Poker Strategy: Poker Psychology
The power of the mind in poker: There is no spade.
It’s well-known among poker enthusiasts that using psychology to get inside the head of your opponents can really give you an edge over them. What some people forget though is that it’s equally important, if not more so, to understand how your own psychology plays a role in your results. Many people who have solid overall strategies nevertheless fail to live up to their potential as players due to a lack of emotional control. Tilt – including “winners tilt” – the desire to get “unstuck” while in the midst of a losing session, playing while tired, and off-table habits can threaten your ability to earn a profit from poker. The articles below discuss some of the psychological problems that affect poker players and ways of dealing with them. Before long, you’ll be able to make calm, dispassionate decisions, and you’ll therefore be able to play your A game for extended periods of time.
Featured Poker Psychology Articles
Taking the Next Step
In poker, it’s important to keep improving your game so that you can move up in stakes. By carefully considering bankroll management, studying the player pool at your new level and approaching the bigger game with the right mindset, you can increase your chances for success.
Playing Long Sessions
By learning how to play longer sessions at the poker tables more effectively, you can increase the amount of money you win. By carefully choosing the right tables and using lobby filters to your advantage, you can keep yourself in good +EV situations for extended periods of time.
Beginner’s List of Poker Leaks
Poker is a complex, difficult game, so it’s only natural for beginners to make a lot of errors. The problem is in identifying these errors — if you knew what they were, you wouldn’t be making them! Take a look at these common leaks to see if any of them are present in your game.
Bankroll Management 101
Bankroll Management Calculator The above tool will help determine which buy-in level you should be playing at, based on the size of your current bankroll. It will give you 3...
The Psychology of Losing
You can’t win every hand or tournament when playing poker. But an extended losing streak can often have severe emotional repercussions that may compound over time, causing you to lose even more. Learn how to break out of the cycle and start winning again.
Most Recent Poker Psychology Articles
Theory Read – River Check/Raise
Below you will see an interesting discussion on river check/raises which took place in the High Stakes forum. It started with ISF showing hands and posters such as Sauce123, Massimo, Toadstool, and gabe adding their replies. View the check raise theory...
Taking the Next Step
In poker, it’s important to keep improving your game so that you can move up in stakes. By carefully considering bankroll management, studying the player pool at your new level and approaching the bigger game with the right mindset, you can increase your chances for success.
Be Vito, not Cyclone Hart
I've been reading about the psychology of winning lately, and I came across this interesting anecdote from a New York Times article: --- Cyclone Hart was a powerful puncher who fought as a middleweight out of Philadelphia about 25 years ago. He was as dangerous a...
Avoiding Tilt
{Discuss here: https://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerforum/beginners-circle/discussion-taking-breaks-and-avoiding-tilt-a-117347.html} HOW TO PROFITABLY NOT PLAY POKER Well I haven’t written a useful strategy post in a while, so what better time to write one than now! Now...
Finding the Motivation to Improve at Poker
Poker motivation can be difficult to find to say the least, and having a strong support system is one of the best ways to keep pushing forward.
3 Extremely Useful Methods to Recognizing a Read
Goal: to know the cards of your opponent. If you can obtain that information (through legal and accepted means!), you are on your way to making a lot of money. The study of reading your opponent is a never ending endeavor, because making your reads is going to be...
Apply Yourself at Learning Poker
Whenever you read poker strategy guides or books, you must be prepared to study them carefully. Merely skimming the contents will not advance your game very much at all. You should always consider the strategic implications of anything you read to get the maximum value from it.
Dumb People Believe in Downswings
A funny look at the mythic term, “downswings,” this article debunks the existence of players being on downswings or upswings. The logic? Since every hand dealt in poker is independent of all others, you cannot up-or-downswing; you can only have an historical period of increased losses or winnings.
Building Your Bankroll
Even if you’re an experienced player, you should still give some thought to how you can build your bankroll so you can move up in stakes and increase your winnings. From avoiding tilt to taking advantage of bonuses and rakeback, this article gives meaningful advice about building your bankroll.
Playing Long Sessions
By learning how to play longer sessions at the poker tables more effectively, you can increase the amount of money you win. By carefully choosing the right tables and using lobby filters to your advantage, you can keep yourself in good +EV situations for extended periods of time.
The Greatest Obstacle in Poker
I really do not think that reading poker books or watching coaching videos can prepare you one hundred percent for the mental trauma that professional gambling can throw at you. There are many similarities with regards to poker with many other fields and one such...
Beginner’s List of Poker Leaks
Poker is a complex, difficult game, so it’s only natural for beginners to make a lot of errors. The problem is in identifying these errors — if you knew what they were, you wouldn’t be making them! Take a look at these common leaks to see if any of them are present in your game.
The Newbie Circle of Death
I just went through a maddening circle that wasted 3 weeks of my hard work, and nearly washed my entire bankroll down the drain... Hopefully I can give a little insight to prevent someone from going through the same thing... Just a side note, I play the 6 max 25 or...
An Easy Guide to Exploiting Your Opponents
By paying close attention to your opponents’ actions at the poker tables, you can get pretty solid reads on their play. Using this information, you can make some of your ranges stronger while making others weaker in order to seriously exploit your foes.
Poker Bad Beats And You
You have a pretty looking hand and your opponent has a funny, lopsided looking hand and you're happy to see that all the money goes in the pot. The end. Everything after that is just an illusion taking your focus away from a truth in poker. You've made the right move,...
