When you play poker, you play to win money. Of course, anytime you sit down at a table, you run the risk of losing money… but this goes without saying. The truth is, every time you, (or anybody else for that matter) play poker, you lose. The idea is to win more money than you lose. The problem is- if you win even ten percent of the hands you play, you’re actually doing very good.
When put in this light it sounds nearly impossible to actually make a profit playing. Well, the honest truth is, it’s definitely not easy. Making a profit by playing poker takes patience, skill, endurance, and above all else, the ability to make wise choices.
Most people who play poker don’t take things like bankroll management into consideration. This is a good thing. If everybody played wisely, it would be that much harder for those who do take the time to learn the finer points of the game to win. In fact, when you play poker, those are exactly the type of players you seek out. At least if you’re any good. Those who play poker well know the truth, sitting at a table with strong players is not profitable. A table full of fish on the other hand, well there’s plenty of money to be made there.
When you play poker, take your time in choosing your game. Look for a table that has a high flop percentage and a lot of people going to showdown. When you play poker, don’t choose your table based solely on the average pot size. If table 1 has an average pot of $20, but only a 10% flop percentage- and table 2 has an average pot of $15, but an average flop percentage of 50%, you can bet you are going to find more fish on table 2. Watch some tables before you sit down. See if you can pick out who the unfortunate fish are. It’s like the saying goes; “When you play poker, if you can’t spot the sucker on the table in the first hour… you ARE the sucker!” So don’t play poker to lose. Choose your opponents, don’t let them choose you.
