3 Can’t-Miss Ways to Win More at Poker
Every online casino game has its own charms and advantages.
Baccarat has a certain debonair elegance. Slots boast that sense that a massive win might be awarded on any given spin. Blackjack brings an appealing sense of simplicity with a hint of danger. But even so…
…there’s just something about poker.
No other game carries quite the same mythic quality. Poker has inspired countless truly great movies, songs, and stories. It’s been a force to be reckoned with for generations of players, with high-stakes poker games already the stuff of legend in American Wild West of the 19th century.
The game has even entered the English language itself! After all, when was the last time you heard someone talk about their coworker’s “baccarat face?”
At the same time, poker’s place as a central part of online gambling is reiterated again and again by major deals that make industry news. Even as today’s industry pivots to embrace Live Dealer platforms, Virtual Reality, and more and more games originating in non-Western markets, it’s important to keep in mind that the rise of online gaming had everything to do with the poker boom of the 2000s.
The whole online casino world is based on poker! And though trends come and go, poker remains its beating heart.
And throughout all of poker’s remarkable history, players have wanted the know the answer to same, simple question: how can I win more money at the table?
This answer has inspired millions of pages of writing, with tips ranging from the highly specialized.
But these tips tend to focus on in-game strategy. And while strategic skills provide players with a massive edge (and while thinking about strategy tends claim most players’ time and attention), focusing on them can obscure simpler truths.
Sometimes, it’s the most straightforward ideas that can have the biggest impact on a player’s bottom line. So, without further ado, here are three sneaky-genius tips to win more at poker.
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1) Isolate Weaker Players
“If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, you’re the sucker.”
– Rounders, 1998
There is one key difference between poker and all other forms of casino gambling: in other games, you play against the house. In poker, players try to win money from one-another.
The obvious implication is that skilled players can and should win much more against inferior ones than they can against one-another.
So, the next time you sit down to play, think less about making position bets or raising pre-flop with pairs, and spend more time focusing on the people you’re actually playing against. If you can identify weaker players, then good things will likely follow.
What are some signs of weak poker players? They may regularly limp in, i.e., call a lot of hands without making many bets or raises of their own. They may play far too many hands, or pay to see a lot of flops before folding to the first bettor.
Or, less commonly but still relatively often, you may run into a weak-but-aggressive player – one who makes crazy raises, goes all in in non-sensical situations, and so on.
Once these opponents have been identified, a clever player can go out of their way to go against them in as many hands as possible. This may mean re-raising their bets so as to drive out other opponents, or it may mean simply playing with a looser selection of hands when that opponent is in the pot.
Whichever way you look at it, though, your successes are sure to increase playing against the weakest opponents available.
2) Stick to Weekends
If the first tip has to do with seeking out the weakest players at any given table, consider also when lessor competition is likely to be found.
What quality of opponent is one likely to find sitting around the table at 3 in the afternoon (or 3 in the morning, for that matter) on a Tuesday? Generally speaking, most people who play at those times are either grinders or pros… they’re the ones who can afford to not be at their day job (or to not be asleep).
Conversely, most recreational players prefer to play on the weekends. They’ve finished their work week and want to let off some steam playing a game they enjoy. They’re tired, they’re distracted, and they’re significantly less skilled than more serious competition.
For most players, this means that playing only on weekends leads to playing easier opponents…
…a situation in which a clever player can sometimes score their biggest wins, without necessarily expending their biggest effort.
3) Play on Soft Sites
After considering how to identify and isolate weaker players, as well as when they are more likely to play, it also pays to consider where they can be found.
With so many strong poker sites available, today’s players can look beyond mainstays like PokerStars, GGPoker, and the like. Consider sites that don’t necessarily cater to top poker players, but are primarily oriented towards sports betting instead. These sites often offer poker as a secondary function on their site, which brings in plenty of inexperienced players who don’t know much about basic strategy.
What does this mean for a real shark? A feeding frenzy.
Sure, the software won’t be as smooth or elegant as at top poker sites, and HUDs may be hard to come by.
But players who can make their peace with these facts can feast against opponents like these. And it likely won’t require a high level of strategy to do so! A simple, solid, tight-but-aggressive style can go a long way on sites like these.