Add fish to your Buddy List - This really is a pretty popular tip employed by many of the good players on Party Poker. By checking your buddy list off and on, you can see when your favorite maniacs are logging on to play. Although you are not able to see exactly which table they are seated at, you may manually search throughout the tables to look for supplemental resources your target.
This tip is mainly useful in case you are adding maniacs to your buddy list, as maniacs often create table dynamics that can be much better for you than say, a calling station. With a maniac at the table and five calling stations for example, there will be serious pots being generated, so you may score big if you hit your cards. At the same token in contrast, with so many drawers within the pot, your chances for getting outdrawn are very high. Just keep in mind that.
Click between game tabs to refresh your table listings
This trick is useful mainly for SnG (sit and go / single table) tournaments, which are notoriously quick to fill up. Many times, you'll see "Wtng for 5 players" as the table status, but whenever you click on the game, it shall have already started. This really is because of the table status not updating quickly, which you can force by clicking between tabs. Of note conversely, is that Party Poker has recently upped the refresh rate of the tables substantially, so this isn't an important issue like it used to be.
Keep player notes on opponents - I can not stress this enough. So much to ensure that I will be writing an article regarding how to take some really good notes in the future (updated: Player Notes page now up). While you always want to be paying attention to how people are playing, in online poker, players will almost always be coming and going, which will not give you time for you to feel them out. Taking notes cam help you when you play these opponents again. Even when you aren't going to play this person it again, taking notes makes it much simpler to keep a mental track of how each player plays and what to expect from them. The big things to note are: smart or stupid, aggressive or passive, tight or loose, straight up or bluffs, bets out a draw or not and what sort of hands do they play or pre-flop raise with. Yes, this really is a great deal of information to note, but it shall help you within the long haul.
Learn to leave the table - This really is really just a general poker tip, but it still nabs even the poker pros at times. At Party Poker, if you see that you are being outplayed, outclassed or simply unlucky at the table, it's OK to leave. Don't think about getting your money back or getting revenge on the bastard that rivered you for the 3rd time now. If you're losing money at your table, you don't have good table image no matter what you might think. Not only are you not in an excellent mood, which puts you on tilt (admit it or not), but other players will be more likely to make plays against you. This makes your game harder in more ways than you want. With numerous tables at Party Poker, just get up and go, it's that easy.
I can not stress this enough if the game gets short-handed (6 or less players) and you are not acquainted with short-handed play. This is a very easy way to lose a great deal of cash if you don't determine what you are doing. I see this happen on a daily basis, whenever a table breaks up and I'm stuck with two solid players and three guys who don't realize they're about to get run over. Do not be road kill when all it takes is a single click.
Buy-in more than necessary at the poker table
If you have been doing your homework, you will realize that you should always sit in with at minimum 20 times the big blind at any poker table. Within the realities of online poker, this should be more along the lines of at least 40 times the BB. Personally, I like to sit down with practically 100x the BB. You should think about doing this too. Why? For starters, do not ever be in the position of holding the nuts and not having enough money to raise the pot. I have seen this happen too often times, where a guy shall have flopped a full house in a $3/6 game, but only have $12 within his bankroll. He could have made a killing if it were not for the fact he was playing with a small stack.
This tip is mainly useful in case you are adding maniacs to your buddy list, as maniacs often create table dynamics that can be much better for you than say, a calling station. With a maniac at the table and five calling stations for example, there will be serious pots being generated, so you may score big if you hit your cards. At the same token in contrast, with so many drawers within the pot, your chances for getting outdrawn are very high. Just keep in mind that.
Click between game tabs to refresh your table listings
This trick is useful mainly for SnG (sit and go / single table) tournaments, which are notoriously quick to fill up. Many times, you'll see "Wtng for 5 players" as the table status, but whenever you click on the game, it shall have already started. This really is because of the table status not updating quickly, which you can force by clicking between tabs. Of note conversely, is that Party Poker has recently upped the refresh rate of the tables substantially, so this isn't an important issue like it used to be.
Keep player notes on opponents - I can not stress this enough. So much to ensure that I will be writing an article regarding how to take some really good notes in the future (updated: Player Notes page now up). While you always want to be paying attention to how people are playing, in online poker, players will almost always be coming and going, which will not give you time for you to feel them out. Taking notes cam help you when you play these opponents again. Even when you aren't going to play this person it again, taking notes makes it much simpler to keep a mental track of how each player plays and what to expect from them. The big things to note are: smart or stupid, aggressive or passive, tight or loose, straight up or bluffs, bets out a draw or not and what sort of hands do they play or pre-flop raise with. Yes, this really is a great deal of information to note, but it shall help you within the long haul.
Learn to leave the table - This really is really just a general poker tip, but it still nabs even the poker pros at times. At Party Poker, if you see that you are being outplayed, outclassed or simply unlucky at the table, it's OK to leave. Don't think about getting your money back or getting revenge on the bastard that rivered you for the 3rd time now. If you're losing money at your table, you don't have good table image no matter what you might think. Not only are you not in an excellent mood, which puts you on tilt (admit it or not), but other players will be more likely to make plays against you. This makes your game harder in more ways than you want. With numerous tables at Party Poker, just get up and go, it's that easy.
I can not stress this enough if the game gets short-handed (6 or less players) and you are not acquainted with short-handed play. This is a very easy way to lose a great deal of cash if you don't determine what you are doing. I see this happen on a daily basis, whenever a table breaks up and I'm stuck with two solid players and three guys who don't realize they're about to get run over. Do not be road kill when all it takes is a single click.
Buy-in more than necessary at the poker table
If you have been doing your homework, you will realize that you should always sit in with at minimum 20 times the big blind at any poker table. Within the realities of online poker, this should be more along the lines of at least 40 times the BB. Personally, I like to sit down with practically 100x the BB. You should think about doing this too. Why? For starters, do not ever be in the position of holding the nuts and not having enough money to raise the pot. I have seen this happen too often times, where a guy shall have flopped a full house in a $3/6 game, but only have $12 within his bankroll. He could have made a killing if it were not for the fact he was playing with a small stack.