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Glory at the poker table requires a lot of hard work and discipline as well as mental stamina and patience, each of these virtues features in every successful poker players arsenal.

When you play online, you go through the highs and lows of the game in isolation from your opponents, chat facility aside of course, and you must handle the winning and losing process on your own; both can put you into an emotional state which makes you play differently than you would normally play. When involved in a live game, you are more likely to conceal your emotions in an attempt not to give your opponents free information, this has a knock on effect of curbing your positive and negative emotions, but online it's very easy to allow yourself to get carried away because nobody will reprimand you for your colourful language or gestures, this can be very dangerous if you allow it to effect the way you are playing, you're much more likely to put yourself in a state of tilt.

There are two main areas to focus on when attempting to control your emotions, primarily you should be looking to start your poker sessions in the right frame of mind and secondarily you should be looking for ways to disperse any frustrations that build up during your play, both are very much worthy of your consideration, they may be achieved through different mediums.

There are many ways to prepare yourself physically and mentally for a session of poker; by making sure you've had enough sleep the night before, you will be more alert to the actions of your opponents and more capable of making well thought out decisions, you are more likely to play a sub optimal game when you are too tired to concentrate properly, big heavy meals can cause mental fatigue so it's advisable to eat small light meals before choosing to play a session. Alcohol consumption is likely to change the way you play considerably, the more you drink the harder it will be to keep your emotions from eventually overwhelming you into making bad decisions, one alcoholic beverage can be acceptable but learn to recognise when it is effecting your decision making process, consider not playing when you've had too much and your poker bankroll will be better off for it. Drinking plenty of fluids is important too, many people don't drink enough and are in a constant state of dehydration, meaning they may be performing up to 20% worse than they're capable of, poker is a game of mental stamina and just by drinking enough fluids throughout the day, you are putting yourself into a better position to focus for longer periods.

While you are playing, there are numerous ways to maintain your focus and keep youself away from tilting; the most obvious anti tilting tool is simply using perspective, nobody has died just because you were outdrawn on the river so don't overreact when it happens, bear in mind that you are playing a game. Boredom can make you play differently, as can distractions, you must do some self analysis to determine whether your game is suffering from either boredom or distraction and pick the least destructive path forward; for example, many players that suffer from boredom like to watch television while playing poker, many players that watch television while playing poker become too distrated by the programme they're watching to succeed in the poker game they're playing, try and put yourself in the best environment to play good poker. An alternative to television is music, music can keep boredom at bay while leaving you with enough concentration to play solid poker, consider testing out various genres of music to see which you play the best poker to, people subconsciencously associate certain types of music with success or failure, learn which genres bring you the most success. Even something as simple as taking deep breaths can have a positive effect on your game, also standing up and stretching your legs can be benificial too, taking numerous short breaks can help fight the onslaught of mental tiredness, use all these tricks to keep yourself in the right frame of mind when playing.

If you don't feel like you are going to play well, for whatever reason, consider not playing as it usually becomes a self fulfilling prophecy that leads to losing money; the poker tables will still be available tomorrow, but your bankroll may not be if you continue to play tired, dehydrated and in the wrong frame of mind.

Renowned poker author David Sklansky first defined the gap concept in one of his poker books 'Tournament Poker For Advanced Players'. Sklansky came up with the idea of the gap concept which is nowadays widely considered a tried and tested tournament poker theory, specifically for Texas Holdem tournaments.

The concept dictates that you need a stronger hand to call a pre flop raise with than you would if opening for a raise yourself, which means there is a potential gap between the quality of hands opening raises and calling raises. For example, if the action has been folded around to you in late position and you hold JQ, it's perfectily acceptable to open the pot for a raise looking to win the pot there and then, the small or big blind need to have a significantly better hand to be able to call with though, this is the gap Sklansky refers to.

