One of the most important factors for winning at online poker is table section and where you sit at the table. I like to play in 6-max and 9-max ring games. This way you get more of a choice on which players you can sit next to. It's good to have patience. Sometimes I may even watch everyone play from the rail before even sitting at a table. Although you don't get to see their cards from the rail, you can still get an idea of how aggressive some players may be. What you want to be able to establish is which players are passive, aggressive, or just suck in general.

When you are playing you want to take notes of who is playing their draws aggressively, who limped in the pot with AK, who attempted to bluff a hand, who is raising all the time, etc. All of these tendencies will give you a better picture of what type of playing style you are up against. If someone is raising in every position all the time, then you can safely say they are a very aggressive player, known as a LAG (loose aggressive. So you will need to adjust your play accordingly.

When in a game more then anything else you want to decide whether or not the other players are better then you and will have your number. If you feel uncomfortable playing with players you probably will not play at you're A game so you should look for another game or just quit the session all together. If you are constantly feeling uncomfortable playing at certain stakes it would be recommended that you go down a level. Don't let your ego get in the way of what is important. And that is winning at online poker!

Whether or not you should avoid games with aggressive players is a question of debate. I personally like playing against manic type players who do lots of pre flop raises and bets on the flop, you just need to adjust your play accordingly. It's important that you don't let your emotions get in the way when playing very aggressive players. Their objective is to constantly put the pressure on you hoping that you will fold your marginal hand.

The first thing you want to try and do is get position on the aggressive players. What I mean by this is that you want to sit to the left of them. The reason for this is because you will always be last to act. If the opposite was true, they could always be coming over the top for a raise and put you in awkward spots. Also, if you sit to the left of the aggressive player you are always evaluating the hand after he or she checks or bets. So you can re-raise their bets to try and get them off mediocre hands.

On the flipside you want to sit to the right of a tight passive player. You can steal the blinds much easier with tight players and they are much less likely to raise their hands pre flop so you can see a lot more flops with mediocre hands. Also, tight passive players are much more likely to call a bet on the flop then re-raise, so if you have a drawing hand and you made a bet, you get to see more cards without paying anything extra for it. Due to their passive nature they don't like to get involved in big pots unless they have the nuts or something close to it. So you can more easily make river bets and get them off marginal hands making them think you have the nuts.

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Recognize what is the best possible hand

Evaluating your hand strength against your opponents is the single most important factor in Texas Holdem. When you know you have the best hand you want to make use of value bets, and when you know your hand is beat, even if you may have a strong hand you want to know when you are beat. When someone is holding the best possible hand is referred to as the nuts. And the nuts can change with every street. For example, let's say you have A10h and the flop comes 5,6,8 all hearts so you flop the nut flush. If the turn comes 7h and you make a bet and face a re-raise, you have to consider your opponent may have the 4h or 9h, which would make a straight flush.

When you have the nuts you should make nice size bets, usually about 2/3 of the pot so if your opponent has a drawing hand they need to pay to see another card. Where you can run into trouble is when you try and slow play a good hand and you have your opponent sucking out on you because they gave them free cards or they got to see additional cards too cheaply. By paying close attention to the board texture and recognizing when you have the best possible hand, you can avoid making costly mistakes.

Importance of position

Position is a huge thing in Texas Holdem. When you have position on the other players it means you are on the button and you get to act last. Acting last in a hand is a huge advantage because you get to evaluate the strength of the other hands before it is your time to act. For example, in a 6-max ring game if everyone limps into the pot with a raise, you have the knowledge that most likely every player wants to see the flop cheap and have pretty mediocre starting hands. You can consider a raise to try and win a small pot. What starting hands you play has a lot to do with position. When in early position you need to open with a raise with a much narrower range of hands then what you would do in late position. This is because you don't have the chance to evaluate the strength of the other hands so you could face a re-raise and be forced to fold your hand if your hand isn't very strong.

Don't overestimate suited starting hands

When you have two cards of the same suit it improves your hand, but the mistake many beginners tend to make is they overplay their suited hands. A flush is a very strong hand but the probability of getting a flush is quite low. I like to play suited connectors and suited high cards. But a hand like 24 suited is not a very good starting hand and you should probably just throw it away pre flop.
High cards are much better starting cards than low cards

The rank of cards is basically what Texas Holdem is all about. If you have QQ this is a very good starting hand but if a K or A hits on the flop, you are probably beat. You should play high cards much more aggressively then low cards, because if you hit top pair, you most likely have the best hand. For example, if you have KJ, and your opponent has 67, and both of you hit a pair on the flop, you have the better hand because you have the high cards.

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