10 Ways to Lose at Poker (6)

Firstly we will summarise the first five ways to lose at poker that we developed over previous articles. These are: failing to understand the other players; playing incorrectly (not emphasising the statistics of the game); giving information away about ourselves, getting drunk and lacking sufficient motivation to win.

In fact these are the most important factors. If we can get items one to five right, we will see our poker playing ability soar. Doing this is not difficult, and all it really needs is the correct mind set.

The remaining five ways are mostly technical and are really a subset of the ones above, but as we are attracted by top ten lists and for the sake of completion we will include them in the five remaining articles.

Chasing your losings is the sixth way to lose. Attempting to win back what you have lost in a previous game is the downfall of many poker players, even ones who are generally successful. The reason why this is such a bad strategy is that is has a distorting affect on every other aspect of your game.

Poker is a game about partial information. Playing it involves a complex sequence of decisions that are based on a large number of factors including, amongst others, table position, the playing styles of other players, changing game dynamics, the fall of cards, pot odds, responses to runs of good and bad luck and the realisation of the impact of chaotic events. Each decision requires a knowledge of all that can be known along with knowledge of the things that cannot be known.

Naturally this is a fine balance. What does not matter is how much you won or lost last week. If you feel that on a particular occasion you need to make up losses that you made on a previous occasion, your game will be thrown into total chaos.

When you play poker you should set aside a bankroll and you should detach yourself from it emotionally. Your bankroll is simply a resource, working capital; it is no longer real money. Over time it will fluctuate both up and down depending on your skill and luck. Chasing losses is a way to lose.

Why not try your luck with an exciting game of online poker now. No need to perfect that poker face at Skypoker, just win big from the comfort of your own home!