How To Become Good At Online Poker
Video poker player. We will also study the skills you need to acquire to become a pro in video poker, either in a casino or online (or using both avenues). And we’ll talk honestly about just how difficult it is to make a living through what most people consider to be nothing more than a friendly diversion. Play poker the good old way Simply put, the variance is the number of times a particular hand in poker is most likely to win. It’s not accurate, but at least you have a barometer to understand whether the way you’re playing is the correct way. Beyond the WSOP, good casino dealers can make up to $95,000 a year at some of the larger high-end casinos. Poker dealers generally earn an average of around $30 to $40 per hour, but it could be as much as $50 an hour in a busy poker room. Dealers may also have to work their way up from smaller casinos to reach those higher-paying jobs. How long will it take before I start winning money from poker? Quick answer: 3 to 24 months for most players I’d say. However, not all players have it in them to become consistent winners in online poker. If you asked this question on a poker forum, you would struggle to get even one reply with an ounce of seriousness in it. PokerStars launched online poker in 2019, becoming the first online poker site in Pennsylvania. Some sites are already in beta-testing mode but will need to get approval from the Pennsylvania Gambling Control Board (PGCB) before an official go-live. The board stated (in relation to casinos and sports betting) that it is in no hurry and want to.
- How To Become Good At Online Poker Deuces Wild
- How To Get Really Good At Online Poker
- How To Become Good At Online Poker Games
- How To Become Better At Online Poker
- How To Get Good At Online Poker
- How To Become Good At Online Poker Real Money
With so much to learn, beginners to poker often feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. It’s difficult to grasp the concepts of poker in one fell swoop and learning takes time. This is why we’ve developed this study guide – to plan a course of study for beginners and to provide the structure that’s so important when learning new skills.
How To Become Good At Online Poker Deuces Wild
We have a wide variety of poker lessons here at Pokerology.com and they don’t all feature in this study guide. Instead, we’ve carefully selected the most appropriate lessons to help build your poker skills step-by-step and to provide a solid foundation upon which to build.
This study guide is split into various skill levels and each major section is followed by a quiz. If you’re new to poker then we recommend you start by studying the lessons within our entry level.
We hope you enjoy learning how to play poker with Pokerlogy.com.
Entry Level
The following group of poker lessons provide an introduction to the game. You’ll learn the basic rules, how the betting works, the different variations of poker, along with a few basic poker terms.
Please note: All links within this study guide will open in a new window by default.
Finished? If so, take the entry level quiz.
Beginner Level
The beginner level of this study guide will provide a solid foundation on which to build your poker skills.
If you studied our entry level lessons then you’ll understand that there are many ways in which poker can be played. This means there isn’t a poker course that will suit everyone. So, before we continue with more lessons let’s discuss your options at this early stage of your development.
The first decision point is whether to play cash games or tournaments. As a beginner we believe cash games are your best bet. This is because the variance – what we call fluctuations in luck – is much higher in tournaments, so much so that it can take a very long time to determine if your tournament results are due to a lack of skill or simply a run of bad luck. Because the variance inherent in cash games is less, you should be able to assess whether it’s your ability or simply a run of bad luck in a shorter time frame.
Once you’ve played cash games and seem to be making an improvement in them because you’re studying, learning, and growing as a poker player, you should be able to move to tournaments with the assurance that your basic game is good. Once you know you play well, you can begin the make the adjustments that are required to play tournaments well.
It comes down to personal preference and it’s entirely your choice. You may wish to supplement your learning as and when you’re ready, but the poker lessons that are referenced in this study guide remain applicable to either format. Although we argue in favour of cash games for beginners, a combination of both would also work at this stage – giving you time to decide which challenge you’d prefer.
The next decision point is the variety of hold’em that you learn to play; either limit or no-limit. Many of our poker lessons focus on general concepts that will help you in either variation, but these games play very differently. Limit hold’em is well suited to beginners because it’s a more mechanical and structured game. However, because no-limit hold’em is currently the most popular variation of poker, it will be the focus of this study guide.
