It's easier to play with bad cards (only for begginers)

Fahrenheit451

Fahrenheit451

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WTF ? How can I win with bad cards, you'll say ?

Of course you cannot (if you are not Daniel Negreanu or Gus Hansen but ordinary newby like me). But did I said : "win" ? Nope, I said "play".
Playing bad cards (for us newbies) includes one easy step: "fold"

Why am I talking this shit ? Because of the transformation that happened to me yesterday and made me rabid and euphoric.

I'm a beginner and I was hoping to become a winning player and earn some money.
First challenge was to learn some solid strategy.
It was relatively easy, but real problems come after I understood that I cannot realize my game plan.
If I had good cards, I was afraid to bet because: "what if they has set, stronger flush, etc"
If I feel - I was beaten, I was unable to fold, because: "probably he's just bluffing", or "maybe I'll catch two more sevens on street and river"
Etc, etc, etc ...
Every time I loose tourney because of some stupid mistake, I scolded myself and give solemn promises not to act as idiot next time but instead just simply do as strategy and circumstances dictates. But that doesn't worked. It was stronger than me.
I wasn't even able to utilize odds, because of: "what good is for me that I'm a favorite, I can loose anyway, but I need to win this hand !" Or "OK, I'm a dog, but that doesn't mean that with a little luck I cannot win this hand and foe looks like an idiot he sure has nothing !"
I got mad every time when I fold and after I saw that my hand would have been winning if I stayed in game.

Of course, I have seen a notion that you should try to play correctly not just try to win every hand, but I thought it was stupid - my goal was to win not to play theoretically correctly!
And yesterday when I was reading Phil Gordon's book something clicked and I really accepted that my only responsibility is to play every hand in the "right" way and then I'll be winning player in my level.

It was a tremendous relief !
Now I muck shitcards with ease and raise with premium cards without fear and my play immediately improved because tilting does not interfere with my play and I can make reasonable decisions.

First time in my short poker life I feel good to play not only to win !
 
D

DunningKruger

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Most poker players are much more inclined to make bad calls than they are bad folds, especially newer players. They abhor the notion of getting bluffed or mucking the best hand to a bet but when they frequently make calls with hands that aren't best they kinda just shrug and move on. If some of these players started to treat bad calls with a similar disdain or treat bad folds with a similar sort of indifference (in the UK poker is kinda like this where a lot of the ego is taken out of bluffing and being bluffed) then it would actually do them a lot of good.
 
JPoling

JPoling

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I also like to say position is a big deal when playing cards. Some cards I might say are crappy when UTG but I might raise with it OTB or CO position. I will easily fold cards of a wide range when EP vs MP and LP.
 
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