Pooh-bah post: A general guide for aspiring online poker players

[CasinoR7]

Excellent guide.

[couchspud]

I'm convinced that I'm the biggest fish in history. In any case, thanks for the post.

[Ironic]

^ Any chance you'll tell us your poker username? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[GoBucksIndy]

What are your favorite sites for rakeback?

[aaokwitme]

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Table Selection

Another often overlooked concept in poker. To make money in poker, you have to force your opponents to make mistakes. When they make mistakes and misplay their hands against you, you profit (see Sklansky’s book below for more info on this very important poker concept). Take this concept a step further: play against players who tend to make the biggest mistakes, which translates into a bigger winrate for you. We’re trying to maximize our winrate by using every advantage we can find, so why are many players content to sit at tough tables? Maybe they’re lazy.. or maybe they want to improve their game, and that’s great, but here’s an example of the benefits of table selection:

Ray and Jay are of equal skill in 6max limit games.

Ray routinely sits in the first open seat he can find at a $5/$10 table, and grinds out a winrate of 1bb/100. He spends 100% of his poker time actually playing the game.

Jay spends 90% of his time playing, and the other 10% looking for tables with higher than usual see-the-flop percentages, and/or known weak players. He plays at soft, fishy $15/$30 tables that are about equal in skill level to Ray’s random $5/$10 tables. Jay earns the same 1bb/100 winrate.

Assuming Ray plays 100 hands an hour, and Jay plays 90 hands an hour (table selection), do the math yourself and see the difference in hourly earn. Seeking out softer tables / soft opponents is well worth your time.



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What tools do you use to to check your oponits play and what do you look for?

[raze]

I appreciate the kind words from everyone, thanks guys.

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What are your favorite sites for rakeback?

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My favourite site for rakeback is raketherake.com. I've gotten rakeback through them at several poker rooms over a couple of years without a single problem, and they have very friendly customer service.


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What tools do you use to to check your oponits play and what do you look for?

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I think the best thing to do is to always make a note when you come across a very loose player who plays too many starting hands and goes too far with them. They are an enormous source of chips [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Always be on the lookout for these players, and make use of the buddy list, as most sites provide them.

Another tip, and I can't believe I forgot to mention this in the OP, is to periodically go into your Poker Tracker database, and filter for fish. When I played on Party (with their excellent buddy list feature), I did a lot of datamining, and once a week I would filter my database for players with:

- over ~50 hands played
- VP$IP over 50%

I would then enter this entire list of players into my buddy list, and instantly I would have another 50-100 fish to chase down on the tables. At the beginning of every session, I would run through my buddy list, get on the waiting list for every good table, and then take the 3 or 4 best seats (ie. directly on the left of the fish for isolation) and play. This little routine tacked at LEAST 2bb/100 onto my winrate, and probably a lot more. Take a look at your current site's software for anything you can take advantage of to improve your earnings.

[GoBucksIndy]

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What are your favorite sites for rakeback?

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My favourite site for rakeback is raketherake.com. I've gotten rakeback through them at several poker rooms over a couple of years without a single problem, and they have very friendly customer service.


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Thanks for the prompt response. I asked the question in a confusing manner. What I meant was, which poker sites are your favorites for rakeback?

[raze]

I change sites every once in a while based on where I think I can make the most, but currently at Titan I'm getting 35% rakeback, plus bonus (essentially bottomless), plus VIP perks which works out to just over 50% rakeback I think. Combine that with soft players and decent table selection at my level, and it's perfect for me; however, you can do much better than 50%, depending on your game, stakes, etc.

I'm not up on my site research, but take a look through
http://www.bonuswhores.com
http://www.pokerlistings.com
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/po...Board=rakeback

Also, consider getting a prop player deal (just Google 'prop poker player'). You usually have to play HU and short-handed, but you can find deals that pay up to 130% rakeback.

[kimchi]

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Keep A Spreadsheet

It’s a good idea to keep track of your bankroll. This way, you can see where you succeed and fail, what limits / sites seem to produce results for you, etc. Most importantly, it keeps you honest with yourself about your results. If you’re a losing player, please don’t worry – it’s a fact that more than half of all poker players are in the red, due to rake. You shouldn’t ignore it or lie to yourself; you should accept this fact, and do your best to find exactly where the leaks are in your play, and fix them.

Personally, I keep a weekly tally of my results under the following headings: Date, site, initial balance, main game, hours played, winnings, bonus/rb earned, comments. At the end of the week, I fill in all the results of the past week, and set the initial balance to start a new week. I find a weekly tally is better than daily because a) its less work b) it takes focus away from the inevitable losing days and thus reduces the effects of variance on your mental state.


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www.pokerdominator.com does all this for you. It's free and I highly recommend it.

[bacats32]

this is one of the best post I have read. I wish I would have read it a few years ago when I was still ignorant and even though I was ok poker player I wasn't a winner. I didn't become a true winner until I humbled myself to alot of things that were said in this post. Self evaluation, I didn't know proper bankroll management, and most of all the pride of grinding the micro-limits. Excellent post thank you very much.