| Practicing Poker Online | |
Part 2: More Benefits
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Paying Attention
You should be watching the other players at the showdown to see what hands
they are playing. This is something you should be doing in live games. Get
in the habit of doing it every time you play. It will help you develop your
attention to the game and the other players. Try to determine who is a serious
player online and who is not. Just as in real games you should be able to
determine who is playing tight or lose by the hands they are showing at the
end.
Pot Odds
You can practice figuring pot odds by counting the money as it goes into
the pot. Some of the online sites actually show the amount of money in the
pot. If this is the case you can cover the total on the screen. Other sites
just show a pile of chips that you can click on to see the total. After the
rounds you can peak at the total and see if your count matches the actual
money in the pot. Its good practice and will sharpen your ability to figure
pot odds during a live game.
Emotional Toughness
When you play against the really bad players online you will experience bad
beats much more frequently. This is because more of the players are staying
to the end looking for the miracle draw. While you will never get used to
them you will have a better understanding that it is part of the game when
you are dealing with this type of player. If you can learn to accept it as
part of the game it will not have as great of effect your emotional stability
when it happens at the tables in the card room.
Private Games
There are sites where players can hold private games or play one on one with
each other. This is an excellent opportunity to get together with some of
your serious poker friends for some practice. While there is no real money
exchanging hands, if everyone considers their cyber chips to be as valuable
as real money and plays the game as such, it will make for a great learning
experience. The knowledge shared and experience gained will be invaluable.
It's Your Call
Practicing online can be like any other endeavor. You get out of it what
you put into it. If you treat these free games as if you were playing with
real money, then you can learn from it. If you decided to just play any two
cards to the river, you are defeating the purpose. You are also wasting your
time and running the risk of developing bad habits.
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