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
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.
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.
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...
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.
Most Recent Poker Psychology Articles
The PokerJanitor’s Philosophy
I’ve received an offer I cannot refuse – the nice young woman I’ve been seeing has offered to teach me how to bake her delicious homemade bread. And what does she ask in return?
“Well,” she said, “I’ve always wanted to get good at poker. Could you teach me?”
So, rather than simply tossing “Super System 2” in her lap and watching the NFL playoffs, I’ll spend some quality time teaching her how to play. That shows what a caring guy I am, right? I think so, at least. Also I get to eat homemade bread. What’s not to love?
The Efficient Frontier of Poker
euphoricism recently made a post entitled The biggest money-making secret in poker. https://www.flopturnriver.com/poker-strategy/biggest-money-making-secret-in-poker-19084 I’m not going to rehash it here (read it if you haven’t already – it's good...
Psychology of a Tilting Player
pokerfanatic has been a member of FTR since August of 2004, and has over 1,400 posts in the FTR Poker Forum. Below pokerfanatic discuss thetopic of tilt, which as you know, is one of the worst enemies of the poker player. pokerfanatic's Psychology of a Tilting Player...
How to Put Your Opponent on Tilt
These are extraordinary methods, and work best in live games. Getting an opponent on tilt is a lot more rewarding in lives games, too. There's nothing like the grunts, facial ticks, and the defensive "What the hell bro?!" of an on-tilt, chip-bleeding,...
Optimizing Your Sessions With Simple Routines
Establishing a set of routines to perform before you begin playing poker will produce long-term, positive results. By properly training your body, you’ll be able to condition your involuntary responses to make you calm, focused and ready to play whenever you want to.
Leveling by Gametight
Leveling is an in-game battle of psychology. It stems from this: Level 0: What do I have? Level 1: What does my opponent have? Level 2: What does my opponent think I have? Level 3: What does my opponent think that I think they have? Level 4: What does my opponent...
The Truth About the Dangers of Playing Under Rolled
This article aims to express just why, in a theoretical sense, you can't play poker under rolled. It's for people at all levels of the game who don't know/havn't read this stuff, and I really hope to be explicit. There are also points that even some of the more...
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.
Poker Goals
There are several similarities that you can find between the game of Poker and Life in general. One of these would be to compare a poker player to a major league baseball pitcher. Every at bat is a world on itself, and you have to keep a cool head through all of them....
Fun Tricks for Mental Preparation for No-Limit Hold’em
Take advantage of the 80/20 rule and get the most in terms of results with a minimal amount of effort with these tricks.
Nine Noobie Myths About Microstakes NLHE
I feel like tons of the noobies in the BC have serious misconceptions about microstakes poker. Here are a few I've seen lately. 1. The micros are just too fishy to be beat for any decent win rate. 2. The micros are too hard to be beat since UIGEA. 3. The FTR regs at...
Your Bankroll and You
There are many things that are important in Poker; your position during a hand, your starting hand (cards), your opponent tendencies, the odds for a certain draw to hit, how that draw fares versus your holding, bluffing opportunities, recognition and exploitation of...
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.
Traits of Great Poker Players
By examining the playing styles of five of the world’s best online poker players, we’ve identified the four traits they have in common: trusting their instincts at the table, taking advantage of their table position, having a strong work ethic and not selecting games based on their opponents’ skill.
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.
