You hear all the time about the latest online poker revolution and its phenomenal spread all over the world. Various stories are published about millions of profits or huge success in worldwide poker tournaments and seems like an easy game. So you would ask yourself why don't you try your luck and maybe the whole world will catch your name. If you are after your luck then my best wishes go with you, however in poker luck has a small role and the best we have to do is prepare and learn what is going on behind the cards. Here are a few basic poker tips for those who are considering taking the first step and aim to make money playing online poker.

I hear this all the time from novice players: “Well, I started at $5NL like you suggested, and I won six dollars so I moved up to $25NL, but then Player X hit his flush on me, and then my Aces got cracked, so now I’m taking a break from online poker for awhile…” It seems like people don’t understand the purpose of a bankroll. A proper bankroll will allow you to keep playing at your desired limit even after you to lose to that river flush, and even after your pocket aces to get cracked by Jack-5 offsuit. So, let your bankroll choose your limit for you:

It’s a good idea to keep track of your bankroll. This way, you can see where you succeed and fail, what limits / sites seem to produce results for you, etc. Most importantly, it keeps you honest with yourself about your results. If you’re a losing player, please don’t worry – it’s a fact that more than half of all poker players are in the red, due to rake. You shouldn’t ignore it or lie to yourself; you should accept this fact, and do your best to find exactly where the leaks are in your play, and fix them.

A major step in becoming a successful player is learning to disassociate cash value from the chips you use at the table. If you are worried about the money you are risking, you will not be able to play your best, simple as that. It helps to think of your bankroll in terms of big bets and buyins, as opposed to real cash. Of course, at the same time you have to respect your bankroll & play within your limits.

When you take a bad beat, it means you played the hand correctly (or at least decently), and got unlucky due to the run of the cards. This is no reason to get mad; your main objective at the table is to make correct decisions, and you have done just that. There is no sense in getting emotional over something you cannot control. When you get all your money in the pot pre-flop with AA against someone’s KK, it is a fact that you will lose roughly once in five times, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Why let random luck have control over your emotions? Take bad beats in stride, don’t let them affect your game, and you will be that much more efficient at the table.

Try every kind of online poker, meaning No Limit Hold'em, Pot limit Omaha/8, limit Omaha, tournaments, anything. You may find you are better suited for Omaha than Texas hold’em, or at the very least, you will learn new things about poker by expanding on your experiences.

This is an extremely important concept for those who plan on moving up in limits. It is important to be critical of your own play; when you lose a large pot, you should go back, analyze every street of the hand, and do your best to find any errors you made. As I already mentioned, it is important to be honest with yourself and about your play. You could find out for example that most of the big pots you had lost were hands that you played passively in every street, calling instead of raising or folding. This can lead you to change your style of play and be more aggressive or give up pots you don't stand to win and see immediate results. Everybody makes mistakes, and every mistake you make is an opportunity to improve your game.

Another often overlooked concept in poker. To make money in poker, you have to force your opponents to make mistakes. When they make mistakes and misplay their hands against you, you profit. Take this concept a step further: play against players who tend to make the biggest mistakes, which translates into a bigger winrate for you. We’re trying to maximize our winrate by using every advantage we can find, so why are many players content to sit at tough tables? Maybe they’re lazy.. or maybe they want to improve their game, and that’s great, but here’s an example of the benefits of table selection:

Costas and Nick are of equal skill in 6max limit games.

Costas routinely sits in the first open seat he can find at a $5/$10 table, and grinds out a winrate of 1bb/100. He spends 100% of his poker time actually playing the game.

Nick spends 90% of his time playing, and the other 10% looking for tables with higher than usual see-the-flop percentages, and/or known weak players. He plays at soft, fishy $15/$30 tables that are about equal in skill level to Costas’ random $5/$10 tables. Nick earns the same 1bb/100 winrate.

Assuming Costas plays 100 hands an hour, and Nick plays 90 hands an hour (table selection), do the math yourself and see the difference in hourly earn. Seeking out softer tables / soft opponents is well worth your time.