Using the same example as before, except this time the player under the gun opened for a raise pre flop and the action has been folded to you in late position, your JQ is no longer playable because you need a better hand to call a raise with than you would if opening the pot yourself. What was a perfectly acceptable hand to raise with in one situation has become a substandard holding in another.

The gap concept works on the basis of first in vigorish; part of the value in being the first person to raise is the chance your opponents will fold leaving you to win an uncontested pot. Also, any person who raises infront of you potentially needed a stronger hand to raise with because they had more players to push the raise through, therefore a stronger hand is needed to call in such circumstances.

Multiple level thinking is a term commonly associated with deepstack poker which refers to a players ability to analyse their opponents actions aswell as their own and think on a number of different levels in order to establish a range of poker hands your opponent could be holding and a range of reasons for their corresponding actions. The table image of you and your opponents plays a major part in how you approach the deeper levels of thinking, the poker becomes more about psychology than the mechanics of the game.
Using Multiple Level Thinking

There are situations where multiple level thinking is more appropriate than others, it is important to understand how and when to use it.

Thinking at levels 0 and 1 is best when you are in short stack play, when you have'nt got much information to base your decision on, when the decision you have to make is largely insignificant and when your opponent is incapable of multiple level thinking.

Thinking at levels 2, 3 and 4 is more appropriate against better opposition and when playing deep stack play. The deeper your opponent thinks the deeper you are able to think about your decisions, it's impossible to think more than one level deeper than your opponent does because you can't think about what your opponent has'nt contemplated. The deeper the stacks the more complex your strategic options are and therefore a greater level of thinking is required.

It is worth realising that you will rarely get a chance to use the deeper levels of thinking, especially online and at the lower table limits and buyins, because so few of your opponents will be capable of thinking past levels 0 and 1. One must also be careful not to overthink a hand, the best guide being how deeply you think your opponent thinks, the overwhelming majority of your decisions will be at levels 0 and 1.

The primary reason for randomising your play is so your opponents find it much more difficult to get reliable reads on what your actions actually mean. Against astute players, being predicatable is a huge disadvantage because those type of opponents will quickly learn and document the way you play in many common situations and use this information against you in future sessions, you will end up losing big pots and winning small ones if this is the case. Incorporating randomness into your poker arsenal does'nt mean that you have to start playing like a madman in fear of being too easy to read, a calculated approach is advisable and there are many ways of achieving this goal without leaving yourself too vulnerable.

Using the second hand on your watch to generate randomness is a possibility, this allows for all sorts of percentages to be used but arguably the most appropriate methods would be to use either a ratio of 50:50 or 75:25; for the 75:25 ratio, if the seconds hand lies between 12 and 3 then make a certain play, if the seconds hand lies between 3 and 12 then make another play, this would allow you to make your normal play 75% of the time and deviate from that play the remaining 25% of the time.

Using your hole cards can be a slightly more complicated way of randomising you play but it's every bit as effective so long as you understand the maths behind it; there's a 25% chance that your first hole card will be a diamond, so you can easily employ a 75:25 randomisation just by looking at your first hole card. Even a slight deviation like 80%/20% will keep your more observant opponents guessing, which ultimately is the reason why you would undertake such an exercise.

One point worth bearing in mind is it's only worth randomising your play against perceptive opponents; randomising your play aginst players who only think about their own cards is a waste of time because they are not paying attention enough for you to benefit from any randomisations. This is also true against players who don't bother to act on the information they are recieving. It's mainly against perceptive players that randomising your play makes the most difference.

Facing an all in bet from an opponent before the flop is a common scenario in tournament poker, it's advisable to know how one hand fares against another in order to make the correct mathematical pre flop decisions. See also poker starting hands selection guide for help in this area.

Below is a list of all the situations you're likely to come across when facing an all in raise pre flop. In each case, the hand percentages will increase roughly by 2% and 3% where cards are connecting or suited respectively. Percentages have been rounded up and down and split pots have been excluded for simplicity.