With all this out of the way, let’s move on and get back to the lessons. We’ll start this section of the study guide with a look at the basics, including some simple betting concepts:
Knowing that you’re eager to play, let’s focus your efforts on the importance of choosing the right hands and introduce you to the concept of positional play with these two very important lessons:
The following resources should also help guide your understanding of these topics:
- No-Limit Hold’em Starting Hands Chart (PDF – print out or bookmark for easy reference)
You should now have an understanding of what starting hands to play in no-limit hold’em based on hand strength and your position. This next selection of poker lessons will provide further guidance on how and why you should play your starting hands.
Math is a key concept in poker. You don’t have to be a math genius to succeed at poker, but knowing the math is essential. In the next group of lessons we’ll cover basic poker concepts that will help you tell the difference between good bets and bad bets and put you on the road to playing profitable winning poker:
There’s more to poker than math, so now it’s time to introduce you to the psychology of poker:
As we approach the end of this section of the study guide, it’s time we suggest you start playing poker for real money. Maybe you are already, if so, then great. It’s important to reiterate that poker is a game of money played with cards and there needs to be something at stake, even if it’s only pennies. If you’ve yet to make the transition to real money poker, we suggest you start now – but only at stakes you can afford. This is also an appropriate time to introduce you to the fundamental poker concept of bankroll management:
And here’s our final lesson of this section:
Finished? If so, take the beginner level poker quiz.
Intermediate Level
This section of our study guide will introduce you to various poker concepts and strategies that will take your game to the next level.
The following lessons are those we consider to be the most important at this stage of your development. Remember, there are many more poker lessons on Pokerology.com, which you can also study – but these are the ones that we believe will help get you to the next level in the fastest possible time.
The first group of poker lessons are important concepts in no-limit hold’em:
Here is a selection of poker lessons that focus on post-flop betting strategies:
The following two lessons cover two very important concepts that will get you thinking about maximizing your profits, which is the key to successful poker:
This next group of poker lessons are all about ‘playing the player’ and provide effective strategies for playing against different types of poker players:
If you have followed this study guide from the beginning you should now have amassed a wealth of knowledge on the subject of poker. There’s still much more to learn, but the next step is to make sure you plug any leaks that reside in your game. Therefore our final group of lessons all focus on the winning poker skills:
Finished? If so, take the intermediate level poker quiz
Minnesota Fats, the legendary American pool hustler, was once asked about the technical aspects of billiards in order to improve one’s play. His response was, “Ya’ just gotta hit balls and balls and balls – and you’ll learn”. In that regard poker is much the same. The concepts we’ve presented throughout this poker course should help you think about how to play poker, but you need to play and play and play to truly understand and excel at the game.
Further Learning
The learning never stops at Pokerology.com!
The intention of this study guide has been to teach the fundamentals of winning poker. We deliberately streamlined this guide and excluded many of the poker lessons on Pokerology.com. This means there is still lots to learn, but at this stage of your development it’s less important for us to provide you with structure and guidance. The best advice we can give is to continue playing poker and browse our poker lessons at your leisure, picking out the topics that you think will benefit your game the most.
Don’t forget that there is more than one game in town and no-limit hold’em is just one of them. Many players stick to the game they initially learned, but a true poker player feels right at home with other poker variations. We therefore recommend you learn how to play limit hold’em, along with variations such as stud, Omaha, and razz. You’ll find lessons on all these variations of poker right here at Pokerology.com!
How long will it take to become a winning player?
So, you’ve been playing poker for a little while but you’re not winning money just yet. So you started to wonder... how long will it take before I start winning money from poker?
Quick answer: 3 to 24 months for most players I’d say. However, not all players have it in them to become consistent winners in online poker.
If you asked this question on a poker forum, you would struggle to get even one reply with an ounce of seriousness in it. The problem is that there are so many variables involved that it’s impossible to give an exact answer.
The variables that will affect how long it takes to become a winning player.
- The time you spend playing poker.
- The time you spend reading strategy.
- Where you get your strategy from.
- How intelligent you are.
- How quickly you learn.
- The stakes you play at.
...and that’s just a handful. One player may be able to progress in to a consistent winner within a few months, whereas another may never be able to win money from Texas Hold’em (or whatever variant they play).
However, this wouldn’t a very interesting article if I just left the answer to the question as “it depends” (even though it really does). So, here are a few rough guesstimates to satisfy your quench for tangible answers.
