Tips for Online Poker Rookies

So, you’ve just started your poker career and are looking for some hints to help you gain an edge over your participants. Starting out in poker is never easy, as the game is largely based on more experienced players exploiting those who are starting out in the game.

Here are some basic tips to help you protect, and even build, your bankroll as you take the first steps towards poker excellence.

One of the first things you’ll be required to do when you start playing online poker is to choose a nickname. While thinking up a nick might seem like a small step towards getting down to playing at the tables, the fact is, it’s an important one.

Your nickname is the first impression other players have of you and will dictate the way they respond to your plays. If you’re a beginner you’ll want to avoid giving your inexperience away, and should try to come up with a name that’s funny or catchy, without being descriptive of your age, experience level or gender. Something that signifies intelligence will cause other players to treat you with respect.

One of the easiest mistakes to make while playing as a beginner, is to miss out on flush draws due to the red and black colour scheme used for regular playing cards. To avoid losing money to players who hit flushes on the turn or river, go to your poker provider’s options section and turn on four colour decks. When each suit is given a different colour it’s extremely unlikely you’ll miss out on flushes and bet your bankroll away when an opponent is holding the nuts.

Beginners are often tempted to show their cards to opponents when the rules of the game don’t require them to do so. Unless you’re using card showing as a part of your strategy, avoid doing this. The first thing it tells your opponents is that you’re a beginner.

Showing cards can also annoy other players at the table, who are likely to respond to you more aggressively in later plays. The aim of poker is to keep your opponents guessing, not to provide them with free information on what you’re holding and how you’ll play it.

A common mistake amongst beginners is to make minimum bets (equal to the big blind) into the pot when they make hands on the flop. While it is good practice to bet into a pot when you’ve made a hand on the flop or are striving to test the strength of other hands, a minimum bet accomplishes nothing.

Bets should be used to gather information on how strong your opponents’ hands are and to push weaker or speculative hands out of the pot. You should be betting 3 times the minimum from the flop when you hit a strong hand. Any player who calls, is either holding a competitive hand or on the verge of a flush or straight.

This is one of the common poker mistakes that leaves rookies looking and feeling ridiculous. Amongst the most frequent mistakes rookies make is to go all-in pre-flop as soon as they’re dealt pocket face cards, with pocket aces a favourite for this senseless play.

An all-in bet pre-flop generally scares other players out of the game and wins a pot consisting of the blinds. A better option is to mask a strong hand by either placing a minimum bet or checking, with the intention of trapping opponents later in the hand. Alternatively, a strong bet pre-flop will increase pot value, and hopefully get a couple of other players committed to the pot.

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