Originally Posted by fjuanl

Very, very good point.

Originally Posted by BiloxiMS

I think of all the holes to have in your game, the WORST one is to be a calling post. This sends you home, fast. You have to totally shake the notion that poker is just a game of numbers and luck, and realize that it's a game of people first and foremost (at the highest levels, anyway) then luck, then numbers.

This is why I put most of my emphasis in developing a table persona rather than strictly betting the numbers.
I ALWAYS work a bluff early into the game and I always show it. This gets into peoples minds and causes them to call you out when you have strong hands. If I can play through a hand bluffing and get called on it, if it doesn't cost me too much to do it, it's a price i'll gladly pay to poison the minds of my opponents into thinking i'm a pot thief.

Poker is like a road rally and you are the vehicle. You have to be able to switch gears at the various twists and turns or else you will crash and burn. Conversely, when you hit a straight away, you need to know when to floor it and run like a motherfucker.

My grandfather who was a very successful no limit draw poker player (used to be a day when that was the only kind of poker people played ) told me a few things about playing cards and card players.
Free advice, take it at what you paid for it, but it's served me well and has made me lots of money.

There are two types of card players.
People who play cards and people who play people.
Winning at poker is a helluva lot more than just playing tight. You have to mix it up, or else no one will ever bet into you when you go. Sure, you might take down a small pot or snatch a few blinds, but what a way to waste a nut flush or a boat than to have it pay off as a couple of blinds or limp ins.
I want the OTHER guy to think HE has the best hand. This is where I must take it upon myself to cultivate what the other guy thinks of my playing. Don't let him make up his own mind about what kind of player you are... Make up his mind for him, and make sure he thinks wrong.

You've got to mix up your play, and you've got to understand that other players are doing the same.
Just because I checked doesn't mean my hand is weak. Just because I re-raised you doesn't mean I have shit.
This is where your table persona equates to chips.
Guys who have the same problem you do wind up calling my A/I on the raggy river card thinking i'm trying to steal the pot since I checked all the way through.
OOPS! Turns out I had a nut flush... Thanks for playing, reload and come back again.

When you examine the great players, one thing they all have in common is that they play through A LOT of hands and they're all gamblers at heart. Poker to them is just as much about chip strategy and gambling as it is about the actual cards you have.

Mahatma/Spirit Rock/Prefontaine/Prahlad Friedman makes a small fortune playing online poker because (amongst a number of different reasons) he has the intestinal fortitude to wager what amounts to a years wages for a working man on a total gamble. He reads into people and can tell you if they have the balls to call him, or not. And pot after pot they flake off to his monster bets, and he gathers up their chips.
And over enough hands, they are SURE he is bluffing and by the time they work up the nuts to call him, OOPS! His game shifted gears 15 hands ago... Turns out he had the nuts all along; Thanks for playing, reload and come back again.

Man, i'm really sorry I carried on like that, but it's a philosophy of the game that I feel very strongly about. I use it to win, and as best I can tell, it's a common trait amongst most all winning players.

It's just as much about the opponent as it is the cards.