Poker is an immensely entertaining psychological card game which does something much more than just entertaining players. It teaches meaningful lessons which are very beneficial in day-to-day life, like- how to prioritize things as well as how to find the most logical solution to a problem. You can learn through poker how to find the best ways to deal with unexpected situations and setbacks.

Here are some valuable lessons you can learn from poker which can bring more clarity and vision in your life:

You can’t always get what you want
The lyrics of this popular song of The Rolling Stones put emphasis on the fact that there are many things in this world that you cannot control. You can learn from live poker how to move ahead even if things not work out the way you expected them to be.

Never stop learning
“I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.”- Walter Cronkite
Trying and exploring new things keeps the excitement and thrill alive in life. In poker, you need to consistently develop your skills to stay on top in the game. The same applies in life where a person needs to improve his skills and knowledge to achieve new milestones in his job, business, or social life.

Learn when to Quit
A good player knows the right time and situation when he should leave the game table. Sometimes you need to quit mid-game if you are doubtful about your possibilities of winning, to save your maximum stakes. In life, sometimes you have to take a step back to give yourself time for self-evaluation and return with better preparation.

Never take your defeat by heart
It is important to understand the importance of persistence. No matter how many times you lose, never let the defeat badly affect your natural game. Never get panic or let your opponents take advantage of your frustrated state of mind.

Learn the rules to give your best
Learning the rules is a time-taking process but is the most crucial part of the game if you want to play best of your abilities. As per Albert Einstein, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else”. In life, you should never underestimate the importance of learning and practice if you want to develop a particular skill.

Keep finances in check
Financial discipline is necessary for a poker player. Downswings are a part of the game so a player needs to prepare himself financially to deal with that. Similarly, In life, it is important to find out the correct balance between your expenses and your earnings.

Taking risk is a skill
Things cannot happen on their own and you cannot wait for a long time to get involved in the game. A player must know the right time to push himself and take bold decisions on the game table. We all have to move out from our comfort zone and take risks in our life to choose the best from available alternatives. If you want to achieve something great in life, keep your hesitation aside and start taking challenges.

Play your own game
Never copy anyone in poker or in life. The best way to improve your chances of winning is to develop your own style of playing. Create your own strategies and improve them with experience.

Mistakes are a part of the game
If you make a mistake in poker, you need to look for the problem and find out a better solution to fix that. Even in life, mistakes help you improve yourself and become wiser and a better person.

Don’t be repetitive
In poker, if you repeat your strategies in every game you play, your opponents will read your playing pattern and create a game plan against you. Similarly in life, if you keep doing the same things over and over, you will soon start losing your edge. Be innovative and start learning something new every day.

Poker is not just about entertainment or a way to earn money. It is also an opportunity to take a break from your daily routine life for some time and do something which you are really passionate about.

Why you play poker? No doubt, every poker player must have faced this question at some point in his life. For some players, playing poker is just a hobby. Some consider the game as an opportunity to earn money, and some players love the game just because of the thrill and adrenaline-rush involved in it. Traveling to exotic locations, compete against the best players from all over the world, and the massively large stakes on the table turn the game into a thrill-filled adventure for them.

Playing poker is very simple nowadays due to easy accessibility of online poker sites. You can play poker at your computers, smartphones and tablets by comfortably sitting at the convenience of your home or office anytime and anywhere. Still players who are playing for years choose playing live over online playing.

Some of the reasons to prefer live poker rooms than online playing are as follows:

Understand the opponent

For some players, poker is all about getting face-to-face with the opponent to deduce his cards by reading body language and reactions. Understanding opponent’s psychology is must to determine the winning potential and possible outcome of the game. You can analyze players’ behavior even in an online game by observing their playing pattern or researching about their history, but you cannot see their expressions of frustration or excitement when they are dealt with cards. Without that, it is difficult for some players to predict what cards other players are holding or call their bluff, which makes them unable to decide their next move or modify their game-play. You cannot make eye contact online to intimidate or unnerve your opponent to lead him to make mistakes or read the “tilt” when they get bad beats.

Fame and recognition

Like any other popular sport, winners of high stake live international tournaments are considered as “celebrities” in poker world. Along with great amount of money, these players earn recognition as champions i.e. WSOP winners get bracelet with a hefty prize pool. Tournaments like WSOP and WPT are internationally celebrated poker events where players from around the world come to participate. By defeating highly skilled players in a high stake live tournament, the winners gain the attention and great reputation in poker circuit. Players like Abhishek Goindi, Aditya Agarwal, Nipun Java, Aditya Sushant, etc are some of the well respected names in poker industry who participated and won in many national and international live poker tournaments. Online players are mostly anonymous and only recognized by their account’s name on the websites.

Socializing

Poker is an international sport and playing in live rooms provides the opportunity to meet several like-minded people from across the globe who share your passion and dedication for the game. You can interact with them, get information about trends and updates of the game, and discuss about a well played hand and bad beats. Sometimes bonding on a poker table leads to a lifelong friendship among players. Online poker also allows you to interact with other players but only through chat box.

