Poker is big business. Just look-at the poker sites such as Full Tilt or Pokerstars willing to pay anybody who makes a televised event final table a small fortune only to wear a branded blazer, baseball cap or say « I play at… » whenever they win the tournament. Every night there will be the prospect of a poker player to win thousands, if not tens of thousands for a relatively small buy-in either in cash games or tournaments. Poker is an authentic chance to make real money, so it’s within your interest to maximise your chance of victory by working hard to boost your game. But how do you get better? Most of us know you need to study and practise, but you will find a lot of ways to do it where do you start?
You will find a selection of credible poker books that you should study and you may always go to the local casino and persuade the best player to give you individual lessons, but this article focuses on top 5 places to go online to improve and improve your poker play right from where you are right now; in front of your display screen.
Poker Forums – The biggest online poker forums have thousands of active members. These cover anything from new players yet to play an individual hand of poker to well recognized pros and every sort of player in between that dissect poker hands and argue all things poker. Just reading the discussions will boost your game. If you feel brave you may add your thoughts in to the threads. But beware you will be flamed (internet speak for shouted at) in the event that you do not quite answer correctly. But fear not as this really is a good place to get raw feedback on how to play winning poker, so take a deep breath and dive in to the shark waters and prepare to be cut down to size, but ultimately helped.
Poker Blogs – There are a mass of poker blogs to read. Players will speak about all aspects of their life and poker from their actual hands to things happening on the poker scene. Look for the well-known blogs and then surf through the blogs on their own link lists. Participate in the blog by leaving comments. Blog owners (like this author) love receiving comments and also you will most likely get a positive response. Work your way through and find authors which provide the poker blogs that you identify with, that teach you what you want to know and give you what you wish to read about. You shall soon build a list that you visit everyday.
Poker Training Web pages – Pros were quick to take advantage of the thirst for poker knowledge and there are various sites you may pay a monthly subscription to and watch the videos to tutor you on the way to play. There are numerous types from those that simply list the videos to those which provide a far more curriculum type lesson approach. When searching for the very best site for you bear in mind many of the review web pages are in fact affiliates so finding objective reviews could be tricky. The trusty poker forum members will give their thoughts freely and very honestly if you ask them. Make certain you pick a site which is constantly adding video in order that you maintain value for your subscription fee.
Poker Podcasting – There are several large Internet Radio stations emerging for poker, and they often have weekly podcasts for you to download. This really is a good way of picking up advice straight from some of the top players in the world, or folks who are good at conveying their thoughts about poker topics which could confuse you when discussed on forums. Search through iTunes, Poker Road, and Bluff online for a start. Regardless of whether you play Stud, Holdem, Razz or Omaha there are podcasts discussing strategy. You may listen to these podcasts whilst you walk or drive to work and several last for over one hour which are not just great poker learning tools but excellent entertainment.
Railbirding – Make certain you check out several of the higher stakes cash games online. You may watch the top pros show you how they play cash games. You will see the showdowns when players are called down and you will write down some of the hands that you see played out. If you wish utilize a screen recorder so you can go back and watch the hands again if you would like. This really is watching the best players do what they do best, an amazing opportunity to learn. Also make certain you tune into the Pokerstars replay of the Sunday Million Final Table every week. These guys have beaten thousands of others within the biggest weekly tournament for a lot of cash, so there are actually some excellent tips on tournament play to pick up from them.