Poker Articles Index

10 Key Poker Skills

Online poker is now one of the most popular pastimes on the Internet—millions of people play everyday, with varying degrees of success. But, how can the average player hope to succeed against so many opponents with wildly differing levels of skill?

Know the Lingo

What’s a "tell"? The "river"? A "flop"? A "fold"? No player can expect to succeed without a basic understanding of the language of the game. Regardless of the specific rules used, poker is a game played with poker cards, and that game has a dictionary of often-used terms. Know these terms. When the game begins, you want to be the player following the action, not the player looking up definitions.

Know the Rules

Is there a limit? No-limit? Is the Ace high or low? Is there a Wild Card? Poker, no matter the game, consists of five cards, but the similarities between the various games dwindle past that point. Omaha Hi-Lo is not the same as Omaha, and neither is the same as Texas (but they are very similar). How can you expect to participate in the game if you don’t know the differences? Make sure you know the rules of the game you are playing backwards and forwards before you click into an online game room. Anything less spells disaster.

Poker Articles

• Origin of Poker
• Top Money Winners
• The Flop
• Be A Shark
• Short Stack Suicide
• Turning Rocks to Dust
• 10 Key Skills
• Playing High Stakes
• Slow Playing

Learn the Math

Poker, like all card games, is a game of chance—yes, there is strategy involved, and yes psychology plays a part, but on a base level, there are only 52 cards in a deck and the odds of getting specific hands are higher than others. Know these odds. Once dealt, there are only a few cards that can improve your hand—if you know what these cards are, and how likely you are to draw them, you can make intelligent decisions.

Learn Discipline

“You’ve got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them…” it doesn’t get simpler than that. Poker is a game of discipline; knowing that you have little chance of winning and then forging ahead is not bravery, it is folly. A good poker player hedges his bets. He reads the situation and knows the right time to back down and fold.

Read Your Opponents

When it comes to psychology, online poker is a little more difficult than a live game. Most players, in person, have a “tell”—some physical tick that gives away whether their hand is good or bad. But, sitting at a computer screen, how do you know? This is where the chat function can be invaluable. No one likes a chatty Cathy, but conversations at a table—even a virtual table—can go a long way towards reading your opponents. If nothing else, you can get a sense of a player’s personality and how he might play (loose, tight, intuitively). The speed of play can also be an indication of how certain a player is of his hand.

Hide Your Hand

You won’t be the only player trying to gauge the status of his opponent’s hand. Remember that the same situation applies to you—your foes in the virtual world are hoping you will give something away, and if you don’t keep this in mind, you just might. Changing up the speed of your play and altering your conversation can throw off a would-be challenger.

Know the Reward

Once other players begin folding, the amount of poker chip going into the pot will also shift. If the hand is not going to let you gain much ground, it might not be worth playing out. This is a hard thing to judge, and it means you have to…

Gauge the Risk

Know the size of your bankroll and how this game (and this hand) will affect your funds. Always keep in mind that this is not the last hand of poker you will ever play: if it’s a bad hand, with little reward, don’t take the risk.

Do the Little Things Well

A great poker player is not the player making the big stands, bluffing his way to the top: a great poker player is the person with his ego in check and a healthy knowledge of the basics. Know your game, know the rules, know your limit, and play accordingly.

Make Mistakes

It is impossible to get better at any game with occasionally making a mistake. This doesn’t mean you should click into a game intending to lose, but it does mean that you should acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them. Any time you lose, you should analyze your play and determine what (if anything) you could have done differently. Usually, there will be something you can take away to improve your future play.