Online Poker Smart

Poker strategies is an interesting phenomenon.  The beauty of poker is that it is a continuous learning process.  It is like baking a cake.  At the end of the day, even though all poker strategies grow from a basic understanding of the technical aspects of the game, this is the foundation of all strategies.  Your ingredients would be the knowledge of the game, the understanding of the rules and terms of the game.  Understanding the odds of winning a pot.  You mix all of this together and this your basic foundation – your cake mixture.  The baking process is done by lots of practice and patience, practice and patience, practice and patience.  Then you have your cake.  Beautifully baked and smelling great.  Now the icing comes.  This is the fascinating part of the game, where you get to add your own personal touch.  Your strategy is unique to you.  It is a combination of lots of research that you have done by watching your opponents and taking note of the psychological aspects of the game.  The great thing is that all cakes can be iced and decorated totally differently – and be equally tasteful and successful.  There is no one-size fits all strategy.  You cannot simply adopt another’s strategy.  You can certainly incorporate components of such strategies, but your strategy will be unique.  Maybe in many aspects, maybe in only one or two aspects.  Understand the worst poker mistakes and how to avoid them.  Know how to deal with a bad beat.  Get to believe that patience is a virtue in poker and that you should always trust your instincts in poker.  Keep track of how much money you spend in poker, after all this is how you will ultimately measure your success in the game.  Have fun, shuffle up and play!

Bad beat in poker

A bad beat in poker happens from time to time and like everything else in life, it is more about what you do with it than what it does to you.  If you can manage to take in this wisdom and rather actively find a way that you will be able to deal with it in the best possible way that will allow you to move forward in the game, you will probably enjoy poker for the rest of your life.  The other side of the coin is also true. 

If you are going to spit fire and bite yourself every time this happens to you, chances are that you will turn into a bad player.  There is nothing as bad as being on tilt or steaming and playing weak hands simply because you are fuming.  Take a deep breath.  Relax.  A bad beat is when you have a good hand that is a favorite to win beaten by another hand.  Most of the time it is a weak hand that should never have been played with to begin with and that then caught a miracle draw on the river.  This is more common in low limit games because many players have the “any two cards can win” mentality, especially the new kids on the block.  Many players will play any ace and a few players will play any suited cards regardless of the rank.  There are certainly players out there that believe that poker is a game of luck who will enter the pot with marginal or terrible hand and then call all the way to the river in hopes making their draw. Occasionally they do make their hands and you suffer a bad beat.  This phenomenon is here to stay and you need to be aware of the effect it may have on your play afterwards.  The worst thing you can do is to let it get to you.

Bad beats are a normal part of poker that a good player learns to accept.  The reality is that, facing a bad beat is always a tough moment, because you feel injustice is done to you.  Nobody can feel indifferent to this.  Especially not if there is money at stake.  Nobody has to be ashamed of this feeling; this is just natural and common for every single person.  It only gets problematic when you can’t let it go after the moment has passed and you can’t place this injustice in its right perspective.

Make peace with it.  As sure as the sun rises in the morning you are going to occasionally get drawn out on the river.  You will lose an occasional pot to a bad beat from these players but their bad play will lose to your solid play the majority of the time. In the long run you will make money from players who constantly chase the inside straights or baby flushes.  This is an even more common occurrence for those who play on the online poker sites.  There are so many new players online who will play any two suited, any ace or even any two cards.  In these types of games you will find that your bankroll fluctuations will be greater but your wins will be bigger.

There are also instances when your big hand will get beaten by a bigger hand.  This is more of a legitimate beat which while rare will happen occasionally.  It is usually a bit easier to handle this since at least you are beaten by good cards.  Some players get shaken up and go on tilt when they suffer a bad beat.  You can’t let it affect your play.  If you get upset after suffering a bad beat, get up and walk away from the table for a hand.  Cool down and then get back to your game – the quickest way to get to this is to simply turn to the player and say “Nice hand.”   Then forget about it and focus on the next hand. 

