I have been on the fourm a few days and reading through all the post that people have made and i wanted to contrubute in a different way and go away from the mathmatics of the game and take you to a place most people don't think of when they are playing the almighty game of Texas Hold'em Poker.
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PATIENCE
Poker can be a very frustrating game at times. Having the best hand pre-flop doesn't mean that you will win the pot. When you put alot of chips in a pot when you believe you have the cream of the crop hand can cost you in the long run and even cause you to lose the big tourney.
The same goes for hand to hand play. When that lucky chaser catches his cards and causes you to lose that hand. But remind yourself when that happens that the lucky catches are what brings that chaser back to the table. And in the long run the chips will come back to you if you play a solid patient game.
Poker never has any guarantees, you can only make good descions and hope for the best. That means, among other things, practicing patience by awaiting good starting hands before entering pots.
But even 'pocket rockets,' the heart stopping A-A that's the highest possible starting hand in hold'em, loses a substantial number of pots - especially against several opponents who are all chasing draws or hoping to hit a second paid or three of a kind on the last betting rounds. One of them is bound to hit something and snatch away what you already thought of as "your pot." Let there be no mistake about it - it really hurts when that happens.
The same is even more true for "pocket cowboys," or K-K. A casual browse through any online poker forum yields numerous posts from players recounting how their kings were beaten so many times in a row that they hated to see "those ace magnets" appear once again in their hands.
The truth? K-K makes considerable money over time, but when you're running badly, "bad beats" causing them to lose can seem to happen a lot. If an ace doesn't flop to give someone playing A-small the only higher pair than yours, it seems that the turn or river all too often rewards terrible players who "chase with an ace," in the hope of catching one of the three remaining aces in the deck.
Mathematically, it's terrible play to chase that "three-outer" but you'll see it time and time again, especially in online poker. There will be times that none of your excellent hands hold up against the chasers. Again, it's all part of poker.
But the real problem comes if you react emotionally to such beats and let them pull you off your best game. After you've lost a good number of chips with premium hands to opponents who had mangy dogs all the way, only to catch "miracle cards" on the end, it's easy to lose your patience completely and throw discipline completely to the winds. DON'T!
For players lacking patience won't win consistently. Lowering your starting hand standards for lack of patience is liability you can't overcome, no matter how much you've studied. Without patience, knowledge can't bring success. Knowledge is important, but patience is crucial. Without it, you'll never be a winning player.
Remember: Skill and patience always reward good players over time, while luck reel in the fish that constitute their prey. Which would you rather be?
Tip: When you're on tilt (over the edge emotionally to the point where you've lost all patience and discipline), you're in real trouble. Take a break until you're able to return to your usual solid, patient, selectively aggressive game. your bankroll will thank you.
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