Disciplined game play

Although offline poker playing costs lots of time and expenses, still seasoned players like to play in the standard playing environment of a live poker room. Playing at home or office with several distractions i.e. noises from TV or music, interruption from family members or friends, electricity or internet errors, spoil the fun and excitement of the game. Some players believes that the essence of poker is in its slow and steady pace, live interaction with dealer and players, appropriate dress code, and in the touch of real cards and chips. They require lively gaming atmosphere to play their natural game.

By now, we all know that poker is game of skill. It requires analytical skills along with thorough understanding of poker rules. But there is one more significant factor which one needs to know to ace this game which players often ignore. If you watch live poker videos and study poker players, you may have noticed that poker pros use psychological traps to defeat the opponents and win the game. Avoiding psychological traps in the poker game is key component of the winning strategy. The biggest mistake one can make on a poker table is ignoring the mental game.

We have listed few common mental game leaks which have ruined score of many poker players regardless of their skills. Some of these psychological traps are easier to fix and some are hard but of course, just being aware of these can at least lead you to the road of dealing with it.

If you want to save your game on the table and ace it, then do not fall for below mentioned Psychological factors-

Avoiding the tilt- Tilt is a term in offline poker. It is a state of mental, emotional confusion, or frustration in which a poker player adopts a less than optimal strategy and which generally proceeds for the player becoming over-aggressive. One possible origin of the word “tilt” is as a reference to tilting a pinball machine.

Tilt is something poker players think about when it comes to mental game. Tilt is anything which takes you off from your game. It could be anything a situation, a thought, or an emotional reaction. You need to avoid tilt and concentrate on you game to ace it.

Procrastinating – This is the part of human condition and every one does it at least some times, the main culprit: not studying and not getting enough volume.

Our advice is play as much games as you can and keep studying.

Fearing Failure- Fearing Failure is the biggest enemy of a poker player, Sometimes not the opponent but we self-sabotage our game because we are afraid to make mistakes and look silly on the poker table and lose money. Some players refuse to bet or raise move up and make mistake of playing tight at final table for this reason. So be conscious but don’t be over conscious, play your game without fear.

Fearing Success- Success is very tempting and it seems like a great thing, but this success can be very tricky. It can be a double edge sword. Some poker players are concerned that successes will breed more responsibility and they might question their ability to continue winning.

Lacking Focus- One of the biggest barriers to poker successes is lack of focus in your game. You being distracted while you are playing can cost you fortunes. Avoid any distraction and take breaks will help you win your game.

Getting Bullied- Sometime players might feel on the game table that they are being targeted or bullied especially if player is new to the game, Pros can bully to them, it’s very important to do not take it personally and concentrate on your game.

No Confidence – Lacking confidence can make you lose the winning game, if player is not confident in his game then it will reflect in his game and opponent will definitely take advantage of it, and one can lose his game. The best way to feel confident on the table is to have confidence in your play, which come from actively playing and learning about the game.

Take a note of above points and work on your game so when you play next time on the table, nothing can take away your win from you.

♠ No-limit Texas Hold’em is the form of poker which is very popular all over the world. No-limit allows the player to play with big stacks and bet any amount of chips at any time. But there are two other forms of betting structure available which may sound different but are equally convenient to play for those who are well-versed with no-limit. There is fixed limit Hold’em where betting amount is predefined and limited. You cannot decided on your own the amount you want to bet. The other betting variation which come in between no limit and fixed limit Hold’em is Pot limit . To the poker players who are looking for limited bets along with some subtle game play, pot-limit is really a great way to earn good money.

♠ Pot limit can be defined as a betting format where players cannot raise more than the total pot size. Pot cannot be increased more than the current size of pot by raise or re-raise. In offline play, dealer’s role is much important here as he informs the players about the total pot size and the maximum pot raise that can be made. He keeps tracks of pot limit and checks for any offends made by any player i.e. raising more amount than the maximum limit. Any player can raise the pot on his turn by declaring “raise pot”. When you raise, the pot is calculated by considering you already called.
It is important to have knowledge of some mathematical concepts to play pot limit. As pot needs to be limited, you must learn to calculate odds to ensure maximum profits. Poker players usually make mistake of not putting attention on the pot odds, but in reality the odds determines the probability of winning the pot.

♠ Size of pot-The amount to raise or re-raise the pot depends on the maximum bet you can make. If you have a strong hand, your goal should be to maximize the pot by making small bets. Let your opponent be the one to raise the pot by making big bets. The size of bet will increase with the size of pot.

♠ How to play-The rules to play Texas Hold’em is similar in all formats. Players will be dealt with 2 hole cards and they need to form best 5 cards with the use of community cards on the table. They can check, raise, or fold on their turn of betting. In pot limit Texas Hold’em, betting amount completely depends on the size of the pot. i.e. on a table of 5/10, if after flop round the pot is of 15 and you are the first to act, you can bet either the minimum (big blind amount) or maximum up to the pot limit (15). If you are the second one to act and the player before you bets 10, you can call 10 (the amount of the last bet), fold, or raise. If you want to raise, your minimum raise would be 10 (previous bet). For maximum raise, you need to calculate the size of pot = starting pot + previous bet + your call (15+ 10+10 = 35). In addition to that, I call 10 so the bet would be 45.

♠ Pot odds play a major role in No-limit Texas Hold’em so the beginners should learn about the calculation methods and determine their move accordingly to win and make maximum profits.