The Philosophy behind playing with Poker Tools and Pot Odds Calculators at Online Poker
We strongly advice you to read the full story to understand why it is so important to play with poker calculators and tools. First, we will analyze some things about the online poker world, after that we will focus ourselves on the importance of poker tools
The strength of the internet as a gaming medium and the growth in the popularity of poker as a leisure pursuit in international markets have collectively delivered strong growth in both the number of people playing the game online and the total amount of revenue captured by the operators.
**It is estimated that in 2006 there were approximately three million online poker players worldwide and GBGC estimates that approximately $3.1 billion of global gross gaming yield was generated from online poker in 2006.
**The online poker revenue figure could theoretically increase by a factor of seven by 2010 if online poker trends continue, with an expected $6.7 billion in potential worldwide revenue for that year.
**The number of real money online poker players is increasing by as much as 100,000 each month.
I don’t need to show you any more numbers or come up with any more big words to prove the fact that online poker is big business. It is of course big business for the companies providing the game, but it is also big business for players who dominate the online poker scene. I mean, come on, a hundred thousand NEW poker players join the online poker community EVERY SINGLE MONTH (probably meaning about 90-95% new fishes). They deposit and play with real money while still learning the game and adapting to the environment. Meanwhile, the experienced dominating online poker players enjoy the 24/7 party it becomes for them, raking in pot after pot, finishing in the money tournament after tournament…
Now, there is one thing you MUST realize. We have to agree on the fact that skill and experience are important factors when you separate the rookies from the pro’s. This is true for both live games and online games. However, instead of just acknowledging this similarity between live and online poker, it is far more valuable to seek the differences between what is important in becoming an expert in live poker and becoming a shark in online poker. If we know these differences we can easily deduce the key components you need to bring on stage to dominate online poker. Let us then analyze this for now.
What qualities do you need to possess to be a pro at a live poker table?
*Watching and playing your own hole cards and being able to know hand strength
*Calculating your own odds, outs, winning chances etc.
*Watching for tells, reading other players, learning opponent characters and playing styles
*Watching for betting patterns
*Being able to make plays (e.g. bluffing), creating and changing images/gears
*Immunize yourself from what you see and hear at the poker table and being able to focus and concentrate 100% on the poker game
*Keep yourself steady, keep your emotions and nerves under control, don’t expose habits
Which of these live poker qualities do you also need at online poker (underlined):
*Watching and playing your own hole cards and being able to know hand strength
*Calculating your own odds, outs, winning chances etc.
*Watch for tells, reading other players, learning characters
*Watching for betting patterns
*Being able to make plays (e.g. bluffing), creating and changing images/gears
*Immunize yourself from what you see and hear at the poker table and being able to focus and concentrate 100% on the poker game
*Keep yourself steady, keep your emotions and nerves under control, don’t expose habits
Yes it is 100% true. You don’t need to memorize hand strength, calculate mathematical figures, watch for tells and betting patterns at online poker. I know, you are probably overwhelmed by this. You have probably never thought that at online poker you have to do much less yourself to be good at it. You (probably) and most of the online poker players (certainly) approach online poker the same way as live poker, and this is the biggest mistake online poker beginners and fishes make. You have to understand that online poker is a completely different world to live poker, a world where some components rise in value whilst others reduce in value. Let me explain this now more thoroughly.
Poker is a game of (limited) knowledge. Unless you play with the same guys all the time, in live poker you have limited knowledge about your opponents, about what’s going to happen and about what happened before. This is because you mostly don’t know the players you are up against, or you can’t remember much about them, you don’t know their playing styles, their betting patterns etc. Your brain has to learn things about your opponents. Meanwhile you have to calculate everything yourself. And you have to be able to play your own game. This also goes for online poker, that is, for 80% of the players who play online poker. They play online poker no differently from live poker. And thus, they have the same knowledge limitations.
This is because the poker knowledge gathered by a human being is mostly not all that accurate. The human brain can only store a certain amount of knowledge. It cannot memorize EVERYTHING in complete detail. It also cannot calculate odds, outs etc. with 100% certainty and accuracy. Oh, and by the way, the accuracy and usefulness of all gathered data becomes less trustworthy once emotions come into the process (in other words, sometimes tilt overshadows logical and analytical play).
This is why online poker players, who play online poker the same way as live poker, play literally in the dark. And this is why people who play in the dark are called ignorant fish, dumb ass rookies in plain American English. I’m sorry to be so rude, but truth must come in plain and simple words. Okay, now let’s move on to how the sharks, the online poker professionals, approach the online poker game. All they do is keep their emotions and nerves tight, look at their hole cards and focus themselves 100% on the game. At a 6 handed table they also might make plays, change gears and shift images. But that’s it. Now your question must be: what about the rest? What about calculating the odds, watching for betting patterns, getting to learn the other players and playing styles? Well, the answer on that question is simple:
Online poker sharks play with Poker Tools and Poker Software. They use poker tools to calculate innumerable percentages (odds, outs, winning chances etc.), to show hand strength and to receive playing advice. They use tools to call up hundreds of statistics on any individual poker player they play against (even if they have never played against them before). They use tools to identify all tables in the poker room lobby and indicate the strength/weakness of each table so they can pre select tables before playing at all. And they use poker tools to track their own play to find leaks and make improvements in their own game play.
Remember what we said about poker being a game of (limited) knowledge. Well, online poker sharks certainly don’t have limited knowledge. They have two to three hundred percent MORE KNOWLEDGE than their opponents. They certainly DON’T play in the dark. To them, the whole game becomes clear and that’s why they beat it consistently.
They are in other words:
*Able to play with poker tools: overseeing and extracting given knowledge and then applying knowledge by instant acting.
*Able to play multiple tables at once to increase winning rate
*As a result of the first two: able to make tens of decisions with lightning speed (you have less time at online poker)
*Able to play 100% disciplined: keep playing the sharks game, even when the cards don’t come well for a couple of hours
*Not underestimating the importance of proper Poker Bankroll and money management. This is maybe the most important factor in online poker. You can’t smell the money, it’s transformed into digital chips and numbers. This has serious consequences on multiple levels.