The Poker Blog

By Tony Guerrera

You’re playing poker online, and normally, online poker hands is all about instant gratification (like online anything else). But this time you’re actually stuck waiting for a seat to open up in your game of choice: 6-max $100NL hold’em. After the longest minute of waiting in your life, you take a seat at your new table

Tough Start

Your elation is quickly eclipsed by disappointment. Occasionally, getting caught bluffing or calling with the worst hand can have a positive impact on your table image. However, getting off to a really bad start is a very difficult handicap to shed, and it’s one that you’ve just given yourself in your first 10-15 minutes at the table – having dumped $200 on some very poor play.

You’re not handicapped because of the money you’ve already lost, and how you’ll have to play winning poker hand from this point forward just to have a shot at breaking even for the session. Remember, each session is just part of the proverbial life-long session. Instead, you’re handicapped because of the psychological edge that your opponents currently have over you. They are mentally alert – like sharks honing in for the kill. You are dumbfounded, as if you just took a surprise punch to the stomach.

You look at the lobby to see if any other 6-max $100NL hold’em seats have opened. Unfortunately, all the tables are still full, and you put yourself on the 6-max $100NL hold’em waiting list.

Just Leave

Congratulations for being honest about your situation and realizing that you need to find a different table. With so many poker sites, and so many tables at each site, there’s never a need to battle through a bad table image that you create from a few early mistakes. The mistake that everyone makes here, and the one that I want you to avoid, is continuing to sit and play at the really tough table you’ve created for yourself while you wait for your seat at another table. Leave your bad table immediately, and give yourself a few moments to compose yourself so that you can enter your new table with a refreshed mindset.

Discipline

Not playing beyond your bankroll; not becoming a compulsive gambler; having the willingness to lay down a great hand to an even better hand; table selection. A profitable poker player is a disciplined poker player. When the grass isn’t very green where you currently are, get up and find some greener grass.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

This article is provided free of charge by www.RoyRounder.com “Roy Rounder” is the pen name of a successful professional poker player and author.

To skyrocket your Texas Holdem winnings, join his free newsletter. Just click here.

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Dear Poker Player,

Warren Buffett is one smart dude. And RICH.

He’s the second richest man in the WORLD… right behind Bill Gates. Forbes estimates that his net worth is $40 BILLION.

(How’s THAT for a bankroll?)

What’s interesting about Buffett is that he made his fortune over a LONGGG period of time… by consistently beating the stock market year after year after year.

He wasn’t one of those “overnight” dot-com billionaires.

He wasn’t “lucky” to be in the right place at the right time.

He didn’t “invent” some new technology that changed the world.

Nope… all he did was invest and “pick winners” over and over. Since taking control of Berkshire 40 years ago, Buffett has delivered a compound annual return of 22%.

AND JUST BY DOING THAT, he became the 2nd richest man alive.

OK– so why am I rambling on about 75-year old man who’s good at investing?

The reason is because I’ve realized that there are DOZENS of important parallels between the STOCK MARKET and POKER.

Here are just a few:

* The stock market is often considered “gambling”, due to its unpredictable nature… just as POKER is often considered gambling, even though it’s a SKILL game.

* The stock market has a heavy emphasis on odds and mathematics… just like poker.

* The stock market is predominately a male-driven industry… just like poker.

* The stock market has PLENTY of up’s and down’s, and “streaks”… just like poker.

* And so on.

Of course, these are “surface” similarities.

Now think about the PSYCHOLOGY of poker and the stock market… and how they’re often EXACTLY THE SAME:

* In the stock market, everyone dreams of buying that one MIRACLE STOCK that will go from $2 to $200 and make them rich…

In poker, everyone has their “pipe dream” of winning a huge million-dollar tournament on ESPN.

* When a stock tanks, most investors FREAK OUT and immediately make several bad investment decisions in a row. It’s usually THESE decisions that hurt them the most.

In poker, this is known as “tilt”. Bad beats cause some damage… but it’s usually the decisions you make AFTER the bad beats that cause you to lose the game.

* Believe it or not, most stock investors come out on the LOSING END over time… even though the market has historically gone UP year after year.

Most poker players end up losing over time also, despite all the “fish” out there to prey on.

* And so on.

OK, so you get the idea.

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of books about the stock market… and especially about Warren Buffett. (Hell, I need somewhere to invest all these poker winnings!)

