Just because the stakes are smaller than most live games doesn't mean you don't have to manage your roll.

Basically the same principles apply in online poker too. In order to make it a lot easier for you to take the right decisions regarding your online poker money management we will present you 10 online poker money management tips and tricks:

1. Your bankroll will choose the limits you play – Depending on how big your bankroll is, you will know exactly what the games you can afford to play are, and what are the limits you belong to. By making sure you understand exactly how everything works in the world of online poker, you can easily manage to keep your bankroll on a continuous growth.

2. Gamble money you can afford to lose – Never gamble money that you cannot afford to lose. Make a monthly budget for your online poker play and make sure that you stick to it.

3. Don’t move up to higher stakes unless you are ready to do that – Most people make the mistake of moving up to higher limits even if they are not prepared to do so. Most of the times it’s going to be effective to use the online poker management rules in order to know exactly what the limits where you belong are. For example in case you have a bankroll of $200 and you are currently playing and winning at the $1/$0.5 limits, it’s going to be a good idea to start moving up to higher limits only the moment when you manage to earn yourself a bankroll of $400.

4. Ferguson 10% Rule – Chris Ferguson invented the following bankroll management rule: “If at any time during a No-Limit or Pot-Limit cash-game session the money on the table represents more than 10 percent of my total bankroll, I must leave the game when the blinds reach me”.

5. Stop/Loss Technique – This technique is very simple to use. It can only be applied in cash games. All you have to do to is to stop playing the moment when you reach the maximum loss amount that you have set up earlier.  This is usually 30 big bets in limit games.

6. Always take variance into consideration – Poker is an online game that is going to bring to any player the ups and downs. This means that you should always take the necessary precaution of not finding yourself broke during the moments when you hit the tilt, or when you just go through a tough period. A proper bankroll management is able to help you avoid all this trouble.

7. Follow the following simple bankroll management rules: When playing No Limit Texas Hold’em cash games, make sure that you have a bankroll of at least: 20 buy ins, Limit Texas Hold’em 300 Big bets, Sit and go and multi table poker tournaments: 30 buy ins.

8. Don’t chase losses – One of the very first instincts that you have the moment when you lose money while gambling is to start chasing the loss with a higher bet, hoping that this way you can recuperate the money you’ve lost. You must be able to control this instinct and never chase losses.

9. Give up on your ego – You just like any other poker player out there have a very good impression of yourself and you are thinking that you are an excellent poker player. You probably are, but in order to be able to improve your skills and not to make mistakes, you must give up on your ego first.

10. Don’t use your poker bankroll for other types of gambling – In case you manage to win a lot of money by playing poker it’s a very good idea sticking to poker. You can definitely cash out the money and use it in order to have a better life, but you should never start using the money to play casino games, where you will most likely going to toss it around and lose it all in the end.

This hand is speculative and should not be overpushed on a flushing or paired board.

Playing Too Many Uncoordinated Hands

Many times a player will see a pair in an Omaha hand and automatically play it or play too many hands that can only help them in one way.  Some examples of hands like this are K-K-8-2 unsuited , K-Q-7-3 unsuited, or 10-9-5-2 unsuited.  These types of hands are ones you want to really stay away from.  A pair, even a big pair, without much to back it up means that you must flop a set and hope that it holds.  A hand with just one straight draw possibility and no backup is nearly as bad, especially if the board comes with a flush draw or pairs.

Getting your Money in With a Set and No Redraw

Too often players will get all their money in on the flop with a set and nothing else to speak of.  For example a player with 10-10-8-2 with 10-2 of hearts sees a flop of Kd-10d-5s and decides to come over the top of a pot sized bet.  Chances are that your opponent is looking at a straight draw, a flush draw, or maybe both.  Worst case scenario is that you are already behind to a set of kings.

Even if you have two kings in your hand in the above situation and flop top set, if someone has a wrap with flush draw, you are actually behind percentage wise on the flop.  You do not want to go crazy with just a naked set, unless you like giving away your money.

Getting Money in With Flopped Nuts With No Redraw

You have 5d-7c-9h-10c and the flop falls 6d-7d-8h.  You just flopped the nut straight.  But guess what, you are in trouble if anyone has any type of a reasonable draw.  Again, many player will flop the nuts without any type of a redraw and put all their money with other players still drawing very live.  If you flop the nuts, you need to have a live redraw in order to play a big pot with the hand.

