According to one report, there are more than 100 million poker players around the world. And while that means that poker is in an extremely healthy condition, it does make the game pretty challenging for newcomers. After all, the sheer number of players means that standards are pretty darn high, which can make finding success even more difficult than it usually is.

But modern newcomers to the game do have a pretty handy tool they can draw upon to improve their performance. It’s called the internet, and it makes getting your skills up to scratch all the more straightforward.

Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to use the World Wide Web to nudge your poker performance in the right direction. 

Read Up on Strategies

You can feel your way around poker when you first start playing, but after a while, it’ll be best to take a more methodical approach. Newcomers to poker can significantly improve their performance by following a few of the most basic strategies, including playing few games (but being aggressive in the ones you do), folding the majority of hands you don’t feel confident with (except in rare instances when you bluff), and observing your opponents to find a weakness in their game. There are countless websites that will guide you through the most effective poker strategies.

Play Against a Variety of Opposition

Most people learn poker by playing with their friends and family. However, it’s important to remember that there’s only so much you can learn when you’re playing against the same people over and over again. To diversify your skills and become an all-around better player, it’s recommended that beginners try to play against as wide a variety of opposition as possible. There are online poker sites that have thousands of players, so it’s usually pretty straightforward to find a game against new opponents. The goal is to endeavour to play games against players who are marginally better than you, so that there’s a challenging aspect to the game. 

Watch Videos of the Pros

You may or may not make it to the professional poker circuit, but even if you don’t, you can still learn a thing or two from the players who have. Professional poker is increasingly broadcast online, allowing students of the game to watch live performances or to dig through the archives and see classic games from days gone by. While you’re unlikely to play a game with such high stakes — let alone a camera in front of your house — you can still very much learn from the professional’s plays. If nothing else, you can observe how they manage the mental side of the game, which beginners often underestimate. Look at incorporating their gameplay into your own game, and you’ll likely notice that you’re getting better. 

Become Part of a Community

The more you’re immersed in a game, the easier it is to make progress. While some people are lucky to have a friend group filled with poker enthusiasts, that’s not always the case. There really is a lot of value in sharing thoughts, ideas, and performances with like-minded people; they might just give you a golden nugget of information that you can bring into your game. There are plenty of poker-related communities online, especially on Reddit and Discord. 

Mix Online and Real World Play

Most poker players have a preference between online and real-world poker games. If you’re just starting out, it’s best to play in both spaces. While they both fundamentally involve the same game, they’re different ways of playing — you’ll sometimes need to draw upon different skills to win an online game than a real-world game, for instance, and ultimately that’ll help to make you a more well-rounded player. 

The internet can’t do everything for new poker players. It’s still up to them to do the work towards becoming a good player. However, as we’ve seen above, the web can very much play a role in the development of a player’s game.