Anyway, here’s what’s REALLY interesting:

Warren Buffett’s INVESTMENT APPROACH is almost identical to the POKER STRATEGY I use every day.

And it’s the SAME approach used by top poker pros to consistently win tournaments and ring games…

Interesting, huh?

Of course, it makes sense when you think about it.

If poker and investing are similar, then the guys who beat the STOCK MARKET probably use the same techniques as the guys who win at POKER.

And who better to learn poker from than the “KING” of the stock market… and the 2nd richest man in the world?

*** WARREN BUFFETT’S WINNING APPROACH ***

Warren Buffett operates on PRINCIPLES. He doesn’t get caught up in “hype” or emotion.

Below are the five MOST IMPORTANT principles that he follows… and how they relate to your poker game.

PRINCIPLE 1: PATIENCE IS KEY.

Patience, patience, patience!

It’s the number one mistake that causes most poker players to lose… and it’s one of the “secrets” to Buffett’s 22% annual returns.

Warren Buffett does not make an investment unless he is absolutely 100% confident that it will make him money.

That means he PASSES UP a lot of great investment opportunities.

Warren Buffett has said “no” to stocks that ended up increasing by 10,000%!

But more importantly… he’s passed up all those other stocks that LOOKED GOOD, but PLUMMETED later.

The problem is, us human beings are addicted to ACTION and MOVEMENT and EXCITEMENT. We don’t want to just sit around and WAIT.

But that’s EXACTLY what Buffett does…

He waits.

And waits.

And waits.

He KNOWS that sooner or later, a GREAT opportunity will come up… and then he’ll jump on it.

It’s the same way with poker.

You’ve GOT to be patient. We all want to “get in there” and make strong bets… bluff out opponents… and take down lots of pots. We want ACTION.

BUT THAT’S NOT HOW YOU DO IT.

You’ve got to sit back… be patient… and WAIT.

Wait for good cards.

Wait for the PERFECT time to bust the manic at the table.

Wait for the PERFECT time to steal the blinds.

Wait for the PERFECT time to bluff out an opponent.

Wait for the PERFECT time to go all-in.

And then when you DO make a move…

PRINCIPLE 2: MAINTAIN A “LOW TURNOVER” PORTFOLIO OF JUST A FEW STOCKS.

Buffett insists on keeping 10-20% turnover with his portfolio.

This means he generally holds onto a stock for 5-10 years… AT LEAST. This is obviously OPPOSITE of how most investors do it. Most investors are checking the tickers every HOUR– watching for the slightest indication of movement or news.

More importantly… Buffett only invests in a FEW STOCKS AT A TIME.

Now THIS is crucial, because it goes against everything you’ve ever learned.

Growing up, you probably heard this advice a lot:

“Never put all your eggs in one basket.”

Right?

Well, Warren Buffett does the OPPOSITE.

He puts all his eggs in one basket… but… he chooses that basket VERY CAREFULLY!

You see, Buffett believes that if you’ve done your homework and you’re confident in your decision, there’s NO NEED to “diversify”.

In fact, he believes this is the ONLY REAL WAY to get rich in the stock market. Because if you buy LOTS of stocks, some are doomed to go down… and that will hurt your gains.

Now think how this relates to poker.

In poker, most players risk money on LOTS of pots, and try to get the best odds for each one… maybe 55%, 60%, and the OCCASIONAL 70% or higher.

What PROFESSIONAL poker players do is only play those OCCASIONAL pots with the best odds.

BUT, they risk more chips when they do it…

So instead of risking 20% of your chip stack five times… you want to risk 90% of your chip stack ONE time. But you choose that time VERY CAREFULLY!

For instance, let’s say the “average” poker player enters three pots where he feels the odds are in his favor.

The three pots go like this:

1.) He risks 1000 in chips with 60% odds.

2.) He risks 1000 in chips with 50% odds.

3.) He risks 1000 in chips with 60% odds.

Now… MATHEMATICALLY speaking… there are EIGHT different ways these scenarios can go. They are as follows (a win is designated with “W” and a loss with “L”):

1.) W-W-W

2.) W-W-L

3.) W-L-W

4.) W-L-L

5.) L-W-W

6.) L-W-L

7.) L-L-W

8.) L-L-L

If he wins all three, he ends up with 3000 chips in profit.

If he wins two but loses one, he ends up with just 1000 chips in profit.

