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The Process of Winning at Poker
- 2-8-2010
Whenever you sit down at a poker table the goal is to win. Whether it is to win cash at a ring game table or win chips on your way to a first place finish in a tournament. As the ultimate result is to win it can be easy to start viewing poker through the prism of results instead of process. Playing results oriented poker is detrimental to your overall game. As is the case with most everything in life, practice makes perfect. Following the proper poker process will help you win in the long run.
Poker is a game of skill, but no one can deny there’s an element of luck involved. There will be times when you get your chips in ahead of your opponent only to see them hit a miracle card on the river for the win. Poker players call these hiccups variance. Sometimes you’ll be on the wrong side of it and there’s nothing you can do about a bad beat. But you can focus on the ways to play optimal poker.
You may have heard prominent poker players say the following “don’t be results oriented”. When you focus on the results it can impede your ability to not only learn from your mistakes but can also reinforce bad habits. For example, if you often make bad calls with marginal hands and win a few big pots you may start to feel like that is a winning play when in the long run it will cost more than the short term results of that particular win. A focus on short term results is easy to do but will stop you from evolving into a better player.
To play optimal poker you must study the game. Think about hands and discuss them with friends, out think your opponents by determining the best way to extract value from each hand, and more. It’s more important to learn the how and why than it is to see who won the hand. With a strong background and dedication to learning over the long run your win rate should increase.
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