CHOOSING TABLES
For beginning players it's
best to practice with play money tables to get an idea how gameplay
works, but keep in mind not to take play money tables to seriously, as
the betting is too loose and will not give you an accurate example of
betting strategies.
You will be able to choose Hold'em, Omaha, Stud or Tournaments. Hold'em
is the easiest game to get a grasp on. You then can choose between fixed
limit, pot-limit or no-limit. Start with fixed limit tables with stakes
of
$.50/$1.00 or below, do not attempt to play no-limit tables at this
point. You can choose tables with different amounts of players ranging
from ten, six or heads up. You'll find the smaller tables will usually
hold stronger players.
The next thing you want to look at is the amount of action
on a table, whether a table is tight or loose. A tight table is when the
players are only calling with good hands and a loose table is when more
players are calling with less of a good hand and are usually less
seasoned players. There are two ways of telling the amount of action on
a table, the average pot size and the percentage of players in at the
flop. If the average pot size is higher it usually means a looser table,
but this is not always the case. The better of the two is the percentage
before the flop, but not all sites tell you this. If the percentage is
high the table is loose, if the percentage is low it is tight. It is
best to begin on loose tales. On a loose table you must play very tight,
only call with a made hand and one that's sure to win. Do not fish for
straights and flushes. If you feel you have the top hand bet big. It is
almost impossible to bluff on a loose table. On a tight table things get
more complicated as tight players usually means smarter players, so you
must still begin playing tight, but as you gain respect you will have
the ability to bluff. More of this is explained later, for now stick to
loose tables and play very tight
Beginning players can also register for tournament tables
or "Sit and Go" tables. These have a flat rate buy-in of as
little as $6 and you can gain experience in betting with higher stakes
and learn to play no-limit hold'em.
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