Poker is a game where players compete against one another, not against the house. This makes it different than other gambling games where each player is playing against the house. The house makes its money on the game by taking a small portion out of the pot. It doesn't set the payout percentage like it does with slot machines. With slot machines, the house will always win in the long-run. If the payout percentage is ninety-five percent, the house will, in the long-run, receive $.95 out of every dollar and pay out only $.05 out of every dollar. It doesn't work like this in poker. The house doesn't care how big a pot is built by the players and how big the pot is that you win. They get their rake either way.
To be successful at poker requires some of the same strategies that are importance to being successful in other forms of gambling. Unless you want to be a continual donor to the pot, you need to have a strategy in addition to skill. Your strategy has to include discipline and money management, just as in other forms of gambling. Discipline means self-control or thinking with your brain and not with your emotions. You have to be able to throw down a hand that you know isn't going to win. You have to be able to walk away when losing instead of doing the "just $100 more and I'll win it back" number. Discipline means that you don't play when you've had too much to drink. You have to have the self-control and discipline to control your money. Make a plan that allocates a certain amount of money to your poker playing. This is money that you don't need for other things, like rent or food or the electric bill.
The money you allocate to online poker playing is money that won't hurt you if you lose it. You don't want to bet your car payment on a poker hand! If you lose the money that you have allocated to that session, then quit. If you set the limit for the evenings play at $250 and you've lost the $250, then quit. Don't keep digging into your pocket or you will end the evening with empty pockets. Also, have a positive attitude which you combine with your knowledge of the game and you skill at playing. Don't sit down at the table with the attitude that "I'll play until I lose my $300." With that kind of attitude why bother to play at all. Why don't you just donate the money? You need a positive realistic attitude combined with discipline. This is the basis for any strategy for success in poker or any other form of gambling.
One of the advantages of playing casino poker at a table is that you can see the other players. You can see their reaction to the cards that are played, to the bets and raises and to the other players. You can listen to their conversations. If you know how to listen, the other player's actions and words can tell you what kind of hand they have. It takes a lot of practice and discipline to have a poker-face. Unless the players are very disciplined, they will let things slip. We've all been in games where somebody is dealt the card that they need for an inside straight or a flush and they light up like a Christmas tree! Or they gasp when they look at the card and their eyes widen! These are some of the little things to watch for. These are the signals that are absent when the game is being played online.
In order to win at poker you have to be able to bluff. A bluff is when a player bets and raises trying to make the other players think he has a good winning hand. The purpose of the bluff is to make them drop out. Then the player who is bluffing takes the pot. You can't always have a winning hand, and sometimes you have to take the opportunity to take a hand. Watch the professional poker games on television. How often do you see them bluff? Sometimes you'll watch a professional player take several pots in a row by bluffing. And he is playing against other professionals! If you can't bluff, then don't sit down at the poker table. Going along with this is the Show Play. Here you let one of the other players bluff even when you know you have the better hand, maybe a pair of pocket aces. This way you hide the strength of your hand, and you let the other player build the pot for you. This way the table focuses on the other player and doesn't pay too much attention to you until the end when they wonder "What does he have?"
When playing poker, you want to analyze each situation on its merits. You have an Ace-King on the deal this hand just as you had two hands ago. If you follow some book or magazine article that tells you how to play poker, you will do the same thing each time. If you play mechanically based on some book or magazine article you become predictable to your opponents. Pretty soon they will be able to guess your hands by watching your actions. Playing like a robot is not the way to play poker. You must be analytical about the situation and treat each hand as a separate event. You need to learn to think to be successful at poker, not to follow the rules that some magazine article gives you. What cards are on the table? If there are three Aces on the table, whereas two hands ago there were twos and threes, that should tell you that the situation is different and you don't play it the same way. Each hand is a separate event and the cards, players, etc. should be analyzed within that context.
These are just a few tips and strategies to keep in mind when playing poker.
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