There are certain traits that successful online poker players exude. And it’s very likely they aren’t even aware that they excel in these areas; like a basketball player’s height, or sprinter’s speed, it’s just god-given ability.

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However, if you are cognizant of these seven traits, you can work to improve on them.

Mental preparation

Being mentally prepared to play has to do with playing under good conditions, and in the right frame of mind. If you are exhausted, hungry, drunk/high, or stressed out, you will not be playing your best. And when you’re not playing your best you are unlikely to win.

These issues don’t necessarily have to arise at the online poker table; many players sit down in a game after a fight with their wife, or a bad day at work, and are one bad beat away from full blown tilt. On the other hand, playing in the right frame of mind will often allow you to handle a couple of bad beats without going on tilt. That said, four or five bad beats can tilt the most mentally prepared player!

Disciplined

A disciplined online poker player knows what to do, and has the patience to wait for the right situations. Discipline means you can go an entire session without winning a pot, or see a never-ending string of K3, Q6, and J4 all night long, and still have the discipline to fold AT, even though it’s the best hand you’ve seen all night.

Discipline is what keeps you playing the ‘right way’ when every other urge is telling you to do something else.

Try to improve

Whether it’s reading books, browsing online poker forums, or discussing hands with other players; a winning player never rests on his or her laurels. Winning players know there is no such thing as a perfect online poker player, so they are always trying to improve their skills any way they can.

Mentally Tough

There is an old saying: “Anyone can lead during good times; it’s under adversity that true leaders will emerge.” Mental toughness is the ability to take every bad beat, cooler, and run of bad cards in stride. Players that go on full-blown-life-tilt after a single bad beat will never hold on to their winnings long enough to be considered a winning player. It’s the players who can reign in their emotions, and perform well when things are going bad, as well as when things are going good that take home the money.

Fearless

Fearlessness doesn’t mean you are willing to snap off a bluff at any time; fearlessness means you will never let fear come between you and the right decision. Some players start thinking about the money they may lose, how silly they make look, and other things instead of making the right decision.

Often called playing scared, a player who is fearful –for whatever reason—is a sitting duck. Online Poker is a game of patience, but when the time is right you have to strike. Fearful players have the patience, but when the time comes they simply cannot pull the trigger.

Focused

Winning players are focused on the game: Not the baseball game on TV, the online poker game they are involved in. Focused players are not browsing the web or talking on the phone when they play online. Focused players are not checking out the cocktail waitress or chit chatting with their buddy when they play in the casino. Being focused means you are 100% focused on the game, and all the tiny bits of information that are being given away by the other players.

Cheerful

A good online poker player makes other people enjoy losing to them. He doesn’t belittle their play, moan about his terrible luck, or rudely talk to the dealer/waitress/staff. A winning player creates a good atmosphere –an atmosphere that makes people feel welcome– and a game the casual online poker player wants to play in.

Stealing the blinds is one way of ensuring survival in a no-limit Texas Hold’em online poker game.  If you steal enough blinds, you can be in the game a longer time than your initial stack warrants.

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What Is Stealing the Blinds in No Limit Texas Hold’em Online Poker?

In Texas Hold’em Online poker, there are obligatory opening bets from the small blind and the big blind (the first and second player to the left of the button provides the small and big blinds, respectively).  Together, they make up the initial pot.

Stealing the blinds refers to trying to win the initial pot or trying to win the blinds.  Stealing the blinds serves a two-fold purpose:  it will let you win extra chips, unchallenged, and help you reduce the size of your opponents’ stack.

Poker is a game of monumental skill and nerves. Can’t take the heat.

How to Steal the Blinds in No Limit Texas Hold’em Online Poker?

In order to steal the blinds, you must make all your opponents drop out of the betting round/s pre-flop.  The best way to do this would be to raise and re-raise during the pre-flop betting round.  If you are under-the-gun and you wish to steal the blinds, bet more than the minimum.  If you are in a middle position or a late position, you should multiply the minimum bet by around two times.  In other words, if you are trying to steal the blinds, bet aggressively and avoid mini-raises.

Stealing the Blinds Strategy of Texas Hold’em Online Poker!

If you are a late-position player, you are in an advantageous position to steal the blinds.  If most of the players have folded before the betting action reaches you, you can dominate the game and steal the blinds.

If you are short-stacked and wants to steal the blinds, it would be much better to go all-in rather than wait to be raised.  Take the lead in betting whenever you can.  Additionally, if only a few players are at the table (the game is short-handed), stealing the blinds is good strategy because you are obliged to post blinds more often than not and you’ll run out of chips much sooner.

You should not try to steal the blinds all the time, however.  Trying to steal the blinds means you have to make hefty raises.  If another player plays you and you miss the flop, you’ll lose all your bets. Furthermore, not all blinds are worth stealing.  If the blinds won’t significantly increase your stack, perhaps you should just let it go.  If, however, the blinds will make a sizeable addition to your stack, then by all means go for it.  The rule of thumb:  be selective of the blinds you’ll try to steal in Texas Hold’em Online Poker.