Drawing to a Non-Nut Hand

Beginning players lose money to this type of mistake more often than any other.  You have 7h-8d-9h-10d and the flop falls Qh-Jh-4d.  You have a draw to a straight and even a flush, but neither are the nuts.  If you go crazy betting and calling bets here, you are likely throwing your money away.  Now, if that 7h was the Ah, you would be in much better shape to move in with this hand as you have a nut flush redraw to go with your straight draw.  However, you should stay away from non-nut draws as much as possible.

Online poker is easily the #1 reason young players are dominating the poker world.

Online Poker

The biggest reason that young players are dominating poker is the online poker boom. Before Poker became available in your own home you would have to go to a casino or poker room. This immediately eliminated anyone who wasn’t over the legal gambling age. Sure, there were backroom games and home games, but once poker was available on your computer it changed the landscape.

Younger people who grew up with video games instantly took to the game. It also helped that you could deposit a small amount and play microstakes. You can’t find a casino that has a $1.00 tournament but there are plenty online poker rooms that offer these games. This made poker accessible and affordable for young players.

Better at Math

Not all young players are better at math, but quite a few base their game around PokerStove calculations and EV considerations. The older poker players were in games where they relied on live reads and tells. Online these are almost non-existent. Instead these players decided to approach poker from a very analytical and mathematical approach.

Have Played More Hands

There was a debate about who played more hands of poker, Doyle Brunson or Tom “Durrrr” Dwan. Most people said the clear answer was Dwan. Dwan is not even a special case. The fact is that the way online poker is set up allows for players to multitable. Not only that, but each table gets more hands per hour than a brick and mortar table.

If you were to play at a casino you might get 20-30 hands an hour. If you play one table online you will get around 60. So for the people who play 16+ tables are getting in around 1000 hands an hour. It could take Doyle Brunson 50 hours to see the same amount of hands.

Playing more hands means they have seen a lot of situations. They do not necessarily know more than someone who has played longer, but it does speed up the learning process.

They Are More Aggressive

Younger players are more aggressive. Sheer aggression was the style that Doyle Brunson spoke about in Super System. Sheer aggression puts other players in tough spots. When a good player applies aggression it is very difficult to deal with. This style forces bad players to make bad decisions.

Sheer Numbers

The fact is that young poker players are the overwhelming majority of players. The majority of players who enter poker tournaments are young men. This means that it is a statistical likelihood that they will end up winning and cashing more than any other group.

Many older poker players do not have the money or time to travel the poker circuit. Younger poker players tend to have fewer obligations. Couple this with the fact that many are backed into tournaments and you have a huge number of skilled and motivated poker players entering tournaments.

Are you making +EV decisions or are you getting lucky?

Lets look at an example. A novice player buys into a tournament. The player has no real idea about how to player poker beyond the basic rules. He has seen poker on T.V. and therefore has witnessed lots of “All In’s” and other aggressive plays. Therefore he associates a hyper aggressive style with winning poker.

This player is dealt As-4d and is first to act. He limps in and it folds around to someone in middle position. The player in middle position makes a large raise, somewhere around 6x the blinds. The novice player calls, because he has an Ace and hopes to see an Ace on the flop. Depending on stack sizes, this is almost always a bad move. However, lets see what happens.

The flop comes Ks-Qd-8c. The novice player either checks or donks out small. In any event the raiser then puts in a big raise, essentially putting the novice player all in. The novice player thinks for a moment. He has Ace high, which is probably not good. But he figures there are three Aces left that can he can hit to win. So he calls off his chips and puts his tournament life at risk. The cards are turned over. The initial raiser has a set of Kings. The turn is a Jack and the river is a Ten. The novice player sucks out.

Perhaps the novice goes on to win the tournament. He might consider himself to be good, but in fact he is just lucky. He made the wrong decision at every step. He should have never been involved in that hand. While the play in the short run was profitable, in the long run it is a losing play. This is why people who run Aces into Ace King and lose to a straight or flush should understand that they are long term positive EV.

Sometimes you will have to get lucky. In a tournament, when the blinds are big relative to your stack, you will be shoving with a very wide range. In this case you will often get into situations where you are an underdog and need to get lucky. This is the simple truth of tournament poker; you need to get lucky in order to win.

In the long run you want to make decisions that are positive expected value. This is the true sign of a good player. There is a saying in the poker world: don’t be results orientated. What that means is, if the decision is correct and in the long run makes you money, be happy with it.

