Online Poker Strategy Articles

Jon Eaton

If it sounds like I'm being harsh, it's because I am. This ties into another column I wrote this week about being honest with yourself. When it comes to your bottom line, if you are a loser, you are a loser! I read a lot of message forums about poker, and people are constantly coming up with crazy conspiracies, even posting dozens of hands of 'proof' that a site is rigged.

First, let's take one element out of this argument. Let's say for one second that all of these crazy hands that you have seen, whatever they may be, and however severe the beat was that you saw, all took place in a casino. Would you start looking for an excuse, saying the dealer rigged the deck' Would you start questioning the validity of the casino' Would your first reaction be how unlucky you are or would it be how badly you played the pot'

More than likely these thoughts wouldn't cross your mind. But when you play online, you can't physically see the deck or table or dealer. You're taking someone's word for it that the game is honest. If you quit squabbling over bad beats and stop trying to place the blame for your losing sessions, you will realize the real blame is to be laid upon yourself.

Like I said, until you can be honest with yourself, you will never be a winner. Plain and simple. Poker is very easy to keep track of who is winning. If you walk away with more money than you had to start more often than not, then you're a winner. If you walk away questioning the software of your preferred online poker site, cursing them for taking your money, then you are a loser and you're searching for excuses.

The purpose of this wake-up call isn't to piss you off, or to even brag that I am a winner. I don't care if you think I am a good player by any means, I am just writing to improve your game (although I doubt you'd be taking my advice if you believed such)!

As for crazy conspiracies about online poker' let's analyze them for one minute. People have been saying since the dawn of online poker that poker rooms are rigging hands so they increase the rake. Now this is absolutely absurd for many reasons, the first being that they don't need to rig the deck to create action! Bad players will always be around to shove their money into a pot with no hope.

As for juicing up the rake, the rake would usually max out (usually only $3) on almost any pot that goes to the flop or turn anyway, so they have no vested interest in creating 'action pots.' Others believe they do this to keep losing players from going broke, but the simple matter is, they are always going to take the worst of it. Unless the site is so rigged that an 80-percent favorite doesn't win even 50-percent of the time, no matter what, the bad players are going to go broke in the long run.

What interest does a poker room have in the action generated at their room' They want you to be happy of course! Do you really think they want to drive customers away by rigging their software and making good players run bad' Do you really think that their business would benefit by making bad players win more often, and casting the shadow of a doubt about their integrity' No!

Just like a brick and mortar casino, their only interest is in getting in as many hands as they can and generating as much rake as they can. They achieve this by providing a good service for their customers and keeping them happy. The Bellagio doesn't have to do anything to get people into the games, other than spreading what games they want and giving them the service they demand. They don't need to have special decks or rig pots to make players win more often and jack up the rake, because players will come and play regardless.

The same goes for online poker rooms. If they spread an honest and fair game, their business will only improve. Degrading the odds of hands holding up will only hurt business. Bad players will always be lining up to lose their money, so good players don't need any extra incentive and bad players don't need any added benefits.

In short, quit telling yourself that you're losing because the site is rigged. Keep studying and playing hard! You will eventually improve your game if you are dedicated and have your heart in it. Subscribe to something like Pro Poker School and improve your game, and keep swinging. The long run is a lot longer than you think!

note by gank: Jon Eaton has improved his no-limit holdem game by learning from me and studying other pros.