Whenever you read reviews of online poker rooms, you’re sure to read about just how many fish there are here and there, and how these fish make playing in this or that room worthwhile.

The problem with these reviews is not that they’re full of lies, because there are indeed a whole bunch of rookies in just about any poker room out there, but that they make you believe beating fish-laden tables is like taking a candy from a baby.

Well, it’s not quite like that …

You see, Texas Hold’em is not the most popular game with fish for no reason. While Omaha and Stud do not allow rookies a fighting chance, there are all sorts of edges in Hold’em that work in their favor.

The luck factor is one of these edges. Rookies seem to get a short-term advantage out of this luck factor to the frustration of experienced poker players they go up against. Another thing rookies have going for them is the schooling phenomenon. Shooling doesn’t work in Omaha, and if anything, it further increases the odds for the experienced guy calling all the shots. In Texas Hold’em though, it works really well, even though schooling fish seldom realize what they are doing themselves.

In order to beat these games you need to do two things: prevent schooling, and kill the short-term luck-induced advantage.

How exactly do you do that? For one, play in STTs or SNGs. These are single table tournaments with 10 players in them at most. Why exactly would this be the best way to generate money? Think about it: this is a tournament. The value in surviving is a whole lot more than it is in any ring game you may play. As a matter of fact, if you survive long enough, that alone can make you a winner.

Being a tournament cuts the short term advantage rookies may have over you radically. Short-term variance is not really a factor in a tourney. On top of that, these tourneys are short enough to make it worthwhile for you to invest time and energy in them. MTTs are often way too long and sometimes they pit you against thousands of opponents, so the odds involved are just not what you should be looking for.

All right, so now you know that STTs are the way to go. How exactly do you kill the schooling at the table, and how do you go about making money in these games?

First of all, vivid pre-flop action should create some positive EV (expected value) for you. Some players will certainly fold to a pre-flop raise, thus the school will get cut down the size a bit. Other poker players will leave dead money in the pot, thanks to your pre-flop betting and that provides further EV for you.

As for the SNG strategy, you just have to stick with normal tournament play: tight in the beginning until some of the players commit suicide, gradually loosen up when about half the table has cleared and turn into an aggressive betting machine in the short handed and heads-up part of the game.

It is imperative that you have the chip lead in the heads-up, as you can literally smother your opponent to death if you do. If by any chance, your solid play doesn’t pay off, and you’re left with your back against the wall (with chips only enough to pay out one more blind) look for the following situation: if you’re dealt a mediocre hand (like T,Qo) look out for a raiser in front of you. If everyone folds to this raiser but you, it’s that much better. Don’t commit on hands that have a bunch of limpers in front. Some people like to go for the “full value” not knowing that they’re actually killing their odds on possibly the last hand they’ll play in the tourney.

Remember, If you get to third or second chances are you already made money.

Make it your objective to last that long, or make it your objective to win. Whatever you do, try to reach the ITM stage before you really loosen up.

Editor's Note: This and future articles in this series are written by Steve Larson who has been writing online gambling and poker articles in his home Canada for several years now.