At first you will have to play just for fun and with a limited bankroll. You have to know that playing for fun money won’t get you competition. In these poker rooms there is hardly any competition at all.
You can see on TV different poker tournaments that are transmitted live and you might be tempted to imitate the players there. You must not do that because on TV they don’t show the entire game, they only show a couple of hands and the final hands. And the thing is that you don’t have the experience of those pro players.
Beginners make many mistakes like playing too many hands for example. They wish for a miraculous turning around of the odds, they think they will get lucky at the next hand and receive the cards they need and they don’t quit on time. If you are ever in doubt, just fold if your cards aren’t that good and you are not so good with calculating odds. Even if you make a mistake, the probably is low that when you do the exact same moves that mistake will occur again. At the same time, don’t stick to your one pair too much, not any pair of cards can win the game and you must learn to give up before it’s too late. But use your instincts wisely to see if the opponents are bluffing.
When playing online and especially if you are a beginner, don’t exceed your budget ever! You must be very careful with the games you are entering in. If your bankroll is, let’s say, $500 then do not enter tables with bids over $2.5/$5. Because if you do that, you might end up loosing all the money in just one extended unlucky hand. Experts say it would be a good idea to play from your $500 bankroll $100 a day tops, excluding winnings. If you win and the bankroll grows bigger, then you can extend the limit.
But first of all, before playing, you need to learn. Buy a book, attend some courses online, get experts to teach you , learn as much as you can not only about the game itself, but about its strategies too. After you have the theoretic notions, we must put them at use. Exercise as much as you can. Even 6 hours a day if you want to become a professional poker player or at least to make serious many. The good line about online poker is the fact you can keep your theory book close to you even while playing. If ever unsure, check the book.
Almost all online poker games providers give you the possibility to select 4 color deck, so you will see each suit in a different color. This option is useful because after hour of playing it might happen that you have a flush and you can’t tell it, or you can’t tell the others have.
If you really need money or you are in debt, playing poker is not recommended unless you can control your winning desire. There are big chances that you will lose and the debt will grow, and so you will have a bad opinion about poker and wining, when it is actually your fault.
At all times you must stay alert and don’t let anything disturb you: no television, no e-mail writing and no telephone. Don’t play after you had a drink because alcohol can alter your decisions if too much was used.