By the way, a winning player is defined as someone with a positive winrate, regardless of how small that winrate may be.
1) The super quick learner - 3 to 6 months.
- Plays at least 3 hours a day every day.
- Reads quality strategy articles daily.
- Has subscribed to a training site and watches strategy videos daily.
- Participates in strategy forums and posts hand histories for review.
- Purchased tracking software and actively analyses their play on a regular basis.
- Is generally a very intelligent person - capable of getting a degree in some form of science if they put their mind to it.
Three months, in my opinion, is an attainable time frame in which a very clever individual with the right tools can turn from a complete beginner in to a winning player.
This would involve some serious dedication, passion and through a strong desire to win money from online poker. If you’re a bright guy or girl and you absorb information from quality sources, I don’t see why you couldn’t achieve a positive winrate within 90 days.
This timeframe is certainly not for everyone though.
If you are a super-quick learner.
If you keep going at this rate you should see a lot of success. You have the potential to rise up the stakes very quickly as long as you make sure you keep your bankroll management in check.
However, be sure to not burn yourself out. Poker can be draining, and a week break here and there can actually be beneficial to your game. Be careful not to demand too much from yourself if you have early successes. Variance can hit you for six if you’re not accustomed to the swings.
2) The hard worker - 8 to 12 months.
How To Get Really Good At Online Poker
- Plays around 10 hours of poker a week.
- A bright individual and tries their best to think logically about their decisions.
- Browses poker forums for advice but doesn’t participate in discussions too often.
- Genuinely interested in reading about poker strategy, but only reads for about an hour or so every now and then.
- They have tracking software, but only know the basics of it for when it comes to helping to find leaks in their game.
- Subscribes to a training site and enjoys to casually watch training video series’.
The hard worker has a similar passion to learn about poker as the “super quick learner” above, but they likely have other commitments outside of poker that reduces the amount of time they have to play and learn about the game. If they could spend some more time playing though, they would.
They have a strong drive to improve and it means a lot to become a winning player, but it’s not everything to them. They are happy to do ask best as they can with the time they have available without letting poker take too much precedence.
If you are a hard working player.
If this describes you and you’re not quite a winning player after the first few months, you should be confident that you’ll get their eventually. Keep the desire there and give it time, you’ll be a winner eventually if you stay on track.
Keep at it basically and don't give up.
3) The casual player, but still wants to win - 18 months to 24 months.
- Plays about 2 or 3 hours of poker on a good week. Home games account for a fair amount of play time.
- Can think logically, but probably doesn’t put as much brain power in to poker as they could.
- Only started to browse over different poker forums after about a year, but still hasn’t created an account.
- Googled a few strategy related topics but is not a frequent strategy reader.
- Has heard of training sites but suspects that they might not worth the money. Considering checking them out though.
- Bought tracking software but only really uses it to keep track of wins and losses.
These players are very slow learners and could definitely put a lot more effort in to their game. On the other hand, they probably don’t mind taking their time when it comes to learning good strategy, although deep down I’m sure they wish that they could have become a winning player sooner.
Casual players gradually draft in all the important tools for improvement over a longer period of time as they are skeptical about their value. They’ll eventually participate in forums, read articles, subscribe to training sites and purchase tracking software, but it happens over a longer period of time due to their lower drive to become a winning player.
If you are a casual player.
How To Become Good At Online Poker Games
If you’re one of these players, there is so much room for improvement that you can drastically slash the time it takes to turn that negative winrate in to a positive one. Stop being so tentative and invest in training sites, software and time spent participating in forums. They are incredibly valuable, honestly.
Disclaimer.
How To Become Better At Online Poker
All of these time frames for the different player types have no scientific or mathematical basis. They are just my best efforts to provide numbers in response to a vague question that is incredibly difficult to answer. All these estimates are from my personal experience with a bunch of guesswork thrown in for good measure.
There’s a good chance that you will fall way out of these estimated time frames, so don’t follow them too closely and get disheartened if it’s taking you longer to progress than you would like.
Just remember that every video you watch, article you read and hand you analyze is another step forward toward a positive winrate. Keep it up and you’ll get there one day.
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