PokerRoom now open for real money poker once again.

The news of the PokerRoom.com comeback spread quick and fast throughout the many online poker forums, blogs and news websites. Even once the tweet that revealed the comeback of the poker website was recanted, the rumours still flew and players waited in anticipation for news of the comeback of the website.

PokerRoom.com is back up and running for players to make their first deposit into the newly redesigned poker website that offers players the high quality graphics, deposit bonuses and access to the exclusive online poker community through the integrated forums – all as part of the package for players signing up to play at the PokerRoom.com tables.

PokerRoom.com was one of the first poker websites to offer players the chance to play real money poker online. Players can look forward to the same innovations that have been integrated into the website in the past, through the revamping of the design and function of PokerRoom.com now.

New features of PokerRoom.com include the poker school – that can teach you everything that you need to know about Texas Hold’em. Once you finish the poker school, you can head on over to the tournament area, sit-and-go tables to practise and even check out the online forums and poker community to learn about the tips, tricks and methods that are going to help you to increase your winnings while playing online.

Omaha can offer more action than Hold'em, but your players will never know if you don't introduce it to them.

First, when you introduce the game to your friends you will need to point out the primary differences of the game.  While it looks like Texas Hold’em, you can only use two cards in your hand and three on the board.  You may want to even demonstrate a hand of Omaha in order to get these rules down for players.

Next, you will want to decide what limits you want to play.  Since players are learning the game, the best betting limits to stick with are fixed limits.  The main reason we suggest using fixed limits is that many players will be focused a lot on making sure they are playing the game properly.  If they have to worry about figured out pot-limit better, then this may prove too confusing.

Next, stick with regular Omaha high in the beginning.  You want to get your friends used to playing regular Omaha and for many that is confusing enough.  Don’t add to their confusion by making them have to look for both a high and a low in the game.

Finally, stick with a cash game when you start teaching Omaha to your friends.  You want to keep the game fun and enjoyable to aid in the process of learning.  Also, with the swings of Omaha poker, a tournament may run too fast for your players, defeating the purpose of trying to teach them a new game.

Granted, you will want to keep track of the mood of your players during play.  If you find that they are just totally opposed to playing Omaha poker or they are not enjoying it, switch back to Hold’em or whatever your normal game is.  In most cases, your friends will probably find Omaha highly addictive, especially to those that enjoy a lot of action.  Good luck to you at the tables.

This is a great example of a hand you want to raise pre-flop in PLO.

First, you want to raise your big hands for value so not to allow a bunch of lottery limpers into the pot.  If you have a hand such as double suited and double connected, a wrap, or a double suited big pair, you want to thin out the field as much as possible.  This may not work depending on just how low of a limit you are playing, but you have got to thin it out if you can.

Next, on the flop you need to determine the true strength of your hand and how to proceed.  If you start with As-Kc-10s-10c and the flop comes 10d-9d-5c, you are indeed ahead with top set.  However, there are potential straight and flush draws out there.  If you get into a raising war, you have to know that you are likely facing some nut draws.  Do you really want to put in all you money hoping to fade no worse than nine outs, and maybe as many as fifteen or more?

Also, you want to stay away from calling down too many hands with 2nd nut draws or worse.  Let’s assume you have 8c-7c-6s-5s and the flop falls Js-10s-9c.  You have a straight and a weak flush draw.  You have the sucker end of the straight at that.  This would be a hand where you may want to put out a feeler bet, but if the action gets heavy, it is time to abandon the hand.

Do not be afraid to push you monster drawing hands.  If you have As-Ks-Qc-Jd and the flop falls 10s-9s-4c, do not be afraid to put your stack at risk if the action gets heavy.  In this spot you are looking at 21 outs to make your hand.  You are actually favored over top set in this spot as crazy as that sounds.  Huge draws such as this are worth the risk of going broke because in the long run, you will make money

Finally, stay away from playing too many speculative hands outside of the flop.  That includes single suited non-nut draws and lower connected cards.  Low pairs without much in the way of connectivity are also bad choices.

The above strategy is a very conservative and solid strategy, but in the long term you will find that this is a great strategy for low stakes PLO and one that will serve beginning players very well.  Good luck at the tables.

