How to Win at Online Poker

Many players new to online poker think of the game as comprising daring all-in moves, big bluffs and subtly deceiving opponents as to the strength of your hand. While all of these aspects of the game are important, there are some fundamental principals behind all poker games that can improve your success – and thus your profits.

This article looks at the key elements involved in poker, where both chance factors (randomly dealt cards) and skill play a role. We start with the core concept of ‘expectation’ – looking at where your poker profits will actually come from. Next we introduce some of the basic math required to be a consistent winner in the game. Finally bankroll management is covered, and its importance to winning at online poker in the long-term discussed.

Imagine, for a moment, a game where ‘perfect’ poker was played. Every bet, every raise and every fold was ‘correct’ according to the odds on offer and the information about other’s hands from their history and betting patterns available. Who would win in this game? There answer of course is whoever was dealt the best hands – so over a long period of time, as the chance dealing evened out, there would be no winners.

In reality poker is never played perfectly, yet over time we are all dealt the same number of good, bad and medium hands. The fact is that the winners in the game make more money with their good hands and lose less money with their bad hands. We make money in several ways – including making fewer mistakes than our opponents, maximizing returns by adjusting bet sizes and adapting to the tendencies of specific players.

The core of any game involving betting is ‘expectation’. The best way to think of this is to imagine that a situation (hand) was played out 100’s of times. If your bet or call would make money over time, then the chance factor involved in the cards will even out. How to win at online poker involves making a series of ‘good’ decisions – with a positive expectation. In order to do this we need to understand some (very) basic poker math.

Though poker math may seem daunting to the new player it is actually very simple. The two components are ‘pot odds’ and ‘outs’. Pot-odds simply refer to the odds you are getting (or giving) for a bet or call compared to size of the current pot. For example if the pot is $5 and it costs you $1 to call a bet you have 5-to-1 pot odds. If the chances of winning the hand are better than 5-to-1 then over time you will make money by calling – you have a positive expectation situation. If your chances are less than 5-to-1 then you will lose money over time, whether or not the ‘chance factor’ in the cards mean you win this particular hand.

‘Outs’ refer to the number of unseen cards in the deck that will help your hand, compared to the total not yet seen. This will change according to which poker variation you play. A good example is where you have 4 cards to a flush with 1 card still to come. Of the 13 cards of your suit you have seen 4, you have also seen 2 other cards meaning there are a total of 46 cards still in the deck. So you have 9 ‘outs’ out of 46 cards – your chances of making a flush are 9/46 or around 4.6/1.

When you know your outs and your pot odds you are in a position to decide whether you have a ‘positive expectation bet’. In this example if the pot-odds were only 3/1 you would lose money over time, if they were 5/1 then you will win in the long term. Winning at online poker involves making good (positive expectation) decisions based on odds and outs – doing this consistently will win money over time, regardless of the outcome of any individual hand.

Bankroll management is a key to winning at online poker. This involves only playing with a small amount of your total bankroll at any single table. The reason should be clear from the preceding discussion. If you have all of your poker bankroll on the table in one hand then positive expectation decisions could easily lead you to go broke – the chance factor will overtake the ability to make ‘good decisions’. Imagine the same draw to a flush, but this time with pot-odds of 10/1. You have a great situation here, getting 10/1 on a 4.6/1 chance will win a good amount of money over time – however if you are playing with your whole bankroll on the table at one time then this same situation will lead you to go broke the vast majority of the time!

To summarize, winning at online poker involves making less mistakes than our opponents, winning more with good hands and losing less when behind. We measure success in terms of money won – in order to win money in the long run you will need to take positive expectation situations. Understanding some basic poker math can show you when a bet or call has a positive expectation, managing your bankroll correctly will enable you to take these good situations without going broke.