Poker Essentials

Author: Sylvia Garcia

Whether you aspire to become a professional poker player or you just want to become good enough to beat the game at any meaningful level, then you should heed these basic poker strategies.So why should you follow our advice? Because it just may save you a few bucks the next time you decide to play.

This article is aimed at the decently-experienced beginner who has a basic understanding of the game of poker and wants to take it to the next level Keep in mind that devoting yourself to poker in the way that we’re suggesting is not for everyone. However, even the casual player will walk away with a better understanding of the game and may actually improve his or her chances of winning and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There are a handful of natural poker talents in the world. One great example is Stu Ungar. The rest of us have to really work at it to reach a decent level of play. First of all, you should be prepared to play many, many hands of poker to gain a better understanding of the game in general. If you’re serious about improving your Poker game then we recommend spending an hour or so of every three hours you play analyzing the way you play certain hands.

You should also read poker e-books. We suggest Bobo’s Bible, The Memoirs of Aejones, CTS’ book Let There be Range, Improva’s book The Poker Puzzle, and Baluga Whale’s book Easy Game. Read them over and over until you fully understand the concepts and basic strategies. Your willingness to study strategy is absolutely key to becoming a better player, and if you are really serious then you should enjoy devouring these books, scouring them to pick up techniques that will improve your game.

Spend some time on online poker forums as well, discussing your hands and those of other players’. Study the masters and mimic their techniques. Many people seem to think that playing poker is an easy way to make money. Not so…if it were, everyone would be doing it.

While the above suggestions sound more like work than fun, they will shorten the time it will take you to get to a higher level of play. Are you looking to make money from playing poker? If so, then start considering yourself a one-owner-poker-corporation, keeping in mind, of course, that you are the sole investor. The idea is that you invest a sum of money into your company, and your company tries to increase its worth by winning at poker. If you’re diligent, your company may reach a point where its income is great enough to give something back to its only shareholder…you.