Heads-up PLO is a totally different monster than even the full ring game version.  First, you need to be very aware of your hand values and what you should and should not be playing.  One type of hand that you really need to stay away from are totally uncoordinated hands.  This would be something like 2-5-9-Q unsuited and hands of the like.

The reason you want to stay away from uncoordinated hands is that drawing hands have such huge value in this game.  Even big pairs that aren’t coordinated such as A-A-5-9 unsuited are horrible to play because the only think you can really hope to get out of the hand is top set.  While top set can be a strong hand, if there are multiple draws out there, you may actually be a favorite.

Your best hands are ones that are both coordinated and suited.  For example, A-K-9-10 double suited is a very strong hand due to having two flush draw and multiple straights covered.  Wrap hands such as J-10-9-8 are great hands as they cover numerous straight possibilities.

A huge mistake that Galfond will talk about in the video is getting your money in with hands such as naked aces or even top two pair.  About the only time that getting your money in with this type of hand is if the board comes rainbow and uncoordinated, such as A-5-10.  Many times, you will want to get away from going in with just top set.

Pay close attention to this video as it does give some solid information for not just beginning heads-up PLO players but even PLO in general.

Ben Lamb - PLO Champion

Lamb is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He started playing poker online and in the private clubs of Tulsa. He eventually went on to dealing at Tulsa’s Cherokee Casino.  Lamb also attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. However, after only a short time, he decided it was time to go pro. He then made the move to Las Vegas and has been there ever since.

Online, Lamb plays under the screenname benba. He has cashed for over $1.1 million dollars in online tournament play. Most of that play has been on either Full Tilt or PokerStars, with a small amount of play at UB.

Lamb had two very impressive tournament cashes before he made the move to Las Vegas.  He won the 2006 Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge in Tulsa for $53,671. He then cashed for $25,572 in the 2006 World Series of Poker $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Tournament. This first World Series cash would serve as a starting point for the rest of Lambs poker career.

After moving to Vegas, Lamb quickly became a fixture on the cash game scene. While he plays everything from No Limit Hold’Em to Mixed games, his preference is Pot Limit Omaha. He is usually found playing in Ivey’s Room at the Aria casino with poker luminaries such as Doyle Brunson, Chau Giang, and Jean Robert Bellande.

Lamb continued to show his skills at Pot Limit Omaha while playing on the tournament circuit.    At the 2010 World Series of Poker he took 5^th place in the $1,500 PLO 8 or better event. That 5^th place finish was worth $53,319. He also took home $19,839 for coming in 30^th in the $10k PLO Championship.

His career highlight came at the 2011 World Series of Poker where he came in 2nd for $259,918 in the $3,000 buy-in PLO Event and won the $10K PLO Championship for $814,436. He also managed to cash in several other events that year, including a final table in the $50K buy-in Players Championship and a 3^rd place finish in the Main Event.

Lamb continues to play high stakes cash games. He was seen representing Aria poker room during the Main Event and can be seen there playing in their highest stakes games weekly. He capped off his World Series of Poker series by winning the prestigious World Series Player Of the Year award.

PokerRoom May Reopen Their Online Poker Room

The first rumblings of this story came last week when PokerFuse.com reported about a tweet from one of bwin’s SEO managers.  The tweet claimed that the site would indeed begin offering real money online poker soon.  However, that same manager recanted his story after being pressured from PokerRoom.

Earlier this week, PokerNewsBoys broke a story where writer James Guill revealed contacts within bwin had told him that the company was considering a plan to reopen the site.  From the report, it appears that there is being strong consideration being given, so much so as they are working on a site upgrade for the domain.

PokerRoom’s Facebook page as well as their twitter site has been abuzz since the first rumors with a mix of skepticism and anticipation from potential and past users of the site.  Many feel that this is just pre-launch buzz, while others think it is just an outright rumor.  Some also feel that the site may have been sold.

According to the PokerNewsBoy story, if the site were to reopen, it would reopen on the Ongame Network.  Ongame is currently #5 in the world per PokerScout.com.  PokerRoom was the staple site of Ongame for many years before it was shut down in 2009 and many feel it could be so again.

A projected launch date for the site has not been announced as of yet.  Should the site reopen, it would be a historic event as once most sites go extinct, they stay that way.  After the events of recent months, PokerRoom could bolster confidence in the online community as the site was among the most trusted and secure before it shut down in 2009.

Those that want to keep track of when PokerRoom will offer poker games once again, a signup form is available on the website.