How to play poker by yourself?

What are we talking about? Have we gone mental? Why would someone want to play poker all by himself?

Well, there are legit reason why someone might want to do that. The first thing that comes to mind is, obviously, practice.

You all know that practice makes perfect. So, everyone who’s googling “how to play poker by yourself” probably wants to brush up his/her knowledge before getting to real money tables. And that’s a totally legit reason, mind you. 

Plenty of other reasons exist too, but they’re all (more or less) related to practice.

We'll explain why solo poker is smart, discuss its downsides, offer tips to improve your game, and recommend the best practice tools.

Why Should You Play Poker All Alone?

The simplest answer - it’s a risk-free environment where you can only learn from your mistakes without any negative downsides. 

So, in the next few sections, let’s go through the main pros and cons of playing poker on your own so you can figure out whether or not it’s for you.

Benefits of Practicing Poker By Yourself

First things first, let’s see how playing poker by yourself can boost your skills:

Promotes Learning in a Risk-Free Environment

The best thing about practicing poker by yourself is the fact you’re practicing in a completely risk-free environment. There’s no money on the line, meaning there’s no risk.

You’re playing a single-player game with no monetary influences, and that’s the best way to practice the game on your own.

Teaches You About the Importance of Patience

If there’s one thing you’ll definitely benefit from when playing poker alone, it’s your patience. You’ll be free to go as slow or as fast as you’d like.

The AI moves (if you’re playing a single-player game) are going to be lightning fast too.

Even if they aren’t, most of the time you’ll be able to just press a button and skip to the end of their turn. 

But, what you should do is take our advice and focus on your own hands and enjoy the ride.

Helps You Understand Hand Strengths

Another reason why practicing alone makes perfect sense is that it creates a calm environment for learning hand strengths. Memorizing them the old-school way isn’t for everyone.

Some players work best with real life examples, and there’s no better way to do that than playing a single-player game of poker all on your own.

Downsides of Playing Poker By Yourself

There are, of course, a few downsides too. But, if you don’t mind us noticing, the positives far outweigh them. Here’s why:

Anti-Social Tendencies

If you keep spending hours and hours practicing poker, people can (and probably will) call you anti-social. Don’t let this happen to you. Yes, poker is a fun game. Heck, any gambling game can provide hours and hours of fun. However, never let a game consume you.

Always take frequent breaks and don’t let your social status and relationship suffer because of your gaming habits.

Can Be Monotonous

Another common question we get is how to play poker by yourself without it becoming boring in a matter of 20 minutes?! Well, there’s no correct answer here, I’m afraid. The best you can do is mix things up every now and then.

Take half an hour to read books about poker; take half an hour to watch tutorials; take half an hour to play single-player games, and that’s it.

Feels Like Work

In the end, no mater how you divide your sessions or other tricks you have up your sleeve, playing single-player poker while focusing on learning the game will quickly start feeling like work.

Yep, it will start feeling like a good old 9 to 5 work routine and there’s not much you can do about it.

Tips for Learning More During Your Solo Poker Sessions

Most people who wonder “can you play poker by yourself” are bound to benefit from the following tips and tricks:

Leave Your Phone in Another Room

We reckon this one goes without saying - simply leave your phone in another room when you’re practicing poker.

Or, even better, turn it off. If it’s right there with you, it will just serve as a distraction… and, obviously, you don’t want that when you’re focusing on your gameplay.

Take Regular Breaks

It’s no secret that the human brain works best for the first 30 minutes. After that, the scientists have noticed a slight decline in cognitive performance.

So, if you want to maximize your learning potential, we recommend you divide your poker practice into several 30-minute sessions with 5 to 10-minute breaks in between.

Don’t Skip Days

One last thing - if you’ve set your mind to learning poker in two weeks or a month, then practicing every single day is a must.

If you skip a day or two, you’ll be back to square one and most likely have to repeat previous lessons.

Consistency is essential, make no mistake about it.

How to Improve Your Poker Gameplay

We aren’t done with the helpful tips just yet. For those of you still wondering how to play poker by yourself and improve your skills, we have 6 important pieces of advice we’d like to share with you:

Game Theory FTW

If you’ve already explored some poker guides out there, you might’ve stumbled upon the term GTO. It’s an abbreviation for Game THeory Optimal.

It represents a pokes strategy which focuses on protecting the player from being exploited by the opponents. In essence, GTO is quite defensive-minded.

The strategy is based on learning the weaknesses of other players by recognizing tells and impulsive moves.

Once you can classify every poker player you’re up against, you’ll be able to recognize when they’re in tough situations. Use that to your advantage and profit!

Experiment with Strategies

Poker is a card game, no point denying that. But, many experts suggest its a psychological game more than anything else. It might not be so apparent in online poker gameplay, though.

But, if you’re playing at a real table against real people, you’ll have to indulge in mind games.

If you ask us, the best mind game tricks are as follows:

• Don’t play too many hands, but be very aggressive in those you do play

• Incorporate the “semi-bluff” strategy to keep your opponents guessing

• If you have a solid draw, defend your big blinds

• Never be the first player to limp

Know Your Odds

Another important factor is knowing the odds you have of winning the rounds with specific hands… or, the odds of hitting specific hands on the flop or on the turn.

It all depends on the number of outs you have for hands that are potentially better than those of your opponents.

The best way to calculate the odds in Texas Hold’em poker is using the so-called outs. To do so, you have to determine how many cards you require have already been drawn and how many of them are still “left” in the game.

It’s an advanced skill, but one that could help you get out of sticky situations once you start playing poker for real money.

Read Books About Poker

There are thousands of books covering the basics (and depths) of poker. However, only a handful are worth checking out.

We’d like to recommend David Sklansky’s Theory of Poker which covers all the essentials you need, including information about the aforementioned game theory. 

If you’re a math guy, then you’ll be even happier with Alton Hardin’s Essential Poker Math masterpiece.

No matter which of these you choose (or, even better, you can read both), you’re likely to learn new things that will help you make the most out of your hands.

Practice Makes Perfect

Last but not least - practice makes perfect. It’s as simple as that. Don’t go into real money poker tables if you’re not feeling up to snuff.

If you feel there’s still more room for improvement, we recommend you stay in a risk-free practice environment. Why? Because practice makes perfect, that’s why! Now go out there and make us proud!

If you've had enough poker practice...

If you've practiced enough poker, we’re waiting for you at Vinc for a real game! We’ve prepared an entire Poker section, featuring the best games from top providers. You can play with a live dealer or in a slot-style game (no real dealer).

Play responsibly, and good luck!