Many poker sites will try to make you think that there is no way to get good enough hands to actually land on the table. You’ve picked up bad cards, missed out on better opportunities, and ended up with a managed pot that makes you uneasy. After a few rounds you could realize that you have the better of the hand, but by then, you’ve already lost a big chunk of your chip stack to the blinds.
Strategies that work on paper not in reality, are soon remembered as “fun” rather than the start of a winning tradition. The stakes are only small, and usually only represent a few % of your bankroll. Land on one of the poker sites that actually has some value and give it a chance, rather than the one that is just giving you free money to play there.
A made hand is not a problem. Perhaps the thing you remember the most about getting bad cards is not when you got a pair of threes but when you had a pair of sevens and went to the river and got either no help or a lot of work. This was the case more often than not, except on the river some hands that could have won, but didn’t. Such as a flush for instance, or two pair, when you have two pair on the flop and an ace or something like that. The thing is, you must have better hands than the one you had, the flop didn’t help them one bit.
Being card dead on the flop is different than simply not getting any decent cards to do anything with. Cards that couldn’t win aren’t actually that bad if they don’t see the turn or river. The truth is, you had about as good a chance of getting the cards you needed as you did not, and the cards you did get were probably the best cards you could have gotten.
The truth is, you probably isn’t making a bad play after being card dead for a while, unless you seriously need the money. Being card dead is different from not being in the game, it’s not a condition that you start out dead, but one that must be worked into your game in order to be playable.
In Afapoker terms, not being able to make a hand is the same as being able to make your hand on the flop, turn, or river. Being card dead is the inability to make a strong hand that will win the pot. If you can’t make a strong hand, you will fold and you probably shouldn’t, at least in most cases. Some people go the other way and decide that the act of not making a hand, is the same as being dead. They will call or raise in order to see a flop, or a situation like the one they had, and they aren’t likely to come out on top if they do happen to hit something.
Being card dead is common in online poker, as it is in life. People will say things like “I don’t see any dead money in Texas Hold’em” or “I don’t see any big pots going to my wallet.” Really?idge even though you aren’t in it, you can still get yourself in one of those situations that aren’t as uncommon as not seeing your four horseman. Three of the times I found myself in quite a bit of a pickle, and could have saved myself a lot of money, and taken myself out of any potential debt.
Playing online sucks, and you will constantly find yourself small stacked. Sometimes you’ll find yourself with about $900 in chips when the action gets to you, and other times you’ll find yourself with $1,500 when the action gets to you. Neither one of those situations will be playable, because your stack will be so low that the other players will likely be playing loose, and your hand will likely be mediocre, at best.
Playing your hands correctly, against the right opponents, is really the only way to win chips. Many players will constantly steal multiple blinds from the button, so you have to make sure that you aren’t playing loosely, or you’re going to find a lot of easy money going to the fine cleaners.
This is especially true in multi-table tournaments, when the blinds go up so quickly, that often you’re forced to play a lot of hands, with very little time to think about what you’re doing. Make sure you have a strategy for multi-tabling, a lot of tight play, and an all-in game when you’re in position. Do not loosen up, and try to keep from being card dead, unless you’re in the right position.