squeeks said:
Can anyone give me some tips on how to win online. I seem to always lose.
First of all, you should specify whether you're playing limit, pot-limit, or no-limit. Secondly, you should specify whether you're playing Texas Hold'Em, Omaha, Lowball, etc. Finally, you should mention the stakes you're playing.
I'll assume you're playing no-limit Texas Hold'Em (NLHE), microstakes.
My first recommendation is that you switch to playing limit (LHE). It's simpler in terms of learning basic strategy, and you have fewer intangible elements such as "reading" an opponent and bluffing.
Start with just about any basic book on poker. Even "Texas Hold'Em for Dummies" isn't bad. I recommend this book by David Sklansky for beginners:
Hold'Em Poker.
Crash course:
(1) Players are judged on two criteria: how many hands you play (lots = "loose", few = "tight") and how often you bet/raise ("aggressive") vs. check/call ("passive"). You want to be tight and aggressive - play few hands, but push your advantage whenever you have it. Most players are loose (play way too many hands) and passive (don't make the most of their wins).
(2) There are four types of cards you want to see pre-flop: high cards (which make high pairs), suited cards (which complete flushes), cards close in value (which complete straights), and paired cards. Obviously, the premium hands are ones that fall into multiple categories: high, paired cards (AA, KK, QQ) and high, suited connectors (AK suited, KQ suited, AQ suited) are premium hands. Lower paired cards (88, 77) and lower suited connectors (T9 suited, 98 suited, 87 suited) are decent hands. Sticking to these hands, you'll play maybe 20-30% of all hands you see. If you're playing 50%, you're probably overvaluing your hands.
(3) Position matters a lot. When you are on the button (last to act), you get to see what everyone does in front of your. When you are first to act (right after the BB preflop or in the SB postflop), you have no idea what's going to happen behind you. You should only play premium hands from early position (first 3 after the BB), a few more from middle position (next 3), and quite a few from late position (last 2). Preflop, treat the blinds as middle-late position but postflop they are early position. Obviously, play any two cards from the BB if you don't need to put in more money.
(4) After the flop, you will need to re-evaluate your hand in light of the cards you now see. Your AdAc in light of a KhQhJh flop has a very different value than your AdAc in light of a Kh8c2s. In the first case, you are very vulnerable to people with flushes, straights, or even two pair such as KQ or KJ. In the second case, your hand is nearly invulnerable. There are too many cases to go through, so here's some general guidelines.
(4a) You probably don't have the best hand. If you don't have a strong hand, you're probably behind. But you could make a strong hand if certain cards come up on the turn or river - these are called "outs". 4 to a flush, 4 to a straight, overcards, 3 to a flush, 3 to a straight all give a certain number of outs. The key to evaluating outs is to compare the size of the pot to the size of your bet - if you have a 1/4 chance of winning 5x your bet, that's good. You'll lose 75% of the time, but you'll win in the long run. If you have a 1/4 chance of winning 3x your bet, that's bad. You'll still lose 75% of the time, but you won't make enough the times you do win to make up for your losses. Playing limit makes it pretty easy to calculate this, as the bets are standardized. Just keep track of how many bets go into the pot and you don't even need to know the numerical value (for example, if 8 people see the flop, and 4 people call a flop bet, then there are 12 small bets in the pot; if you win the hand you will win 12x your bet).
(4b) You probably do have the best hand. Where this line falls is a little dicey, but it's somewhere between top pair (you matched the highest card on the board) and middle pair (you matched the middle card on the board). Certainly, if you flop two pair (both of your cards match two board cards) or better, you likely have the best hand. Play these aggressively - bet and raise at any opportunity. You'll get burned often, but in the long run you'll win.
(5) At low stakes, the games are generally filled with loose-passives and loose-aggressives. This means that most hands go all the way to showdown and you will need the best hand in order to win the pot. Bluffing is useless, slowplaying is useless, and check-raising is almost useless. This is GOOD for beginners, as it means you have fewer things to worry about. Move to NL and/or higher stakes (and add advanced techniques) as you build confidence. Don't get pissed off when bad players "suck out" on you. If they're calling your top pair flop raise with gutshot straight draws, they're losing money in the long run because they'll lose very often and not win enough when they win to make up for it.
