Four Key Poker Skills

[Elizabeth26]

Check out this article on four key skills a poker player needs to be a solid player.

#1. Math skills

? They know the general probabilities of the game. For example, they know that you have about 1 in 8.5 chance of hitting a set when holding a pocket pair, and that you have about a 1 in 3 chance of completing a flopped flush draw by the river.

? They understand the importance of outs. Outs are simply the number of cards that will improve your hand. Count your outs, multiply them by two, and add one, and that's roughly the percentage shot you have at hitting.

? They can figure out the pot odds. Knowing outs is meaningless unless it's translated into rational, calculated betting.
? Math skills are the most basic knowledge; it's day one reading. Anyone who doesn't understand these concepts should not play in a game for real-money until they do.

#2. Discipline

? Good poker players demand an advantage. What separates a winning poker player from a fish is that a fish does not expect to win, while a poker player does. A fish is happy playing craps, roulette, or the slots; he just hopes to get lucky. A poker player does not hope to get lucky. He just hopes others don't get lucky.

? Good poker players understand that a different game requires a different discipline. A disciplined no-limit player can be a foolish limit player and vice versa. For example, a disciplined limit hold'em player has solid preflop skills. When there is not much action preflop, he or she only plays the better hands. When a lot of people are limping in, he or she will make a loose call with a suited connector or other speculative hand.

? A disciplined player knows when to play and when to quit. He recognizes when he is on tilt and is aware when a game is too juicy to just quit while ahead.

? A disciplined player knows that he is not perfect. When a disciplined player makes a mistake, he learns. He does not blame others. He does not cry. He learns from the mistake and moves on.

#3. Psychological Skills

? A good player is not a self-centered player. He may be the biggest SOB you know. He may not care about anyone but himself, and he may enjoy stealing food from the poor. However, when a poker pro walks into a poker room, he always empathizes with his opponents. He tries to think what they think and understand the decisions they make and why they make them. The poker pro always tries to have an answer to these questions:

1. What does my opponent have?
2. What does my opponent think I have?
3. What does my opponent think I think he has?

? Knowing the answer to these questions is the first step, manipulating the answers is the second and more important step. If you have a pair of kings and your opponent has a pair of aces, and you both know what each other have and both know that you each know what the other has, why play a game of poker? A poker pro manipulates the latter two answers by slowplaying, fastplaying, and bluffing in order to throw his opponent off.

? Good poker players know that psychology is much more important in a no-limit game than in a limit one. Limit games often turn into math battles, while no-limit games carry a strong psychology component. Thus, poker tells are much more important in no-limit games than limit games.

#4. A Clear Understanding of Risk vs. Reward

? Pot odds and demanding an advantage fall into this category. Poker players are willing to take a long-shot risk if the reward is high enough, but only if the expected return is higher than the risk.

? More importantly, they understand the risk-vs.-reward nature of the game outside of the actual poker room. They know how much bank they need to play, and how much money they need in reserve to cover other expenses in life.

? Good poker players understand they need to be more risk-averse with their overall bankroll than their stack at the table.

When you play in an individual game, you must value every chip equally at the table. You should only care about making correct plays. If you buy in for $10, you should be okay with taking a 52% chance of doubling up to $20 if it means a 48% chance of losing your $10.

However, you should be risk-averse with your overall bankroll. You need to have enough money so that any day at the tables will not affect your bankroll too much. If you worry too much about losing, then you will make mistakes at the table. You need to leave yourself with the chance to fight another day.

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[bterrier]

Thanks for sharing that with us.
I wonder if I can print that and bring it to the table for reference!

[Elizabeth26]

Originally Posted by bterrier Thanks for sharing that with us. I wonder if I can print that and bring it to the table for reference!

LOL, I dare you to print it and take it to the table. I know someone will have something to say.

[arnzer]

that whole psychology part of the game reminds me of a hand i played in a pretty nice pot. I was playing 2-5 NL holdem deep stacked where everyone had 1k in front of them starting the hand. We were 6 handed and I raised 75 of clubs from middle position a tight player reraises me from the cut off everyone folds to me and I'm thinking this guy has AA KK or QQ so seeing as how im pretty sure i know what he's got and there's now way he knows what I got i elect to call with my 75 and sure enough the flop comes 10s 3c 4h no help just a gut shot but I lead out for 30 bucks into a 80 pot and he instantly raises me to 100. I know now that he does have an overpair and how am i gonna play this so I can win this pot so i call and the turn card brings 5 so i hit a pair i check and he bets 270 i instant called him and river comes J for final board of 10 3 4 5 J i have 75 and i have him on big overpair so if I check i know i lose here and there is 700 in the pot we each have about 700 left in front of us. So I push allin he thinks for a long time and finally says u can beat one pair i have ACEs and im foldin so he folds. If you think about the hand the only thing he can beat is a bluff i'm not gonna just smoothe call big bets the whole way then push river with like A 10 or QQ i possibly could have JJ not likely though so he could only beat a bluff which is not likely but the psychology part is this. I knew that he knew that I knew he had Aces there fore if i push the river i have to have a hand that beats ACES there so he folded. But once again i took it to the next level and he couldnt see it obviously one of my greatest plays ever. Because I knew he was smart enough to think up to that level but not one more step above it and thats psychology friends. lol

[Fictive]

^ I dunno man. I can definetely see the pre-flop raise/call, but in my opinion your play on the flop and turn was horrible. Unless of course you had played with him enough to know he will fold an overpair by the river if you push strong. If you didn't have much knowledge of his play, then I think you didn't play the hand all that well.

[CardChick]

What a great article. I agree on all counts. It's all common sense really, but seeing it all detailed out there really makes you think. People can go on for days about poker skills, but in the end it really does come down to a few principles of common sense.

Some of the best players I know are very, very serious about the math and probabilities. Not to mention discipline (of which a subset is patience, which I continually harp on).

[Jonathank]

Arnzer
youre a self bloated idiot. 99% of the time you will get called there. Plus for all you know he had AK AQ or two random cards or 88 and was just trying to save face.
Most like;y you were bluffing with the best hand.
Trying to bluff pocket aces is not a great psychological play.
It means you need to see a good psychologist to get your head examined.

[CardChick]

Anyone else smell a troll?

[r8rpwr]

That's a great article. It wasn't till I read a book on Hold 'Em that I truly realized the importance of following the math. It's all about the odds, and you will be so much more successful if you pay attention to the odds.

I also agree on the discipline; as i have said before, this game is about patience and the good players have enough of it, and the bad players don't.

[hpplaya]

I would have smashed your hopes and dreams of bluffing me off that pot with my over pair.. and looked at you like you lost your mind which it seems like you did.... lol .... I bet your one of those Jokerstar knucklehead donks....

[freiaaron]

seems pretty standard style of play but good article well thought out seemes like you put effort into it good one