“What discourages opponents from coming is the prospect of harm” – Sun Tzu

Poker is not a gentlemens game anymore, it has become a war between opponents.  This doesnt mean you have to insult or deface your opponents, but it does mean that you are in battle for their chips!  Show that you are there for battle and you will see them begin to fall.  Opponents will either choose to attack at the wrong times, or will back off from any confrontation with you.

You open up your cards and see that you have pocket aces.  Its a definite instinct to grab your chips and go.  Just like in live poker, your online poker game is being observed by your opponents.  Take time in your decisions, do not make any impulse acts.  Leave your opponents wondering what you are going to do next.

“Good warriors prevail when it is easy to prevail” -Sun Tzu

As other of our online poker secrets have stated, poker is a game of patience, a game of the long run, and a waiting game.  It’s not just the game you need to wait on, but your opponents as well.  Take advantage of your opponents when they are at their weakest point.  This may be after they have lost a few buy-ins or a few big hands OR maybe when they have been playing for a long while and are lacking concentration (time out more frequently) Or it could be that they are starting to play more loose than what they began to do.

Pay attention to your opponents and find when they are breaking down.

Your lack of ability to learn from your mistakes, your rationalization of playing marginal hands, lack of patience, inability to play emotionless….these are your biggest opponents, all within yourself.  If you can take the time to master a Zen like state in poker, then you will be eliminating your biggest opponent and creating a more profitable game of online poker.

If you are going to play a cash game, buy into a table with the maximum, not the minimum or any random number.  If you sit down at a texas holdem poker table (say 1/2 NL) with $40 instead of the maximum $200 – you are automatically going to be tagged as a fish by your opponents.  This may be what you want (so you get action) but the reality is, there are more efficient ways of tagging yourself as a fish!  If you want to get the maximum out of the table limit you are playing, then you have to have the maximum amount of money at the poker table!