1. Manage your bankroll
Just like playing placing sports bets or playing casino games, never bet more than you can afford to lose! Choose your blinds levels carefully. Typically, better players play high stakes to win more money over a shorter period, but to also eliminate river chasers. Low blind levels have many river chasers because these players don’t mind losing the small amount of money. These players should be playing at a higher blind level.
A good way of determining your appropriate blind level is to take the amount you’re willing to lose when you sit at a table and divide that sum by the big blind. This will show you how many flops you will be able to see if a pre-flop raise has not been made. In poker it is important to sit down at the table with more money then you are willing to lose. A big stack has psychological advantages especially in no limit poker. Once you hit your limit for losses, leave the table with the remaining money!
2. Don’t chase the River
This is a big don’t in poker. If you have nothing and a player is raising post-flop just fold your hand! Most players’ chase the river because they feel the odds are good that the card they’re looking for will come up. Wrong! Take the guessing work out of your game and use a poker odds calculator. These calculator’s are very helpful to inexperienced players and players who have poor math skills.
3. Don’t be afraid to move up a level
The best way to improve your game is to constantly challenge yourself against players. Typically, better players play higher blinds, but of course there are always fish at every level. If you are a winning player with a low blind level, I’d recommend moving up a level or two. If you’re always playing against lesser competition you’ll develop bad habits, and you will never improve your game.
4. Look for betting patterns
Finding the quirks of your fellow competitors is much tougher online than at a home game. It is, however, not impossible. Seeing as how you play countless different players online, making detailed player notes is often a waste time – after all you may never play against the player again! I usually try to identify the player as tight, loose, or mixed. This will give you a general sense of the cards a player has. Tight players only bet when they have something, loose players like to bluff, and mixed players will change between tight and loose in order to trick his/her opponents.
5. Stay cool
Every poker player hates bad beats and river chasers, but it is part of the game. When you lose a hand to a river chaser or just had a bad beat, it is typical for you to go on tilt. When on tilt you make poor decisions, which lead to greater losses. The best medicine is to just accept the loss, no matter how inconceivable it is. After all, you will be on the winning side sometimes! One common misconception poker players have is that poker sites fix their cards. This is totally untrue. Poker sites only earn income from the rake, which they get no matter what. There is no reason why they would fix the cards.