If he LOSES two but wins one, he ends up with 1000 chips in losses.

And he if loses all three, he loses 3000 chips total.

Get it?

Now let me share with you the PERCENTAGES of the above scenarios.

Watch out, this may surprise you.

If you were to play three pots as described above and risk 1000 chips for each one, and do this exercise 100 times, here’s what would happen:

18% of the time you’d win 3,000 chips total.

42% of the time you’d win 1,000 chips total.

32% of the time you’d lose 1,000 chips total.

8% of the time you’d lose 3,000 chips total.

Your “net average” would be to PROFIT 400 CHIPS.

OK… that’s the “normal” approach.

Now let’s look at the WARREN BUFFETT approach.

Let’s say you entered just ONE pot and risked 3000 chips (instead of 1000) with 70% odds in your favor.

Now watch what happens:

70% of the time you’d win 3,000 chips total.

30% of the time you’d lose 3,000 chips total.

Your “net average” would be to PROFIT 1200 CHIPS.

That’s TRIPLE the results over time!

The key is to get BETTER ODDS and RISK MORE.

I better interject here that I do NOT recommend being one of those players who just sits back, waits for the “nuts”, and then goes all-in.

Not even close.

In fact, if you’ve read my newsletters you know that I’m a very aggressive player who loves to push action.

The KEY is that I BUILD THIS IMAGE through techniques based on feeler bets, positioning, and sensing weakness.

AND WHEN THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY COMES ALONG, I RISK AS MANY CHIPS AS I CAN!

I know that when the odds are heavily in my favor, it’s time to put my eggs in one basket and go for it…

PRINCIPLE 3: THE STOCK MARKET IS NOT ALWAYS RATIONAL OR “EFFICIENT”.

There’s a popular stock market concept called, “Efficient Market Theory” (EMT).

Most of the world’s leading business schools teach this widely-accepted concept.

However…

Warren Buffett says that the EMT is a bunch of hogwash!

He’s actually gone on record saying that part of him LOVES the fact that business schools teach this theory: It makes things easier on him because his competition doesn’t know what they’re doing!

Now… I’m not going to argue whether the theory is right or wrong. It doesn’t matter for our discussion here.

What I find intriguing is what Buffett believes IS true about the stock market…

You see, the EMT basically says that the stock market is “efficient” in its pricing… and that most buy/sell behavior is “rational”.

Buffett disagrees. He is CONSTANTLY scouting for opportunities where he thinks the market is acting in an IRRATIONAL manner… and then he jumps on the chance to buy an under-priced stock.

In other words, a core part of his investment philosophy is that the stock market is NOT efficient… and that there’s always room to grow your “bankroll” when others act irrationally.

It’s the same with poker.

When you’re playing Texas Holdem, you want to spot the “sucker” at the table… the guy who is making IRRATIONAL decisions.

This doesn’t only apply to amateurs, either. Even PROS have “irrational” habits, tells, and “tilt” behavior.

Your OPPONENTS will open up millions of “profit opportunities” for you… if you just watch closely.

And that brings us to the next principle:

PRINCIPLE 4: FOCUS ON THE VALUE OF THE BUSINESS, NOT THE PRICE OF THE STOCK.

This one has almost a direct translation to poker:

FOCUS ON THE PLAYERS, NOT THE CARDS.

You’re not playing poker against the house… you’re playing against your opponents.

With the stock market, everyone is always looking at the PRICE of a stock to determine if it’s worth buying or selling.

Buffett actually doesn’t even look at the price until LAST. What he looks at is the VALUE OF THE BUSINESS.

He only invests in top-notch businesses that meet specific conditions. He wants a business with strong growth prospects LONG TERM, good management, and stable numbers.

Once he finds a business that meets these criteria, THEN he looks at the price.

When the cards come out, what’s the first thing you’re thinking about? What are you looking at?

You should be thinking about your OPPONENTS… the POSITIONING at the table… the BETTING HABITS you’ve picked up in the last few hands… and your opponents’ FACES as they look at their cards.

THEN when the action comes to you and it’s YOUR TURN, you should peek to see what you’re holding.

Opponents first, cards second.

PRINCIPLE 5: DEMAND A MARGIN OF SAFETY FOR EVERY PURCHASE.

Warren Buffett is actually a very “conservative” investor, as are most poker professionals. He’ll only buy stocks that he feels are practically “guaranteed” to go up.

