Don’t Let This Be the
Year of the Fish
Well the new year has been here for
about 2 months now, and I’m willing to bet that
a lot of you have already forgotten, abandoned, or
are in denial of the resolutions you may have made
at the stroke of midnight. Either that or you’re
like me and are still holding true to the resolution
you made back in 1998 – to stop making New Years
resolutions. Whatever your excuse may be, why not
take some time now to refocus on some of the goals
you made, or should have made, concerning your life
and your poker game. Well… mostly just those
concerning your poker game.
The following are some simple suggestions
for various types of players.
For the Poker Newbie:
If you’re just getting into the game of poker,
you’ll want to spend a fair amount of time easing
into it. There are plenty of resources available for
beginning players, from books to online sites and
forums, where you can quickly pick up the fundamental
strategies involved in becoming a winning player.
More importantly though, you’ll have to learn
from experience and actually get your feet wet by
playing real money games. Before you bet, raise, and
call away though, make sure that your poker bankroll
is separate from all other financial liabilities,
and that losing all of it will not mean the end of
days. Also remember to start at a relatively low limit,
and play within that limit until you feel comfortable
enough to move up. Patience is key in the beginning,
and you’ll want to expect a significant learning
curve as well as a whole lot of frustration. Of course
if you don’t feel like following these suggestions,
then by all means come have a seat at my table and
toss your chips around.
For the Poker Junkie:
This advice can be applied to beginning players as
well, so don’t stop reading just yet, newbies.
Regardless of how long you’ve been playing,
you may find yourself absorbed in anything and everything
related to poker, as much of pop culture has recently
become. Nowadays you can’t flip through the
channels without seeing a poker show, you can’t
surf the internet without seeing poker pop-ups, and
you seemingly can’t set foot in any store without
being confronted with large displays of poker chip
sets. For the player that can’t stop daydreaming
about pocket aces, it can be too much to handle at
times. So if you find yourself investing a significant
amount of time and money into the game, at the same
time losing sight of other important things in your
life, you may want to take a step back and reexamine
your priorities. Poker, like anything really, can
become addicting and should be practiced in moderation.
For the Player in a Rut:
Swings, both up and down, as well as runs of good
and bad luck, are constants in the game of poker.
If you’ve been on the negative side of a recent
streak and are frustrated beyond the point of tilting,
now may be the time to take a nice breather. Of course
this doesn’t mean you have to stop playing poker
completely. If you mainly play online, why not arrange
a home game, perhaps just playing for fun with friends
or family. If you primarily stick to cash tables,
why not try a few sit-n-go’s or multi-table
tournaments. If you always play no-limit, try fixed-limit.
If you play Hold’em all the time, try Omaha
or Stud. Mix it up a little, go back to the basics,
re-tune your game, do whatever you feel like your
game needs to give it that boost of confidence. You
may even find something new that you’re really
good at, or at least enjoy more than other game varieties.
And Finally, for the Fish who
Just Sucked Out on Me with J-4 Suited:
What the #@%&!?!? What the hell is your freeking
problem!?!? You call a 4xBig Blind raise out of position
with J-4 suited??? And then call a pot-sized flop
bet with nothing but your pair of 4’s and a
backdoor flush draw, to which you say you “felt
lucky” enough to hit!?!? Didn’t you know
I had pocket Aces!? How could you not've known that
you were only a 17.10% pre-flop favorite? Obviously
you must be mathematically deficient!!! And stop typing
“loooooool” in the chat box, fish!!! Didn’t
you read my advice for the poker newbie at the top
of this article!?!?
Best of luck at the tables.
Mad Terp
Editor's note: The Mad Terp, as
we so fondly refer to him because of the university
he attends, also has his own website where readers
may rate their favorite poker site, or join in the
discussion forum of poker players.
http://www.imopoker.com/
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