In this poker strategy article, renowned poker coach John “WhatA298” Bradley will explain how to beat online poker in 2024.
Online Poker has matured from what it was a decade or two ago. The game has changed is so many ways, but some things have always stayed the same.
Know the Battlefield
When devising an attacking strategy, the first thing to do, is get an idea of the territory where you will be fighting, and the opponents you will be up against.
In online poker, we can bucket our opponents into three main groups:
- Maniacs: Extremely loose and/or aggressive players, who are either new to the game, or lack any fundamentals
- Elites: Lena900, C.Darwin, Apestyles, Girafganger7 etc.
- The Masses: Weaker regular players, or slightly more focused recreational players
In 2024, 99% of your opponents will fall into the third category, and over time the proportion of players who fall into this category is increasing.
You may occasionally encounter an elite player, and if you do, you should look to play as fundamentally sound as you are able.
You will run into some ‘maniacs’, and most players play, at least fairly, well against this type of opponent.
But by far the most important opponent to focus your strategy around, is ‘the masses’, as these players will be your most frequent opponents, and they are also where most of your profits will come from.
Know your Opponent
The next most important thing to focus on, is knowing your most frequent opponents.
The main traits of ‘the Masses’ are:
- Tight and conservative: regulars more so than recreational players
- Scared to bluff: regulars more so than recreational players, but both fall into this category
- Struggle to fold high absolute strength holdings such as top pair
- Play their strong hands fast and their weak hands slow
- Do not value bet thinly
- Larger sizes are stronger than smaller sizes
- Fall into patterns of play, and never adjust
Attack!!
Once you know the battlefield, and know your opponent, as you now do; you must attack these weaknesses, as much as possible, so as to ‘win the battle’, and win all the money.
Tight and Conservative
In poker, you should always play an opposite style to your opponents, for best results.
Therefore, they play tight and conservative, so your goal should be to play loose and progressive, or you could say, loose and aggressive.
Scared to bluff
Your opponents are not bluffing as much as they should in theory, therefore, you should fold many hands when they bet. Particularly if they bet large, or on multiple streets.
Struggle to fold high absolute strength hands
In bigger pots, your opponents will struggle to fold, so you should bluff less and value bet thinner, and for larger sizes.
Strong hands fast and weak hands slow
This gives you even more reason to fold when they bet and raise large. Conversely, when they call or check, you should bluff relentlessly and value bet thinly.
Do not value bet thinly
When your opponents do not value bet thinly, it means there is little value in trapping, so you should play your big hands fast and straightforwardly.
It does also mean that sometimes your opponents will be very polarised when they bet and so, in particular spots, hero calling can sometimes be very profitable.
Large size is strong and small size is weak
You should fold more to the larger sizes, and continue more versus the smaller sizes.
Never adjust
Your opponents are generally unable, or unwilling, to make large adjustments.
Therefore, you should exploit any spot which you have reasoned to be profitable.
You should continue to do this until you get a very clear reason not to. Assume your opponents are not adjusting, even when it seems that they might be.
How to beat online poker in 2024 Conclusion
Many of your 2024 online poker opponents play a very, very similar style.
If you can develop your style to maximally exploit this, you will be well positioned to win the most money possible, and this is how you beat online poker in 2023.
- Get the best rakeback deals
- See the best poker promotions
- View the latest poker news
- Get the best No Deposit Poker Bonuses
- Benefit from the biggest poker bonus
- Watch more poker videos
- Calculate your rakeback with the rakeback calculator
- Watch the best Twitch Poker streamers
Good luck on your poker journey and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask them in the poker coaching section of the VIP-Grinders Discord Channel.
