Suckout King
03-24-2006, 12:32 PM
. If you are making the transition from offline to online poker here are a few nuggets of information that you really should know about:-
1) view hand histories. On 80% of sites you will actually get to see your opponents mucked cards. Many people know this little secret but many don’t. It gives you really valuable information that otherwise you not get to see and you don’t get to see in the real world.
2) Make notes on players – software can help you here. Nothing beats good notes observed by yourself. Just remember that people can be different at different stages of a tourney/ different times of day. Poker Tracker (http://www.pokertracker.com) and other software programs can help you get all the info you need on players which is great. The info you type about them will get stored on your pc and be viewable for when you next meet.
3) Utilise software programes. To some people there are ethical questions in using software to help you play – for others it is all fair game and something which adds to their profits and reduces their headaches. You should at least be aware of what is out there and what you opponents will be using.
i) Poker tracker (http://www.pokertracker.com) and its equivalents – tracks your online stats AND those of your opponents who you play against. If you play 100 hands against someone then you can use PT to show you what hands they have played, what percentage of flops they have seen, how aggressive they are etc. This software has made me over 1000$.
ii) odds calculators – if you struggle to calculate odds etc then there is software out there (some of it free) that can do this for you.
iii) Bots- I don’t know much about these but sometimes people will get pokerbots i.e. computer programmes to play their hands for them. I don’t know the extent to which this goes on but it is definitely something to be aware of.
iv) Data sites. There are a number of sites that give you data on your opponents whether or not you have played them before. Some information is free. On pokerstars thepokerdb.com (http://www.thepokerdb.com) will show you all the times your opponents have finished in the money in MTT’s on that site. Some will go further and give you detailed statistics on their playing style. Some of these cover several poker sites and generally when the information is extensive $$$ is involved. www.pokerprophecy.com (http://www.pokerprophecy.com) is one such site.
4) Don’t abuse speed buttons and pay attention to the speed in which players act. The speed buttons are great but you have to watch that you don’t give any unwanted information to your opponents when you use them. Similarly the speed that someone (on a fast connection) takes to do something IS often very material to what they have. People often get sneaky with this and pause to try to get some sort of action. Still it is something to exploit.
5) Make use of chat. Many players don’t use chat, if it distracts you that’s fine but use it well and it can help get reads on your opponents and help get them to act in a particular way.
6) Cut down distractions - many players are watching TV, reading a book, browsing the internet, speaking to their children, making phone calls etc or just playing in 20 games at the same time. Reduce your distractions so that you can focus where your opponents are not.
7) Watch opponents before you play them – before you sit down at a ring table watch your opponents for a bit, look up poker tracker and see if you have notes on them. That way you will know more about them when you sit down together. The same can be done in multitable sit and goes and towards the end of MTT’s. Bring up the other tables on your screen (if it doesn’t distract you too much) and watch how the others are playing. This will help you get an edge and neutralise the edge that some of the others will have over you.
8) Get the best deals. Why play in a game with no $$ added when you can be in a game with 1000$ added. Similarly why not earn bonuses from playing in ring games, if you want to play on the same site all the time then why not get some rake back? Look out for our private tournaments. These generally have money added. Also look at my guide to exploiting poker site bonuses.
1) view hand histories. On 80% of sites you will actually get to see your opponents mucked cards. Many people know this little secret but many don’t. It gives you really valuable information that otherwise you not get to see and you don’t get to see in the real world.
2) Make notes on players – software can help you here. Nothing beats good notes observed by yourself. Just remember that people can be different at different stages of a tourney/ different times of day. Poker Tracker (http://www.pokertracker.com) and other software programs can help you get all the info you need on players which is great. The info you type about them will get stored on your pc and be viewable for when you next meet.
3) Utilise software programes. To some people there are ethical questions in using software to help you play – for others it is all fair game and something which adds to their profits and reduces their headaches. You should at least be aware of what is out there and what you opponents will be using.
i) Poker tracker (http://www.pokertracker.com) and its equivalents – tracks your online stats AND those of your opponents who you play against. If you play 100 hands against someone then you can use PT to show you what hands they have played, what percentage of flops they have seen, how aggressive they are etc. This software has made me over 1000$.
ii) odds calculators – if you struggle to calculate odds etc then there is software out there (some of it free) that can do this for you.
iii) Bots- I don’t know much about these but sometimes people will get pokerbots i.e. computer programmes to play their hands for them. I don’t know the extent to which this goes on but it is definitely something to be aware of.
iv) Data sites. There are a number of sites that give you data on your opponents whether or not you have played them before. Some information is free. On pokerstars thepokerdb.com (http://www.thepokerdb.com) will show you all the times your opponents have finished in the money in MTT’s on that site. Some will go further and give you detailed statistics on their playing style. Some of these cover several poker sites and generally when the information is extensive $$$ is involved. www.pokerprophecy.com (http://www.pokerprophecy.com) is one such site.
4) Don’t abuse speed buttons and pay attention to the speed in which players act. The speed buttons are great but you have to watch that you don’t give any unwanted information to your opponents when you use them. Similarly the speed that someone (on a fast connection) takes to do something IS often very material to what they have. People often get sneaky with this and pause to try to get some sort of action. Still it is something to exploit.
5) Make use of chat. Many players don’t use chat, if it distracts you that’s fine but use it well and it can help get reads on your opponents and help get them to act in a particular way.
6) Cut down distractions - many players are watching TV, reading a book, browsing the internet, speaking to their children, making phone calls etc or just playing in 20 games at the same time. Reduce your distractions so that you can focus where your opponents are not.
7) Watch opponents before you play them – before you sit down at a ring table watch your opponents for a bit, look up poker tracker and see if you have notes on them. That way you will know more about them when you sit down together. The same can be done in multitable sit and goes and towards the end of MTT’s. Bring up the other tables on your screen (if it doesn’t distract you too much) and watch how the others are playing. This will help you get an edge and neutralise the edge that some of the others will have over you.
8) Get the best deals. Why play in a game with no $$ added when you can be in a game with 1000$ added. Similarly why not earn bonuses from playing in ring games, if you want to play on the same site all the time then why not get some rake back? Look out for our private tournaments. These generally have money added. Also look at my guide to exploiting poker site bonuses.