Online poker has gone through quite a few phases, from the initial launch in the late 1990s, to the Poker Boom of the early 2000s, to Black Friday in 2011, when online poker in America was completely banned, all the way to the proliferation of online poker regulation in jurisdictions such as Ontario, Canada.
When it comes to online poker, Canada is one of the biggest markets in the world, and the success of regulated igaming in Ontario is serving as a wakeup call to other provinces that seek to protect consumers against unscrupulous offshore operators while generating much-needed revenue for responsible gaming efforts.
If you are new to online poker real money games, or you haven’t played the game in a while, we have some great tips to get you started and put you on the right track.
It is worth noting that poker is an incredibly complicated game with many different formats and a whole strategy to learn for each of them, but some tips hold true in almost every situation.
These are the top five tips every poker player should know before they get involved with real money games and that you should absolutely not miss.
#1 – Tight is Right!
This may be one of the most commonly heard phrases in poker rooms around the world, and that’s because it holds true for the most part.
Quite a few poker players take this tip to an extreme and play way too tight, waiting only for the absolute premium starting hands to get involved or only betting when they have the absolute best possible hand after the flop.
However, playing a reasonably tight poker strategy is almost always right in cash games, early phases of tournaments, and most other scenarios.
While there are definitely times it makes sense to widen the range of hands you play, a new player will do better sticking to a tighter strategy and missing on some profitable spots than playing too many hands and getting destroyed by the more experienced players.
Play extremely tight in early positions, as there are so many players still to act after you, and widen your opening range as you approach the button.
Avoid playing too many hands in the small blinds when there is a raise in front, but remember to defend your big blind against small opens with plenty of hands simply because you are getting such a good price.
#2 – Play Aggressively
Playing tight definitely does not mean you should play like you are afraid to lose. Once you do decide to get involved, you should always do your best to apply pressure on your opponents.
If you have managed to create a tight image, other players will believe you when you claim you have it, which means you can get away with plenty of bluffs as well.
If you are going to get involved in a poker hand, you are almost always better off coming in as the raiser or re-raiser than calling other players’ raises or limping into hands.
The same goes for post-flop action, as aggressive bets and raises will give you a chance to win many pots without having to fight too hard for them.
When you play aggressively, you give yourself more than one shot at winning the pot and also build the pots up for when you do make monster hands.
The tight and aggressive approach to the game is the one used by many professional poker players and will work like an absolute charm against most mediocre players you will encounter at the lower levels.
#3 – Specialize in One Game Format
Poker can be played in many different formats, whether it’s cash games, tournaments, sit and goes, or any other variation that’s been invented in more recent years.
You will do best by specializing in one game format, as this will enable you to learn the proper strategies to beat the game and stick to them.
If you try mixing too many different game types into your portfolio, you will end up making mistakes in each, misusing strategies that work in one format but not in the other, and generally playing worse poker.
While you can definitely play more than one game format in the long run, as a new poker player, you should probably focus on mastering one game before you extend yourself to others.
#4 – Remember to Study Poker
Perhaps the biggest mistake most poker players make is that they stop studying shortly after they master the very basic elements of the game.
This is why you will often encounter players who have been playing poker for 30 years but have barely advanced past the first level of thinking, as they simply don’t understand how much there is to learn about the game of poker.
There are many different ways to study poker, and you can really pick the approach that suits you best in this day and age.
Just speaking for myself here, but I know my poker game is in a good place when I obsess over relatively small mistakes and they are few and far between.
Poker is a game of mistakes.
Like golf, when pros attack the pin from 100 yards out, they are trying to make it, but…
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) March 15, 2023
At the very least, you should try to watch good players play poker, either live or on TV, and try to deduce why they are doing the things they are.
However, actual study sessions with poker software, reading books or articles, or signing up for poker training courses will actually do miracles for your game in the long run.
#5 – Control Your Emotions
Beating low-stakes poker games is generally not too difficult and can be done even with a modest level of poker knowledge.
However, most players still lose, and it is the tilt factor that really makes it impossible for them to turn into winning players in the long run.
At the poker tables, everyone will experience winning and losing sessions alike, and it is important to be the kind of player who understands they have to lose at times and who can take the loss.
In fact, most poker players lose after losing just one or two hands and end up losing massive on a session that could have easily been a slight loss or even a small profit.
Work on your emotions and tilt control even harder than you work on your actual game, and you will see your results improve dramatically with every passing week.
