Make an Entrance
Smart online poker players know how to make an entrance. The way you enter a online poker hand can go a long way towards making it end in your favor. When you get your pocket cards, being aware of your table’s personality should affect how you go into a hand.
You will probably be folding more than anything else, but that’s okay-it’s good to toss away junk while you wait for the right poker hand. Once you get that hand, it’s just a matter of treating it right. When you get a hand worth playing, look at your opponents. If they’re passive, this is the only time I think that limping into a hand can be appropriate. If you want to keep them in the hand, calling the blind will encourage timid players to put some cash in the pot. Otherwise, you may want to steal some blinds, in which you can raise them with a semi-bluff. Even if your opponents call your bet, you’ve got strong enough pocket cards to make a hand on the flop. If they’re aggressive look into placing a big bet to scare out the players with low hands and identify the players with good hands, and if the table has a mixture of both, three or four times the big blind should separate the weak hands from the strong ones for you. You’ll also make sure that the pot is a decent for when your hand becomes a winner.
