Thinking about taking your poker game to the next level? Many people out there may have you believe that poker is a game of luck, but there is an element of skill as professionals around the world dedicate hours to the game and earn huge sums of money.
This is because poker is 100% skill-based in the long run, short term luck can play its part but it’s the knowledge and the skill of playing hands correctly that can hold you in good stead for the long term.
So, what elements can you implement into your poker playing that will give you the best chances of success? Let’s start with the basics and work our way up.
Bankroll Management
One of the key aspects of successful online poker players is bankroll management, it’s not just an amount of money you deposit to your account o play poker with, it’s an investment that you want to make a return on.
Make sure that all of the money in your poker bankroll is money you can afford to lose, this bankroll should enable you to recover from losses and have enough money to play through the bad beats and in time deliver a profit from your playing.
This should not be rushed though; it may be slow but rushing to grow your bankroll will nearly always end in disaster.
Using the table below you can calculate what type of bankroll you will need for the different types of poker games you may play.
| Game (Online) | Minimum | Medium | Cautious |
|---|---|---|---|
| No-Limit Hold’em (6-max.), cash game | 30 buy-ins | 50 buy-ins | 100 buy-ins (bb 100) |
| No-Limit Hold’em (full ring), cash game | 25 | 40 | 75 |
| Pot-Limit Omaha (6-max.), cash game | 50 | 100 | 150 |
| Pot-Limit Omaha (full ring), cash game | 30 | 50 | 100 |
| No-Limit Hold’em, 9-player sit-n-gos | 30 | 50 | 100 |
| No-Limit Hold’em, 45-player sit-n-gos | 50 | 100 | 150 |
| No-Limit Hold’em, 180-player sit-n-gos | 100 | 200 | 500 |
| No-Limit Hold’em, multi-table tournaments | 100 | 200 | 500 |
| No-Limit Hold’em, multi-table tournaments (large field) | 200 | 400 | 600 |
Let’s say that you are playing 6 players max no limit Hold ‘Em games, your bankroll should be a minimum of 30x the minimum buy-in for that game, so if it was £20 it would mean a bankroll of £600.
Make sure you stick to a plan and to a certain type of game that you play your best poker at, because if you are best at no limit this is what you should stick to, there’s no point playing Poker you’re no good at.
Play Position Correctly
One of the most overlooked opportunities in poker is utilising your position, being the last player to act has its advantages, you’ll find that when you play poker online, you’ll be able to compose yourself before seeing all the other players reactions to the cards before you decide what to do.
Raising out of position is only going to put your money at higher risk due to other players raising after you meaning you need to call to stay in a hand but over time.
Having patience and utilising your position on a table will pay its way over time.
Play Fewer Hands But Be More Aggressive
Playing tight in poker and not going in on every hand is always a good idea, ideally, you only want to be playing certain hands, the hands that have the best opportunities to win the round.
These hand types are:
AA
AK
KK
You can also go for pairs such as QQ, JJ, etc but the chance of being beaten by an ace if you only manage to hit a pair.
Other hands to consider are suited hands such as AQ, AJ, and A10.
With the top hands, though you can afford to be more aggressive when betting especially if you are playing in position correctly, it will give you a chance to see what people may have before you decide on raising or calling.
Know When To Fold
It sounds simple but knowing when to fold is going to save you a lot of money long term and it’s going to keep you in games a lot longer too.
Going all in with a pair of 2’s out of position is crazy, but calling someone’s bets every round when you have nothing yet there is an Ace in the flop is just as bad in my opinion.
Fold if you don’t have anything, and don’t keep betting and calling hoping that you will hit on the next flop, you will then remove a lot of the luck element of poker and start bringing in the skill aspect.
Find Your Niche
When I played poker, it took me a lot of lost money and time to figure out that I played best in small 6-seater Sit And Go Poker matches, I worked out how many I needed to win to turn a profit per 10 or 100 matches and stuck to it.
I made a small profit and then started playing in other games and lost it all, but if I had stuck to that strategy I could have improved further over time and crushed it, this is when I realised I didn’t have the amount of patience needed to succeed long term and I retired from poker.
Keep Learning
The last and final piece of advice is to keep learning! Read every book you can find from professional players, learn the odds and how to work them out quickly in the game, and try all the latest tech that comes out, anything that can improve your game is worth it.
The moment you stand still is when other players will take you over, you have to keep moving and; learning as you go and if you keep learning you will keep winning.
Remember that if you do not have the patience or if you are losing money that you can’t afford to lose to seek help.
