Why do you play poker?

I have been thinking abit about this and I feel a little conflict of interest here:

1. I want to become a good player and to become that I need to play good opponents.

2. I want to make money and to do that I need to play bad opponents.


How do you guys solve this equations?

I think that if I stick to 1. I will make more money in the long run but win less or even loose in the shortrun.

If I stick to 2. then I will win more right now but less in the long run due to having to stay at lower levels.

I think the solution would be sticking to strategy 1. but playing some 2. aswell when the bankroll dictates it. My primary goal is not to make money out of poker but to become a good player and then win some money.

What do you think?

never purposely play against opponents better than you, you probably wont learn anything by playing against them and you will lose all your money. play stakes you know you can win at and practice on the side by reading books, essays, and playing solid poker at your low limits.

Its a mixture of both, you want to rely on worse opponents to make your money from and learn from better opponents by playing against them so that you can make more money in the future. When you are playing better opponents you are paying to play and learn from them, so if you do this too much then yes you will risk going broke in the short term. I dont believe you can improve by just reading books and playing at low levels where you outclass the opposition. At some point you will need to swim with the sharks or else you will remain in the kiddie pool.