Three Easy Tips to Winning at Online Poker.

Winning at Online Poker may be your answer if you want a second income, a full time income, a hobby or a challenging competitive game. There are many reasons for playing online poker. What I would like to do is see you being able to make an extra income, or full income, or just enjoying the competitive spirit of the game. I am going to tell you how I started out and progressed through the ranks, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls you may run into.

1. Familiarize yourself with the basic starting hands and percentages. I started out reading the basic holdem books, with the hand ranking and the percentages of each play, and when and where to make a raise, etc. I would make a cheat sheet when I played and simply follow it until I felt comfortable. This is one of the advantages of online play.

2. Once you feel like you are familiar with the basic game, look at several online poker websites and try to figure out one you would like. The things you want to make sure of when you look at a poker website are:

* Does it have a lot of traffic? You want to join one of the larger sites so there are plenty of tables to choose from – this will be important later.

* You want to make sure they have rakeback – rakeback is an amount the casino gives you back each month out of the rake they take from each hand. I'll explain more about this later. Check at a couple of sites (eg. RaketheRake.com) and find a site that offers the highest % of rakeback offered if you can. This is like free money. Many players make a living on just the rakeback alone. Ultimate Bet, Cake Poker and Full Tilt all offer good rakeback. Make sure you get a rakeback code from RaketheRake before you sign up at a new site. If you sign up without the code you will never get rakeback.

3. Once you find a site you like :

* Begin by playing the free no limit holdem games to familiarize yourself with the system and to not overwhelm yourself with everything. If you make a mistake – so what – it's free. Try to learn your basic starting hands and raising strategy during this time. Get a cheat sheet if necessary. Try to play 2 or more tables as you get better.

* Once you feel comfortable, it's time to move into the real money arena. I recommend you start at the .01/.02 tables. The maximum buy in is $2.00 and this is all you will lose unless you buyin again. Try to play the 6 max tables. There is much more action. The players at this level are really bad and you can really beat this game with a good basic strategy and percentage play. Continue to use your cheat sheet and begin to concentrate on the types of players you are playing (loose, tight, wild, etc.) You will learn to adjust your play according to the types of players you are playing.

* You want to use some form of money management when you play. I suggest you have at least 40 times the buyin which is $80 (40x $2) in your account before you think about moving up to the next level (.05 or .10 cent level). As you move up, the competition gets a little tougher and you need to adjust yourself to the play. This is what is great about poker – it is always a learning experience and it teaches you a lot about human nature and life.

There are numerous books I have read that teach you the various techniques, but there is one ebook I have found that can take you from a beginning player and walk you through to a complete winning online poker player and a money maker. Check out this site for more information. There is a free hand chart and a video of the master at work. Also you can get some interesting previews of some really good moves. In my next article I'm going to talk more about how to build a bankroll and some of the programs such as pokertracker and pokerace hud that help you tweak your game and turn you into a winner.