|
Face it! You make these poker mistakes
Poker could be the ultimate test of what a player has in between his ears. The game itself appears so simple; and once you learn the fundamental strategies of the game poker seems impossibly easy to beat.
Well, I’m here to tell you, “you can throw that thinking right out the window!” knowing the game’s strategies is just beginning of playing winning poker: Besides these ‘basics’, to excel in the poker world you have to possess a self-control, and mental-awareness, that would be the envy of Shaolin Monks.
The following three mistakes are a list of problems that every poker player has had to overcome on their climb to the top; and many players still struggle with these issues.
Mistake #1: Unreal Expectations
The first mistake that plagues a majority of the poker world is having unreal expectations. Once you learn to play the percentages, and learn to calculate pot odds the game seems so simple. However, this ‘enlightenment’ that leads you down poker’s golden road is more like fool’s gold: You see, what those books and charts, with all the odds, don’t tell you is, “Even if you play perfectly (which you won’t), you have a very small edge in poker.”
Once players are armed with this strategic knowledge they feel the money should just flow into their bank account. The truth is, it takes a long time, hard-work, and perseverance; and even then money doesn’t flow: It’s more like a slow trickle.
Barry Greenstein estimated the best players have a 3% edge in any game they play in. So, if you are a great player you would have to gamble $100 to make $3. So, if you have visions of making $20/hour playing poker, you better realize you’re going to have to put about $700 in the pot every hour to reach that number.
Mistake #2: Imitation
I hate to be the one to break this news to you but you are not Daniel Negreanu or Gus Hansen! Next you need to come to grips with the fact that these players you are trying to imitate have a completely different set of strengths and weaknesses than you do. Here is a good exercise to prove my point; go outside and try to dunk from the foul line like Michael Jordan, or if you are an MMA fan go pick a fight with Chuck Liddell and try to give him that arm-bar you learned.
It’s silly to think you can play like any top pro because you have read their book: What you need to do is understand their strategies, and determine how they will fit into your game. You should strive to be the best [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE] you can be, and let Daniel Negreanu be Daniel Negreanu.
Mistake #3: Rising to your failure point
The final mistake I see so many players fall victim to is rising to their failure point. You see this in the real world quite a bit: The hard-working stock-boy who becomes a supervisor, then an asst. manager, then a manager, then a regional manager, and so on. He’s happy, his peers are envious, and life is good. Until one day he rises to a level that his hard-work alone cannot handle. It’s at this point he becomes your typical everyday person, struggling to keep up with deadlines and hating his life.
The same concept holds true for poker players: You have $2/$4 limit Hold’ Em grinder who moves up to $4/$8, then $10/$20, then $20/$40; then they switch over to No Limit and have a similar progression except that when they reach the $25/$50 NLHE level they start losing. After a bunch of losses they move back down and rebuild their roll, only to take another shot at the higher limits. And it simply continues on in this fashion: Beat the lower stakes games; and lose their winnings in the higher stakes games.
At some point you have to realize you’re not meant for a certain level, and just be happy beating the next level down.
|