A pocket pair against two overcards

77 vs KJ = 54% vs 46%

A pocket pair against two undercards

KK vs 78 = 81% vs 19%

A pocket pair against an overcard

99 vs A5 = 70% vs 30%

A pocket pair against a card of the same rank plus an overcard

JJ vs AJ = 69% vs 30%

A pocket pair against a card of the same rank plus an undercard

88 vs 58 = 87% vs 9%

A pocket pair against a smaller pocket pair

QQ vs 66 = 80% vs 20%

Two high cards against two undercards

KJ VS 67 = 62% vs 37%

Two high cards against an undercard and a card of the same rank as one of the high cards

AQ vs Q8 = 73% vs 25%

Two high cards against an in between card and an undercard

AJ VS K8 = 65% vs 35%

Two high cards agaist two in between cards

K9 vs QJ = 57% vs 42%

The definition of equity is the portion of the pot that you should, on average, expect to collect, based on the circumstances you currently face and staying in the hand until the showdown on the river.

Example: your opponent has AdKd in the hole and is currently ahead in the hand having paired his ace on the flop, you have 2c3c and the board is 6cAc9h, there are 9 clubs remaining in the deck which will give you the winning hand by the river with a flush meaning you are a 35% chance to win in a showdown, this means your equity is 35% of whatever is currently in the pot; if the pot contains $200 then your equity is $70 (35% of $200 = $70).

How to play your hand based on Poker Equity
This is a very useful calculation which can be used to determine how you might choose to play the hand, based on your equity. Your equity can change on the turn of a card, for example, using the same flush draw example, your opponent has a $130 equity in the pot because they will win 65% of all showdown battles in this situation; but if another club appears on the turn, your opponents equity will be $0 because their hand would be drawing dead to your made flush.

It would still be considered correct for your opponent to bet the flop when they are infront, for value, because they understand they're likely to win 65 out of every 100 times in this situation; even though 35 times they make a bet on the flop only to get outdrawn on the turn or river, it's still correct to bet your hand for value when you are in a favourable equity situation. Once you suspect your equity has changed because your opponent has outdrawn you, it is correct to change your strategy to compensate for the change in equity; spotting a change in equity because of a made flush or straight can be obvious, but many other situations such as top pair being outdrawn by two pair on the turn or river can be very hard to spot. Nevertheless, if your equity changes drastically, so should your strategy for that hand.

Your opponent understands that they will make a $65 profit for every $100 they invest into a situation like this, taking into account the situations where they win aswell as when they lose.

How does the flush draw make money with such poor equity?
A flush draw has poor equity against just one opponent normally, because there's usually not enough money in the pot to have a positive equity situation; this means it's preferable to have multiple opponents when chasing a flush draw, to boost your equity.

Example: you have the same flush draw on the button and still have a 35% chance to win the pot, but this time you face three opponents instead of one, your equity will be much better because there is more money in the pot in relation to the size of your investment.

Responsible Gambling Tips
There are a number of useful guidelines to help you gamble more responsibly:

Never chase your losses, the poker tables will still be there tomorrow and tomorrow you may be in a better frame of mind to play.
If you are tired, stressed, intoxicated or even just distracted, consider putting poker on hold until you are in a better state to play.
Make sure to undertake plenty of non gambling related activities in your life otherwise gambling could become more of a chore than a pleasure.
By involving your friends you are more likely not to become too wreckless, plus your friends can act as a safety net if you do get carried away.
Only gamble in situations where you hold an advantage, don't play games like roulette where the house has the advantage over you.
Play at the right limit for your bankroll, if you have $500 then play the $5 tournaments not the $100 ones.
Take regular breaks away from your PC, your mind will be fresher.
Have You Got a Gambling Problem?
There are signs that might indicate you are developing a gambling problem:

If you find that you can't control the number of hours you are spending playing poker.
If you can't control the amount you are spending at the poker tables.
If other parts of your life are being negatively effected because of playing poker, such as your job.
If you don't have enough money left to lead a normal life outside of poker, like for paying the bills.
If you need to borrow money or sell your belongings in order to finance your poker playing.
If you start becoming secretive about your poker, fooling others into thinking that you're spending less than you actually are.
If your relationships with family members or partners are suffering because of playing poker.

