Beating online poker - part 2

Once you manage to finally have your opponents figured out (if not read) you need to apply the right strategy against each one of them. Having an opponent 'figured out' means that you get a general idea about his playing style, it doesn't actually mean that you read him to the point of knowing what he might hold in the pocket.

For weak players (fish who cant tell a bluff apart from a dry call) you need to return to basics. These guys shall be impervious to your advanced tactics, and it's not just about the saving of the ammunition, playing complicated against them will cost you money. If ' for instance ' you launch a well prepared and aimed bluff against a guy who never picked up any of the signals you sent him in preparation for the feat, you're likely to blow a big bet right there. Again, low and micro limits are host to the overwhelming majority of such fish. Many good poker players commit the mistake of playing extremely well and employing an arsenal of tricks against people at low limits. Low limits require basic tight-aggressive handling, and the throwing of all advanced strategy right out the window.

Medium to high limits are a different matter. Under-bankrolled fish might sometimes venture all the way up there, but even if they do so, they're bound to either leave or bust out in a few minutes. The player-base at these levels will be much savvier, and this is where advanced strategy will come in handy. Do anything it takes to surprise these guys. Look out for the table image you cast, they will be trying to read you just as hard as you're trying to read them, make no mistake about them. Switch gears every now and then. As soon as you think you've been figured out, switch playing styles and surprise your opponents for at least a few hands. Sowing deceit under these circumstances is great, check-raise and semi-bluff, or do whatever it takes to get the dough, to the best of your abilities. Real poker is only available online at medium to high limits, so bring your A-play and treat your opponents accordingly.

Small and micro limits are not about the same kind of poker you may have learned about in a Brick-and-mortar poker room. High limits are much more so.

If you run across a maniac, whatever limit that may be at, do not be intimidated. That guy, regardless of how unchallenged and dominant he appears to be, is nothing but a source of money for you. He is willing and eager to donate you his bankroll if you only know how to treat him.

Every now and then, on of these maniacs will succeed in putting the whole table he plays at, on a tilt. If that happens, the situation becomes all the more profitable for you. Nurture no illusions, playing successfully against a table full of raging lunatics is not an easy thing to accomplish by any standards. If you handle the situation right though, you'll be making a lot of money at a table like that. You need to approach things extra-tight. Act only on the best possible starting hands and the biggest mathematical expectation margin.
Sure, it'll require a lot of patience, but in the end it'll be worth the time spent waiting for those AA, KKs to land.