Everyone in poker makes mistakes — even professionals. However, what makes professionals stand out from other poker players is why they actually make those mistakes.
The best poker players in the world make mistakes simply because even they didn’t manage to analyze the situation at hand well. On the other hand, the majority of players make mistakes because they either allow their emotions to kick in or believe some things to be true while they aren’t.
The second one is pretty interesting — it’s a phenomenon in all luck-based games and even among games where luck plays an important factor, such as poker.
Let’s take a look at some things that many people hold to be true but are, in fact, not.
The “If You This, Then Do That” Approach
Poker is essentially a game of skill, but the element of luck is what makes things interesting. It’s that small thing that can make a complete newbie win the game against a pro. Although chances for that are quite low, they are still existant.
Therefore, sentences such as “if you call pre-flop, you need to call on the flop as well” and thousands of other “rules” that you can find on the forums, Twitter, and many poker books, are actually not 100 percent true. In fact, none of them has to be true if the luck factor is not on your side, and you fail at reading other players and assessing the hand properly.
You have to analyze each hand separately and approach it the way you think is best. Sometimes, the pieces of advice such as the one here can help with that, but you should never hold them to be the ultimate truth. Everything is possible in poker.
Short-Term Success = Long-Term Success
Poker is not like any other sport in the world. A talented basketball player would be noticed at an early age, and if they’re doing their best, they will preserve their talent throughout their career. It can be somewhat predicted that their success at a young age would be a firm basis for success in a professional sports career. However, that’s not how things work in poker.
In poker, this can mean nothing at all. If a player has great short-term success, that has little to do with his success in the future. Once again, the element of luck is there, and it’s something that needs to be taken into account.
Win Rates Don’t Fluctuate
Poker players who enjoy cash games sometimes like to make long-term predictions. Many believe that having a high win rate at one moment would also mean that they would have high win rates later. However, this is a major mistake to make, as win rates cannot be constant in the game where the element of luck plays an important role.
Therefore, never think that winning a couple of consecutive hands would mean that you would continue winning at the later stage of the game.
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