Effective odds are the ratio between the amount of money you have to call on the current betting round to the amount of money you expect to be in the pot at the end of the betting round. Effective odds are very similar to implied odds, it requires a good knowledge of your opponents likeliest actions, they are most appropriately applied in a multiplayer environment.

Example: You hold AcQc hole cards under the gun in the early stages of a Sit and Go tournament and decide to call pre flop, the blinds are 10/20 and 4 other players limp in behind you, the big blind checks; there are 6 people, including yourself, involved in the hand and 120 chips in the pot. The flop brings a club flush draw, you expect to win the pot if you hit your flush; the small blind checks but the big blind makes a near pot sized bet of 100 chips meaning you have to call 100 chips to continue and there are 220 chips in the pot. The pot odds to draw to your flush are 4.2/1 but the pot is only offering you slightly more than 2/1 odds; based on your pot odds, you are not getting enough value to continue, but your effective odds could mean there is value in calling.

There are 4 players to act behind you, if you are certain a number of them are likely to call the 100 chip bet to see a turn card, your effective odds improve, if you feel a large number of the players behind you will fold, your effective odds deteriorate. Assuming the majority of your opponents are loose, if you expected at least 3 out of the 4 players to call the 100 chip bet, your effective odds would be over 5/1 because at least another 300 chips would be added to the pot, swelling it to 520 chips from the current 220. Using effective odds can make the difference between chasing a draw and folding it, your read on your opponents must be reliable though, otherwise you are likely to find yourself in situations which offer poor value.

Heads up poker is like no other form of the game, you are constantly involved in a hand as either the big blind or the small blind and button holder. The action is non stop and your starting hand selection must be lowered in order to allow you to play the vast majority of hands dealt to you.

There are two ways to win a hand, either by having the best hand in a showdown or by forcing your opponent fold. This statement never carries more meaning than in heads up play and you will need to adapt your shorthanded strategy to remain competitive.

Arguably any hand is worthy of raising in heads up play because you are playing the player more than the cards, but any ace or king deserves raising, also any pair, high ranked suited connector or hand with two face cards is worth raising for value; whether you hit the flop or not it's worth following through with a bet on the flop to start building a clearer picture of where you are in the hand.

Pot odds mean less because you rarely get the correct odds to draw to certain types of hands, a better way of dealing with the mathematical aspect of the game is to make the pot big when you feel you're infront and keep the pot small if you feel you're behind.

Betting on a draw becomes more attractive with so many flops missing both opponents, betting out on the best of your draws is a prerequisite to playing dominating heads up poker, waiting until you have made at least a pair is not an option as you will be providing your opponent the opportunity to win far too high a ratio of pots, you want to win more pots and more of the big pots than them, betting on draws puts you in a strong position to force an opponent off a hand and maintains constant pressure on them aswell as allowing you to win with the worst hand occasionaly. Pair draws such as AK or KJ are a good draw to bet with before the flop and also after the flop for value even if you have'nt made a pair, straight and flush draws are worth betting too, although if the draw does'nt hit by the river you are left in a sticky situation with just a low ranked high card, have a clear preference for higher ranked suited connectors over lower ranked ones because you have a more solid unmade hand to work with in the later rounds of betting.

Studying your opponents actions and reactions is one of the keys to success in poker, never moreso than in heads up play. Be prepared to bide your time initially until you have a clear picture of how your opponent intends to play against you; once you understand how they are playing, find ways to exploit their weaknesses aswell as eccentuate your skills.

Some players argue that it is impossible to prove the integrity of online poker and that offline poker is a safer option. The reality of the situation is that while cheating occurs in both formats, it's much harder to cheat in an online environment than offline; there are many reasons why this is the case.