You should demand a “margin of safety” on every hand you play. This is actually much easier than it sounds.

Some of your tactics should include:

* Avoiding heads-up situations with players who have more chips, and instead favoring those with fewer chips. (That way if you go all-in and lose, you can still be in the game.)

* Buying pots and bluffing when you have good positioning. (That way you can get a read on your opponent and escape if things go bad.)

* Only “chasing” draws when the pot odds are CONSIDERABLY in your favor. (That way you end up way ahead over time.)

* And so on.

*** PLAY POKER LIKE WARREN BUFFETT ***

Perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT lesson I’ve learned from Warren Buffett is to NEVER FEAR doing the “unpopular” thing.

His career PROVES that “going against the grain” is often the BEST choice.

He doesn’t live by what others do… he operates on GUIDING PRINCIPLES that “win” over time.

Whether it’s ways to leverage table positioning, tactics for defeating common opponent styles, techniques for “stealing the button”, or figuring out the right times to bluff…

…You’ve got to first learn the POKER PRINCIPLES. And then you need the GUTS to stick to them.

So where do you learn these principles?

The best place to start is by joining my free Poker Tips email newsletter. It’s jam-packed with Texas Holem tactics and secrets that you can INSTANTLY use to increase your winnings.

Join now, and your first issue will include this free report:

“Avoid These Costly Mistakes When Playing Texas Holdem”

Inside you’ll learn the 10 most dangerous mistakes most poker players make… and HOW YOU CAN AVOID THEM.

Just go here now to get started:

RoyRounder.com

Talk to you soon. Your New Friend,

Roy Rounder

by Elizabeth Tudor.

Sometimes in poker, you have a great hand. Sometimes you don’t. But not having the best hand does not automatically make you a loser. If you are able to convince other players that your hand is better than it really is, you may be able to bluff your way to victory. If you can master the art of bluffing, you will have a valuable tool that can help you increase your winnings. Here are some pointers for bluffing successfully.

• Bluff when the board indicates that someone could “possibly” have a good hand. For example, if three cards of the same suit are on the board, someone could be holding the fourth card, giving them a flush. If you bet like you are that someone, you might convince the other players that you are. If you can do that, the other players will fold, and you will win the poker hand.

• If it is apparent that another player is looking for a reason to fold, put down a bet that is large enough to give them the reason they are looking for.

• Pay attention to the betting habits of other players. A novice player may bluff too often. An experienced player may be tougher to figure out, but that is the player that really needs to be watched closely.

• Wait before you bluff. If players ahead of you are folding, checking or calling, you have a better idea of what hands they may have then if you attempt to bluff early.

• Don’t bluff loose tables unless all of the loose players have already folded. In general, though, loose players tend to play more hands and stay with weaker hands. Bluffing works best at tight tables where players are more likely to fold.

• Use caution when bluffing if you are playing with weak or inexperienced players. These players may not pay attention to your bluff and won’t notice that you are acting like you have a strong hand. They may stay in simply because they don’t notice what you are doing.

• It is much less likely that someone will call your bluff if the table’s limits are high. At low limit tables, there is not much of an advantage to bluffing since it is highly likely that someone will take a chance and call your bluff.

• Use common bluffing scenarios to your advantage but be careful that the stronger players at the table do not notice and turn things against you. For example, suppose it is the late position pre-flop and two players follow you. Your hand does not seem good but everyone else has folded so far. If you bluff here, the remaining two players are likely to think you have a good hand.

• Don’t bluff too often. Other players who are paying attention to you won’t continue to fall for it. Of course, if you have a good hand right after bluffing successfully, you have an advantage because other players may think you are bluffing again when you’re not.

• Don’t bet with a pattern. Other players will figure it out if they are paying attention. Find a strategy that will keep other players guessing.

In order to be a good poker player, you need to be skilled at bluffing. This will take some practice, trial and error since bluffing is an art, not a science. By varying your approach, you can make it most effective. Once you have mastered the art of bluffing, you will have a winning edge that can lead to big profits.

Elizabeth Tudor is a mature and experienced poker gambler. Currently she works as a gambling consultant and an article writer for www.pokerlogic.org site, helping other players to make their gambling experience more pleasant and productive.

