Unlike players who have just taken their first steps in online poker, those who advance to an intermediate level know how to play with greater ease on the green carpet.

Impulsivity and poor bankroll management are starting to become a thing of the past, and you are now getting better and better at selecting your bets. However, there is still a long way to go before you become a true card expert.

The deeper you get into the world of poker, the more you will become aware of the complexity and richness of the strategies that characterize this card game, which is, however, considered a game of chance.  Here are the best strategies for playing online poker adapted to your level. Ready to improve your game? Let’s get started!

Get to know virtual tells

In the past, as a beginner player, one of the first things you had to do was to watch your opponents. This is also possible in online poker.

Studying opponents in online poker, although different, can also be done. In addition, it will allow you to gain valuable information that can determine whether you are facing a strong or weak hand.

Although in online poker you can’t read tells, i.e. those gestures of your opponents that show whether they are nervous, lying or have a good hand, sometimes you can deduce what kind of hand your opponent might have.

It all depends on the level of play, the type of opponent and their ability to hide their tricks. For example, there are reads that will be easier to make with recreational players but impossible to read with an expert player.

Expert players are true masters of disguise. They are capable of sowing doubt by delaying the response time, calling a bet immediately to interpret that we want to stay in the hand or actions of this type that induce the opponent to think something. Professional players play with these indicators to mislead.

Note also that this depends on the type of game and the position you are in. There are times when a player may have little time to make a decision, and bluffing a hand may be more difficult because of a short timebank.

Maths is your ally

Expecting a novice player to be able to handle mathematics in poker is perhaps asking too much.

At the beginning levels, learning how to manage your bankroll is more rewarding than knowing how to count cards in order to bet more confidently. The best poker players use mathematics constantly as a valuable decision-making tool.

If you want to win in the long run, intuition and chance are not your best allies. Instead, acting according to probabilities and statistics is much wiser. Also, at the higher levels of poker, you will be up against opponents who do use mathematics in their play, so it will be vital for you to know how to deal with the calculations.

Understanding the mathematics associated with poker will help you understand in which scenarios you are most likely to win the chips.

Pre-flop and post-flop tactics

As you probably already know as an intermediate player, the flop refers to the moment in the game when the three community cards are placed face up. Thus, we can talk about pre-flop and post-flop.

In the preflop, the position of the opponents has to be taken into account. Combining this with the strength of your hand, the type of opponents they are or the moves they have been making when they have spoken before you, are sources of data that you will have to analyze. If you don’t come to any clear conclusion or you see that you are still in doubt, don’t go to the flop.

In the post flop what you do is analyze the hand in relation to the community cards, as well as the type of opponent you are facing and the type of board.

Take the plunge with tournaments

Tournaments are poker events full of excitement and fun. They are one of the most popular game formats among fans of both live and online poker. Tournaments, however, are characterized by a different game dynamics to the cash format.

In addition, in some types of tournaments, the blinds increase at breakneck speed, making it more than likely that you will run out of chips in a matter of minutes. However, as an intermediate player, you’re probably ready – and willing – to try out this format for yourself and be in with a chance of winning some very tasty prizes and jackpots.

Your goal is clear: to survive. In tournaments, players are eliminated as their chips run out. So the longer you hold out and progress through the different stages, the more likely you are to win prizes.

Online tournaments are a great way to improve your game. At higher stages, don’t hesitate to try multi-tabling, where you can develop your game at different tables, increasing your chances of winning.

Your position at the table counts

While you may not have given much thought to your position at the table in your early poker games, at the intermediate level, it’s time to understand the critical role that position plays in your style of play.

While it is true that in the old days this was much more important, now that the style is more aggressive and you try to gain the initiative in more moments of the game, the position is an aspect to take into account, but it is not crucial. However, many strategies are based on the study of positions, so don’t forget to take this into account.

Often the game strategy has to be designed depending on where you are located, as you will have more or less information about the hand. For example: if you are the first player to receive cards, you will have to make a blind bet, that is, without knowing the other cards of your opponents.

On the other hand, if you are the last player at the table, you will be the most coveted of all, since you will know all the players’ bets, i.e. you will be the player with the most information.

Such a consideration leads to the following poker strategy for intermediate players: know the world beyond the first few hands.

Master the middle game

As the saying goes: it’s not how it starts, it’s how it ends. Beginning players attach fundamental importance to the starting hand, which determines – for better or worse – the course of their game.

Professional players, however, are much better at playing intermediate hands. Once the decisions of the starting hand have been made, they develop a very measured game, based on probability calculations, betting pattern recognition, strategies such as bluffing and taking into account, of course, their position at the table.

Undoubtedly, experience is the key to developing an average game to perfection.

 

READ MORE

Strategies for playing online poker. Part I: general considerations

Strategies for playing online poker. Part II: tips for newcomers

Strategies for playing online poker. Part IV: how to be the best at online poker