Online Poker

As a beginner, you should definitely stick to Texas Holdem. Don’t get sick of the game on account of a bad beat or two you suffer and move over to the Omaha or Stud tables, which are less popular and probably less competitive too… Less popular they may be, but less competitive they’re certainly not. At Holdem tables, you’re able to battle with more experienced players from relatively equal footings thanks to the luck factor which in this case – is your friend. The luck factor works in a different manner in Omaha and Stud, so you won’t be able to “take advantage” of it there.

Now that we got game-selection out of the way, let’s see how you should begin your online poker adventure. The biggest and most popular poker rooms out there offer all levels of competition at pretty much every limit, and sometimes even the play money tables are OK. If I were you I wouldn’t choose such a big poker room to begin my career at. The reason is simple: Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars may offer certain player benefits that you – as a rookie – might not be able to understand and value. As a consequence you’ll ignore these deals and create an account just to hit the play money tables. That’s a pretty big mistake right there. I’ll tell you why: Full Tilt Poker for instance offers 27% rakeback. This, of course is not flaunted on their site as they’re just as happy, if not happier with rakeback-less players. You go ahead, create your account, hit the play money tables, learn the rules, learn some strategy, advance to real money, become somewhat successful and then learn about the special offer. It is no longer attainable for you though because your account cannot be converted and Full Tilt will not allow you to create a new one. This is just one example, there may be other such benefits out there that you’d be missing.

From just about any other point of view though, joining a big poker room is a good move. Their software is great, and they offer the right type of environment for learning. Mind you however: the fact that you can beat play money tables doesn’t really mean a lot when the time comes to move on to real money. You’ll see that not only are real money opponents more difficult to persuade to relinquish their chips, but you’ll also be struggling against a merciless enemy that won’t ever give you a break: the rake.

In the beginning of your real money career, try to stick to SNGs. SNGs offer great individual odds for players to finish in the money, even as the initial investment/potential winnings ratio isn’t great. You shouldn’t be looking to take down huge tournament winnings at this stage. You should focus on slowly building up your bankroll. Choose a poker room which offers great beginners’ freerolls (in which up to 5 players can finish in the money).
Read up on bankroll management, and make sure you only move up the buy-in levels when it truly makes sense to do so.