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Online poker is the same in most respects as live poker,
but in many other ways it's also a creature all its own. There are some
players who don't play well live but crush the competition online, and vice
versa. The best path, of course, is to be a player who can play well no
matter the environment. To help you start down that path by mastering online
poker, here are a few tips to increase your expected value.
1.) If your poker site of choice is capable of allowing you to play more
than one table at a time, do it.
Almost every major poker site on the internet today allows you to play more
than one table at a time, or "multi-table." The number of tables you can
play varies site by site, but most sites that are capable of multi-tabling
allow you to play at least four tables at a time. Some sites will allow you
to play up to eight tables simultaneously! If you're an even remotely solid
player, you're basically multiplying your hourly expected win rate by the
number of tables you play. This is a great way to build a bankroll and move
up in limits.
2.) Use the pre-select check-boxes selectively.
Those little check-boxes at the bottom of the table - the ones that let you
decide what to do with your cards before it's your turn to act - can be very
useful if you're multi-tabling four or more games, when the number of
decisions you're required to make at once can be overwhelming. But if you're
only playing one or two tables, don't use those boxes. Most of the time you
won't have to make multiple decisions at once, and anyone at your table
paying attention will notice you using the check-boxes and use that
information to their own advantage.
3.) If you play no-limit or pot-limit games, don't play more than two
tables at once.
Big-bet games are a special animal when it comes to multi-tabling. While some
folks have the innate talent to play more than two tables of big-bet poker
at once, most of us fall outside that category. That's because the big-bet
games require a lot more thinking to make proper decisions at any given
juncture. You have to pay closer attention to your opponents in these games,
something that's very hard to do if you've got more than two tables open.
Where multi-tabling fixed-limit games increases your expected win rate per
hour, doing so with big-bet games can actually lower your expected win rate
if you play beyond your capability. Be smart and stick to one or two tables
of big-bet poker at a time.
4.) Don't mix your games if you multi-table.
One of the best parts of playing poker online is the wide variety of games
available at any given time. However, mixing games can be very dangerous for
your bankroll. Say you're got two tables of Pot-Limit Omaha running, and you
jump into one table of Limit Hold'em and one of Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. Having
four tables open at once has already increased the number of decisions
you'll have to make per minute, but now playing two different games at once
has increased the chances of you making a big mistake and costing yourself a
lot of money. Imagine if you forgot in the heat of the moment if you forget
that one of your PLO tables isn't hi-lo split, and played for the low on a
table where only the high hand wins the pot! That's a lot of risk in
comparison to the rewards of playing multiple games at once.
5.) Avoid using the chat function provided by most online poker rooms.
If you're just playing a friendly game online to have some fun chatting with
your fellow players can be an entertaining part of the game, much like the
banter at a live poker table. But if you're out to make money, keeping chat
on might end up tilting you. If you're multi-tabling and you tilt because
some jerk starts berating you in chat on one of your tables, the
consequences could be even worse - the amount you might lose on one table
could end up being the amount you lose on every table. Most sites allow you
to turn the chat function off, and doing so is a smart move. The amount of
information you gain about your opponents from chat is minimal compared to
the information available from how they play the game - focus on that and
you'll do better in the long run.
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