Online poker is the perfect place for Aussie gambling nuts to improve their game and try out new systems. There are so many games around, so many training sites, and so many programs at players' disposal to help strengthen your play, there's no reason why the smart Aussie poker enthusiast shouldn't be making money on the net.
In classic Buzzfeed style, here's a quick top 10 to help you guys on your way.
1) Find A Great Site To Play At
OK, this first one sounds a bit bloody obvious, but put simply, find yourself a nice, cosy poker home and you'll be happy Aussie bunnies for some time to come. There are so many poker rooms out there it's hard to know where to turn, so follow the recommendations on our site, check out the traffic, range of games and promo offer, and most importantly – DO YOUR RESEARCH. Good sites will keep you coming back time and time again with the safety of knowledge that your hard-earned bucks aren't going to go bye-bye and that the site isn't going to go into liquidation at the drop of a hat.
2) Look Out for Weak Players
Playing online poker is fun – consistently winning is even more fun, and, after all, winning is what it's all about. If you're going to become a regular (or 'reg') at the MTTs or cash games, you need to find soft tables, and softer players. Start at the low stakes where the fish swim, and take them out – and we don't mean phone them up for a date. Start taking notes on the bad players who make terrible calls, play marginal hands and raise too much out of position, and then you can go hunting for those names every time you log on. Speaking of position...
3) Learn The Three Ps – Position, Position, Position!
Joking aside, any players enjoying online Texas Hold'em Down Under need to know about position in order to make a long-term profit. Having a good 'position' on other players at the table lets you gain invaluable information on their habits, holdings and aggression before the action comes round to you. Generally speaking, you need to be more aggressive in late position (LP) as those in early position (EP) will always be forced to make the first moves after each turn of the card.
4) Learn about Odds
So, you're sitting in a Hold'em cash hand, and a player puts in a big bet. You have about eight cards in the deck that can improve your hand, and you have a big chunk of cash to throw in if you're going to make the call and see another card. Are the odds in your favour or not? If you can't get your head around the pot odds and hand odds then you need to start learning. You don't need a degree in Mathematics, but even a basic grasp of pot odds will help you work out if a hand is worth pursuing or not. Check out online poker tutorials, sign up to some training sites, and you'll soon be playing odds like the pros. You can find out more information about poker odds and probability here.
5) Learn How To Multi-table
Online poker gives Australians the luxury of playing as many tables as they can handle. Fire up the laptop, open a few tables, and away you go. But multi-tabling isn't that simple – it takes practice and skill to get good at it. Playing one Sit 'n' Go is easy enough, but when you've got 4, 8, 16 of them to concentrate on at the same time, you can soon be in a right mess and wondering where all your profits went to. Get adept at one game first, then slowly add games, one table at a time, until you can comfortably manage your sit-outs and automatic calls. Multi-tabling well is essential for getting in a good volume of hands and earning a decent long-term profit, and it should be every serious online grinder's goal.
6) Play With a 4-Colour Deck
OK, so you've mastered a table or two online of your favourite Texas Hold'em cash games and you want to start throwing in a few more tables to bump up the volume. Playing multiple tables for hours without a break can lead to mistakes and mis-clicks, and one way to negate this is to alter the colours of the decks on-screen.
How do you do this? Well, some big sites allow you to change the deck to a 4-colour one, so that hearts stay red, spades stay black, clubs become green and diamonds blue. Why is that good? Well, when you've been staring at flops for hours, those diamonds and hearts, spades and clubs, start to merge into one another – especially on a small monitor. Picking a 4-colour deck keeps things simple. You can even change the font style of the cards too to make the card values stick out more.
7) Get Some Training
There's so much help for budding Joe Hachems out there, there's really no reason for Aussie online players not to learn as they play. Online training sites, forums and tutorials are everywhere, and there are even sites that will stake you to play while you train.
For now, get yourself some software that you can use on top of your poker screen to help track your opponents and get more info. Tracking software HUDs (Heads-Up Displays) like Poker Tracker or Hold'em Manager are expensive but can pay for themselves if you're going to be playing many tables at once.
8) Earn Your Stripes in the Freerolls
Most good sites have regular daily freerolls or fun-play games which let you practice without risking any hard-earned Aussie dollars of your own. Some freerolls will even have a little cash attached as an extra sweetener, and others will reward Player Points to use in entering other tournaments or spending in the poker site's online shop. Freeroll players can be manic – after all, they're not risking any cash, so why not play recklessly? – but they're still good to play in before you make the leap to real-money games.
9) Manage your Bankroll Carefully
Every online poker player in Oz would love to be a winning player, but the truth is you're going to go through some patches of 'bad variance' where the luck just isn't with you. To avoid going busto, make sure you have good bankroll management in place.
Don't exceed your limits and always make sure your buy-ins are proportionate to your bankroll. If you find yourself on a bad run, don't be afraid to drop down the limits to build up your reserves again. Also, consider keeping a separate bank account for your poker winnings so you aren't tempted to dip into the credit card to help fund your poker.
10) Take A Break!
Finally, it goes without saying that playing online poker – especially for a lengthy period – can be exhausting, both mentally and physically. Whether it's being on the end of a 14-hour session or experiencing enough bad beats to send you on life-tilt for good, players will need a break. Set a routine for your poker, never deviate from it, and once your session is over, turn off the computer and head to the beach, shops, pool – basically anywhere where you're not thinking about poker for an hour or two. You'll thank us for it later!