Poker is a game of skill, unlike most other casino games which are based on luck. Anyone who claims different obviously doesn’t have as much experience with the game as they would like you to think. Yes, luck does play a role, but even the best hands can get completely wasted if a player doesn’t have the skills needed.
However, the great thing about poker is that even if it takes some work to master the game, you will thoroughly enjoy every minute of the journey. Because while challenging, poker can also be the most fun you can have. Whether you’re playing with friends, in your local casino or online at playamo.
Just remember to avoid making the following common mistakes that many beginners succumb to.
Playing All Your Hands
New players tend to get overzealous about participation and end up playing every hand they get. You might feel impatient to get into the groove of the game or like you are missing out big time if you don’t participate in every single hand.
This can lead you to spending way too much in blinds and not being able to follow through every single round. Which in itself could drain you of your chips in no time.
A much better strategy would be to be more discerning about which hands you play. For instance, any face card or matching suits or numbers, even low ones, are a great standard to have for which hands you play.
Unless the blinds are very low or you’re just playing free games for fun. In which case, you have no reason to be tight about which hands you play.
Chasing Your Hand Potential Too Far
Now players love to stay in the round in hopes that the cards they need will come up. They feel like the moment they fold, the card they need will appear and they’ll immediately regret the decision.
Usually by the flop if you don’t have something, it’s probably a good idea to let the hand go. Especially if others are betting and it could cost you too much to see the next cards.
Playing with Too Much Emotion
Playing too emotionally can mean illogical attachment to certain hands, or feuding with another playing which clouds your judgement. This weakens you and allows you to make far too many mistakes in the game. For instance, you might call bets when you have nothing or take your bluffing way too far and end up losing everything.
The best way to play is with cool detachment. This allows you to keep your cool, as well as makes bluffing your way out of a situation easier.
Bluffing All the Time
New players always believe that bluffing a lot is part of the game. However, the best players only bluff once in a while. The trick is to remain unpredictable at all times. You never want other players to be able to assume what you’re doing because you do it all the time.
You want to have the ability to bluff, and for other players to know that you can bluff. However, they must never be able to predict what you’re up to.