The data that travels between the poker servers and our PC's uses a high level of encryption, typically between 128-bit and 1024-bit encryption which is virtually impossible to crack within any reasonable timeframe.

Online, the cards are shuffled and dealt using cryptographic algorithms, random number generators, entropy pool technology and secure socket layer technology to ensure that the cards are shuffled in a totally random and unpredictable way.

Another factor worthy of consideration is that the online cardrooms use sophisticated methods of collusion detection on their site, making collusion easier to detect as they can see everybodies folded hands, their hand history, their IP addresses aswell as a number of other techniques that make spotting patterns in peoples play considerably easier and much more accurate. Bricks & mortar cardrooms just don't have the same capability in ensuring the integrity of their games.

With twice as many hands being dealt per hour online than in a bricks & mortar cardroom, the speed of play is a huge advantage to online poker; the opportunity to see more cards per session provides a greater chance to profit. Another similar advantage is your ability to be playing mutiple games of poker online; by playing a few tables at a time and seeing twice as many cards per hour as offline poker, it's fair to say an online poker player could see 8 times as many cards as an offline player. It took the now seasoned pro poker players like Doyle Brunson 40 years to learn the game, the learning curve is significantly quicker nowadays, it might only take a few years to see as many cards as the veterans saw in a decade.

The old time players had to travel for miles to find a worthy game of Texas Holdem, nowadays the right game is just a double click away; it only takes a few minutes to find a game that's suitable for your skill level and bankroll. Waiting times are greatly reduced because of the abundance of games to choose from; if you can't find a game to sit straight into, it only takes a matter of minutes to sign up to join 10 or 20 tables and usually a few minutes more before the invites come flooding back.

Travel costs are a thing of the past, it costs nothing to fire up your PC and load the cardroom of your choice. An offline player might have to travel for miles, incurring petrol, parking, eating and drinking expenses in the process; all this before a penny has been wagered. An offline player is literally committing themselves to playing poker, they would'nt make such efforts only to change their mind as they step into the cardroom; an online player has much greater control over their time, they can choose to play as little or as much as they like. An offline player might have to drive for miles to find another game if the waiting list is too long at the cardroom he frequents, an online poker player simply logs out of one site and onto another in the time it takes to click a mouse.

The poker room rake is much lower online than in bricks & mortar cardrooms making it easier to profit from your hard work, you don't have to tip the dealer everytime you win a pot, infact you don't even have to thank cyber dealers despite the fact they will never misdeal to you nor miscalculate the rake.

You don't have to dress up in order to play online, whereas you may have to adhere to a stringent dress code at your local casino poker room. Add to that, there are no time limits imposed on you online, no matter what the time is, there will always be a well populated game just round the corner at all hours of the day. You have much greater control over your environment when playing online too; it does'nt matter if the player seated next to you has'nt bathed in days, whether they smoke or simply look funny, your environment does not change. On the flip side, you are free to wear what you like, smell how you like and literally do what you like in the comfort of your own home.

A beginner may be conscious of giving away tells or making mecanical mistakes such as acting out of turn in an offline poker game, the online game treats novice players much more fairly. Physical tells are'nt even a consideration when playing online and the poker software minimises the chance of you ever making a mistake by dealing with most processes, such as posting the blinds, on your behalf.

With technology on your side, online poker can be enjoyed via mobile phones and PDA's, your online poker options are likely to grow as further technological advancements are made.

Planet Poker, the first ever real money online cardroom was opened for business in 1998, this signified a new era for poker and was arguably the biggest evolution in the history of the game. Despite plenty of resistance initially, Planet Poker worked extremely hard with their client base to ensure online poker gaming was successful by providing a transparent service where many details were published for integrity purposes. One such area was their shuffling algorithm; unfortunately a flaw in the algorithm was exposed, plunging online poker back into the realms of untrustworthy once more.

