Improve Your Online Poker Play - Realize That Online Play Is Speedy

You are dealt far more hands per hour online than in land-based card rooms. In fact, the speed of online games is two to three times faster than regular poker games. Since no time is wasted with dealers shuffling and dealing, the cards whiz right along.

Online play has fast action and it’s exciting. It also rewards you in another way: if you play online tournaments two or three times a day for a few months, you will gain the experience of a player who’s been out in the field playing tournaments for five or ten years. Even professional players recognize that dedicated online tournament players can gain as much experience in just a few months as it took the pros years to get. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that you’re going to take more bad beats playing poker online. I’ve heard players complain that they’re unlucky playing online; some of them have even blamed their losses on the online site. But there’s a better explanation than simply bad luck. Since you are dealt at least twice as many hands per hour online as you are dealt in a traditional card room, you’re going to take at least twice as many more beats than you do in a land-based casino.

Whether you took a beat because you were unlucky, or whether it was just the natural result of being dealt so many more hands per hour online, you must maintain your composure when you lose a pot—and that means keeping cool twice as often when you’re playing online. This is not as easy to do as it sounds.

Recognize that luck is the equalizer, the beauty, and the allure of poker. Luck is always a factor in poker, but the best players will get the money in the long run. Luck is the reason that many people play poker: they believe that if they get lucky, they will win. One of the great things about the game is that anyone can get lucky and win one session or one tournament. Even the greenest player can catch cards and win in competition against the greatest players in the world. Of course, if you sit down across the table from great players 365 days a year, you’re probably not going to like your results because, over time, luck is not a factor. In the end, skill prevails in poker.