The single biggest think you need to understand about poker???

The single biggest thing you need to understand about poker???

Hi guys.

I know there are a lot of facets to poker, but here is a challenge for you all.

If you had to highlight one area and one area only within poker that u feel people need to understand or `get to grips` with what would it be?

Mine, for what its worth, is preflop allins. We all hear people scream when they go all in with AA pre flop and the guy with KQ hits his straight or flush. I would want them to understand that they are not guarenteed to win by pushing all in. At best when you go all in you will be a 10:1 fav.

So, 1 time out of 10 you will lose - accept it!!!

So, over to you guys...

I'd have to say that proper discipline and a level head are the most important. ie bankroll management, tilt control, and all that good stuff.

Without properly practicing those, you're just gambling.

Play your Position:
You can get away with alot more mistakes when you have position on someone.
You can win more pots in position when you have nothing.
You see what everyone else is doing first.
You fold winning hands more when out of position.
I could just keep going.......

Yep this is in my eyes the most important aspect of poker. You can learn all the nuts n bolts but what Chuck points out has proven true in my case.

Since I recognized the importance of tilt control and bankroll management (these go together in my eyes) my game has picked up dramatically.

Excuse me while I go run from the tilt monkey hiding in my closet...

I'll pick two - hand selection and postional play.

If one can't accept all the above, and much more, then poker ain't their game. Maybe craps would serve their purpose.

Re thinking this throughout the day my rethink is that the correct play MOST of the time is folding. Really hard lesson to learn that the best way to play the game may be to sit and watch the game being played.

When one considers the positional aspect of the game, combined with the frequency of playable hands, we are talking what here, maybe 30% of your hands are worth delving into, usually way less. Make that a range of under 40% and that leaves MOST of your hands need folding like a bad kid needs a whopping.

I learned the value of folding early online. In almost any tourney one can fold their way into the top half of the field. Bizarre, but true. In some cases, one can fold their way into the money.

Add one or two premium hands that demand play with good outcomes and ITM becomes so much easier.

Which in essence boils down to what talkpkr2me said;

"IT AIN'T FOR THE FAINT AT HEART" .........patience,patience,patience,patience...... .

Whats been said as been said by experence. I tweak my game by working on he smallest Things. This week it is poor kickers. Folding a bad kicker attached to a premium cards requires disapline and paience, Try it, cashout and buy ur loved one something special.

It depends.

Patience like dj11 said, but also, a clear head because playing angry or anxious is a sure looser.

The respond to what you say about AA pocket pairs - I would push all-in in a torny easy because if you do get any callers, there is likely to be a minute number - meaning more chance of being the successor!

The Variance! (Skill /Luck) when i explain poker to people who know little about it this is what i often mention first because if a person is considering getting into the world of poker but they are a poor/bad looser then i tell them they should perhaps persue another hobby.
If there is the slightest chance that you could loose a hand even with good odds and many outs then you have to except it could still happen/will happen and you should just take it on the chin if it does.

The obvious replies i get are like ..."You can still loose with the best hand whats the point of that!!?,i will stick to betting on Horses thanks!"

One of the sports i really enjoy is golf. A good golf swing is made from a host of physical elements that are all interlinked in a way which makes that little mistake, you make at setting up or gripping your club, effect the angle at which your club impacts the ball, how the ball flies and where it lands. Now if you train hard at the physical elements and have all the theory in check you can finally be at a stage where you can hit the ball properly every time. Now you must realize that your head can still **** up every single shot you try to make.

I think that is very similar to why i enjoy poker. The list of components in a well played hand can seem endless, but somehow we do manage to get all our ducks in a row after learning and practising - but if we havent learned the head game, we still get beaten.

So my answer would be "A game that is so simple at a glance but is actually extremely complicated".

Discipline. Without discipline and self-control you will lose all your chips / all your money. If you're on a tilt, time to stop playing and go do something else for a while. If you had good cards and know you're still beat, just lay em down and know you made a good fold.

to never forget:

it's a GAME !

That I suck at it.

One of the things Everybody should learn is> when theres 3 players in a pot and 1 is Allin they should check it down to try to eliminate that player, UNLESS you got the Nuts, people just dont seem to learn that, poker is also about Eliminating players too. buck

FYP