Fourth Rule Of Poker

When I first started playing Online Poker, I completely failed to recognise the potential of poker record keeping. Here we need to concentrate on this very important online poker strategy.

The vast majority of online poker players do not make use of the huge amounts of information available. I believe that my fourth rule of poker is more responsible for poker success than any other (it probably should be the first online poker rule).

1) I attribute a large part of my online poker success to my fourth rule of poker, the discipline of keeping a ‘book’ on players that I frequently play against.

What I mean by this is, that I’m constantly watching players for their recurring strategies, and I also record the hand’s that they start with. I accumulate information on them, so that I can use it in future games.

In a ‘live’ game most players can remember certain aspects of another player’s game (especially if they have sat on the same table for a couple of hours).

The same is true online, but why not have that information to hand. Even better, why not choose a table with a good selection of player’s that you have the ‘book on’.

Recurring methods of play are your ‘online tells’. In my fourth rule of poker I want you to learn to spot and note these 'online tells'.

Keeping a ‘book’ for online players is probably more useful than understanding the real physical tells in a live game.

Think about it. If you could refer to notes in a live poker game you almost certainly would. Also not everyone is good at understanding the body language of a live poker game.

So as a direct correlation with the live game, I believe the best online players are those that can accumulate data, correlate that data, store it and most importantly have a system where they can recall it.

You don’t need to let the information in your 'book' rule your game, but it will be a big help when trying to make a tight call.

And I’ll promise you this much. All the best players keep book. So if you don’t, are you not simply giving away an advantage before you even start?

2) To begin with here’s some of the basic data you might want to start recording:

Rate player’s aggression on a scale of 1-10
(over tight would be a (1).... a (10) would be super aggressive). It helps to know your players before you sit at a table.
For an example;
I’d want to sit to the left of a mad raiser, and to the right of a ‘rock’ (a very tight player). Position is so important in poker.

Player’s starting hands from each position, early, middle and late. For example;
You are holding Jh-Kh and the flop comes J- 7- 4. Your opponent bets. Now you think you have the best hand, but it would help to know if your opponent only play’s premium hands, or would this player come in with say, Jd-7d. If so you may be behind.

What hands a player will raise with,
For example;
This time you have 10h-10c. Your opponent has made a pre-flop raise in middle position, and then he bet’s into a board of 9-9-6. Your ‘book’ indicates that this player has always raised with 'high conectors', but he normaly ‘slow play's’ high ‘pocket pairs’. You may deside that he has A-K, or A-Q. It would be a fairly safe bet to raise this player, and play for a low rag flop.

How they play their ‘blinds’.
Some players always defend their ‘blinds’. You can take advantage of players that always call a raise from the blinds. Simply sit to their right and isolate them when you have premium hands.

How they play after the flop in a raised pot.
For example;
Some raisers go in aggressively whether they hit the flop or not. Other players check, or make a weak bet if they miss the flop.

If you know what hands they raise with sometimes all you need is ‘position’ on them. In Pot-limit or No-limit it’s a great opportunity to make some easy money.

For example;
You hold anything ;-) The flop comes ragged (2-7-9), The raiser is a player that always follows through after the flop and In this case he doesn’t disappoint, and puts in a large pot size bet, or in No-limit more than already in the pot. You note that this player also only raises with premium hands.

In this position you can be fairly sure your opponent has two over cards and has missed the flop. You might want to raise him and try to take the pot away. It is a risky play though and takes guts, if you get called he may have a pocket pair, but more often than not its over cards (and if you make this play on a rag flop ten times over a period, you will probably win seven or eight). It's all about knowing the player and how he reacts.

To be honest we could go on with this forever, we can enter bluff tactics, the amount of check-raising, drawing hands, the fourth rule of poker list is endless.

You really need to develop a system that works for you, and this is done by trial and error.

However one thing always remains a constant, if you want to be a wining player, stick to this great poker strategy, my fourth rule of poker and Record The Data.

Click on the link below and go to my Fifth.

My Fifth Rule Of Poker
Recording your own data to keep yourself honest.

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