External Factors
A starting online poker player may have good poker skills, but certain adjustments need to be made to be competitive in the online game. Perhaps the biggest single difference between live and online poker is the speed at which the game is played. In the live setting, a quick game will have about thirty hands per hour, while a quick online game may have over one hundred hands per hour. Additionally, many pro players are multi-tabling with a minimum four tables, meaning that they could be playing four hundred hands every hour. Obviously, this significantly reduces the time a player has to make a decision. As such, good players learn to make quicker decisions and the right moves begin to come natural as they gain the experience of many thousands of hands played.

It should be common sense that you should be focused while playing online, but many players simply sign in and expect to win because of their poker skills. Online poker professionals understand that ability is important, but hard work is also important. These pros are paying close attention to optimize their strategy versus different opponents. One way of achieving this is by taking notes during the course of play. Some pros use the notes feature found in several online poker sites, and others use external software that tracks the play of opponents. These software programs can build up a very detailed history of an opponent’s play. The resulting data is then used in real-time by agreement to determine the most incurred profitable play.

Inside the Game
The number one mistake players make when transitioning from the live game to the online setting is that they play too many hands. It is too easy to just press a button and play a hand. As a novice online player, you should play extra-tight to avoid developing this bad habit. Online pros have mastered this transition and are able to play solid, tight poker across multiple games at the same time. They are able to do this because they understand the danger of playing too many hands. Although a player’s skill, if he repeatedly plays bad or marginal hands from poor position, then it will result in eventual losses. It is just a matter of time.

Professional online poker players often schedule their playing times. They do not just wake up one day and decide to play poker. They maintain an active schedule and treat the game as a source of employment. They scour sites and identify the most profitable tournaments to play in, not just the ones that are most convenient. Some of these tournaments may be weeks or months in advance, but a successful player will be aware of it and take the necessary steps to play at peak potential during this time. Many online poker sites have big tournaments on Sundays that attract a large number of internet pros. Sunday is the most active day for online poker and it is no coincidence that more pros can be found online this day than any other.

When professionals play poker online they often play several tables at a time. Many players will play 4-16 tables at once across several monitors. When you are playing this many tables and hands at a time it is virtually impossible to keep track of the playing style of every opponent at the table. The HUD can help you to keep track of who plays how by just glancing at their stats before you act. So how does it work?

The hand histories for every hand that you play online are stored on your hard drive. These hands can then be imported into a tracking software and compiled into a database. The HUD will then read this database along with the current hand histories for live tables and display the stats directly on the table to help poker players make quick decisions based on the playing style and weaknesses of their opponents without having to actually watch every hand closely. So how is this beneficial in actual play?

We all know that watching how our opponents play closely will help us exploit their weaknesses. When you use a HUD in conjunction with a datamining software program you can get a huge advantage over your opponents. You can move from table to table and always know exactly how your opponents play without spending too much time studying them in real time. Your software will do it for you. Some players fold the flop 60% of the time but constantly check raise the turn. If you see that on a players stats, and they call the flop, you can often expect a checkraise on the turn. This may be a good time to check behind with a mediocre hand and save two bets. Without a HUD you would have to watch this player closely for thousands of hands to realize that this is their standard play when they make a big hand. Other players will try to run over any table they sit down at and raise 50% of the time before the flop. You will probably pick up on this after a few orbits even if you’re playing 8 table or more, but with a HUD you’ll know what you’re dealing with before the first hand is even dealt.

Another useful tool that your HUD will afford you is that it will show you your opponents hole cards after the hand is over if they go to showdown. Many players will muck their hand so that you can’t see it but the HUD will still pick up the data. Its helpful to know what a player will call a river bet with. This alone will help you value bet the river against players who will showdown weak hands.

The first step to playing like a pro is to “become” one. Watching High Stakes poker on the Game Show Network, the World Series on ESPN, or any other highly visualized play is important. You need to see how a professional plays. You need t realize there are going to be times when laying down pocket aces is going to save your stack.

New players get caught up in their whole cards and do not always give credit to what the other players may have. You can by a poker book, but it will really only do as good as how you apply it. You are going to see bad calls while playing in online poker rooms. It is very difficult to not pick up this bad habit, especially when someone catches his or her card. One important fact for playing like a pro is consistency. You do not want to be predictable, but just consistency.

If you have ever watched Gus Hansen, is a very loose, but very aggressive player. What his cards are make no difference really to the way he plays. He plays as if he has excellent cards in any hand he is in. It makes him very difficult to read, since he is always consistent. Daniel Negreanu is a tighter player, but knows what the other person has almost all the time. He plays to know what he is against. If he can figure out what his opponent has, he can determine if it is worth him staying in the hand. This can come at a cost. He will pay to see someone’s cards so that he knows what they had. This may be worth it from time to time. If you are unsure of a bluff, if the bet is small, call it and find out. These examples are both opposite ends of the professional spectrum. The common trait is consistency. You need to find out what strength you have in poker, and develop it. Use it, and become successful. If you do not have a skill to hone in on, you end up very unpredictable and you will ultimately lose, and it can cost you.

When playing online, you will see professionals on TV do it as well, keep a notebook. Write down information about other players, and your play. This will help you to review your play when you are in a different state of mind. When you sit on the couch, read through your plays. Determine what you could have done differently. This will allow you to recall this information next time you play, and make the proper decision.