What does it take to master poker?
What is the mathematically correct way to play poker? Is statistics the only way to play or does human sentiment gets in the way of pure poker chances? As in most things to do with people, money and emotions, the answers are not simple and made up of all these factors combined. Here are my thoughts after playing offline poker for my entire life and online on pacificpoker.com for the past year. If you only played when your dealt cards are high, would that increase your chances of winning? Probably it will since stats don’t lie and making the right choice when faced with cards is a difficult thing, especially for beginners.
Deciding about your odds isn’t that difficult after some practice (there are lots of guides on the internet to do with poker strategy and tactics. The difficult part is deciding what your opponent’s chances are. That is the tricky bit and where most people fall, they usually tend to think only about themselves.
But once you’ve mastered stats and decision making you may still be on the downside of things. Someone who is a master of both stats and detecting human vulnerabilities while using ones own strength can make more money on every situation. That’s where betting strategy and timing comes in, which is the next thing you need to perfect to rake in the big profits.
If you are a novice, there’s a lot of work ahead of you. Start off with some reading and try putting your money where your mouth is on online poker sites. If you’re already a shark, honing your skills just that extra bit, can get you into the big league of whales.