Whatever you do, don’t ever tell bad beat stories.  Bad beats are like the weather.  Everyone talks about it but nobody can do anything to change it.  It’s a really boring subject and so are bad beats. Everyone has suffered bad beats and by constantly talking about them you just make yourself look like as a pitiful loser.  What do you want to achieve with that in any case?  If you want to talk about poker why would you want to talk about your defeats?  Whining about bad beats will not put fear into any of opponents.  Rather tell your opponents how lucky you have been and how the cards have been going your way. This will portray a winning image rather than that of a loser and your opponents will most definitely be more scared of a winner than a loser!

So please, keep playing poker with your friends and sure, give the wall a serious punch after a bad beat, call the guy a damn River-rat in your mind, but throw him a piece of cheese and then write it off – think about worse things that could have happened to you and are happening to other people.  You’re serving yourself as well this way, as it will improve your bankroll and ultimately confirm that you are a better player.  Let’s shuffle up and deal! 

Bad beat in poker

A bad beat in poker happens from time to time and like everything else in life, it is more about what you do with it than what it does to you.  If you can manage to take in this wisdom and rather actively find a way that you will be able to deal with it in the best possible way that will allow you to move forward in the game, you will probably enjoy poker for the rest of your life.  The other side of the coin is also true.  If you are going to spit fire and bite yourself every time this happens to you, chances are that you will turn into a bad player.  There is nothing as bad as being on tilt or steaming and playing weak hands simply because you are fuming.  Take a deep breath.  Relax.  A bad beat is when you have a good hand that is a favorite to win beaten by another hand.  Most of the time it is a weak hand that should never have been played with to begin with and that then caught a miracle draw on the river.  This is more common in low limit games because many players have the “any two cards can win” mentality, especially the new kids on the block.  Many players will play any ace and a few players will play any suited cards regardless of the rank.  There are certainly players out there that believe that poker is a game of luck who will enter the pot with marginal or terrible hand and then call all the way to the river in hopes making their draw. Occasionally they do make their hands and you suffer a bad beat.  This phenomenon is here to stay and you need to be aware of the effect it may have on your play afterwards.  The worst thing you can do is to let it get to you.

Bad beats are a normal part of poker that a good player learns to accept.  The reality is that, facing a bad beat is always a tough moment, because you feel injustice is done to you.  Nobody can feel indifferent to this.  Especially not if there is money at stake.  Nobody has to be ashamed of this feeling; this is just natural and common for every single person.  It only gets problematic when you can’t let it go after the moment has passed and you can’t place this injustice in its right perspective.

Make peace with it.  As sure as the sun rises in the morning you are going to occasionally get drawn out on the river.  You will lose an occasional pot to a bad beat from these players but their bad play will lose to your solid play the majority of the time. In the long run you will make money from players who constantly chase the inside straights or baby flushes.  This is an even more common occurrence for those who play on the online poker sites.  There are so many new players online who will play any two suited, any ace or even any two cards.  In these types of games you will find that your bankroll fluctuations will be greater but your wins will be bigger.

There are also instances when your big hand will get beaten by a bigger hand.  This is more of a legitimate beat which while rare will happen occasionally.  It is usually a bit easier to handle this since at least you are beaten by good cards.  Some players get shaken up and go on tilt when they suffer a bad beat.  You can’t let it affect your play.  If you get upset after suffering a bad beat, get up and walk away from the table for a hand.  Cool down and then get back to your game – the quickest way to get to this is to simply turn to the player and say “Nice hand.”   Then forget about it and focus on the next hand. 

Whatever you do, don’t ever tell bad beat stories.  Bad beats are like the weather.  Everyone talks about it but nobody can do anything to change it.  It’s a really boring subject and so are bad beats. Everyone has suffered bad beats and by constantly talking about them you just make yourself look like as a pitiful loser.  What do you want to achieve with that in any case?  If you want to talk about poker why would you want to talk about your defeats?  Whining about bad beats will not put fear into any of opponents.  Rather tell your opponents how lucky you have been and how the cards have been going your way. This will portray a winning image rather than that of a loser and your opponents will most definitely be more scared of a winner than a loser!

So please, keep playing poker with your friends and sure, give the wall a serious punch after a bad beat, call the guy a damn River-rat in your mind, but throw him a piece of cheese and then write it off – think about worse things that could have happened to you and are happening to other people.  You’re serving yourself as well this way, as it will improve your bankroll and ultimately confirm that you are a better player.  Let’s shuffle up and deal!