Online Poker – Keeping Your Attention on the Cards
December 9th, 2008
Let’s face it, there are tons of distractions that can cost your dearly when playing online poker. You have the advertisements, the promotions, and the ability to play at several different tables at the same time.
Now for some, multitasking comes naturally, and they may be able to handle more than one table at a time. But for others, who focus on all the nuances, playing tables greater than one, can prove a costly mistake.
Here’s a scenario. Let’s say you’ve been playing three poker tables for about an hour. Well it comes down to a sticky situation where you have a high flush, but your opponent may have the nuts. You’ve been clicking between windows so fast, you’ve never really had a chance to get to know the intracacies of your opponent’s betting patterns. So you decide to go with gut instinct, go all in, and lose to the nut flush.
Now, if you’d been concentration on just that table, then you’d have a good idea of how the bets correlated to the true stength of his hand. Maybe you would have noticed that the standard bet of 500 was throw out by your opponent when he had a strong hand, and he always, repeated ALWAYS bets 1500 when he has the nuts. And you’d see that he bet 1500, and you’d see that you need to lay this hand down.
I know, I know, an over simplification to be sure, but it’s one of those traps that can cost a player who’s playing for some serious change, a huge percentage of their stack.
Let’s also not forget the other distractions such as other web pages, TV, radio, or the myriad other distractions that can occupy your attention.
Now this is not to prescribe that there is one correct way to play online poker. I’m only giving you the rundown on the importance of paying attention online where so many of your physical tells are masked due to the virtual reality.
And of course, it also depends on what you’re bringing to the game. If you’re just playing for playing’s sake, then by all means, play how you want. But if you’ve got some cash on the line, then you owe it to yourself to play your best regardless of whether it’s online or at a b&m table.