Part 1 - The Basics
I’m going to assume that you already know how to play poker, and in particular Texas Hold Em, which is what I am going to focus on in these articles. I’m also going to assume that you are familiar with online poker rooms in general, and for the sake of making things easy, have already downloaded and set up an account with Circuspoker. If you haven’t, there are loads of other pages on this site that tell you how to do that.
The game of choice is No Limit Texas Hold Em (NLHE).
So for this week’s article, the first in a run of 10 articles about Online Poker strategy and cash games, I’m going to go over a few basics.
I will use $ as the standard currency, even though you can deposit and withdraw in GBP and Euros, you cannot currently play in these currencies on Circuspoker. The ability to play in GBP and Euros is coming in Autumn 2009, meanwhile, playing in USD is just as easy.
The primary difference between online poker tournaments and online poker cash games is the fact that with a cash game you can choose to leave the poker table whenever you wish. You can win a big hand, and walk away, taking your winnings with you. Similarly, you can stay as long as you wish, and chase losses until you destroy your entire bankroll. This might sound elementary and obvious, but this fact will (should) greatly influence the way that you play online poker.
The other fundamental difference between the two is that with cash poker the blind levels do not increase, you will never be forced into acting ‘differently’ as the pressure from blind increases takes its toll. This element is fundamental to Bankroll Management.
Bankroll Management
Managing your bankroll is vital to being a successful online cash poker player, there are two basic rules of thumb, which you should never break.
The maximum amount of your total bankroll to commit to one table is 10%.
Never join a table with less than 100 x the Big Blind as your starting stack. This gives you enough time and chips to recover from that bad run of cards, or bad beat shocker.
This principle is similar in theory to the M Ratio of your chip stack in a tournament, where blind increases and antes puts pressure on your stack. I won’t go into detail about M Ratio here, but Gus Hansen illustrates how he used the theory when he won the2007 Aussie Million in his excellent book “Every Hand Revealed”, which I recommend for any avid poker player. If you want to read more about M Ratio, there is a link at the bottom of this page.
Anyway back to cash.....
If you deposit $100 into your account, you do not want to be risking more than 10% of your deposit in a cash game, so you are looking for a table where you can sit down with $10 and still have enough for 100 x the Big Blind. Your table of choice therefore, is: $0.05 / $0.10 No Limit Hold Em table.
If on the other hand you have already built up a decent bankroll, and have, say $2500 in your account, you will be looking to join a poker table with $250 and Blinds of $1 / $2.
Table Selection
So, now you know your level, you should look at which of the online tables in the lobby will give you the best chance of winning some money.
You are primarily looking for two factors:
- The number of players on the table – A full table, with 10 seats is ideal, I do not recommend joining a table with 6 or less players. For the sake of these articles I am always going to assume 8 players or more. The higher the number of players, the more free cards you’ll get per round, and as I take you through the strategy over the next few weeks, you will realise, this is good for you, because you are going to be playing against lots of loose players....or fish.
- The ‘Players per Flop’ (called P/F on Circuspoker) – the higher this number the better as it indicates a loose table riddled with low quality players, the ideal hunting ground for a shark in the making. A Players per Flop score of under 10% indicates a tight table, one probably full of experienced, good players. 20% or above is great for you. Anywhere between the two is acceptable.
Right, you’ve done your sums, worked out that the $0.05 / $0.10 is the right level for your bank roll, you’ve found a table with 9 players, 1 space for you and a Players per Flop score of 22%, Happy days, you join the table with $10 and start playing poker.
So what type of player are you likely to be playing against?
Fish and Sharks
Whilst the terms fish is often a derogatory term used to describe a bad, even hopeless poker player, it is an apt and easy way to categorise players online. There are literally thousands of ‘fish’ logging on to poker sites every night, this is great news for you. I do disagree with many poker strategists and commentators who seem to ridicule the fish, we all started off as a fish somewhere, we all had to learn the hard way and we all enjoyed ourselves whilst we did it. Many of the ‘fish’ we are going to play against are beginners, but even more are just casual players who set themselves a nightly limit and enjoy playing in their own style.
I’m sure many of you are familiar with the concept of taking easy money from tourists on their last day in Vegas. The type of player who sits down for an hour or two before they have to get to the airport and intends to have a ‘last game’ and is quite happy to spend $100 doing so. It is easy to take money off these players, and I have personally spent many days doing just that. However, I would never speak disparagingly about those players, they enjoyed themselves, I enjoyed their company and they gave me some more beer money, what’s not to like?
It’s exactly the same in online poker. You will often find players who play at low limits, who have a ‘few quid’ in their account (often bonus money) who decide to play “1 last hour before going to bed / work / pick the kids up”, these are your happy go lucky tourists, your cash cows, your friends, be nice to them and they will come back. Don’t take the mickey out of them by show boating your semi bluff or making comments about their play in the chat, keep it nice and friendly....you need them to keep playing.
The first few weeks of this strategy will focus on how to play fish, optimising your cash poker play to make the most out of this category of player. After all, the majority of the players you will meet at this level of table are going to be fish.
Being a shark on the other hand is seen as a badge of honour, nobody cries foul at being called a poker shark, this is you. You are already a shark, or at least a shark in the making by reading this article. You want to play better poker, so you are reading this.
The later sections of this strategy will be focused on how to play cash poker against a table packed ‘to the gills’ with sharks (nice pun) rather than fish. As you move up in terms of blind levels and bankroll (and you will) you will move out of the nice warm fish infested waters, where you are at the top of the food chain, into darker, colder waters, with much bigger sharks around you.
A close friend of mine once said, when explaining how to find your level when playing cash poker, “It’s better to feel like a shark in fish infested waters than a fish in shark infested waters”. He’s got a point.
Know your level, and only move up when your skills allow you to. Usually, this will coincide with when your bankroll allows you to. Which is handy!
So that’s enough about aquatic creatures, table selection and bankroll management for now. Next week I’ll focus on playing some cards, which are quite handy when it comes to playing NLHE! Despite what many ‘experts’ say, cards are still the most important factor when it comes to playing poker.
Learn more about M Ratio.
Good Luck!
Waldorf1
