Failing to Consistently
Select The Best Gameare available around the clock and there's a
considerable amount of useful game information available on most
sites' lobby screens. At most online cardrooms, one glance at the
provided statistics reveals the size of the average pot and also
shows how many players, on average, see the flop.Moreover, unlike in
the real world, it takes only a few mouse-clicks to anonymously
watch several different games simultaneously and further whittle
down to
the best possible choice. An investment of between ten and fifteen
minutes' observation can thus pay off handsomely over the next few
hours - and all it takes is a bit of time and patience! Why, then
would any player stay in a game where the average pot is just one
third the amount of the typical pot in another game at the same site
with the same structure and limits rather than seek a game where
they'll have a real edge? Online as well as offline, game selection
is the single biggest factor determining your poker winnings or
losses. In the real world, constraints of geography and time often
limit your choice of games. But if you're failing to practice
excellent game selection in cyberspace, there is simply no excuse.
None at all.
Failing to React To Changing Game
Conditions.
Those who don't know when to leave a
deteriorating game often wind up as the most forlorn of players -
the one with the decimated or non-existent stack at a table now full
of cyberspace toughies. Consider the following scenario: You have
just put in some reconnaissance time at three different online
cardrooms and found a great no-limit hold'em game. You have taken
Seat 5, just to the left of a tight-aggressive player you recognise
and just to the right of several probable no-limit newbies,
including two with screen names adpoted from America Sports Teams.
Now let's move forward in time. It's three hours later and you've
quadrupled your chip stack. The game has been all you had hoped for,
since you've taken only one bad beat - for a minimal amount since
your newbie opponent went all-in - and you've personally busted two
poor players with big stacks by trapping one with top set and the
other with a nut flush.
Your game's waiting list is growing longer with each new round. On
it you spot several pros. "They've missed a lot of good action," you
think to yourself as the invisible dealer sweeps you a pot that
busts yet another poor player. At this point, things couldn't be
better. You are looking forward to booking a big win. But the game
is changing. One of the pros on the waiting list takes the seat to
your right, just vacated by the busted newbie. Then another poor
player leaves and the next pro on the list takes that seat. A few
hands later, another bad player leaves when he catches a good hand
that holds up in a big pot and another good player comes in.This is
no longer a good game and you know by now that you should leave the
table and count your winnings. But here is when greed causes you to
make a bad decision - and I am sure we have all been there at some
point in time on the tables. The one remaining terrible player has
been hit with the cyberspace deck for the last four rounds and has
built up an enormous stack. Eyeing all those virtual chips won with
miracle draws, you decide to play another few rounds to see if you
can increase your winnings. This decision at a table now of mostly
good players and pros spells your downfall. For what happens next is
that the bad player somehow gets lucky yet again. he busts your set
of kings with one last miracle draw and promptly departs into the
void. Now you start mumbling to yourself - that hand just cost you a
significant part of your winnings. In a hurry to win back your lost
stacks, you go on tilt and enter the pot with your very next hand,
K-10 offsuit. This isn't a good idea because you're right after the
blinds and you are still fuming about that last hand.
"Maybe I can get lucky, too?" you think as you call a raise from a
player after you. It seems you do, indeed, get lucky when the flop
brings a king and a ten. Well, congratulations - you've just become
the prime fish on the table. Welcome to my game - I'm the one who
raised. I'm about to leave this game in search of a better one, but
I surely don't mind taking your chips first. I'm holding pocket
kings.....