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Pre-Flop Online poker Tactics and Strategy!!!

The flop is the determining point – the point of no return – in Online poker Texas Hold’em.  When you wait to see the flop, you commit part of your stack.  If you do, you risk losing your bet.  If you don’t, you risk losing a potential win.

Your pre-flop strategy is therefore crucial in online poker.  You should know how to properly and wisely play your cards before the flop and the hit or miss that follows it.  The following are some basic tips that you can use as a guide in determining your own pre-flop online poker strategy.  Just note that actual circumstances will probably require you to act differently; however, this will give you a basis on which to make your pre-flop playing decisions.

Fold Pre-Flop

Folding pre-flop is the easiest and the least costly way of playing online poker.  When you fold your hand pre-flop, you don’t lose anything – unless you are the small or the big blind, that is, because your forced initial bet is already a loss if you fold.  Even if you are the small or the big blind, however, folding may still be the rights strategy if it keeps your loss for that hand at a minimum.

When should you fold pre-flop?  Clearly, if you have bad starting hands or if you are dealt pocket cards that will give you a very slim chance of winning, you should fold; as a general rule, you should still do this even if you are already invested in the pot (i.e. you’re the small or big blind) and naturally don’t want to lose the blinds.

Call Pre-Flop

In the round of betting pre-flop, when should you call?  Typically, online poker players limp in when they are trying to slow play great pocket cards or are waiting to draw a good hand.  In the first case, you simply match other players’ bets because you want them to remain in the game and contribute more money into the pot.  In the latter case, you are trying to keep your costs to a minimum until you draw the hand you want.

Bet, Raise and Re-Raise Pre-Flop

Generally, you bet, raise and re-raise pre-flop if you have a good or great starting hand.  If you have great pocket cards, instead of playing it slowly, you can try to steal the blinds pre-flop if the blinds are big enough.  You may also want to raise the cost of seeing the flop to reduce the number of players and ensure your dominance after the flop in online poker.

Poker Tournaments

No Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournaments are the most commonly played poker tournaments with the biggest payouts. You can find more No Limit (NL) Hold’em poker tournaments online than in live poker rooms. NL Hold’em poker tournaments are run in many different ways but there are several basic types. You will come across re-buys, satellites, and regular one time buy-ins. Which do you play and why?

Re-buy Poker Tournaments

Re-buy Poker tournaments can work a few different ways. The initial buy in may be $50.00 with one re-buy allowed. Some re-buys are unlimited, which means that you can re-buy in as many times as you need to for the first hour, with an add-on period during the first break.

Say you enter a $10.00 re-buy at Poker Stars. You pay your initial buy-in at time of registration. After you have gone below your original 1500 chips (say you pay a blind and you now have 1,480 chips) you can re-buy 1,500 more chips for another $10.00. After this buy-in you should have about 3,000 chips and cannot re-buy again unless you lose them all. At the end of the first hour there is a 5 minute break and what they call an add-on period. If you are below a certain amount (I believe it is 10,000 chips) you can add-on 2,000 chips for another $10.00. After the break is over, re-buys and add-ons are not allowed and the payouts are posted in the lobby. At this point if you lose all your chips, you are out of the tournament.

I like re-buys because the pay (for the amount of players entered) is bigger and more spots pay out (with people re-buying left and right there is a ton more cash up for grabs than in 1 time buy-in poker tournaments). A small warning about re-buys – the first hour is a rat race! People play very loosely and go all-in on almost any 2 cards. As long as they have more money to re-buy in they don’t care about losing a few buy-ins. They are just interested in making big pots, and a big stack for themselves early on.

Satellite Poker Tournaments

Satellite Poker tournaments are a very small buy-in to try to win your way into a bigger poker tournament. Different sites run many different satellites to many different events. I know that Poker Stars has satellites to the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and into their weekly $200.00 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. They also run a monthly $500.00 tournament – seats can be won to this event from satellite poker tournaments as well. I like their $3.00 re-buy satellites. I try to stick with one $3.00 buy-in and an add-on at the break – this way it stays cheap and fun. If I make the cut and win a seat, I can either play the tournament I have won my way into or I can unregister for it, have the tournament dollars put into my account, and use them to buy in to many different, smaller staked poker tournaments. The pay spots in a satellite work very simply. Say there is a prize pool of $10,000 and the tournament you are trying to win your way into is a $200.00 buy-in. That is 50 players who are going to qualify.

Buy-in Poker Tournaments

One time Buy-in poker tournaments are just that. You buy in at time of registration. When you lose your chips you are out of the tournament. You must play this type of tournament a lot more tightly than you would a re-buy, seeing as how you only have one life in it. My motto (in any tournament) always is to get past the first hour. During the first hour of one time buy-in poker tournaments, about half of the playing field is eliminated and your chances of cashing (winning money) are much better.