How to Beat Online Poker Part 1

This is a multi-part guest article in which Egor, creator of the hottest poker bot on the web, explains what it takes to derive an income from playing online poker.

How do you make a good online poker player? Well first you need to start with a good offline poker player. That is a basic and necessary ingredient. Then you have to add some technical know-how and arm him with some really cool gadgets. Finally, he will need to have special training in multi-tasking and be able to think and act fast in critical situations. Put it all together and you have somebody who is capable of making a semi-reliable income at the larger online poker rooms.

But there are some finer nuances that need to be tuned as well, if the player wants to maximize the return on his efforts (and who doesn’t). So let’s go over this in detail. Let’s build a successful online poker player from the ground up. Let’s name our player Fred. And let’s get started.

The single most important aspect for long-term success is that Fred understands where the real money is made in poker, either online or off, because if he goes fishing in a dead lake he is only wasting his time and energy. That’s right – some lakes are dead and have no fish to be caught. You see this all the time. Many players are happy to sit in an unprofitable game for various reasons.

The biggest reason they do this is because they simply don’t know how to gauge the environment. The second biggest reason they do this is because their urge to play poker, a fun gambling game, overpowers their resolve for making an income. This is akin to having a gambling problem. As long as they are seated and the cards are being dealt they fall into complacency, and are happy just to be playing.

A serious player goes fishing where the fishing is good. Fred needs to be cognizant at all times of his environment and what table is his best target. He needs to move to that table at his first opportunity. And once there, he needs to stay aware of where the best table target is and move again when the next better opportunity arises, no matter how much fun he thinks he is having. This is absolutely critical, and not doing this is the number one reason why semi-professional poker players fail.

There is a third popular reason that (otherwise good) players will sit in a game with a poor expectation. It is because of ego. They will sit in the toughest high stakes game in the house to try and prove their metal, wanting a chance to beat the best players in the room. They want to be seen as a top player and desire to build a reputation. I’m here to tell you that this is counter-productive if your goal is to earn money. In fact it is better to fly under the radar. Stroking your ego is rarely a valid motivation for any pursuit that is worth your while. Just drop it. We won’t let Fred near these games, even after we get him geared up to compete in them admirably.

Like it or not, most of your profits from playing poker come from the very worst players who are simply giving their money away. Fred’s income will not come from being a little bit better than most of the other guys at the table. That will likely not even cover the house rake. Fred will be finding, befriending, and following from game to game the worst players he can locate. That is the only sure-fire formula for poker success.

That being said, there are different kinds of really bad players. Fred will have to be trained in recognizing the different types and employing the correct counter-strategy to use against each of them. That’s what a pro does. And that’s what we will be discussing in part two of this article series. Until then, keep your fish-finder charged.