You don’t have time, particularly in an online game, to analyse every move in the depth that you’d like. But you can think through the big decisions, and over time, you’ll gain a ‘sense’ of what the right play is. What you should learn is the circumstances under which you can, and should, make the different plays, such as Probe Bets, Continuation Bets, Value Bets, Slow-Plays, Check-Raises, Bluffs and Steals. Also, you must learn to calculate the Pot Odds, and control them. If you don’t give your opponent the pot-odds to call, then you’ll win on average whatever they do.

Watch the hands when you aren’t involved. You will probably only play a small percentage of the total hands, and you can gain a lot of information if you don’t ‘switch off’ when you fold.

Don’t make a bet without a good reason. Whether it’s a value bet, or an attempt to get an opponent to bet when they are behind, or tell you what they’ve got, always have a rationale for what you do. Don’t bet ‘because it’s cheap’. If you get involved in hands with weak cards, even if you do hit, you’ll end up not knowing where you stand, as other players could easily have better or worse hands than you.

Don’t play when you’re tired, drunk or bored. This will affect your play, and not for the better.

Don’t talk too much about hands with other players, whilst the game is still in play. You stand to gain nothing, it can be a distraction, and you may inadvertently tell other people things you don’t want them to know (e.g. that you know what you’re doing!)