>“#$%(&%#(&$)@&!!!”, I said for what seemed like the 10th time. Yes, I just got sucked out again on the river by a 2-outer and have now lost my last four sit-and-go tournaments in the same way. The donkey across the table has pulled one of the two or three cards in the deck that they needed to beat me after the flop. Those are known as bad beats, and as any player who plays regularly can tell you it seems to happen all the time.

Bad beats happen to the best poker players, the worst poker players, and everyone in between. There really isn’t a definition of what a bad beat is, but I would say it’s any time that you have your money in the pot and have at least a 75 percent chance of winning the hand. There are plenty of times where you have a 50/50, 55/45 or 60/40 chance of winning and you lose, but those aren’t really bad beats. They’re just part of the game. The times when you are in a “race” with someone, meaning one of you has a pocket pair and the other has two cards larger than your pair, are really not much more than a 50-55 percent chance for the person holding the pair to win. Also, a situation similar to this, where you have one overcard and your opponent has two cards higher than your kicker, you are only a 60 percent favorite to win.

The bad beats I’m talking about are the ones where you dominate your opponent, either with a higher pocket pair than his, a pair with a higher kicker or some other situation where he is a huge underdog once all the money goes in. Those are the ones that make you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut when you lose, and your reaction to these bad beats can make or break you as a poker player.

There is actually some good news in a continued string of bad beats. Bad beats happen to good players more often than they do to bad ones because the good players realize they have the best of it and get all their money in with the best hand more often. While a long run of beats will hurt your bottom line, you can take solace in the fact that you are playing solid poker. In the long run, getting your money in with the best hand a large percentage of the time is going to make you a ton of money. It’s hard to remember that sometimes when you’ve just been rivered, but if you can control your emotions and not go on tilt, you’ll be much better off. The key is just to tell yourself you made the right play and get on with it.

One way to lessen the effect of a bad beat in a tournament is to try to stay away from going all-in as much as possible. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve suffered a stomach punch but still had enough chips to come back and do well. In fact, just the other day I was down to $40 in chips in a sit-and-go and came back to win. The saying “a chip and a chair” really does apply, so while you do want to maximize your profits when you have the best of it, you also want to try to insure that you don’t get yourself knocked out of a tournament if the fish catches what he’s looking for. You can be aggressive without over-betting.

As I said, bad beats happen to everyone who sits down at the table, but if you can remember that they are part of the game, don’t go on tilt when they do happen, leave yourself some wiggle room, and know that you are actually playing very well, you can live to fight another day.

By Chris Goudey
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

When is a great opening poker hand a bad hand? The answer is pretty simple. A great opening poker hand is a bad hand when you play it poorly, and I recently saw a shining example of that.

A couple of weeks ago I was in the poker room at Binion’s, playing on a $3-$6 limit Texas Hold’em table with the framed pictures of the previous World Series of Poker main events on the wall to the left of me. It really is an incredible place, and if you ever get the chance I highly recommend playing there. The casino doesn’t host the tournament anymore, but it has the pictures of all the winners when it did, and it is nice to see that piece of history.

I was watching the eight other players until the blind got around to me. You have the option when you sit down of posting the big blind right away and playing immediately or waiting until it comes to you. I was four hands away from the big blind, so I decided to watch the action.

A lot of players want to start playing right away and there probably isn’t anything wrong with that, but I prefer to watch some hands and get a feel for the table before putting out any chips.

On the second hand I saw the guy with the button check his bet after three of the six previous players called the blind. The small blind called and the big blind raised. The other players who had previously called called again, except for the small blind who folded.

The flop came 5d, 8h, 6h. The players all checked to the button, who bet $3. The big blind called, and one of the three players folded.

The turn was a 10c. Again the players checked to the button, and he bet $6. The big blind raised another $6. That chased out the remaining two players and left only the button, who called the raise.

The flop was a Qs. The action was on the big blind, and he bet $6. The button called and turned over a pair of aces. The big blind flipped up a 4h and 7c for a straight and took the pot.

It was hard for me to believe what I saw. I couldn’t believe the button had played that hand so poorly.

His first mistake was not raising on the opening bet. What two cards are better than a pair of aces? If you have the best hand, for God sakes, bet it. I would have probably raised on everything from a pair of 10s on up. I might not have the best hand with a pair of 10s, but chances are I am going to know where I stand with them. If someone comes over the top and re-raises me, I know that they have a pair as well. The possibility is there for someone with a better pair to check and try and slow play them, but I am getting to see a flop and maybe make a set.

