Online Hold'em Strategy (Part II)

See also

• Online Hold'em Strategy (Part I)
• Martingale Strategy

Swim against the current.
A dusty old piece of conventional wisdom in online poker is to play tight in the loose games and play loose in the tight games. The idea is to assess the action of the table and go the other way - to swim upstream, as it were. It turns out that this is rather a good approach to the smaller online Hold'em tables. As stakes rise, however, the game tends to get more complex and sophisticated, and poker generalities work even less than they do otherwise.

In a small cash game where bets and raises are flying around, you're better off hunkering down and playing very conservatively. In this case, you're basically staying out of harm's way. On the other hand, if the game is really locked down and quiet, it often pays to loosen up your game and try to steal some pots. Again, remember that this is only generally speaking. Each of your individual decisions, from hand to hand and betting round to betting round, will be informed by many other factors.

Know when to fold'em.
With some experience, you'll have no problem knowing when to fold'em in Hold'em. Monster hands have a way of declaring themselves to you, and your concerns become how to wager properly. It's knowing when to fold 'em that gets most people in trouble.

This concept is a corollary to the idea of selectivity with starting hands. Don't chase a pot if you get new information that changes your initial assessment. That information may be strong raises or reraises from your opponents, or new community cards on the table. This is especially true on the flop. "If the flop don't fit, you must a-quit." Something like that.

Knowing when to fold can be just as critical on fourth and fifth street. You should be watching the board for combinations of cards that could give your opponents strong draws like a straight or a flush. As you get more proficient, you should weigh in factors such as pot odds and specialty moves such as the check-raise. More on these later. The essential thing to keep in mind is that you can substantially minimize a loss by folding out of a hand.

Choose the right table.
Many online poker players will tell you that this is the single most critical decision you will make in the game. Serious poker people know that the only way to win money consistently and over the long term is to play at tables with inferior players. When you're overmatched at the table, you will lose in long run, no matter how many good cards you catch in a particular game.

The truth of the matter is that the game of poker can be played at many different levels. You need to be able to honestly assess your own game and stay away from tables where your opponents are too tough. For the new player in the online realm, this usually means sticking to micro-limit tables, low-stakes limit games, or low buy-in tournaments.

In terms of Texas Hold'em, beginners are well-advised to keep their real-money play in the low-stakes rooms initially. If you have a real yen for no limit or pot limit games, consider playing in the smaller single-table tournaments. This is the best way to get a lot of poker playing for a minimal investment.

Study the table.
Poker is a game of limited information, and the more information you have on your side, the better your decisions will be. When you know something that your opponent doesn't know (or doesn't know you know), you have an advantage. One way to gather such information is to study the play of your opponents.

One limitation of the online game is that you can't directly observe the other players as you can in a live game. But that doesn't mean you can't still gather information. Watch your opponents betting patterns and general tendencies. Who's playing tight? Who's playing loose? Is there someone attempting a lot of bluffs? The best time to study the table is when you've already folded out of the hand and have no direct investment in the outcome. If the cardroom offers a note-taking feature, take advantage of this by typing up your thoughts as you go.

Even if your observations don't pay off in the current game, the very act of studying the table will sharpen your skills and help you to think about poker on a deeper level.