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Part I: Being Prepared to Win
"Every battle is won
or lost before its ever fought"-Sun Tzu, the Art of War
Like the old saying goes,
"Many people come to Vegas to lose." Before you start playing
Texas Hold Em the first question that you should ask yourself is:
"When I start playing, do I want to win or do I want to lose my
money?" This is a serious question. I'm guessing that if you
asked most active players this question outright their answer would
be, "I want to win." So then why do less than 10% of the players
leave with 80% of the money in online play? Some of it, I
would say, in certain cases, has to do with a lot of natural talent
or a specific type of intelligence which is tuned into the
game-those are your superstar players. But what about that larger
group of winning players with no extraordinary talent, who make a
very nice living for themselves winning consistently at Texas Hold Em? What is the difference between them and the larger majority of
losing players?
The answer is simple: The players who win
consistently have a clear understanding and mastery of all the basic
aspects of winning play. Just knowing how to play, having good
in game skills and strategy is not enough. Those things are
very important, obviously, but its not the whole ball of wax, and
winning players know this. Many of the losers know this also,
but for whatever reason they are not able to master their own
negative behaviors enough to turn a profit.
So intelligence,
instinct, skills, and overall ability are one thing, and make up
maybe 60% of what you need to win, and being able to deal in a
positive mental and emotional way (self-mastery) in all the various
in-game and out of game situations make up the other 40%. In
short, even if you've had a horrible string of bad beats, and you
feel frustrated to the Nth degree, you've still got to play the way
that you know is right, and make all the rest of the correct
decisions that you know are right for your bankroll. Many
players who experience a run of bad luck tend to start not caring
about the rest of the money that they still have left. Winning
players have learned to overcome this problem.
Therefore in
terms of your own preparedness, you just need to be aware that the
game of Texas Hold Em will test you in this way. The good news
is that you are not alone in this. Every player has to learn
to pass this test eventually, unless they are committed to losing
their money.
I'm spending a good deal of time on this first
lesson about being prepared to win, because it is absolutely
essential. You should be aware of those challenges which I
have just discussed, which arise from within yourself, but the other
part of being prepared to win simply has to do with seeing poker for
what it is, and to be OK with that. So what is poker?
As Matt Damon correctly said in the movie Rounders, "Its a War."
Poker is cruel, that's its nature. Its a game of skill, luck,
and psychology, where every player is trying to beat every other
player out of their money. You can be a gentleman, or lady
while you play, you can be a nice guy, nevertheless war will remain
at the heart of it. The house take's it cut from the rake, the
winners walk away winners, and the losers walk away losers.
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