Poker News

Jennifer Matiran

A few errors in judgment repeated consistently can cost you a lot of money playing poker. There are many important aspects to a live money ten person game, position, limits, betting, calling and raising BUT there are two others in my opinion that are the most important. My father who has been consistently playing profitable poker all his life shared two key ingredients that are imperative to playing winning poker over a period of time.

The first is the two hole cards one chooses to play. Blinds excluded, the person who plays ANY Ace for example, not considering his or her kicker, will inevitably be a loser over a period of time. For instance, an Ace, Four off-suit, should not even be played to begin with, perhaps Ace, Four suited (if pot hasn’t been raised) could be played. An Ace, Four off-suit, at times, may win but the chances are slim, more often it will be beat with a better kicker. So playing “any” Ace over a period of time will cost a whole bunch of chips. Always play strong cards which are even stronger when they are together.

Secondly, always remember this “FLOP IT OR MUCK IT.” It’s that simple. I start with a King, Queen for example, beautiful King, Queen, it usually will mean nothing if the flop’s 2, 3, 4, rainbow, muck it! This concept will save a player so much money in the long run. I start with two nines, if the flop comes Ace, Queen, 8 and someone bets the nines usually will mean nothing. Muck it! “Players want to get married to their cards” my Dad always says “and that’s what separates the winners from the losers.” He says “folding is not like quitting, folding when appropriate is what separates thepros from the amateurs.” “FLOP IT OR MUCK IT!”

Remember, the best players in the world usually play from twenty-thirty percent of the cards that are dealt them. Failure happens over a period of time in poker and in life. One does not become 600 lbs. in one day, one does not despise their spouse in one day, one does not burn their car engine in one day, one does not become an alcoholic after one drink, I could go on for days, but you get my point. A wise man said something like this “Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. We do not fail overnight. Failure is the inevitable result of an accumulation of poor thinking and poor choices. To put it more simply, failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day. Now why would someone make an error in judgment and then be so foolish as to repeat it every day? The answer is because he or she does not think that it matters.

On their own, our daily acts do not seem that important. A minor oversight, a poor decision, or a wasted hour generally doesn’t result in an instant and measurable impact. More often than not, we escape from any immediate consequences of our deeds. Those who eat too many of the wrong foods are contributing to a future health problem, but the joy of the moment overshadows the consequence of the future. It does not seem to matter. Those who smoke too much or drink too much go on making these poor choices year after year after year… because it doesn’t seem to matter. But the pain and regret of these errors in judgment have only been delayed for a future time. Consequences are seldom instant; instead, they accumulate until the inevitable day of reckoning finally arrives and the price must be paid for our poor choices - choices that didn’t seem to matter.”

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