In The Beginning, Simple Is Best
by Dougie Goguen | Jan 2 2012
Find out how you should start playing at any online poker site!
When you start to play poker online, it can be tempting to dive in feet-first and start taking on all comers, especially if you've gotten access to a killer deposit bonus like the one Bodog offers its players. The problem with this philosophy, though, is that you're not ready. Played a lot of brick-and-mortar games and want to expand to online play? You're not ready. Played in other online poker rooms and want to try out a new one? You're not ready. Complete novice to the game? You're definitely not ready.
Take advantage of Bodog's online poker deposit program and you can get up to $1,100 extra for your bankroll!The best thing any online poker player can do to get used to a new site is to spend time at the lower-limit and microstakes cash games to get a feel for the site's tenor and to make sure that you still enjoy the game. At smaller stakes and micro-stakes online poker games, the other players are all more interested than their own cards than what you might have. This lets you relax and play a mathematically driven game.
Simply use a straightforward tight-aggressive style of play and you're definitely going to be profitable even as you find your way around a site's software and environment. What do I mean by playing "straightforward" poker? Don't use fancy bluffs, only bet aggressively when you've got the best hand and use pot odds to determine when you should draw or when you should fold.
The only deceptive thing that I've found that works well in these sorts of tables is slowplaying. Players in lower-stakes tables quite frequently believe that they've got the best hand when they hit a pair on the flop or turn, which means that you can use the nuts against them to extract a lot more money with a bit of restraint. Bluffing, however, is as futile as it comes. Players in small-stakes games will pay just to see your cards a lot of the time and you're not going to be able to scare any fish at lower-limit games just by putting down and extra dollar or two.
Play free online poker at Bodog today!When you're at a new online poker site, go back to the basics and master the art of choosing good starting hands, employing pot odds and being aggressive with winning hands. Toss aside the deeper-cut psychological strategies until you reach mid-stakes games, such as $5/$10 blinds because it's not until you hit that level that your opponents are going to be playing with real intelligence. You should always get to know the lay of the land before you begin to invest in your online poker game, and playing in smaller stakes games can help that greatly.