In retrospect, it can be argued that the flaw in Planet Pokers shuffling algorithm paved the way for the rest of the industry; collectively they learned from Planet pokers mistakes, which allowed huge advancements in security to be made and nowadays we enjoy a much more secure and risk free poker experience.

Texas Holdem has grown enormoulsy and the market is now saturated with virtual cardrooms, with revenues totalling billions of dollars annually and integrity like never before, online poker is well and truly here to stay.

An often overlooked poker skill away from the poker table is being able to understand and use poker terminology; not only does this include understanding the terms that would be found in a poker glossary, but also the standard forms of describing a poker hand.

This is a most useful skill to have in terms of post analysis of Poker Hands played. An important part of any online poker players simply don't have the ability to convey the full set of information required in order for another person to make an informed response about the hand.
Poker Shorthand
A common format for starting to describe how a hand played is to list all the cards involved using a form of shorthand which paints the reader an accurate picture of how the cards fell; your opponent hit a set on the flop and you outdrew them on the river by making a straight flush.

d diamonds
h hearts
s spades
c clubs

For example:

Your Hand: KdQd
Rival Hand: 7c7h
The Board: Jd10d7s/3c/9d
Other Poker Terms
There is plenty more relevant information you can provide about a hand than just the cards though:

Blind Level / Table Limit - Tells us how deep into a tournament the situation happened or how high the stakes were along with the maximum buyin.

No of Players at the table - Shows us whether the game was shorthanded or longhanded.

No of active players - Details whether the hand was played heads up or in a multiway environment.

Positioning - Informs us the starting hand requirements for all players when cross referenced against the cards they held.

Stack sizes - Tells us who is playing shortstack poker and who is capable of deepstack play.

Table image - Provides us with the rough perception players had over certain opposition.

Relevant chat - Indicates an opponents possible frame of mind, although caution is advised as opponents are likely to try and decieve.

Plenty of other minor details can be worth recording, for example the time of day may be relevant if you suspect an opponent likes to play drunk in the early hours of Sunday morning; the percentage of players seeing the flop in ring games tells us how loose a table was playing; any previous player notes might be worth including to help the reader build a more accurate picture of how they would have played the hand, based on the information provided. See our guide on player note taking in poker for more info on this.

The Luck Factor
If you were to ask 100 pro poker players, "how much is poker about luck?", you would most likely get differing answers from the majority of them, this is because nobody actually knows how to calculate the effect luck has due to there being so many imponderables and variables involved.

Although nobody knows how great an effect luck really has, many people are branded as lucky players and for different reasons. A good player might be branded as lucky because "your pocket aces always hold up" or "you get dealt so many big pocket pairs", when infact the reality is simply that the player knows how to play pocket aces well and therefore gets outdrawn much less frequently than someone who likes to be 'tricky' or 'trappy' with their big hands. A good player is usually ahead in the hand too, meaning they win a higher percentage of the time making them look even luckier.

A bad player definitely gets luckier more often, but not enough that their luck translates to profit, bad players put themselves in positions to get lucky more regularly than good players, and the way they get 'lucky' is by outdrawing with the worst hand. It's clear that before asking questions about luck, we must first define what constitutes as luck because not everyone thinks the same way.

Over the entirety of a long poker career, luck can be discounted somewhat and instead only thought of as percentages; when you win 81% of the time, you will lose or tie 19% of the time. The more you play, the less these percentages deviate from their true statistical probability; this means if you have a short poker career, your results will be influenced by luck much more than if your poker career was considerably longer.

So basically, poker is a game of skill, in the short term there may be luck but in the long run, the percentages will be the most important factor. That said, it is possible to make your own luck, although this may not be luck in the truest sense, but you will certainly look lucky to your opponents because you consistently put yourself in more advantageous positions so you are constantly getting the best of it. Getting 'lucky' through outdrawing people without a care for pot odds is'nt really lucky at all because you will end up losing more money than you win.