Why OnLine Poker Seems "RIGGED" But Isn't

[Kramer]

By Roy Rounder

There are two types of bad beats:

BAD BEAT #1...

When you catch a monster hand but lose to a BIGGER
monster hand.

For example, let's say you're holding pocket Aces
and the flop hits A-6-6. That means you've got a
full house.

Your opponent goes ALL-IN... and you call. You
think your Aces are the best hand but they're NOT,
because your opponent has pocket sixes, which
gives him the four-of-a-kind.

BAD BEAT #2...

When YOU have the best hand and your opponent has
the WORST hand but your opponent GETS LUCKY and
wins the pot.

For example, let's say you have pocket Aces and go
all-in. Your opponent calls with pocket three's.

The flop hits 2-4-5 and the turn card is a 6,
giving your opponent the STRAIGHT and causing you
to lose the hand.

Now that's a bad beat.

And let's face it, the SECOND type of bad beat--
the one where your opponent gets totally LUCKY and
outdraws you-- is the kind of beat that just plain
SUCKS. And pisses you off.

In fact, the second type of bad beat is the kind
you REMEMBER the most too. When someone says, "Hey
man, how did your card game go?", the first thing
that will come out of your mouth will be the story
of that bad beat.

Am I right?

Now here's what's interesting...

MORE BAD BEATS HAPPEN IN ONLINE POKER THAN IN
"REGULAR" OFFLINE POKER.

Literally, you'll see more bad beats happen in an
online poker game than you'll see at a local cash
game or in a casino.

If you play both online and offline poker, I'm
sure you agree with this statement.

So what's going on here? Why would it be this way?

There are two popular "theories"...

1. Online poker is rigged.

2. There are more hands per hour, therefore it's
an ILLUSION that there are more bad beats.

My opinion is that BOTH of these theories are
WRONG.

Here's why:

First off, I genuinely believe online poker is NOT
rigged. I mean, c'mon... Do you REALLY think these
multi-billion dollar casinos would need to RIG
hands?

They make their money from tournament entry fees
and rakes... and trust me, they're making plenty.

OK, so what about the second theory?

Well, I do agree that there are more hands per
hour in online poker than offline poker. There's
no disputing that.

But I don't think that's a good enough reason...

Because my belief is that there are MORE bad beats
that happen per X number of hands ONLINE than for
offline poker.

For instance, let's say you played 100 hands. And
let's say you caught two really bad beats for
every 100 hands at a casino. That's 2%.

In online poker, you're likely to catch FIVE or
even TEN of those really bad beats per 100 hands.
That's 5-10%.

So the fact that you're seeing MORE hands doesn't
explain the HIGHER PERCENTAGE of bad beats.

Still with me?

OK, so now let me give you MY "theory" about this.

It's not really a theory. Just good old simple
logic, actually.

Here it goes:

The reason there are more bad beats in ONLINE
poker is because the very NATURE of online poker
leads people to PLAY DIFFERENTLY.

The CARDS and ODDS are the same.

It's the PLAYERS that aren't the same.

What I mean is that for online poker, a LARGE
portion of players adopt the style of
LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE.

Translation? Manic.

They act irrationally... play hands they shouldn't
play... and bet way too aggressively for most
given situations.

Why?

Because online poker isn't as "real".

The money isn't as real. I mean, heck... the
casinos give you so much "free" money when you
sign up, how COULD it feel real?

The cards aren't real. The chips aren't real. The
table isn't real. NONE OF THAT STUFF EVEN EXISTS.

All you see when you play online poker are some
silly little animations. And you hear some
"clickity-click" sounds of fake chips.

That's it.

Nothing else.

Period.

And if you LOSE a game, all you have to do is make
three or four mouse clicks and you're INSTANTLY
playing another game.

And hell, you can PLAY ten games at once if you
want!

You can literally play poker against 100 players
AT THE SAME TIME!

It's a different world, my friend.

Now... let's get back to the bad beats.

The FACT that players are LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE is what
leads to the SITUATIONS where bad beats happen.

Here's why:

1. Players bet their draws more or call large bets
with draws or OK hands (i.e. bottom pair).

2. More players are involved in every pot.

3. The pots are bigger, since players are more
aggressive.

When these conditions COMBINE TOGETHER, it creates
an environment where there are a lot of BIG POTS
and bad beats.

It's not that the cards are "rigged".

