – all with the goal of throwing off your opponents in order to win big pots. You might implement it by playing a few hands in a predictable manner: fold weak hands, bet strong right off the bat with strong hands, and bet timidly with average hands. That’s what most players expect their opponents to do when they do not know them.

After a few rounds of this normal play, you will have established yourself as nothing special to your opponents. They’ll think they have you pegged and probably disregard you. That’s when you strike! Start mixing things up by betting strong on weak hands. You’ll probably cause a lot of folding by your opponents, since your early pattern was to fold weak hands. They’ll assume your hand must be strong since you stayed in and raised. Easy money for you, at least for a few hands.

Then, fold 10 hands in a row, no matter what you’re dealt. That may be poker blasphemy to some, but if you want to win big pots over the long haul, you have to establish a pattern, then deviate from it.

Finally, lure opponents in by betting timidly early on with a strong hand. Just call bets or check – don’t raise. Once you’ve got several opponents thinking you’re holding an average hand, the pot will be nice and big. That’s the time to raise! They’ll realize you suckered them, but it’ll be too late.

It’s a good tactic for all of us who play online to emulate. The idea is pretty simple, but takes practice to develop it to the point where it’s second nature. Try playing in the rooms where you use play money until you’re comfortable with this technique. Who knows? You might become the next Chris Moneymaker!

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