Once again, i'm talking about online tournaments here as they are my favourite way to play.
As mentioned in the Poker Strategy choosing the right starting hands to play is essential if you are to make money in the long term.
A lot of people make the mistake of playing any suited cards. This is a big mistake. The probability of flopping a Flush or a Flush Draw is just under 12%, this is not gonna get ya anywhere in the long run. Also chasing a Flush is gonna damage your chip stack no end.
For instance if you get dealt 7d 4d and you get two more Diamonds on the flop(which will happen only once every eight times). You have your draw but somebody else is after hitting top pair and is betting big, you have a less than 40% chance of hitting that Flush and your opponent is betting the pot. Inexperienced players will call this bet time after time because of the thrill of the Flush. But more often than not you are not gonna hit it. All your gonna have is a lot less chips.
My point is that even if you do get your Flush Draw, a lot of the time it is gonna cost you a lot of chips to see the next couple of cards and even then the majority of the time you aren't gonna hit it. Chasing a Flush is a sure fire way to shorten your stack, that also goes for chasing straights. It is not a good strategy to be chasing anything, play the better starting hands and you won't need to chase.
Another point I wanna make is that a lot of people watch Poker on TV. This can be very mis-leading for inexperienced players. You must remember that what you see is highly edited, 5 or more hours of play cut down to an hour of TV. You see all the amazing hands but you don't see the hand after hand of nothing happening.
Hopefully this will help you understand that the fundamental tool of any Poker player is calculating odds and using them to make your decisions. There is a lot more to it but the main skill in poker is knowing the mathematics of the game. It is not down to luck whatsoever. You can be lucky in certain hands but not over a sustained period of time. It is impossible to make money from poker long term without adhering to the mathematical principles of the game.
Good luck at the tables !
If you are just starting out try one of these sites that offer sign-up bonuses.
As mentioned in the Poker Strategy choosing the right starting hands to play is essential if you are to make money in the long term.
A lot of people make the mistake of playing any suited cards. This is a big mistake. The probability of flopping a Flush or a Flush Draw is just under 12%, this is not gonna get ya anywhere in the long run. Also chasing a Flush is gonna damage your chip stack no end.
For instance if you get dealt 7d 4d and you get two more Diamonds on the flop(which will happen only once every eight times). You have your draw but somebody else is after hitting top pair and is betting big, you have a less than 40% chance of hitting that Flush and your opponent is betting the pot. Inexperienced players will call this bet time after time because of the thrill of the Flush. But more often than not you are not gonna hit it. All your gonna have is a lot less chips.
My point is that even if you do get your Flush Draw, a lot of the time it is gonna cost you a lot of chips to see the next couple of cards and even then the majority of the time you aren't gonna hit it. Chasing a Flush is a sure fire way to shorten your stack, that also goes for chasing straights. It is not a good strategy to be chasing anything, play the better starting hands and you won't need to chase.
Another point I wanna make is that a lot of people watch Poker on TV. This can be very mis-leading for inexperienced players. You must remember that what you see is highly edited, 5 or more hours of play cut down to an hour of TV. You see all the amazing hands but you don't see the hand after hand of nothing happening.
Hopefully this will help you understand that the fundamental tool of any Poker player is calculating odds and using them to make your decisions. There is a lot more to it but the main skill in poker is knowing the mathematics of the game. It is not down to luck whatsoever. You can be lucky in certain hands but not over a sustained period of time. It is impossible to make money from poker long term without adhering to the mathematical principles of the game.
Good luck at the tables !
If you are just starting out try one of these sites that offer sign-up bonuses.