BAKOBIT from Bakotopia.com
November 26, 2009
Calico Jack's poker lessons Introducing the top 5 biggest poker player mistakes you can make alcohol makes you more prone to go on tilt. Please by all means save the drinks for when you win, that way you blow your money in other ridiculous ways.
By Brian Ross, Bakotopia.com contributor don't claim to be the best poker player in town, but I know I'm good. Some people may view this as a flaw, but when has being confident in yourself ever been a flaw? Personally, some of the biggest mistakes I find a person can make at the poker table is not having faith in themselves, or being drunk. Keep in mind the biggest strength in poker, no matter what and I can't stress this enough, is discipline. It really takes years of just losing your mind and your money to really get that idea in your head. So I did all the losing for you, and without further ado here are my top 5 biggest poker mistakes a player can make:
2) Sunglasses/Mp3 Players. Nothing makes me laugh more than siting at a table with players who wear sunglasses and listen to music while they play. Here's the scoop, you look like a donkey when you wear all that and it does not improve your game whatsoever. Sunglasses sometimes make it hard to see your suits, and I swear I have seen what cards they were holding reflecting off them. Also, listening to music while you play poker is just a distraction as listening to your iPod and trying to play baseball. You will always be that guy who pulls his earphones out every five minutes to ask, what is the raise?.
5) Lack of Experience. I know there are a lot of stories of people sitting down at their first poker tournament and just bringing the house down, but keep in mind this usually will only happen once, or twice if your really lucky. I'm not saying you need to devote years of playing to be good, I recommend just buying a book on rules and techniques, one I highly recommend is, Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book.
1) Superstition. Biggest mistake you can make while playing poker is being superstitious. Having a lucky hand, wearing a lucky shirt, using a charm of some sort. This is all bad news for your poker career because superstition always veers a person towards making a bad decision based on luck. Stick to common sense and elementary math, those are tools to win. One of the best quotes I ever heard in the poker world was, Superstition is bad luck.
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4) Money Management. If you like poker, that's good. If your blowing half your paycheck on poker, that's terrible! Poker is and will always be a brutal game, you never know what to expect. So set aside a little savings to play your games. This is why I recommend playing tournaments over
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live play. This way you have a poker budget and also keep yourself from snow-balling into debt. Plus if you win, you just paid for the next rounds of tournaments. 3) Alcohol. Let me tell you, no matter how long you've played poker or improved your game this little thing called alcohol will bring you back to step one (no pun intended). I have dropped entire bankrolls playing intoxicated, and for good reason,
Playing in the 2009 World Series of Poker was my crowning achievement in my poker career, and it took a lot of discipline to get there. This list is just my personal opinion, hopefully you will have your own list of do's and don'ts, and even better hopefully see you in the 2010 World Series. BAKOTOPIA 15