Simple Online Poker Strategy

 

While playing online you cannot see your opponents, cannot hear the inflection of their voice or pickup any body language tells. Without all of this information, how do you gain an edge?

 

Watch how they bet and what hands they play

Keeps a written or computerized tally on which players at the table are winning and what hands they are winning with. This will give you an idea of the type of player they are and the type of hands they play. It will also let you know your chances of winning in a hand against them. Since they are forced to show their cards you are able to see what type of hands they expect to win with. Also, watch to see if they are always or never buying flops, playing erratically or folding under pressure. This will give you more information about how to bet against them to win the hand

Get them to talk.

 

Playing online you are usually left with only being able to read the cards. However if they allow you to chat, this will give you the ability to learn more about your other players as David Negreanu does - by conversation. If you can learn a little bit about them as a poker player, you can gain an edge at the table. This goes along with the next step, Inflate their ego.

Inflate their ego.

Ask them about their biggest win. Ask them what their favorite casino is. Ask them anything to get them talking. Since you can chat with your opponents you can gain an edge. They will be more likely to talk to you if you talk about them, instead of about yourself. The more you talk with them and learn about them the better chance you have in beating them in the next hand.

Argue with them.

Although I don’t recommend it, you can gain an edge by getting someone upset and mad at you. They become fixated with beating you in a hand to show you “who’s boss” and usually end up giving you most of their money. Again, this is not something I recommend and I have done it only once.

I won a fairly large pot by getting into an argument with someone who disagreed with my hand. He disagreed that I played a Seven Five suited and won. He then wrote some not so nice words. I let him know what I thought of his opinion and the text feud began. He let his emotions get to him and I dared him to play me the next hand that I played. I was dealt a good hand, Jack Ten suited, and started betting heavy. Those that had seen the argument got out of the way quite quickly. He played right into the palm of my hand and I ended up taking the pot and a lot of his money. He subsequently left the table after that hand.

There are many ways to gain an edge in online poker. You don’t have to see someone to gain an edge over them. Follow these strategies, play good poker and you’ll come out ahead at the end of the day. Good Luck!