Warning to new poker players

Here is what happened to me when I first started playing poker online. I registered and made my first deposit. I was a little nervous so I watched for a while until finally I got the nerve to sit down at 5/1 single table sit and go Hold'em tournament ($5 to the prize pool $1 to the poker room). Before I tell you what happened next let me warn you that it is one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a new poker player. Brace yourself...I finished in the money! In fact that day I played 6 sit and go's and won or finished in the money 4 times. What's so dangerous about that? Wow that's great! I can here you saying. The problem is when you get lucky early on you begin to think you are a better poker player than you are. You become over confidence and when your hot streak ends (it always does) and the cards run cold it can be a very expensive lesson indeed. My initial deposit was about $150 and my first weekend playing online I turned it into nearly $600. I was making $8 bucks an hour at the time and not making ends meet and I'd just made $600 in about 12 hours! That works out to be $50 per hour! "I CAN QUIT MY JOB!" I thought. Over the next couple of weeks I was up $1800 total and to be honest it was mostly blind luck. Somewhere around the third week the inevitable started to happen suddenly the cards weren't going my way. And over the next month I went from being up almost two grand to being $1000 in the hole. I couldn't afford to lose a $1000, hell I couldn't afford to lose my initial $150 deposit. One of two things seems to happen to most people when they go through this. Many give up poker thinking that they just don't have what it takes. Others blindly forge ahead believing there luck will change and eventually it does. But because they do nothing to improve their ability they become long term losers. They think that eventually they'll take down a huge pot that will eventually put them ahead while the true pro's sit there quietly building their stacks on the mistakes of those who rely on luck and self delusion. What I chose to do is go to school. I knew that you could make a living people playing poker if you had the right combination of skill, experience and cunning. I also new that I was sick of barely getting by and living pay check to pay check. Since then I've read at least a hundred books on poker and spent thousands of hours honing my skills and a dozen online poker rooms. I've taken hundreds of pages of notes and spent hours analyzing my play. Now I make my living playing poker online. Is it worth it? I think so. Until next time...You've been warned! Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet PokerStars Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker

A Key to Your Success in Poker

To be a financially successful poker player you need a sufficient bank-roll to get you through bad times, patience and a modicum of skill. You don't need to be Doyle Brunson or Phil Ivey, you need just enough skill to give you a slight edge. The casino's edge in any game is usually a fraction of a percent but it's enough to generate billions a year in profits. Think about that the next time you walk through the Bellagio or any other multi-billion dollar casino/resort. You can't control the cards so where does this edge come from? For the most part, it comes from the incompetence of your opponents. I just finished play a $10/$20 Limit game where I bought in with $1000 in chips and left with over two grand. How? Did I get lucky or am I just so incredibly good that I can't lose? It was a crazy loose game with lots of callers seeing almost every flop. On a table like this all you have to do to come out ahead is lie in wait until your cards come. At one point I was down about a $200 from folding hand after unplayable hand. Finally I limped in with 87 suited on the button. The flop was a beautiful 456 rainbow (all different suits). It was checked to the short stack in middle position who bet about half his stack. I called, after pretending to ponder the decision, thinking I would trap him and get the rest of his chips later. Everyone folded back around to the first position player who moved all-in. Everyone folded to me. I quickly called and he turned over A6. All he had was a pair of sixes! I not much chance of improving agains my 8 high straight. That one pot added over $1,400 to my stack. I played for about two hours and in that time I played fewer than a dozen hands but against loose aggressive players a few good hands are all you need to come out ahead. If you are one of those crazy loose players....I LOVE you! Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet PokerStars Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker

Poker a game of chance or skill?

Is poker a game of luck or skill? People who aren't students of the game will debate this question vigorously. For those of us who do study the game the obvious answer is...Yes! Both luck and skill are factors. You have very little control over your luck (what control you do have will be the subject of a future post) but you do control your how seriously you pursue honing your skills. Still it is nice to get lucky every now and then. Given enough time all players will have the same luck with the cards. In other words over time you will get just as many good hands and poor hands as other players. The difference there fore between a long term winner and a long term loser is what you do with those hands. You can play poker and not have it be much of a gamble by only entering pots with premium starting hands. Most of the time this strategy will pay off. It's tough to beat the rake this way and of course you will suffer some bad beats. Most likely you will over time break even or make a little money but at least you won't lose much. Or you can gamble by pushing you chips in on long shots and hunches. Playing this way is characterized by huge swings in you bank roll because sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get burned. This is an exciting way to play but ultimately the players with this style of play have to lie to themselves about the results they are getting. Depending on how the cards fall you can make a lot of money. But the majority of the time you will walk away with many fewer chips than you started with. The gambler is were the majority of your profits as a serious poker player will come from. Controlled aggression describes most professional poker players. He doesn't rely on luck nor is he a rock playing only premium hands. He will fold as many times as necessary until the time is right taking calculated risks when necessary to maximize the value of his hands. Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet PokerStars Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker