At the moment, online poker play and betting strategies are in their infancy. Betting often follows very basic patterns and online play is no where near as sophisticated as it might be simply because a lot of players are not experienced or seasoned at the table.

Most of the games played online leave a lot to be desired in terms of sophistication. That said, it’s a lot easier, at least in theory, to test and practice new betting and play strategies when you’re playing online so try a few of the suggested strategies below if you’re looking to improve your game.

How you bet and play depends on the type of poker you’re playing (Texas Hold’em, Draw Poker, Stud Poker, etc). But regardless of the game, the first and most important strategic decisions is whether or not to play with the cards you are dealt at the beginning of the round. When you’re playing classic poker, say, draw poker with five cards in a draw, your odds of having a playable hand are easier to assess, compared to the two cards you have in Texas Hold’em. It’s simply a case of probability. If you have three kings, an ace, and a queen, you know that odds of your opponents having similar high cards are reduced by sizeable factors. Only one of your opponents can have a king, for example.

One of the most effective strategies at the beginning of the round is to analyze the value of your cards based upon their intrinsic value – their value in the deck – and the additional value based on your position at the table. Reviewing the cards themselves is easy enough, but you need to take into account your position at the table with an understanding of what the different position do to the value of your cards and to the value of your opponents’ cards.

In poker, there are four table positions: the dealer position, the early position, the middle position, and the end position. When someone says, “I’ve got position on you”, they’re sitting to your left and will always make their play after you’ve made yours.

As a general rule, the closer you are to the end position, the better for you’re bet. In end position, you have the luxury of reviewing the bets of your opponents and, with a keen eye for what’s going on, you can get a good picture of what’s going on before you bet. The dealer or players in the beginning and middle positions don’t get nearly so good an understanding of the cards as you do before they bet each round.

However, the experienced player will learn how to make the most of their position regardless of what it is. After all, you can’t always be in the end position during a long game.

Regardless of your position, you should raise in Texas Hold’em with AA-QQ, AKs, JJ, TT, AK, and AQs. Applying this as a standard, when you have sets or values in Draw Poker or Stud Poker, you should raise or reraise if there has already been a raise by one of your opponent. If no one raises the pot and you’re in the end position, in Texas Hold’em you can call with pair values as low as 88 or 99; make the play with similar card values, adjusting for the type of poker you’re playing.

Remember that the objective is to establish the odds of your opponents having better cards than you. Being alert to your opponents’ actions is an important step to assessing what your own should be.

Regarding specific card combinations and your response – whether to raise, reraise, call, or fold – there’s plenty of schools of thought about how you should bet according to your position. Most advocate choosing a method of bidding, a set of rules to follow religiously. In reality though, poker is a game played by human beings. Yes, your opponents are human and with that in mind, you should consider basic psychology as a component for your betting strategies.

You should read up on all types of betting strategies if you’re an avid player and you want to win. You should read about all the different combinations and how different schools suggest you play them because this is yet another way of increasing your ability to assess whether your hand is the strongest out there.

An understanding of your opponents’ bets is going to boost the odds of you being right about the value of your own hand. If you happen to play bridge, you’ll know the strategy of placing the points and then the cards based on the bidding and the play. If you employ a similar card-placing technique at poker, you’ll be well on your way to making your bets near to infallible.