8 Tips for Getting Started in Online Poker

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8 Tips for Getting Started in Online Poker

25 October 2008 13 Comments

To be successful in online poker, it is important to understand the fundamentals from the start. Knowing the fundamentals of the game will help in many ways: It will help you avoid losing your initial deposit; instill good habits and help you appreciate the game of poker as a skill game.

Educating yourself with online forums and poker books, as well as taking advantage of sign-up bonuses can go a long way!

If you want to maximize your chances of success in online poker here are 8 tips for getting started.

1. Hit the Books

In order to really understand the core concepts involved in playing poker, I would recommend reading as many poker books as you can get your hands on. There are poker books for all types of poker games and are cash or tournament specific. Here is a collection of books that will get you started:

2. Learn Basic Strategy

Before jumping into online poker, you should have a basic understanding of poker fundamentals. As you gain experience you will learn how and when to deviate from the basic strategy but if you stick to the following you will be off to a good start:

Positional Awareness

In games like Texas Hold’ Em, where the betting order is set by the movement of the dealer button, your position relative to the button is vital. You should be tight and play less hands when in early position, and be looser and play more hands in late position.

Understand the value of starting hands

When deciding whether to enter the pot you need to take your starting hands into consideration. As a beginner you will need to make tough decision once the flop hits depending upon what type and how many players are still in the hand at that point.

If you play a tight game (by playing less hands) but higher quality hands, then you will have easier decisions to make after the flop. This is beneficial especially when you are playing against looser opponents as you will have a better hand than them more often once you get to the flop. See here for a Starting Hands Chart for No Limit Hold’ Em Bankroll management The essence of bankroll management is to have enough buyins for the table stakes you are playing at in order to limit your chances of going bust. If you are playing $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’ Em with a $100 bankroll, then you could “go broke” with a mere 4 buyin downswing. Here is a more detailed explanation of proper bankroll management.

3. Listen to Poker Podcasts

When you are sick of reading, or stuck in traffic, you can fire up your ipod and get your poker fix. Here are a few shows that we listen to here at Complete Poker Rules.

Cash Plays (from Poker Road)
Big Poker Sundays (from Poker Road)
Two Plus Two Pokercast (from 2+2 Publishing. Hosts formerly of Rounders the Poker Show)
See here for more info on Poker Podcasts.

4. Take Advantage of Signup bonuses

One way to build up your poker bankroll quickly is with poker room bonuses. Full Tilt Poker is offering a 100% deposit bonus (up to $600). See the poker rooms section for more bonus offers and poker room reviews.

5. Use PokerTracker

PokerTracker is software that allows you to analyze your play as well as your opponents. It imports your hand history files as you play and updates it’s database in real-time. The PokerTracker HUD (heads up display) will give you key statistics about your opponents at the poker table.

PokerTracker Features

Track your play as well as your opponents (Cash games and Tournaments)
Chart your poker bankroll over time
Replay hands to analyze your play
Track your Starting Hands selection by table position
More statistics than I could begin to list here!

6. Peer Support

Especially in the early stages of your poker life you should rely on peer support for advice and leverage the wisdom of crowds. Here are a few poker communities that are a valuable asset to any poker player:

Our very own Hand Analysis section.
Flop Turn River Poker Forums.
Two Plus Two Poker Forums.

7. Watch Poker Videos

Reading books and forum posts can be dry at times so there are some great poker video tutorial sites you can turn to in order to help your game. GrinderSchool.com offers a wide variety of poker tutorial videos covering cash games and tournament play. Free videos are available for you to check out before signing up. (If you like the videos, they offer coaching as well!)

8. Subscribe to Complete Poker Rules

Keep up to date with strategy articles, poker resources and hand analysis posts by subscribing to Complete Poker Rules.

Photo Credit: afrogum

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13 Comments »

PokerPlasm said:

I like No. 3 a lot. Its an area I haven’t looked at much, so I need to. Just never think about it when I am looking for some poker knowledge and now I will. Good piece here, there is some great information for a beginning player looking to make a mark.

# 28 October 2008 at 3:57 pm

Grundy said:

Yeah, you make it seem so easy a caveman could do it. (i.e. PokerPlasm)

I used to listen to poker podcasts but they got too much into event coverage. I can watch TV for that. I just subscribed to Cash Plays to give it a try.

# 28 October 2008 at 4:36 pm

Jackmack said:

Well, I’ve already done number 8 so I guess I’ll start from the bottom up. Looks like some good tips here to help me elevate my game beyond breaking even against my 8 year old.

# 29 October 2008 at 8:31 am

The_Gov said:

Very well written and informative. Some sound advice here for any type of player, not just the beginners. The only suggestion I have is to remind players that some of the best education is actual play and home games and/or poker leagues are great way to try out the new found strategies without putting too big a dent in their bankroll.
Thanks!

# 8 November 2008 at 2:57 pm

DoNotFollowTheHorse said:

Are there any other ways to build up an online bank roll that are similar to the $600 offer you mentioned?

# 8 November 2008 at 9:15 pm

Bassw said:

Nice article, please do add pokernews strategy to the #7

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy-videos/

Lex is doing video’s there and I consider him on of the best players I know online! Next to Lex there’s also Mig.com, Genius28 and Patrick Antonious

# 18 November 2008 at 10:11 am

Bassw said:

Nice article!

On #7: please add:
http://www.pokernews.com/strategy-videos/

Lex is doing videos there (Best online player I know) together with Antonius, mig.com and Genius28

# 18 November 2008 at 10:13 am

play games online said:

Great tip. Thanks for sharing with us. I really like it very much.Winning over a poker game is not an easy task. You need to have some basic skills and knowledge of a particular game. Knowing the basic rules and techniques will give you a definite edge over your opponents.

# 22 November 2008 at 10:05 am

PokerPlasm.com - 9 Poker Concepts To Watch For in 2009 said:

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# 4 January 2009 at 2:01 pm

The Poker Jerk said:

More fishies should read Doyle Brunson’s books!

Great post, especially the info on podcasts and forums.

# 6 January 2009 at 10:29 am

Steve Brogan said:

Great article. Could not agree more. I have a total of 29 poker books so far. I have read the Brunson and Harrington books at least three times over the last two year. If someone were starting up, this post would give them enough to start with. You can always learn more. And get more out of the books you read.

# 31 January 2009 at 5:03 pm

KC said:

I’m especially fond of Number 2 - Learn Basic Strategy. When I first started, I pretty much played NLHE tournaments and nothing else. While I managed to get quite good at them, I most certainly was not a complete poker player (obviously). When I finally branched out into Pot Limit and Limit, and started playing Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo, I realized there are a lot of basic poker concepts that players must learn to get to the next level. These concepts transcend any particular poker variation you play.

As a result of gaining this basic understanding, I now believe I can play somewhat proficiently in almost any variation. Recently, I started playing Badugi. While the rules seem different and strange, it still gets back to one thing - if you know your basic poker concepts, you can be successful at it.

KC

# 18 February 2009 at 5:17 pm