1. As a beginner, the most important thing is to start very small. Too many new players either start playing too high stakes or move up levels too quickly and as such find themselves losing their online money and constantly having to re-load. If you deposit $50, then play either free money or the microstakes ($0.01/$0.02) until you become comfortable with the rules, software and discover how to profit from the game.
2. Play within your bankroll. Do not take shots, play in games you are comfortable playing in. I remember when I started I played 5-10 NL one time with only 2k in my account. I was super scared, won a pot and left but I easily could have lost. I definitely was not comfortable in that game. Even today I play 1-2 and 2-4 NL and PLO sometimes because I feel super comfortable in them.
Cash Games - I would suggest leaving yourself some outs as they say. If you lose a session you cannot go broke ideally. So with 50 dollars id probably leave myself with at least 20 buy ins to the game, so you could buy in for $2.50, but lets just say $2. So you could play 1-2 cent cash games. These have a buy in of 2 dollars, and you can move up if you win.
Tournaments - I normally suggest having 100 buyins for tournaments if you are playing professionally. If you are playing for fun, you could probably play 2-5 dollar tournaments. I remember when I started I had 55 bucks or so, played a 3 dollar buyin with 1700 ppl and won it for like 700 dollars, was a huge boost.
3. Be patient! We all hear stories of players who deposited once and moved up to $1000/$2000 NLH in the space of three months. Most of those stories aren't true or require exceptional circumstances. Give yourself plenty of time to become comfortable with the game, and only play with the spare time you have when you are relaxed and feeling good. Winning poker comes through practice and patience, but cannot be rushed so don't force yourself to play too much.
4. Tighten up your starting hand selection. Many new players find themselves tempted to play too many hands pre-flop. Chances are, if you are playing the micro-stakes as you should be, the standard of your opponents will be very low and they will be playing too loose. The best way for you to combat this is to tighten up and only play good starting hands. Only play hands like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, AK, Aqs until you get comfortable playing the rest. They are easier to play and don't get you into as much trouble as the KJ, KQ etc.
5. Do not tilt. I cannot stress this enough, I believe mental stability is paramount while playing poker, especially no limit holdem. The ones with the clearest minds will definitely prevail over the long run. That's what I accredit most of my success to.
6. Be observant. When learning the game you should devote all of your attention to the table you're playing at. Look for who is playing loose, who is playing tight, who likes to bluff, who tends to fold too easily and so on. You'll be surprised how much information you can get from your opponents in a relatively short amount of time online. If it helps, keep a note of each thing a player does at a table. Absolute Poker allows you to do this by right-clicking on the player and selecting "note".
7. Study the game! If you are serious about becoming a winning poker player, you need to read as much as possible about game strategies. These will accelerate your learning process massively as they will suggest new ideas about the game that may not have occurred to you otherwise. In particular look for articles on understanding pot odds, starting hand selections and bankroll management. Many poker magazines offer these along with the better known poker books so they could be a good investment to a beginner.
8. Learn all the games. I did this when I started out, if there were no good no limit games but a really good mixed game I would play the mixed game because I knew how. It gives you a chance to take a soft spot and exploit it, something most NL players are not capable of. I like HORSE and I think that's a good place for people to start.
9. How to spot a fish. Generally, while playing cash or tournaments people who limp generally are not too good. When I see a limper in my games, ill usually try to isolate him and play pots against him. For example, I was playing a 2500 satalite to the WPT championship a few days ago and there was one guy who had shown down 92s after he limped and hit a hand. He limped and I isolated 3 times in a row, the third time getting his stack.
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About the Author
Ivan has been immersed in the poker and gambling culture for more than 10 years. From the age of 18, Ivan has been actively involved in poker.
Internet is the right place to play online poker. Many poker room is in internet, there are some poker room are regulated and popular as Titan poker and Party Poker. Enjoy Playing fame online and stay in your home, online poker give you chance to play poker from your home, you didn't need to go out to play. Now in internet, you can play with other players from around world, it's nice experience than play with just some players in the some town.
