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Poker at Your Level - Rivals in Poke

Aspiring poker players often hinder their progression in the game and their chances of hitting the online jackpot by focusing too much on what other players are doing.

By reading high stakes strategy and trying to mimic the moves of famous players such as Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, you often find that amateur players make a lot of mistakes. The main reason for this is that they’ve not mastered the basics of the game and committed the cardinal sin of trying to run before they can walk.

Without doubt the simplest way to make money at the online casino poker table is to master some fundamental skills and play in a straightforward way. This essentially means raising with good hands, betting when you hit the board in a significant way and folding when you’ve got a weak hand. Although it may seem boring, this is a sure-fire way to improve your poker game without much effort.

However, because it seems boring and not what the pros do, beginners often fail to execute this game plan. However, while the quest for a more “exciting” playing style consumes many players, the truth is that they’re simply not skilful enough to play in this way.

What amateurs fail to appreciate when watching high stakes players play is that there is something called meta game taking place. This term refers to the psychological dynamics of a poker game and is something that can dramatically influence every move that is made.

For example, if a player has been raising a lot of hands during a session they will labelled as an aggressive player. To combat this players will often only play strong hands against them and try to catch them bluffing. However, if the aggressive player realises this they can switch their strategy and begin to only bet when they have strong hands, thus inverting people’s perception of them and using it to their advantage.

This sort of process is common in high stakes games and the reason why pros make moves that appear crazy to outsiders. However, in most low and mid-stakes poker games you’ll find, this sort of thinking doesn’t take place. Indeed, many players will simply base their moves on the strength of their own hand and nothing else.

Thus, in order to avoid making a mistake, you should assume your opponents aren’t taking into account meta game and approach them in a straightforward way.