Your Guide to Making Online Poker Profitable

Cash Games - page 3

Money Management

Money management is the key to cash games, and you should set goals and expectations for yourself, make a plan to achieve them, and monitor your performance against these goals and expectations.  These will be different for each player since no two people are alike.  They will depend on many factors, such as your ability to afford to play, your experience, etc.  You need to make sure your goals are achievable, and you also need to be able to recognize when your plan isn’t working.   

Gauging Your Performance – the graph below is a simple simulation of how your stack size should move throughout the time you are on a table if you play smart, steady poker:

As you can see, it is a slow but steady process.  You will lose some hands (but if you follow the advice here they will be small ones or just the blinds), you will win some small hands, and every once in a while, you'll win a big hand.  This is what the “win big, lose small” philosophy will look like.  This is a very rough simulation, but if your stack is not going up in this manner, you may be making one of 4 mistakes:

Common Mistakes

1)  You are playing too many hands.  Technically, on a 10 person table, over time, you should win 1 out of 10 times, assuming no other factors.  So you should generally play about 10% of the time, or just a little more.  If you are playing more than 20% of the hands, then it is clear you are probably playing too many hands, and you should tighten up.  You may be limping in to see too many flops.  Try keeping track of your playing percentage and see if keeping your play at between 10% and 20% helps.

2)  You are not aggressive enough on a tight table, or not tight enough on a loose table.  Generally, you want to play the opposite of what the table is playing.  If the table is tight, then you need to try to steal blinds or small pots now and then, even bluffing at times.  If the table is loose, then you need to sit back and only play high quality hands when you are “in position” (meaning late in the betting order, being the dealer is best since you are always last after the flop).

3)  You may be playing with more money than you’re comfortable with.  You should never get on a table with an amount of money that is more than what you could easily throw away.  The reason is that there will be times when you need to make the big call or the big raise (relative to the table) in order to make that big pot.  If you hold back that time or two, you have, in a sense, given away chips.  Plus, the higher the stakes of a table, the better the players (generally).  Maybe try a smaller stakes game and see if your stack improves.

4)  You are just on the wrong table.  This differs from # 3 in that you may be playing the right stakes, but for whatever reason, you just can’t seem to win on this table.  Some examples of reasons why the table is not right:

·     You may have become too consistent, and it could be there are some players who have you figured out.  You’ve played with them for a while, and you took some money from them earlier, but lately they have been playing like they seem to always know what you have.  If you choose to stay on this table, then you might want to change up your play a little more (you should be doing this anyway).  Just don’t forget you can always go to another table with players who don’t know your style yet.

·     You have gotten too emotional about this table (example: you want to get back at that guy who took you earlier).  Or you’re feeling down about how you’ve done recently.  Your state of mind should be relaxed.  You don’t care who you take chips from, or who takes them from you (just not too often).  You are just there to make money.  Not to make friends or vanquish enemies.  It’s not personal, it’s just poker.

·     The table has changed.  Over time, the players change on the table, and thus, the table changes.  It could just be that new players have come into the game that play in a style not suited for your game.  Granted, you should be able to play against anyone, but everybody has their Achilles heel.  If you find yourself frustrated or unable to figure out how to play against someone, you may want to avoid this player (or players) by finding another table.  There will be times you are simply outmatched, don’t let your pride get in the way of making money. An idea to try: Many places like UltimateBet will allow you to make notes for each player.  Over time you can track how the different players have played, and maybe get good clues on how you should be playing against them.

·     Maybe it’s just dumb luck.  It can happen; sometimes you just seem to get a lot of bad cards, and bad beats the few times you get good cards.  Besides, if you are feeling unlucky, it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In any case, it could be nothing more than getting out and finding a new table in order to change how your game is going.  And the good thing is, there are so many tables at large poker sites (like UltimateBet and PokerStars), that you have choices.  And there are so many new (and not very good) players at these sites, so there is a lot of low-hanging fruit; you need to just find it.  If things are going badly at a table, try a new one.  The players there may be weaker, and it may give you a fresh start mentally as well.

Types of Players

As opposed to blackjack, in poker you are playing against other players, not the house, and not the cards.  So you want to play against players most likely to lose to you.  You never know who you are going to take chips from, and you would like to be an equal opportunity chip-taker, but over time it is the weaker players who will be giving you most of your chips.  So you need to be able to spot them.  The types of players to look for are:

1)   Tight, timid players.  They seem to be scared to ever make a big bet, like they’re playing with more than they can afford.  They are easy to read - if they seem weak, be aggressive and make them fold.  If they bet or raise, get out and let them have the small pot.  You can take chips from them over time just by being aggressive and staying away when they seem to hit something.

2)   Players with small pots.  These players will play either very tight, or they will play crazy, like go all-in pre-flop with just a decent hand.  If they are tight, play them like in # 1.  If they are crazy and go all-in now and then, you just hope you have the hand to play them one of those times (it needs to be good, of course).  Your risk is smaller because it is limited, and you know exactly what it will be for the whole hand (unless others call him as well, which is often unlikely). 

3)   Crazy aggressive players (or I like to call them “TV players”).  It seems like they learned to play by watching poker on TV.  The style of play on TV is much more aggressive than what is played online.  These “TV players” will bet more than what their hands are worth.  They will steal a lot of blinds, and may take down a big pot now and then (hopefully never from you).  But they are ripe for a trap.  Wait for the time when you have the nuts, slow-play them and take a huge stack of chips from them.  Over time, if they have been losing some serious money, these players will often tighten way up and become like those in #1 above.

4)   Very consistent players.  For example: they always raise pre-flop with a high pocket pair, they bet a little post-flop if they hit a middle pair, more if they hit a high pair or better, and go all-in when they have the nuts.  You will be able to trap these players because you will always have a good idea of what they have, and also know when you are beat.  Here’s another situation where making notes on players can help.  Note how they play in a certain situation, and see if they do the same later on.  This helps you spot them sooner so you can start taking their chips.

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