Poker: How To Improve Your Game
- Filed under: Poker
- Date: Jan 29,2010
If you wish to improve your game, ditch the arrogance and ego involvement, and don’t depend on the constant repetition of a few rules you learned to get you safely by. The basic step to improvement is to recognize the need for it. Introspection is at the core of every good player as much as technique, luck or insight into their opponents’ minds. Perfectionism is not the answer. The answer lies in the ability to be self-critical and correctly and precisely define your strengths and weaknesses.
Besides bad amateurs and those playing by a fixed set of simple rules, there are those players who discover they actually have a talent, but who do not then try to improve much in any direction. These are rather lazy and uninspired players who prefer to hope that they will eventually knock their opponents out cold every time with one or two great moves.
Hardly anyone excels in every aspect of a complicated process, but to depend on just a few skills is perilous and likely to bring you down over time. Your weaknesses must be acknowledged and tended to. You are not alone at the table and not the only player with insight. Your opponents will discover that you do a few things well and often, and can bypass your play with maneuvers of their own. In the end, they will consistently apply these tactics, and take you by surprise. Why? Because they have taken the time and effort to improve all their poker skills and have the confidence to make a number of creative moves.
No boxer ever boxed with just one hand. Hone your best qualities, but do keep sharpening as many of the other required abilities as you can. The next step towards progressive improvement after you recognize your weaknesses is to learn to do that which, as Bartleby the scrivener would say, “you would rather not to.”
The first step to enlightenment is to understand that the game isn’t worth playing if you don’t play to win. Secondly, improvement is based on acquiring the discipline to form a habit of undertaking tasks you would rather not do. This is not a mechanical exercise, you must understand why it is you are doing it, otherwise you will give up. Following a routine without knowing why and relying on only one or two skills in the hope that the stuff you don’t like will just go away, is not realistic and not playing an engaging game of poker.
Get a vision in your mind of what it would like to be a totally competent player, the rush you get when inspired, the thrill of winning, then you can decide for yourself whether this is a feeling worth pursuing or not. If the imagination to perceive this is lacking or if you do perceive it but find it not worth the battle, you need to be honest with yourself and admit that you haven’t a clue how to be successful at poker. Maybe you don’t even want to be. On the other hand if this vision inspires passion, begin the hard work it requires to see successful results. Just possibly, the energy required to force yourself to work on things you don’t want to work on will give you the confidence you have been seeking. This is rewarding all by itself.
The author of this article plays online poker and gets Rakeback at True Poker where they offer the highest True Poker Rakeback.
categories: improving at poker,poker strategy,poker,games,gambling,recreation,sport
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