Phil Ivey is one of the most mentally strong poker players in the entire world. You heard me saying he was one of the best out there? He has the ability to take bad beats that would normally be fatal to a lesser man and make tremendous deals to win what in the pros would be considered pitch perfect hands.
Here is what separates the best from the rest. Folding when you should not. Playing too many hands. Playing on tilt. Not respecting position. Gambling too much. Leaning to aggression when you shouldn’t. All of these are easy ways to get beat, and when you combine them all together you will get a recipe for disaster.
The bottom line is not to be like most of the players who do these crazy things, but to actually be disciplined enough to fold when you should and that will make you a better player.
Doing what a professional does at this point in time, I believe is the secret to becoming a winner at poker. It takes discipline.
Now the discipline part, as easy as it may be, to get you there, you need to take something away. Your ability to make serious money at the game you love. AJ AA, AK, and the best of the best… put them on the line. Make your opponents fold. When you get dealt a hand, make them pay to see what you have. Don’t give them the chance to beat you. Don’t give yourself a chance to beat them. Make them pay to see what you have.
This is the essential ingredient to winning at poker. This is the easiest way to win at poker by far, and that is by selecting your cards well. Don’t let your opponents see your cards for cheap. Make them pay to see what you have.Be valuable to your poker opponent by showing strength. Be weak when you have a big hand, and be strong when you have a big hand.
But how do you accomplish this? It’s simple.
You should be playing against the right opponents. They will call you while you will be drawing almost every hand, and you’ll be able to belt them for all their chips when you get a big hand.
Pre-flop is the time to get tricky. Make pre-flop decisions based upon your cards and what your opponent might have. For example, if you’re up against light pre-flop players, bend the rules a little bit and try to get as much money in as cheaply as possible. But if you’re against guys who plan ahead, you can bluff them out, but make sure you know who you’re trying to bluff because they’re the ones who are very likely to call you with very high hands.
Just remember that getting tricky with the cards with the first couple of players at the table will make them wary of you. That’s a good thing, because you don’t want them to have pocket eights or to have a nice big hand to call a strong pre-flop raise. This is called “Dewacasino“. Be careful, but remember that if you’re calling a flop bet with nothing, chances are, you’re beaten. So don’t be afraid to bet if you have nothing.
When you’re the first player in a pot, it’s okay to bet aggressively. Nobody has made a big mistake by playing weak hands in early position, so don’t be afraid to call a bet with second hand, if you have a good read on your opponents.
When you’re the last player in a pot, you can play your cards more aggressively than others. You can try to steal the pot, if you feel that you have the strongest hand.
This is a simple course of action, but if you are really tight and want to impress at the poker table, you need to play aggressively. If you follow directions, you can make the moves without fanfare. And if you don’t, well, good luck playing ” constitute poker “and you will deservedly lose all your money.