The golden rules of poker playing

We’re kicking off our blog by sharing some advice from our Poker Operations Manager, Chasetheriver. Want a few solid tips to keep in mind as you visit Replay Poker? Start with these!

• Occasionally take a few minutes when you’re not playing to decide what you want to get from your poker, whether it’s building a big bankroll, winning promotions, or just meeting friends from all over the world for a friendly game of cards.
• Plan ahead according to your goals. If you want to win chips or place on the leaderboards, decide which games you’ll play and study when they run and how often you’ll need to play. Having a strategy towards the end of a promotion may help you dramatically change your decisions in key spots if tournament points are more important than tournament chips in your stack.
• Respect your Replay chips. While you can earn them for free, they’re not always easy to get back once they’re gone.
• Don’t play tilted, tired, distracted or drunk … unless you’re sure everyone else in the game is doing the same and it’s purely for fun!
• Have a comfortable bankroll size for the average game you are playing. Typically, 100 times the buy-in amount is optimal (for example, if you usually play in games with a 1,000 chip buy-in, you should have 100,000 in your chip bank). Don’t enter games with chips you cannot afford to lose.
• Having a smaller percentage of your bankroll at risk will make those decisions, where you are put all-in and you are considering a call, much easier to get correct.
• Grinding for small and steady wins can build confidence, whereas gambling with all-in shoot-outs does not.
• Read! It doesn’t even have to be a book written by a pro. Visit our Forum, or one of many others online. Always make time to educate yourself.
• Know your strengths, but learn to improve your weaknesses.
• View replays of your hands, and not just the losing ones. Sometimes you can see ways to earn more chips with winning hands by making better sized bets.
• ‘ABC’ poker is adequate to beat most low to mid stakes on Replay. Don’t be afraid to be a nit and grind your way up the rankings.
• Position is everything in most games of poker. Play relatively tight in early position and be more adventurous near the button, but do not be predictable.
• Folding a winning hand is better than playing a losing hand.
• Remember that winning with play chips does not guarantee profitable play with real cash, but it can be a good way to learn poker skills.