There are tons of things a player must be competitive at online poker. The most obvious poker necessities are the money to play as well as the skills to win, but ask any pro and they will tell you that mastering poker is all within your head. It’s simply insufficient to learn the game on paper; you should be able to play it on the felt. That implies no matter how deep your stack is or how long you’ve been playing, you’re not going to obtain far without great gambling (previous) patience, concentration and confidence.
Many aspiring poker players are undermined by their inability to take a loss, learn from it and move on. The fact of the matter is, in both live and online poker you’re going to lose more frequently than you win. This is why players that see every flop drain their bankrolls so fast. The smartest strategy is to minimize your losses and make the most of your wins. Bear in mind the typical player only finishes within the money in one of seven tournaments. You could have to build your bankroll out of pocket for a long period before your poker habit sustains itself, but that doesn’t mean you should throw your money away.
When you are a relative amateur in relation to online poker, then the most effective way to protect your bankroll and also to learn from your losses is to set limits. Setting limits keeps you focused and helps you to track what you’re doing right and doing wrong. Additionally, it can make it easy for you to check if your win/loss ratio is improving with time.
Poker is skill-based, but it still has an element of chance, so sometimes even when you need to do everything right you can still lose. These scenarios usually bring on a mental state called “tilt.” Tilt may be the kiss of death for even experienced poker players. Since many new players do not recognize when they are playing on tilt, sticking to your limits may be a good way to cut your losses when you’ve strayed through your strategy. If you do feel a case of tilt coming on, regardless of whether you have reached your limit or not the best approach is to stand and leave.
Just a little bit of stress while playing poker online is normal and will even be good because it keeps you sharp, but maintaining that stress is as critical as maintaining your bankroll. If you become overwhelmed by in-game stress, then your focus is no longer on the game. Alternately, being too laid back can also be a mistake in a game that notoriously rewards aggressive players.
However free poker and cash poker offer two completely different experiences, if you’ve never played competitive poker before then playing the free tables may be a great way to test the waters. Of you cannot cut it against the relatively soft competition in the points-only poker rooms, then you’ll be an easy target at the cash tables. In the same vein, if you can’t handle losing points, then you are probably not ready to play for money.