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
Most Recent Poker Psychology Articles
The Psychology of Winning
A lot of literature on poker psychology focuses on how players should handle themselves when they are losing. Whether it is a downswing, tilt, or other factors, people tend to only focus on their play/mentality when things aren’t going their way. Few...
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...
Tilt and Why
Rondavu re-evaluates the psychology of tilt and why it occurs. Another Look at Tilt I'm going to explain tilt the way I understand it. I hope it rings true for a lot of you, as it does for me. We are flawed as humans. One of our major flaws is detrimental to good...
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...
Away From the Felt
There are a lot of factors that go into becoming a winning poker player that do not happen while you are actually playing the game. Whether playing for fun, to earn a bit of side money, or professionally, there are many things one can do to improve their play while...
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...
Cbets, HUD Reads and Problem Solving
It’s possible to apply classic decision-making processes to poker games. For example, by understanding your c-betting leaks, coming up with a plan to fix them, implementing that plan and observing the results, you can make drastic improvements in your c-betting game.
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.
The Proven Best Poker Training Books of All Time
Learning how to play poker correctly is a tough enterprise. Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel — by reading the tips and advice of players who have gone before you, your own learning curve can be significantly accelerated.
Understanding the Importance of Shania (theory post)
I think I just had a really cool epiphany. Danny and I just watched the new movie 21 tonight (meh). Obviously, when two poker players see that movie there is going to be some gambling discussion afterwards. One thing lead to another and I brought up the subject of why...
Online Poker Tells – Online Timing Tells
By carefully observing the speed with which your opponents act at the poker tables, you can often glean valuable information about the strength of their hands. Perhaps more importantly, you should always attempt to prevent your opponents from gaining any such information about your hands.
Biggest Money Making Secret in Poker
After reviewing this month’s play, I came to the same conclusion I came to last month, and the month before that, and the month before that. But I have failed to act upon that conclusion. Further, many of my professional-minded friends, after reaching the exact same...
Comfort Zone
We’ve all fallen prey to the common ills of online poker – playing while you’re too tired, playing for too many hours, forgoing meals or hydration, or sitting at the table with too many thoughts swimming in our heads. Here are a few simple tips that are guaranteed to make you feel better at the digital felt.
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?
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....
