WHAT
ADJUSMENT MUST BE MADE TO PLAY POKER ONLINE ?
What's the
biggest difference between online (or Internet) poker and
"in-the-flesh" play in a real casino card room,
or home games?
The impersonal, disembodied anonymity of the Internet demands
play that is far more card-based than opponent-based. In
most cases, winning play will depend simply on first investing
in good starting hands, and thereafter on making only good
decisions based on what cards appear next and whatever action
takes place before it's your turn to act.
Forget "playing
the player" in the sense of detecting most common tells
(physical gestures or verbal clues or betting mannerisms
that serve as tip-offs about an opponent's hand), preventing
a bet or raise by cupping your chips as though ready to
call, making hand movements yourself in a deceptive fashion,
or staring down a bluff. You can't "make a play"
when you and your opponent are invisible to each other.
Your strategy
repertoire online is largely limited to the six basic actions:
folding, betting, calling, raising, re-raising, and check-raising
- supplemented by other poker skills, such as good games
selection, good site selection, careful note-taking, astute
observation of action, alertness to opponent behavior (such
as noticing who is playing in two games rather than one,
who's on tilt, or who has been playing all night), and wise
money management
