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  Players MistakesReflecting on that first game, I see how it emphasizes several mistakes that beginning players habitually make.1. The majority of neophyte poker players attribute their loss to a bad run of cards. That’s what I did. Poker is the great game it is because, although it deceives weak players into believing it is a game of luck, it is primarily a game of skill. When you’re able to rationalize that the money you lost was a stroke of bad fortune, you’re willing to stubbornly charge back into the next game feeling that fate, which was so cruel to you at the previous session, now owes you a favor. So it was with me. 2. Being hard-headed, I played too loose. And there’s a world of difference between playing an aggressive, scientific game and just plain playing loose. It’s the difference between a dynamic online poker professional and a perpetual caller who goes home busted night - after night. I began as a habitual caller. Hard headed. Couldn’t lay down a hand in that first session at Mark’s house. Wanted to bull the game, but didn’t know how. Called right down to the last cards without any knowledge of probability. If I got tied to a hand, I’d end up going all-in with it. I’d play my chips right down to the table top, because there was no such thing as backing down. No value laydowns. No discretion. 3. You can’t play for so much money that it bothers your concentration. You end up spending your mental energy on thinking about money and not about strategy. There is the other extreme, too. Play for matchsticks or play for too little money and you don’t make critical decisions because it doesn’t mean anything. 4. 1 treated gambling as a diversion—an escape from ordinary reality. When you take poker seriously, you’ve got to honor the game. It’s an art form. When you need to escape, choose other forms of recreation. 5. Bad players tend to get themselves into situations where they lose more than they should when they get a hand beat and don’t win enough when they take a pot. So it was with me at Mark’s house. I called right down to the last card too many times when it was almost hopeless. Because I wasn’t sure when I had the nuts, I missed several betting opportunities. 6. The more comfortable you are, the better you’ll perform. Wear loose-fitting clothes. That was one thing I accidentally did right. But I made myself uncomfortable just by playing when I knew I had to leave to deliver papers. Deadlines tend to be so psychologically devastating to unskilled players who are losing that many pros have devised strategies to take advantage of this fact. As the losing player is threatened with the termination of the game, he tries desperately to get even. He plays recklessly. Usually he loses a lot more than he should in his futile attempt ‘to recover in a short time. You’ll see this happen when you’re playing in a public casino that’s about to close. Or in a home game with a predetermined cutoff. I’ve known great players who lied, telling a weak losing opponent that they had to leave in twenty minutes. When the twenty minutes expired, they just found some hony reason why they didn’t have to quit the game after ail. Anyway, I spent the next few days steaming over my first poker loss. For some reason, the pain was so great that I had trouble sleeping. I managed to squeeze together a few bucks. A second poker game. Same group. Lost again, every penny. So 1 plotted, but there was no other poker game for weeks. I did learn a new kind of gambling. Dice at Charlie’s house. This time it was purely a game of luck. Just the two of us played. We started out at 25 a roll, ended up at $1 a roll. I got lucky. Pocketing my $8 winnings, I was ready for Mark—ready to play poker. Still, 1 didn’t have any technical knowledge of the game. I was oblivious to the fact that there was technical knowledge to be known. So, confidently, I cornered Mark in the school cafeteria and challenged him. Heads- up, five-card stud. His house. Free Article Source: http://www.za77.org About The Author: Ireland's best poker resource! Articles, poker rooms, reviews, tips and strategies! Everything you need for online poker and offline poker in Ireland. http://www.onlinepokerireland.com |