Online Poker
Of course, in order to be able to actively partake of Poker, you do have to master these poker rules well. Players who are conversant with the rules won’t accept you near their table if you still have problems with the mastery of basic rules. Poker players you encounter will usually be struggling with the more technical aspects of the game- what stakes to put up, when to bet in order to increase chances of success, when to opt-out of the game to protect their interests…and so on; rather than the basic poker rules which they view as obvious and expect everyone to be conversant with.
It doesn’t help matters that poker is not a single universal game like, say, soccer; where you only have to master one set of rules, and be able to play anywhere in the world. As it turns out, there are numerous varieties of Poker, from the so-called Texas Holdem Poker, to the so-called Stud Poker and onto the so-called Omaha poker (with numerous other varieties in between); each with its own quite unique rules. Indeed, as you come to realize, the only thing that some of these variants share is the name and the fact that they are played with cards. Otherwise their rules can be extremely different.
Well, as a first step, you may consider reading through one of the poker tutorials nowadays widely available on the Internet. If you don’t like the idea of reading, you can still learn the game through the tutorials that are presented in video form. It helps, at this stage, to ensure that you take the most basic of the tutorials, because a vast majority of them are in fact meant for people who are already conversant with poker, and who are only looking to ‘up’ their game – which is not what you are.
There are some poker books out there, too, and this can give you good insight into the basic poker rules. It can be of some help if you can be reading about just one poker variant at this stage, in order to get a good general feel of the game, before proceeding to look at the variants once you have a good general idea of poker. Of course, you can’t claim to have proper mastery of poker rules until you have tried them out in an actual poker game. This is one of the areas where practice really makes perfect. And there are plenty of opportunities to practice poker, even online. You can, for instance, ask for a ‘demo game’ at one of the online poker playing rooms; where you can get to gauge your actual mastery of the poker rules.
Playing online poker is not the same as playing in person, as you cannot watch body language, which is a great advantage if you want to win. However, there are ways you can read the action of other poker players if you know what to look for in an online poker game.
The first thing you should pay attention to is how long it takes the person to place a bet. This is known as the stall. The best way for the stall method to work is that you must know the players in the room. After you play a room awhile, you will get to know the regulars and learn who is an expert. Once you know this, then the stall method will help you know which players are new. Inexperienced players often stall due to the fact they are not sure how much to bet even if they have a great hand. Just watch your step, remember pros are now using the same method to side track you.
Watch for players that have been playing rather quickly and then all of a sudden stall or vice versa one that has been thinking a bit before betting and then bets quickly after being dealt a hand. Either one of these could mean they have something good in their hand. No matter whether you are playing online or offline, you can learn behavior patterns of other poker players and get the edge.
The pattern of poker players is probably the most important factor with online poker. Since you cannot watch their faces, you can still watch the patterns that are there from betting, to calling, to raising. You should pay attention to the way in which each player bets compared to the size of the pot as well. Online players are normally those that play all the time, they have their own routine and patterns, just as in real life. These are things you must learn if you want to win at any online poker game.
Watch those chat boxes. Yes, it can be fun to chat with your friends; however, you can also be heckled just like in real life. A matter of fact, the chat box might be your worst enemy. They can yell at you with all capitals, use rolling smiley faces, and more to distract you from your main goal. You will hear all kinds of insults such as “newbie”, the “game room cheats”, and so on and so forth. Anything to get your mind off the game and watching the other players.