February
2004 Online Casinos News
Is poker the best
medicine?
Every time I’m
sitting in my dentist’s office impatiently waiting for the dreaded
drillmaster, I browse through Reader’s Digest. My fingers
seem to automatically flip to “Laughter is the Best Medicine” for
some comic relief from my impending doom. Lee, a poker player from
Florida, recently e-mailed me, suggesting an alternative “medicine.”
“Tom, I’ve met you and have bought two of your books on hold’em,”
he began. “I’m going into the hospital for major surgery and will be
laid up for about three months. I’m going to play a lot of online
poker while I’m recuperating, and would appreciate any advice you
can give me on how to play online cash games and tournaments.
Thanks, and I hope to see you at the World Series next year.”
After wishing Lee a successful surgery, I added some online advice.
Whether you’re playing hold’em or stud, the game is still the
same online, Lee, but it moves at a much faster pace. You have to
act within a specified time limit or the cyber dealer will fold your
hand, so be prepared to act faster than you ordinarily might play in
a brick-and-mortar casino. One advantage of playing online is that
you can record notes and receive hand histories of your opponents,
so that you can get a better idea of the strategies they’re using in
the game. You aren’t able to look your opponents in the eyes like
you can in a regular casino, but you can still watch the hands they
are turning over and get a good picture of their playing styles.
Online tournaments play the same as they do in brick-and-mortar
casinos, but they are structured quite a bit differently. You
generally start with more chips. One online casino usually gives you
$1,500 in tournament chips to start, and more than that in the
bigger events. To start, the blinds are small in relation to the
starting chips. For that reason, blind or ante stealing is not worth
the risk during the first few levels of play, especially in no-limit
hold’em tournaments. Many players ignore this piece of advice and
gamble much more than they should in the early stages of online
tournaments. Some of these gamblers accumulate lots of chips early,
but most of them eventually crash and burn.
With careful play in the early stages, you have a good chance of
doubling up by the first break, which comes one hour after the
tournament starts. Remember, too, that the limits go up about every
20 minutes, which is faster than they rise in many brick-and-mortar
casinos. At about level five or six, the pace of play picks up, and
from level seven onward, you have to start winning more pots just to
stay alive in the tournament. This translates to taking more risks.
At these levels, look for opportunities to be the aggressor. Usually
raise when you are the first player to enter the pot. Play your
position strongly, but don’t get sucked into playing garbage hands.
Don’t panic if the cards don’t come your way. Wait for the blinds
if you have to. Always remember this advice about Lady Luck: You
cannot manufacture a hand that doesn’t exist. You cannot force that
fickle lady to smile on you. But if she does, and if you have the
patience and skill to outlast the field, we’ll surely meet in the
winner’s circle as soon as you have recuperated.
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complete article at:
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