General

A Poker Educate – Become a Great Poker Player With the Right Mindset

A Poker Educate - Become a Great Poker Player With the Right Mindset

The first step for you to becoming a great poker player is to learn the basics of the game, that includes the hand rankings and rank of hands.  Knowing what hand beats what is the first step towards being a truly great poker player.  On top of that, you need to have a keen sense of poker psychology and have the ability to identify your opponents tells, in order to have the best chance of taking down the biggest pots.

Having the right mindset is also extremely important to your success in poker.  Because, for example, you are playing at a table where some people are so much more skilled then you, you will want to stream early.  You simply will not want to lose your chips to someone who is slightly to the right, or slightly to the left of you, next to you.  Because, if you are the first to act, you will find that the person who is more skilled, has position over you, and will therefore, have a slightly better hand than you.

The same can be said for other players as well.  You don’t want to be the only one in a poker room with a good hand, as it feels awful to get beat by a fish who made a simple mistake, hasperformed a super easy read.

A poker Educate will not only teach you the basics of the game, like what hands turn what, and the rank of hands,but will teach you how to play those hands properly.  How to maximize the profits of your strong hands, and minimize the chances of your poor hands going bust.

How To Play Texas Hold Em Pokeris not just about what cards you are playing, or even if you are going to bet or call.  It is also about your overall psychology, and whether you are an aggressive or reserved player.  This is the most important aspect of your poker game, and the one that is most difficult to master.

Many years ago a friend of mine won some money playing online poker.  Not because he was good, or more lucky, but because he didn’t fall into the “dewalive mentality”.  He believed that being a winner in poker was about accepting the ups and downs of the game, and not getting worked up about it.  Eventually, he came to the conclusion that the only way he was going to be successful in poker was to get worked up, and then get out quick.

My friend started to play tight, and soon found that he could not win with a hand like Ace King right away.  Instead, he would lose with a hand like Ace King, until he had sufficiently stressed out the table to such a degree that he could no longer play safely.  At that point it was time for him to get up and take a break, and he did just that.  The only hand that would fall for his harmless-ness was Ace King, and it went down to a later Showdown, and a different winner.

My friend made the mistake of waiting for a better hand to play, and he still lost hands later in the game.  He tried to push the blame on a higher-ranking retailer, but it seemed that none of them would listen to him.  In the end, his losses were too much, and his warning had become a burnt-out afterthought.

The next day was another day, and my friend played another tournament.  This time it was Texas Hold`em No Limit.  Again, it was another slow start, and this time there was no real hope of getting the money, except for the top 10 players.  When the bell finally went off, my friend had yet to even find a decent starting hand.  But, he was determined to play, and he was not going to   give up until he had a decent one.  Unfortunately for him, and his efforts, the cards did not go his way, and he finished dead last.

The lesson my friend taught me was not to sit around and wait for a good hand.  That is the most important part of any poker strategy, to be able to survive.  While you are doing this, you must also be able to play some decent hands.  You can’t become a waiting Sammy, hoping for a big hand.  You have to play and take risks to win, and this is a lesson taught.

This is another one of the invaluable lessons of poker sixteen, and again, apply it to your game.  If you find yourself playing through pain, or becoming overly cautious after a bad beat, you are doing something wrong.  Simply stated, if you are not playing aggressively, or not taking chances, you are making a big mistake.