It's that the betting patterns and playing styles
are DIFFERENT than what you're used to.

And when you combine that with the fact that you
see more hands per hour, it inevitably leads to
seeing a lot more "crazy" hands and bad beats than
in regular poker.

OK, so now the obvious question becomes...

Is there any way to PREVENT bad beats?

The answer is yes and no.

Ultimately, bad beats will occur NO MATTER WHAT if
you're playing good poker. Because to win at
poker, you've got to be willing to take RISKS.

And most risks have a minimum 20% chance or more
of NOT working out in your favor.

With that being said, there ARE ways to prevent a
LARGE PORTION of the bad beats you'll see online.

Not only can you prevent them, but you can
literally turn it around and make it YOUR ULTIMATE
ADVANTAGE.

The key is to "tilt the tables" in your favor and
USE the fact that players are so loose and
aggressive to HELP YOU win more pots.

The way you achieve this is by adopting a SPECIAL
playing style designed SPECIFICALLY for online
poker...

My name for this "secret sauce" is this:

TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE SQUARED.

The concept of "tight-aggressive squared" is quite
simple...

It starts with the logic that tight-aggressive is
the most effective playing style to use in poker.

Tight-aggressive means TIGHT with hand selection,
AGGRESSIVE with betting.

With online poker, there are more players in every
hand. That means you must play EVEN TIGHTER with
your hand selection.

You should ONLY play monster hands!

Period!

There's absolutely no reason to get involved with
"decent" hands because the odds are against you.

You're bound to run into players who are CHASING
or who just caught an extremely lucky flop.

When you DO get involved with a hand, you must be
OVERLY aggressive. The pot size will be bigger, so
you can't go losing many hands or else you'll be
out of the game in a hurry.

You must STRIKE... and you must STRIKE HARD.

You must risk ALL OF YOUR CHIPS-- frequently-- in
order to win.

Of course, it's much easier to risk all of your
chips when you have a GREAT HAND than it is
otherwise.

You see, the goal is to do two things:

1. Force out all but one, maybe two players for
any pot you get involved with.

2. Have the odds so unbelievably stacked in your
favor that you win far more HUGE pots than you
lose.

And when you win lots of big pots, you become chip
leader VERY QUICKLY. And that's how you take
control over a poker table.

The reason you want to force people OUT of the
hand is simple mathematics.

Let's say for instance you get pocket ACES.

Here's what three of your opponents are holding:

Player 1: K-K

Player 2: 10-9 suited

Player 3: Q-10 offsuit

Now, if you went heads-up against any of these
hands ONE-ON-ONE, your odds of winning would be
about 80%. They'd be 85% against Player 3.

BUT...

If you went up against ALL THREE of these
opponents in one single hand, your odds of winning
is just 58.5%!

That's just over 50/50 with the absolute BEST
starting hand possible.

Get my point?

So when you GET pocket Aces, you need to FORCE OUT
all but one caller.

You've got to be VERY AGGRESSIVE.

In low stakes Sit and Go's and ring games online,
that quite often means going all-in.

Like I said, you've got to risk ALL your chips.

Now if you go all-in and one of those players
makes a CALL, you'll win four out of five times.

So if you get five big hands a game, you only lose
ONCE. Of course, that one you lose USUALLY won't
wipe you out, because you'll have more chips from
the OTHER big hands...

Get my drift?

Literally, if I play low-stakes online poker, here
is what my betting pattern looks like:

Fold
Fold
Fold
Fold
Fold
Fold
Limp-in
Fold
Limp-in
Fold
Fold
Fold
All-in
Fold
Fold
Fold
Fold
Fold
Fold
All-In
Fold

And so on...

I'm serious!

THIS IS HOW YOU WIN. It seems kind of "strange" to
think about, but this is it!

Now... when you get down to just a few players in
a game, it's time to bust out the strategies,
bluffs, trick plays, and so on.

BUT WHAT GETS YOU THERE is this TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE
SQUARED style of play.

OK, so now the question becomes...

If all you did was ever FOLD or go ALL-IN, why
would anyone ever CALL your bets?

What a great question.

And we've already gone over the answer...

It's because online poker isn't the same as
offline poker. The people on there are DISTRACTED
and often STUPID and VERY LOOSE.

That's all there is to it.


Once you "crack the code", it's amazing how SIMPLE
it is to win at online poker.


Use it, go win some pots, and let me know what you
think.