And this knucklehead was on the button! If ever there was a perfect situation to raise, it would be then. But by being too timid, he let the big blind see the flop for free. If he had raised the blind, unless he was playing with an equally poor player, the big blind would have folded. One or two of the other three players might have stuck around to see the flop, but when it came up 5d, 8h, 6h, it probably couldn’t have helped their hands and they would have folded.

But with the big blind flopping a straight, he is sitting with two worthless aces. It could have been a real disaster if he had gotten an ace on the turn. Now he is thinking that he has a superior hand and could have lost a lot of money.

Aggression in poker is key, and the big blind proved that by raising on the opening round with a worthless 4-7 off-suit. The big blind was as timid as a guy with 7-2 off-suit, and he got burned for it.

He busted out shortly thereafter, which wasn’t a surprise. I just wondered if he learned anything from the experience.

By John Reger
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

In addition to my fantasy sports career (see my page on Inspin.com’s Fantasy section), I also make my living playing small-to-medium stakes poker on several different sites (including Inspinpoker.com). I am a winning player overall, and I will share some weekly tips with you that help put some food on my table and some extra zeroes in my account.

The two types of poker I play are No Limit and Limit Hold’Em, both cash games and tournaments. I’ve been playing for about four years, and to me the most important thing to remember when trying to be a successful poker player is to stay within your bankroll limits. It doesn’t matter if you play $2-$4 Limit or $100-$200 No Limit, if you don’t have the funds to enter the game, you can’t win.

Poker has great variance, and your bankroll must be able to sustain a prolonged streak of losing. Even the best players will have bad runs lasting months, and in some cases years. When you make a big score in a tournament or have a good night in a cash game, keep that money aside and save it for when you need it. Don’t go out and blow it all at the blackjack or craps tables. If you must play other table games, then have a separate bankroll for that, but don’t use your poker money for anything but poker.

The beauty of playing online poker is how quickly you can win money compared to sitting in a home game or at the casino. You see probably 3-4 times as many hands online as you would playing live, so on a good night you might make a ton of money. The flip side, of course, is you might lose your whole roll in one night, and trust me those are bad times. I speak from experience, as I’ve had to rebuild my bankroll several times (fortunately it hasn’t happened in a long time). Truly successful players, and by that I mean people who are playing poker to make money (as opposed to those just there for the social aspect of the game) will put their winnings in their bankroll and not take it elsewhere. Obviously at some point you’ll want to take some out to pay bills or whatever you are playing for, but the key is to keep your bankroll at a nice, consistent number.

Other experts have recommended you have 300 times the max bet at whatever level you’re playing at as a basic bankroll. This is for Limit poker and tournament play. No Limit cash games are a different ball game, and I’ll discuss those in future columns. If you are playing $20+2 Sit and Go tournaments, you would want to have a bankroll of at least $660. If you are playing $2-$4 limit, for example, you’d want to have a $2,400 bankroll, the max bet being $8 in the final two rounds of betting in a $2-$4 game. I would advocate having even more than that, because with the speed of the game online, you can run through 300 bets pretty quickly if you’re not careful.

My personal bankroll is always going to be 500 times the max bet, so if I were playing $2-$4 limit, I’d be holding $4,000 in my account, or if I were playing $20+2 Sit and Go’s, I’d have $1,100. Once I win at least that amount, then I put half of it in my bank and use the other half to move up a level in play. For instance, if I won $4,000 playing $2-$4, I would stick $2,000 in my bank account and take the $6,000 still in my account and move up to play $3-$6 limit. If I lost $2,000 (taking my account back down to $4,000), I’d move back down to $2-$4 until I was back at that 500 max bet number to move up.

Obviously not everyone is going to have $4,000 or even $1,000 to use as a bankroll. I have friends who have played $2-$4 with $100 in their account and blown it in about 15-20 minutes, and then they wonder why they can’t win. It is much easier to play poker if you have the comfort of knowing that one losing session is not going to cost you your whole bankroll. You have to look at it like a long-term investment.

Future columns will discuss specific strategies in Limit and No Limit, but for now just know that in order to be a winning player, you have to feel comfortable at the table. The easiest way to do that is to know that you can afford to lose, and a well-managed bankroll can give you that.

By Chris Goudey
Inspin.com contributing writer