Poker Education

In the short time my blog has been around, I’ve talked about pot odds, poker hands order, and implied odds, as well as how using a poker odds table ties into all three concepts. Now I’m going to change subjects and learn about what I would call overlooked poker skills. There are some basic but important skills that someone should learn when they first start playing the game. I’m going to mention a few that some people might say have nothing to do with poker. It’s true that they don’t help you figure out what to do with specific Texas Hold Em hands. But these skills could possibly be the most necessary skills of all because a very skilled poker player can still lose his bankroll if he or she doesn’t learn them.

Has it ever occurred to you why there are great players that make a killing playing poker but still never have a bankroll? Usually the answer is that these people do not follow bankroll management. I’ll talk about bankroll management in detail another time, but the main idea is this: play within your bankroll. This means that you must always play stakes that are reasonable for the amount of money that you have put aside for your poker endeavors. If you make a mistake and lose your bankroll, try a no deposit poker bonus to help you rebuild.

My next point might not be considered a skill but just some discipline. You should NOT receive poker hands while under the influence, case closed. The number of problems being intoxicated causes are countless, and you just won’t play correctly if you aren’t sober. Similarly, you should probably also stay away from the tables if you are tired. When you’re tired, you’re more likely to spew off a bunch of money and make a bunch of bad decisions that will cost you. You might be in a rush to clear the bonus that you got with your PokerStars bonus code, but it will benefit your bankroll if you’re rested before you play.

The last point that I’m going to write about is tilt control or emotional management. You could master hand reading and range analysis but if you find that you can’t control your emotions when you take a bad beat or suffer bad variance, you will never form a huge bankroll. There are too many players out there that get overly emotional when they suffer from an unlucky situation and proceed to chuck off their bankrolls while trying to get revenge by winning rush poker tournaments. Others just stop paying proper attention once they suffer from a beat, making poor plays and chucking off even more of their bankroll along the way. Learning control over your emotions is a must.