| Best Time for Online Poker There will be certain times when you will have a much better chance
of winning in an online poker room. Playing extremely late will increase the number of
tired and even drunk players in an online poker room. As they say, a fool and his money
are soon parted, so get in there and part with the fools’ money before someone else
beats you to it.
Another great time to play online poker is after a sports
team which was favored to win, wins. This one is specific to a gambling site which has a
sportsbook as well as a poker room. The rational here is that most people bet on the
favorite to win a game, consequently when they do win they suddenly find their account
filled with money. Then, like someone who recently got paid and feels freer with their
spending, they often hit the poker room and play quite loosely. This makes it a perfect
time to get in there and play a tight game. It also helps that many of these players are
primarily sports bettors and only play poker casually.
The Right Buy-ins
Many beginning poker players make the mistake risking too
much of their bankroll at any given time. It is absolutely crucial that you maintain
discipline with this especially on the inevitable downswings that all poker players
experience.
So what is the right buy-in for you? A good rule of thumb
is to never buy-in for more than 5% of your totally bankroll to a poker tournament or
sit-n-go (SNG) and never more than 10% for a cash game.
Let us say you deposit $100 at an online poker site. What
kind of limits should you be playing? You would be best to start with the limits of
$0.10/$0.25 for cash games and $5 for sit-n-go and multi-table tournaments (MTTs).
Patience is key here. You will be tempted to increase your
buy-ins if you’re winning a lot (with the logic that you could be winning more) and
also if you’re losing a lot (due to tilt and a sort of Hail Mary mentality). But you
will never build your bankroll without serious discipline. Earn your yourself the deserved
right to play higher limits and you’ll not only be playing smarter poker but
you’ll be get a sense of satisfaction far greater than if you’d dumped half of
your money on a sit-n-go and manage to win.
And remember this final important nugget: you can never go
broke if you never play with 100% of your bankroll.
Cash Games, SNGs or MTTs
A common method for amateur poker players to start making
serious money from online poker is to begin with small buy-in SNGs and to build up a
bankroll large enough to start taking shots at larger MTTs and eventually a massive
payout. This is a great method for many players but is it the right one for you?
The best course of action is to play different kinds of
games and see where you’re exceling. Tracking your success rate is an absolute
necessity if you want to make money playing poker so take advantage of some of the
software out there that will help you gauge what you’re good at and what you
aren’t. Generally speaking a patient player will often excel at playing cash games
and aggression will pay off in the SNGs. But as is always the case, play according to who
is at the table more so than what kind of format the poker game is. |
