Online Poker has Changed the Game

A certain level of aggression is vital to being an effective poker player. Not everyone is cut out to be a bully at every table, but there are ways to cultivate the aggression you do have.  A lot of players, when starting out with their friends in home games, have had those games that are basically based on luck.  Five card stud games when no one ever folds and the win comes down to the cards every single time.  Fortunately, no one played that way for ever, and strategies were learned, but with online poker the game has changed.

A certain level of aggression is vital to being an effective poker player. Not everyone is cut out to be a bully at every table, but there are ways to cultivate the aggression you do have.  A lot of players, when starting out with their friends in home games, have had those games that are basically based on luck.  Five card stud games when no one ever folds and the win comes down to the cards every single time.  Fortunately, no one played that way for ever, and strategies were learned, but with online poker the game has changed.

The Old Strategy

By reading books and online articles, many people grasped the odds for individual hands in different situations, and started using those odds to formulate smart playing strategies, which greatly increased success  Some hands were worth nothing more than throwing down and calling it a loss.  If the odds were not in your favor, there was no sense putting any more money into the pot.  The more people learned about odds, the more their game evolved.

Catalysts of Change

But poker strategy has come a long way due to different variables which have been introduced to the game.  For one, Internet play has revolutionized the game.  The widespread use of this playing platform has completely erased the one variable that often meant the difference between playing and not playing—availability.  Now that you can access completive games any day of the week and any time of the day, there is nothing to stop you from playing.

Another way the game has changed is that Texas Hold ‘Em has become the default version of play across the world.  This complicated style of poker has its own set of rules and strategies to master, and the sheer number of cards on the table make for a very volatile game.

Last of all, the poker landscape has drastically changed due to the emergence of televised games on the scene.  The biggest games are broadcast on ESPN, and a poker mania has seized the public.  Everyone wants to be a poker star now, and the resources available for those with the time to learn and practice are endless.

An Evolving Player

With all this attention to poker and with all the people who spend the majority of their lives living and breathing the game, there is both a lot more competition and a lot more variety in playing styles.  The evolution has been primarily towards a more aggressive player, perhaps even sloppier, especially online.  A lot of these newer players have thrown out the more conservative strategies and instead wait for the flop before throwing away any two cards, regardless of how strong or weak they are.  That said, many know to duck and run once they see the flop has done nothing for them.

This introduces an interesting component to the game.  Not only do you have all these guys out there playing almost any possible pair of cards, which opens up a lot more opportunities for someone to have the nuts or to drown you on the river.  You have to be cautious in your moves and never assume that just because having the nuts requires a two and a three that the odds of someone limping in for the flop on that kind of hand are slim.  The game has changed in online poker, and so have the odds.

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